Christmas letter 2019

Merry Christmas!

Last Christmas we were in Black Canyon City, AZ and we are here again this year. We love it here and are enjoying our retirement………..again.. 

We started our new summer jobs at Lake John in Walden, CO in May. It is an RV park and cabins on a phenomenal trout lake in northern CO. We are 1 ½ hours east of Steamboat Springs and 1 ½ north of Granby. We are surrounded by mountains on all 4 sides in the midst of “North Park” What a great place to work and live. I work in the office and general store and Jim does boat maintenance, groundskeeping and housekeeping. Josh and Nichole (the owners) are so wonderful to work with and we have plenty of time off to play…….Jim has caught some very big trout, fly fishing on the lake. Check out pictures and information at lakejohnresort.com. We’ll be there again this summer, May through September. Come and see us next summer. 

So many family happenings…....Alisha (Becky’s daughter) and Billy are in Golden, CO. (Kalyn, 18 and Allie, 13). Jeremy (Becky’s son) and Brandy are in Whitewood, SD. (Ethan,15 and Sydney, 13). Avey (Jim’s daughter) and Albert are in Sacramento, CA (Elena, 5).  Melanie (Jim’s daughter) and Travis are in Phoenix (Jack, 9 and Harvey, 5) Joe (Jim’s son) and Liz are east of Phoenix ( Aravis, 14, Judah, 11 and Daisy, 9) (Liz’s kids, Mason and Hadley). Karen (Jim’s daughter) is in Hoxie, KS (Isaiah, 23, Holden,17 and Bella, 15). We always have intentions of making the “Circle Tour” but only manage a partial one. We had some milestones…..Kalyn graduated high school and started college and Harvey and Elena started kindergarten! We are so blessed with our blended family and wonderful grandkids. 

As a reward for all our hard work this summer we went to Cozumel, Mexico for 2 weeks and had a wonderful time diving, laying on the beach and eating lots of street tacos. The next week we flew to Atlanta to visit my Aunt Jean (my Dad’s sister) in Athens, GA. We spent almost a week and had a great time sharing stories and pictures about my great, great, great grandparents up to her childhood with my Dad. I got to spend time with my cousins Phillip and Kevin and their wives Robin and Betsey. It’s the first time we’ve spent any length of time together as adults and it was wonderful to get to know them. We had a wonderful time. 

November found us back in Black Canyon City for the winter. We’ve had a great time visiting with family and friends and making new friends here. 

Our wonderful fur baby and traveling companion, Lucy left us December 6. We miss her terribly and have great memories of our years together.  

We’ll be spending Christmas Day with Melanie, Travis and the boys, eating chicken ‘n waffles and watching Christmas movies. Avey is coming from CA for a week of visiting and fun. Can’t wait to see her and Elena! The 1st of the year we are going to meet friends in Quartzite for 10 days of boondocking, jeeping and RV fun. February 15th will find us back in Denver for 6 weeks (in the RV in the winter) while I undergo total knee replacement and recovery. 

Here’s wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Jim, Becky, Sadie, the spoiled Aussie princess and Yaqui, the cat.

Catching Up

Well, we're back online and as usual I'm catching up and way behind! So much has happened since we left Minnesota last fall and I promise I'll be brief. (Links to pictures are in blue)

We traveled to Avey's house (Jim's daughter) in Sacramento to visit her and our grandaughter Elena. We had a wonderful time visiting but unfortunately right after we arrived the Paradise fire started and we had to limit our outdoor excursions because of the smoke. We still got to spend some fun grandparent time.
At the park with Elena
Exploring the Children's Museum
Harvest Hill

We got a job working at Black Canyon RV Resort in Black Canyon City, AZ so we headed south and got settled in. It was great to see Norma (Jim's sister) and Joe and Melanie (Jim's son and daughter) and Travis (her husband) and all the grandkids again, not to mention old friends. December was busy with Christmas cookie baking and Daisey's birthday (Joe's youngest daughter). We went to Prescott, to Whiskey Row, and had Christmas Eve eve dinner at the Palace. What a treat...not to mention amazing steaks! It is the oldest bar in Arizona and has a lot of history. Check out the pictures and info about it: The Palace Saloon. The courthouse square is all decorated with lights and absolutely beautiful.
Norma Jean
Daisey's birthday
Dinner at the Palace

In January Avey came to visit and we had a blast. We went to the Wildlife World Zoo in west Phoenix. What a great zoo! They have an aquarium, sea lions (complete with show) penguins and a wildlife show that is interactive with the audience. Not to mention being able to feed the giraffes and walk underneath the panthers (their enclosures go overhead of the paths). The best was feeding the Lory Parrots. You go into their enclosure and they perch on you and eat apple chunks out of your hand. Elena was enthralled. 
Wildlife World Aquarium
All the animals

A few days later we went out ot Mesa to see Norma. Elena met her great aunt for the 1st time and then we celebrated Judah's birthday (Joe's son) We got him a drone with a camera.. They live halfway to Tucson so they have lots of desert to explore!
Judah's birthday 

It was a wet, cold winter in Arizona this year! It even snowed in Black Canyon City! The park we stayed in was very nice, with paved roads, a great clubhouse and a heated swimming pool. I learned to play Chicken Foot (a domino game) and love it. It was a little strange living in a place where everyone comes back year after year after year. We made some new friends, Tim and Laurel and had a visits from old friends Bonnie and Paul and John and Wendy. We got in some jeeping with Mike (when it wasn't raining!). The big plus after all the rain was an abundance of wildflowers out in the desert. The rivers even had water in them!  We got to visit with Joe and the kids about every 2 weeks. Jim passed along 1 of his cigar box guitars to Judah and they had fun playing. And the grass was green........
Black Canyon RV Resort
Fun with the grandkids
Jeeping on Table Mesa

We spent a lot more time with Jack and Harvey ( and of course Melanie and Travis) because they lived so much closer. Those 2 are a trip...... we had so much fun together. They even posed for pictures..... when you could get them to stand still....sort of! Jack and Harvey

I flew back to Colorado for Alisha's 40th birthday surprise party, March 30th. Her twin brother Jeremy came from South Dakota and friends came from all over. It was a great celebration and she was so surprised. Billy (our son in law)  did an amazing job planning it and keeping the secret! 
The birthday party

Two weeks later we drove back to Colorado to start our new job working at Lake John Resort. Our arrival was delayed due to a snowy, cold winter and the ice did not come off the lake until May 6th. Instead we parked at our old stomping grounds in Cotopaxi and did some fishing and started work on May 9th in Walden.  At the end of May we went to Denver for Kalyn's graduation from Golden High School. She's going to the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley to study business. So proud of her!
Kalyn's Graduation

Lake John will be on the next blog. What a great place........