Day 49 Wednesday

We left Harrah's about 7:45 and went over to the Horseshoe. Katie still had a printout for 1/2 off and we both still had some points on our cards from yesterday. We had a great breakfast for free, and I still had a $8 left on my card, so Katie got their great Carrot cake a big slice to take home and we left them with .47 cents all told.

Very uneventful drive home...only car at the Border and no problem. We stopped at Miryaw on St. Mary's our favorite chinese restaurant and had supper, as we had no lunch. Then we went shopping t get milk etc. for the morning.

Didn't unpack the car totally, lots of time to do that tomorrow.

Son Kelly had our condo all clean for us as he does every year. We appreciate that greatly to walk into something organized and clean...even the mail all sorted.

Now Katie has four days to rest and recover before going back to work on Monday.

And so ends another great Texas/Mexico adventure!

Note: I have been writing the blog for 4 or 5 years now, and I know there are several people who enjoy reading it, but it takes a lot of work, and I often feel like I am repeating myself from previous years. Some of the people who I think might read it...don't...and there are others who do, but I don't know that they do. If I don't make a post right away on a certain day because we are busy, I often have to ask Katie "What did we do yesterday?" it sometimes becomes one big blur.

Also...facebook makes it pretty easy to post pictures and a short blurb, and Katie does that anyway.

So I am inclined to take at least a year off, maybe more.

At least that is how I am feeling now.

For those of you who read faithfully...Katie and I appreciate that!

For those of you who don't...you won't even see this!

Thanks again everyone!

Day 48 Tuesday

After a free breakfast, Katie and I spent the day at the Horseshoe Casino which is also owned by Harrah's. Katie got a printout so we had a free buffet dinner there. We actually like this one a bit better than the one at Harrah's. We will have breakfast there tomorrow before we drive home.

Had a bit of a slow start, but by the end of the day we made $1,950. Katie won the most, but I played a machine where I got 800 free spins. Unreal! However...I made $498 on the 50 cent bet. I never could get a really big win in those 800 spins, it was a little here and a little there, but who am I to complain? Not!

So in total yesterday and today we are up $2,600.

Thanks for the free rooms and money Harrah's!

We are both very tired, from the drive.

Home tomorrow...

and so ends another great day at the Casino

one last later...

Day 47 Monday

Got on the road by 7:15. Some nasty looking clouds and rain at various points along the way. We heard on the weather channel they had some hail along our route, and one storm chaser who was staying in Gainesville where we were said there was hail in Gainesville. However we did not have any damage to the car, and some of the things he was saying made it sound like he was just playing it up for TV. Maybe yes...maybe no.

We had a pretty trouble free day...started to get quite windy around Whichita.

Turns out we were pretty lucky, the day we decided to leave, as they had baseball sized hail and grapefruit sized hail in Denton later in the day, which is where we usually stay. In some parts of  Texas they also had softball and grapefruit sized hail...yikes!

We got to Harrah's in Council Bluffs at 4:30. Took it easy for a bit, then went down to the Casino. Katie swiped her card and got two printouts for 1/2 off meals. I swiped mine...nada...as usual. Not too hard to see who is the big gambler in our family.

We played for awhile, I lost at first, but made a dramatic recovery, and I ended up $400 up for the night. Katie made $250.

Because we were winning it was hard to quit, so we didn't go for supper until around 8:45. We didn't have any lunch, and we had breakfast actually. The bill was $28 with drinks but written off with one of the 1/2 off printouts and the rest with instant rewards from Katie's card.

Have to laugh...we were not in the casino more than about ten minutes, when a casino host with a handheld, tracked Katie down, introduced herself, and made sure Katie was there attempting to contribute to the welfare of the Casino.

Then it was back to the room to unwind.

and so ends another great day at Harrah's Casino...never lost here yet

more later...

Day 46 Sunday

We got away later than we wanted today about 10.

Good driving except for about three bumper to bumper traffic jams on the Interstate, due to construction...only one problem...for what we could see there was really no need for those kind of traffic jams. There are simply a lot of people who have no idea how to drive.

At any rate we arrived at the LaQuinta in Gainesville about 7:15. Great room and great price $78.

Went to Cracker Barrel for supper...it was very good.

