October was an exciting and busy month for us, beginning with the launching of this web site and now our first journal.

   We made two trips to Lafayette, LA. The first to take the 5th wheel to have a slide seal repaired and the next weekend to pick it up.  When we picked up the unit, we spent the night at the Lafayette KOA and celebrated Millie's birthday with dinner out. The weather was rainy all day Saturday, but the sun came out on Sunday and made for a good day to drive back home.

   October 20 was a big family day.  Millie's mom, Ann Rutledge Nichols, celebrated her 80th birthday. (Photos in the gallery) Millie and her sisters had been planning the surprise celebration since June and managed to pull it off without Ann ever suspecting.  Thirty-four family members attended and feasted on BBQ with all the trimmings.  This family loves to eat!  It is always an amazement when we all get together and realized this large group started with just one couple.

   Sandy and Larry from Glass Happy delivered our custom made stained glass for the door of the 5th wheel and we are anxious to get it installed.  We will post photos as soon as we get this project done.  The piece Sandy designed for us is a beautiful mountain scene. This was her first request for an RV window, she does a lot of residential windows. We have added their site to our links if you want to see some of her work.  They are great folks to work with.

   Ok, enough of fun stuff and on to the work part.  We got started on the kitchen re-do to update the house. We replaced all the counter tops and removed a small unused breakfast bar. We installed a new sink, disposal, stove and micro/hood over the stove. I have cleaned out several cabinets and replaced shelf paper in the process. Our house is 25 years old and several things decided to die at once.  Back in a corner of the lower cabinets I found - 5 pizza pans and 3 ice cream makers!!  Where did all this "stuff" come from?? The kids are taking the ice cream makers and I added the pizza pans to the garage sale box. I am finding it somewhat difficult to get rid of some items this early as I may be needing them before we leave the sticks and bricks house. We always seem to have everyone here for holiday dinners, etc and will need the big turkey roaster, trays, large bowls, etc.  We also replaced the counter top and sink in a small bathroom adjoining the laundry room.  Poor Missy didn't enjoy all this activity and strangers in her house, she prefers peace and quiet.

   We want to thank all of you who sent us the great feedback on our site.  We have enjoyed reading your comments.  We will be adding photos as we go along.  We don't have a digital camera yet, so have to either scan them in or get film put on CD so it takes us a little longer to get them on the site.