March 19-25 New Orleans

 On Tuesday the day before we were leaving for New Orleans Susan was in a wreck in Liberty. Luckily she was not hurt.  Shad stopped behind a truck street sweeper in Liberty. He picked up his sweeper and she thought he was going to turn on the next street. Instead he started backing up.  She blew her horn and then tried to get her car in reverse but couldn't do it in time. He crushed the hood and fenders and broke the windshield. He stopped just in time to keep from injuring Susan.   The car was not damaged mechanically and still was driviable.  The city filled with their insurance and we will take it to get an estimate. The car is in excellent condition but it is a 2008 with 215,000 miles on it. I expect they will total it. We don't want that because no way can we replace it for what we will get . Anyway we left the next morning for New Orleans. Sammi's volleyball team is playing in a 3 day tournament there.  We are staying in a different park this year. Its in the southwest side of New Orleans, Bayou Segnette State Park.  I give it a 7 out of 10 for a park. The asphalt sites are a little narrow for me and the ground slopes quickly but the sites are spacious. There is not a lot of shady sites. I give it a 10n for location. Depending on traffic I can get to downtown in 20 minutes. There are a lot of seafood markets and restaurants nearby. The area of town is a lot nicer than where we used to stay at the other state park on the east side.  The tournament was a disaster. We played terrible the first day (every game went 3 sets) but managed to stay in the winners bracket. The second day was terrible . One team in our pool went unbeaten and the rest of us tied. We lost the tiebreaker and so went to the losers bracket on Sunday. We lost our game on Sunday, to be fair she players who normally dont get much playing time and it showed. Sammi actually had a great tournament serving and her defense was really good also. Because we finished so early Sunday, I loaded everything up so we could come home Monday. It was a very windy day coming home , we caught 25-30 mph winds all day but we made it home by 2;30.

This little bar/grill had great gumbo

This little place had great seafood. We ate here twice.

March 9-15 Spring Break 2024

Kyle brought the boys to us on Saturday for the week. It was a cold day and the wind was blowing pretty hard. It didn"t bother the boys as they played outside in their dirt pile and rode bikes.  Sammi was playing volleyball at the George R. Brown Convention Center. There is so much walking we didn"t go. We did watch the games on Baller TV.  Sunday was a much nicer day. Peyton, Luke and Cooper played hard all day. We loaded a few things in the trailer as we are headed camping tomorrow.  I never unloaded my truck from the Canton trip except for a few things we will not be taking on this trip. Now we just have to get adjusted to the time change.  Monday morning Luke was awake when I got up, he said he was to excited about camping to sleep. Susan, Peyton and Cooper slept in till about 7;30. We finished hooking up and headed out. We made one stop in Woodville to eat lunch at a little mexican food place. We pulled into Sandy Creek Coe at Dam B at about 1:30 pm. We have a nice big site. Its close to the playground, in fact I can sit in my chair and see the boys there. The loops are big and good for them to ride their bikes.  They played out all evening. The one thing I wasn"t prepared for were gnats, didn't bother the boys but did me. We had hot dogs for supper but ate inside.  Tuesday morning we all slept in pretty late for us. I got up about 6:30 and the boys got up about 7.  It was a nice morning outside with no gnats. By 10:00 am the gnats were back in full force. We drove to Jasper and got cintronella candles and coils and two types of spray.  Nothing fazed the gnats. The boys played out and they were not bothered too much. If it was just Susan and I we would hook up and leave. There is not a swimming area here so we went next door to Martin Dies State Park and let the boys swim for a couple of hours. We had hamburgers for supper but had to eat inside again. Wednesday morning was a repeat of yesterday. Thursday we loaded up and went home. Susan and I were ready because the gnats were just too bad for us.  The boys had a good time though.

Feb 27-March 3 Canton Trade Days

 We headed to Canton on Tuesday. There were 3 trailers going and we met there around 12:30. Going that early you have no problems getting a spot together.  The trade days dont open tilll Thursday but we always have plans on Wednesday.  We got everyone set up and then chilled, The weather was nice with a little wind. Around 5 we all went to the Dairy Palace for supper. When we got back we had happy hour for awhile.  When I got up Wednesday morning around 5 a cold front had blown in.  The wind stayed at 25-30 mph all day. Everyone decided to stay in for the day. That evening Belinda made bbq sandwiches for everyone and we ate in there trailer.  Thursday morning it wasnt as cold and the wind was down to about 10 mph. We had two other couples join us but they were staying in  a motel.  Susan and I stayed out about 4 hrs and came back to the trailer.  That evening we all went to eat Mexican food. While we were eating it really stormed outside. Friday morning was a repeat for shopping. That evening Jeff made gumbo for supper and then we had two fires going for happy hour.  Saturday was a repeat except I made taco soup for supper. It was another nice night.  The evenings are the best thing about Canton. Sunday morning we got up and left by 8 am completing another nice little trip.

Feb 17 18, 2024 Mckinney Falls State Park

 It was pretty cold Friday night.  I woke up about 3 and it was nippy in the trailer. I figured we ran out of propane. We use a small electric heater in the living room but it can"t keep the whole trailer warm when it gets really cold outside. About 4:45 I had to get up so I went outside and switched tanks, sure wish i had a remote switch.  Cooper was snuggled in bed and he didn't get up till 6 which is unusual for him. It made about 28 right at daylight. We were in the evening wave so Susan slept in.  We played at 3,5 and 8:00 pm. Even though we were not playing great we won the first two games easily. I figured the third game would be the same so we headed back to the trailer and streamed it on Baller TV. Sunday morning  we played at 8,11,and then 1.  We lost in the semifinals to the team that won the finals. It was disappointng as we expected to win the tournament. In years past we would have been happy to finish this high but we expect a lot from this team. This was a big tournament and was played at different venues. We were at the Round Rock Sports center, it was a very nice facility. Several friends from this area came and watched the games with us. Im sure glad we don"t have to drive back home today. We will head back home tomorrow and then get ready to go to Canton next week.

Sammi is the libero (pink jersey)

Feb 16,2024 Mckinney Falls State Park

 I slept till about 5:30 the Friday morning. I was so tired last night. Cooper and I took a short walk so he could pee and poop. Glad it was warm as the wind was blowing.  About 8:00 I cooked breakfast outside. Then Cooper and I took a pretty good walk. When we got back I showered and we loaded up and headed to a quilt shop Susan wanted to go to. She had a friend that was teaching a class there. right before we got there we had police cars passing us and then turning right in front of us. Thats when we really noticed lots of cops running around and blocking entry to an area on the right. There was also two ambulances arriving. I just kept driving thru figuring there must be a shooting of some kind.  Anyway it was quiet when we got to the quilt shop. We got back to camp about 1:00. We had a light lunch and then Cooper and I took a small hike down to the Falls. It was a a pretty overcast day and a little cool but there was a few folks swimming. Cooper was wore out when we got back so we took a nap. We just chilled the rest of the evening . Tomorrow the first day of the volleyball tournament starts. We are in the evening wave, not my favorite, our first game is at 3.