Relax the rest of the night...weather looks ok for travel tommorrow...should be in Council Bluffs before 6 if all goes well.

and so ends another great day in Texas...

more later....

Day 45 Saturday

Nothing to report...packing day

and so ends another great day in the Valley...

more later...

Day 44 Friday

Today was just about a write off for me. I had a sharp pain by my right shoulder blade that lasted almost the whole day.

Katie did work...I watched...not happy that I couldn't really do anything

Good Masters though....

and so ends another great day in the Valley...sort of

more later...

Day 43 Thursday

Got the golf cart ready to be stored for the time we are away. Fingers crossed that the batteries will still be charged enough for the charger to kick in when the time comes. My friend Al will get it going for me and I really appreciate that...wish I could do it for him instead.

Mexico today for the last time...oh oh...there will be tears. Katie and I were walking over the bridge at about 2:45 as we were going to be at the pharmacy for 3PM. Instead Shelyn and her mom Marasol were driving over the bridge at the same time and stopped to pick us up. That was great as we went straight to Erika's place.

Livy was home from school and when she saw us she told Sherlyn we had to stay outside for a few minutes...there would be a surprise. In a few minutes Livario came out, put his hands over Katie's eyes and guided her inside. Then everyone inside yelled Happy Birthday, and we saw the whole living area was decorated for a birthday party. It was fantastic and Katie was stunned. How great that they went to all the work, time, and trouble for us, and especially Katie.

We sat down and started in on the snacks. Marisol told me that she was going to prepare a plate for me Mexican style and I had to try it..so she did...and it was great.

It doesn't show it here but she put a sauce and a spice

Erika's friend Joanna was there helping even though she was not feeling good, and her mom as well. Some other friends dropped in and one lady who we had only seen before brought Katie a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Then Sister Maureen came in, we didn't expect that. She was on her usual trip with a truck load of goods for those that need the help. When she got to the Mexican border they told her she would have to drive 20 miles to the Pharr crossing because she had diapers in the truck. She said she wouldn't do that, so she drove back home, emptied the truck and came back to see us. She got right into it.

I went outside and played a game with Livy which we had brought for the kids. She was good at catching the ball.

Then Erika brought out food which she and her friends had prepared. It was Erika's mom who suggested the birthday party and the food. The dish is a special dish which originated in Monterrey, and when Katie and I saw it, we didn't know what to do with it. Marisol told us to wait until she got hers and she would show us.

Turns out you take the top hard shell and break it a bit at a time so you can use it like a scoop. The dish contains an avocado base shredded lettuce, tomatoes, shredded chicken, topped off with cheese sauce. When everything is gone then you take the bottom shell break it up and eat that as well.

The whole dish was excellent.

We are so thankful that Sherlyn and Marisol were there for us so many times this trip. Not having to use my phone as a translator because of them was so great! We really like them both not just for the translation services, but as good people. I hope Sherlyn follows my suggestion and starts the process of getting herself into a career...she is a great girl!

We had a great time, lots of fun and laughs...Livy took Katie's camera and did a lot of group selfies and Karelly took pictures as well. Here in no particular order...

A slight misspelling but who cares

Later on it was time to leave, and I can only tell you there was an abundance of tears all around. Erika and Livy especially as both of them are very sensitive. Karelly a bit more reserved because after all she is 13 now, and a teenager. It was HARD! Lots of long hugs and kisses and more than just once.

We climbed into Sherlyn's car and with lots of waves....we were gone until next year.

When we got to the border, the border guard asked what we were bringing back. We were a little worried Katie could not bring her flower arrangement back even though it contained no earth.

She showed what she had but he didn't seem to really care, so off to our car in the parking lot.

After some more hugs and some tears we said goodbye to our friends Sherlyn and Marisol. Sad.

We stopped and said goodbye to Al and Bonnie who are leaving for home Friday Morning...sad that we will likely not see them again until next year as well.

Then back home....watched the first two periods of the Jets game...drat...don't they know how to lose?

and so ends another great day in the Valley...

more later...

Day 42 Wednesday

I hardly slept at all last night, don't know why and felt really terrible this morning. My left knee which I sometimes have trouble with, gave me trouble during the night. I not only felt tired but also sick. It was an effort to feel like doing anything. I basically laid on the couch until about 11AM.

