Ethan 9mos

We had a summer BBQ when Denise and her family came to visit so that everyone could get to see the kids. Ethan for the first time and Tyler again as she has grown so much since their last visit 2 years ago. We had a Birthday party as well for all the family members and friends who were celebrating a birthday in July and August.

Tyler growing at almost 4yr

Birthday Cake

The Summer Birthday Babies

Blowing out the candles are the summer birthday people in the family...Diane - Lynn - Gary - Mike - Sonny - Bob - & Tyler - cake held by Denise

Gary & Denise, Tyler & Ethan with Stacy & Pete

Denise and her school chums

Lynn & Lisa graduated from St. Louis Academy with Denise and kept in touch all these years.

Ethan 9mos old

Cousin Florence and her hubby Barry with mom

Denise and Aunt Germaine

My daughter Denise with my dad's sister Aunt Germaine who is now in her late 80's.

Memere & Ethan

Love this photo of my mom and her great grandson Ethan

Pete & Stacy

Mike Robin & Bob

Great to see Bob again as always

Ethan with Auntie Robin playing

Peter, Stacy, Robin & Mike

My nephew Peter & his wife Stacy are expecting a baby in Jan - great news! My daughter Robin and her husband Mike happy as ever.

Cheryl & Tyler Playing Soccer

Soccer Star in the making

Plum Island, Newburyport, MA

The first day Denise, Gary, Tyler & Ethan visited - we went to Plum Island to do some family photos with my students - they got some great photos see below and the day was perfect.

Family fun on the beach

Tyler loved playing in the water

Tyler & mom playing at the beach

Ethan loved playing in the water bucket.

Tyler writing her name in the sand

Dad & Ethan

Denise & Family Visit

Denise Gary Tyler & Ethan just spent 2 weeks visiting us and we had a ball - miss them already. Here are some photos taken while they visited.

Where in the world is Blanche & Lucy now ????

HOME!!!! Here we are unpacking the RV - great fun!! Finally back at home in Newburyport to relax a little before I start teaching classes again. My first class is May 16th so a week or so to relax and catch up with friends and family.... will post photos now and then as the summer progresses - let me know if I should keep you on the Blog list to notify you when new posts happen.

Where in the world did Blanche & Lucy spend thier last night camping?

We found a great little campground in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. It was at the Turning Point Casino RV Park. Great prices and free shuttle to the casino for great dinner or breakfast before you leave (which is what we did - Eggs Benedict never tasted so good!) Since it was our last night on the Road we wanted to treat ourselves and relax and sleep in before the last ride home.

This is a view of one of the ponds here at Turning Point RV Park. There are paddle boats to ride around the pods in and good fishing I am told too. Its a great little campground with wonderful bath houses and great walking trails for the dogs and ponds with lots of geese which facinated the dogs. These casino campgrounds are a new fine for us and we are liking them alot....

Turning Point Casino is very big and has lots of gaming tables as well as slot machines and poker rooms and bingo rooms and lots of great entertainers too.... we hope to come back here this summer for a few days to see some good entertainment and do a little playing and visit the area wineries - this is in the Fingerlakes region where there are lots of great wineries.

This is the view of the Casino from outside - beautiful landscaped grounds and fountain area.

This is the Hotel portion of the Casino - beautiful grounds

Where in the world is Blanche & Lucy tonight?

Blanche & Lucy (and their moms) are in Seville, Ohio tonight. We had a great traveling day today - NO RAIN!! just great sunshine and cool temps - great for driving. We had a harder time finding a campground with the amenities we wanted tonight - but settled on Maple Lakes Recreational Park here in Seville. It's mostly seasonal campers here and the rules are a little crazy and the bathhouse is pretty primitive -but the grounds are beautiful. And it's only for an over-nighter anyway.

