Happy Birthday, Ronan!

Yesterday was Ronan's fifth birthday. His other grandparents, Tom and Sharon, arrived Friday afternoon. They bought Ronan a trampoline and Terry had to put it together. He said Sharon really owes him big time!

With everything that's going on, I thought the kids pulled off the party in good stead. They truly have a lot on their plate right now. Tom is finishing grad school and Jocelyn is spending part of every day with Aenea. Since she is breast feeding and Aenea is not yet nursing, she has to pump every two hours. She is really being a trooper and the baby will benefit from her efforts, but it takes a lot of time every day. They had planned on having the kids all meet at the park for a playdate and birthday treats, but the weather forecast did not cooperate. Although they probably could have squeezed in the playdate, it did rain later, so the plan was to have everyone meet at the house. It was a small group, but his best friend Stella was there, so they had a great time. Tom made several salads and there were chips and dips and cake and ice cream.

Later I went with Jocelyn to the hospital to see Aenea. She is the sweetest little baby and she is growing. She is almost four pounds. The next time I come, she should be home and I can get in some real cuddle time then.


As we got to checking the weather forecast, there is some nasty winter weather moving into West Virginia and eastern Ohio in the areas where we pass through on our way west. Drat. So we discussed where we wanted to end up and how far we would have to drive today in order to place us out of harm's way. I certainly don't want to drive Phaeton Place in the snow and ice and that is the forecast. . . that and wind. Just about ALL the food groups there. Oh, and we cannot forget rain.

So we left camp in Charlottesville, Virginia, at 9:30 this morning. We had lots of rain and fog, so using cruise control and the exhaust brake were out of the question. That makes for a little slower trip, but we just kept plugging along. We never did get much wind, but we did finally have some around Cincinnati. We drove 425 miles today. . . probably a record for us, and we are sitting in the FMCA headquarters campground in Cincinnati for two nights. We actually got in before dark. We are looking at a motorhome here.

Till next time. . .


Dale