Another Birthday!

It's been almost three weeks since Harrison arrived to join big brother Brooks.  Since that time, Brooks has found plenty to do including one of his favorite pastimes like

playing in the mud puddles in the backyard while wearing his blue Croc boots.

Interestingly enough - his second birthday was last week.  He stretched the fun out with a little celebration mid week as well as some things on the weekend.  On his actual birthday he opened some presents and had a birthday cupcake.

I don't know which he enjoyed more.  Blowing out the candle again and again, or eating the frosting off his cupcake.  He had a good time with both of them though.

On Friday he went to school (for 3 hours) and was given a nice prize to commemorate his big day.

 He proudly wore his Birthday Hat home from school and then put it on a couple of times during the weekend.

If you had a hat that cool wouldn't you?

On Saturday morning it was such a nice day that he played in the front yard.  Then his mom Kelly brought out his lunch for him to eat on the front steps.

He has his own way of doing certain things which is always fun to watch.  He took the one peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich that was cut in half and he carefully separated it.

He then had four pieces he meticulously set on the steps behind him and then began to eat the jelly off each side before he eventually devoured them all.

Brooks had already finished his lunch but he helped supervise serving some beef sandwiches on the back deck.

 Later in the day after afternoon naps, Kelly filled up some party balloons and Brooks waited for his buddies to show up.

They did and had a good time.  Here Brooks is determined to go up his slide from the bottoms.  The heart was willing but the new Crocs were to slippery.  But he still tried 7-8 times before he went around and climbed up the back way.

 And the boys also checked out the new basketball goal that was set up on the deck.

And Jon (with Heath's help) was grill some of what is becoming his legendary meat recipes.  Saturdays mouth watering treat:  beef tips.

Everyone had a good weekend and Brooks is getting used to having his little brother.  We are enjoying it all!

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

This is What We Are Here For!

A while back Kelly and Jon told us there were pregnant with our second grandchild.  We decided that if there was any way possible, we would be there to help out.  And that's what happened.

Almost a week ago, Harrison Warner Goldman joined us!

Kelly was notified the previous week that the doctor would be inducing her on Tuesday morning.  So Pam and I came over and planned on staying a couple of nights with Brooks.

It was quite different than almost two years ago when Brooks came along.  This time Kelly and Jon handled it all like pros.  Very excited and like they had done this before...

So off they went and we waited for updates.  We even picked hours of the day when we expected the baby to be born.  It seemed to go pretty slowly until the mid afternoon, then before we knew it, Harrison was born at 3:52 PM.  Healthy and about as precious as he could be.

We were able to go over for a few minutes and hold him and see him.  It was another beautiful baby boy.  Quite the same, yet a lot different.  He had no complications, started eating right away and was just sleeping away and getting used to everything.

We were trying to remember how Brooks looked as a new born and Kelly did a side by side picture of both boys:

The next morning we took Brooks over to see mommy and daddy and meet his new little brother.  He wasn't sure what to make of all of it.  I caught a photo of him near mommy's bed.

This photo needs a caption:

 What title would you give to this photo??


Here's a photo of some proud grand parents with their newest and second grandson;

 Mom and Dad checking out Harrison.

 Kelly came home on Thursday and Brooks got to see more of Harrison.

And everyone is adjusting well.  Tomorrow he will be one week old.  And Brooks can't wait to show him some tricks on his iPad.

We are having a lot of fun with Harrison and adjusting to his schedule and spending time over at Kelly and Jon's when we can help out.  So far it's been a busy week but an exciting one.  We think we'll probably be here in the area until mid-May.  We'll see how things go.

That is for now - thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner Financials - January 2017

Roadrunner Recap
In January,  we stayed parked at Sea Mist (military campground) at Dam Neck Annex in Virginia Beach.  We have been here since mid - December and plan on staying until about mid - May.

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget

We didn't drive the motor home this month, so there was no need to get any diesel fuel.

We underspent in:

• Diesel fuel
• Campgrounds 
• TV
• Laundry 
• Medical

Biggest Expenses
We overspent in the following areas:

• RV Insurance (our renewal in May brought the payment to above the yearly monthly estimate)
• Car Insurance (after two no-fault claims, our insurance went up)
• Car Maintenance (complete yearly checkup with induction service, new plugs, wiper blades)
• Misc (gifts, clothes, boots and shoes)

Highest 1 Time Cost Item
The diagnostic service and maintenance on the car was $415.  Time to look for another mechanic.

Monthly Average

We had a very good month and almost came it at the budget.  We were only $22 which is a win in my book.  After all the months of maintenance and medical it's nice to bring down the monthly average again by over $150.  But we are still way behind for the fiscal year which began in June.

That's another look at where our money went during the second month of the new calendar year.

As always, if you think this spreadsheet might be useful I'd be glad to pass it along at no cost.  Just let me know.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!