Lucy rolling in the grass. We took the girls for a walk right after parking the rig and were told 3 times that we are not allowed to walk dogs anywhere on the grounds of this campground.... We re-read the brochures we got at check-in.....in the 'rules' it says :"Pets must be kept on campsite - No Dog Walking".... never heard of this type of pet restriction.... had we known we would not have stayed here. They failed to notify us of this as we paid our $30 for one night stay....hmmmm.... After being cooped up in an RV traveling all day our babies wanted to walk, run, roll and chase a ball - (like any normal dog). So beware pet owners - you may want to cross Maple Lakes Rv Pk off the list of endorsed or recommended campgrounds.

Lucy is being sad - because dogs are not allowed to go for a walk on the grounds of Maple Lakes Rv Pk - so goodnight Seville, Ohio.....

Where in the world is Blanche & Lucy?

Visiting Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Ill. Since Cheryl is a history buff - we stopped here to walk around the area where Lincoln grew up, practiced law and made some of his most famous speeches.

This is the beautiful Union Station in Springfield, Ill.

Blanche & Lucy said hello to the Lincoln family outside of the Lincoln Law offices.

My favorite place in St Louis, MO

Linda & Barb took us to the Cathedral Basilica of St Louis, which is on Lindell Blvd in St Louis. I would highly recommend this as a first stop if you ever visit St Louis. You will need a really wide angle lens for your camera and a good tripod because this Basilica is a joy to photograph with the right equipment. Needless to say - my lens was not large enough to capture the exterior at all and I was only carrying my little gorrila-pod, not my good tripod - so did the best I could with the equipment I had - but regardless of the ability to shoot this wonder - I was able to enjoy it's beauty. I have to say that outside of the Basilica St Peter in Rome - this is by far the most beautiful Basilica - Cathedral or Church I have ever seen. It's a definite go back to see again... This photo is just one of the countless beautiful ceilings insde.

I could have spent 4 or 5 hours with my camera and tripod inside this Cathedral - there are so many beautiful architectural arches, pillars, forms and shapes not to mention the light and color.

Everywhere that we looked from floor to ceiling was magnificent. Over 40 Million (that's right million!) mosaic tiles are in this Basilica. And over 8000 shades of color - more than the eye could ever recognize.

The Interior of the Basillica was just amazing. My camera just couldn't capture the beauty and magnitude of this Cathedral. My lens just wasn't wide enough to capture all that my eyes enjoyed.

Where in the world of St Louis, MO is Blanche & Lucy

Well after playing with Bailey for a bit...and because it was raining today....Blanche and Lucy stayed in the RV while moms went touring St Louis with Barb & Linda. We saw the St Louis Basicila (photos to follow tomorrow) - the famous St Louis Arch and the Montello Winery. We also got a motor tour of some of the beautiful neighborhoods and towns adjacent to St Louis. Can't wait to come back to see more when we have a full week to visit.

After tasting lots and lots of fun wines - we both bought a half case of different wines and got a great discount.

The Montelle Winery sponsors wine dinners now and then and we decided that this would be fun to do.....so we finished the evening with a lovely wine dinner with great friends.

Where in the world did we go today?

While Blanche and Lucy rested in the RV Linda and Barb took us out to tour their beautiful St Louis. Of course the first place we wanted to see what the famous "Gateway to the West" the St Louis Arch.

Barb & I climbed into this little 'pod' that brought us up to the center point of the Arch to look over the city of St Louis. Cheryl & Linda took in the Western Museum at the bottom of the Arch.

This is one of them many beautiful views of the skyline of St Louis that we saw from the top of the arch. Even in the fog it was wonderful.

Isn't this a beautiful old bridge? It's the riverfront area near the Arch where fireworks are enjoyed and where you could 'normally' stroll along the river walkway... but we just enjoyed the view - can you guess what's in the bottom right of this image? See the next image for the answer.

Look what we found in the Missouri river... this is the top of the statue/sculpture of Lewis & Clark (this is Clark) almost completely underwater - the rains here in the midwest are causing the rivers to rise. I think the statue is about 8 ft tall and there is a walkway in front of this area along the river which you can walk (and obviously we didn't walk it because - that's under water too).

Rainy day traveling

We left Kansas in a thunderstorm and drove all day in the rain.... pretty stressful driving - but thankfully I think the rain storm cells will continue north east (towards New England actually) while we stay behind in Missouri for a couple of days.