I then decided this was accomplishing nothing, so I got up and started to remove the window frame on one of the last windows I had to fix. They put some kind of vinyl over the hardboard on the inside frame of the window at construction and in the heat it starts to peel and looks terrible. I peeled it off, not an easy task in itself and then painted it. Also give you a chance to clean the inside of the window which is part of the frame. It looks great now, but it was a real struggle as I certainly did not feel good.

No lunch, as I just felt I could not stomach it. I wanted to push myself, so I asked Katie if she wanted to go to Don Wes to get a couple of stickers for the cart. We wanted one that said Manitoba Winter Texans. The shop that does them didn't have any, but said they could make them up in 20 minutes for us...so we did.

It was late in the day so most of the little shops were closed, and because most of the winter texans have gone home already, a lot of the shops have closed for the season, it was pretty barren looking.

Katie and I came back to Pharr and went to Costco, as we wanted to get pictures of us and the girls printed out. We do that every year and put them in a frame. Erika put the pictures on a wall in the girls bedroom sort of like when you measure kids every year and make the growth on the wall. This is something the same only with pictures. When Katie finished the machine there was nothing to indicate how long it would take. We went to the opitical dept and were informed the pictures would take 5 to 7 days! What? What ever happened to one hour photos? We got out of there, that is pathetic and someone at Costco should be held responsible for wrecking a customer service which used to work well.

We went to Sam's Club where we are also a member and had our photos withing 20 minutes. Now that's service!

Had supper and just relaxed the rest of the night, and I was starting to feel much better, but still extremely tired from the night before.

Another hot day today.

Well here is hoping for a better day tomorrow as it is last Mexico day and it will be sad it will be the last day we get to see our family.

and so ends another great day in the Valley...

more later...

Day 41 Tuesday

Katie and I went to the park meeting this morning at 9AM. Somehow we don't usually make it to those but thought we should. Just general discussion about park activities, etc.

After that we went for breakfast at a Mexican Restaurant where I had gone previously for the Valley retired police get together.

They have a breakfast buffet from 9AM until noon for the ridiculously low price of $5 per person.
You can have whatever you want...freshly prepared omelette, pancakes, various kinds of scrambled eggs, various kinds of hash browns, bacon, toast (not so good) and a few mexican dishes. and coffee.
Unreal really for $5 incl tax.

We had to pick up a few things at the store after that, and we just coasted the rest of the day doing a few things here and there.

and so ends another great day in the Valley...

more later...

Day 40 Monday

We went golfing this morning to Palmview and had an 8:37 tee time. There was a tournament on at our course.

Palmview is very senic and the fairways are in good shape. They told Al when he booked that the greens had been aerated two weeks ago. After two weeks they should be in good shape but they weren't. They must not have been in very good shape before they aerated. The weather was great too bad the greens weren't up to par.

Didn't hurt us too badly though. I struggled a bit on the front but played better on the back. In the end both Katie and I shot 84 so no complaints.

We went for lunch in the club house afterward and it was good.

after we dropped off Al and Bonnie at their place, Katie and I came home, and Katie said she wanted to wash the car. I worked on our sun break cloth partition on the car port to make sure it was well secured even in the wind. That took quite a while.

Katie was on a roll and kept doing various tasks the whole afternoon. I had fixed an android box for Rick Moss, and I took it back to him. Got to see the new trailer they just bought, which is very nice. Had to have a near beer of course, and some good conversation.

Enough work for today and time to relax.

and so ends another great day in the Valley...

more later...

Day 39 Sunday

We went to Mexico today to see the kids. We got there at 1PM.

Sherlyn and her mom Marisol were already at the house. We took the kids a new present which we know Karelly wanted...A Monopoly game electronic version. I tried for quite a while to find the one in Spanish but couldn't. We worked it out anyway, and Karelly is so smart she catches on right away.

Erika, Karelly, and with help from Marisol made a special dinner which they said is for Katie's birthday on the 15th. There was spaghetti which was really good, skewers with vegetables and meat

which Livario did on the barbeque, 

This is their dog sleeping on a chair

We had lots of fun and it was a very good day.

Sherlyn and Marisol drove us back to our car and we came home and relaxed

and so ends another great day in the Valley...

more later...