Grandkids and a New Deck

We're enjoying our time in Virginia Beach.  We've been spending a lot of time at Kelly and Jon's and with grandsons Brooks and Harrison.  These two little guys are something else!

We are content to spend time with them and just hang out.  We are glad to spell Kelly at times during the day so she can run some errands by herself.  We've also been able to babysit so she and Jon can enjoy a date night now and then and let them have some time off.

Meanwhile, we can always find things to do with they boys.  We've spend as much time as we can outside.  One favorite is picking up pine cones.  We got some of those $1 "pickers" (plastic 3' poles with a hand squeeze) and then can spend lots of time with the kids wandering around the front and back yards picking up pine cones at Goldmanor.

We also manage to help them ride their little cars or bikes or swing in the front yard.  Sometimes, its just too much and we just tucker them out...

It's usually the reverse though, we often wear out long before they do.  Their front yard has a long wall that is just high enough for them to walk on which is another source of wonder for them.

Kelly and Jon have been chipping away at a couple of projects and its fun to see them come together.  It only took two days to get the deck done in the back yard.  First, Jon removed the large azaleas and relocated them in other places around the yard.

Then the professionals came in the next day and did their magic.  The new deck off the sun room is at the back of the house.

 They had the posts in the ground, the cross beams leveled and deck joists in place before lunch time.

It is fun to watch professionals at work in their sweet spot. They did a great job and it all seemed so effortless.
We continue to enjoy our time here with the kids and grand kids and seeing some projects getting done.  Its been a warm late summer but in the last couple of days has turned cooler.

Kelly and Jon have introduced the boys to smors.  It has been a closely supervised but a big after-dinner treat.

That's all for now on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for joining us.  Hope your week is a great one!

Why Write a Book?

Year ago someone mentioned that I should write a book.  Really?  Why should I do that? What would I say?  How does one do that?

I dismissed the idea then, but now, I'm a few weeks away from completing "The Wonder of RV Living, Vol 1 in the Roadrunner Chronicles".  I thought "Roadrunner Chronicles" already has some familiarity with RV blog readers, so I'll continue here with it.  It has been 18 months in the making.  I've had some expected false starts, weeks of having the words flow, followed by the ups and downs of getting across the finish line.

I can't say for sure when it will be out on Amazon for purchase, but I'm working hard to make it happen before Thanksgiving.  We will see.

Why do that?
May main motivation was that it would be a nice Christmas present.  I thought it would be cool to send a copy to each of my three brothers.  It still may happen and I'm only one year off my original goal of Christmas 2017.

I also thought that it might be helpful to pull together some information and send it along to folks who are curious about "How We Became Full-time RVers".  For others, I thought actual "Stories From Our Adventures" might be interesting.  Those two ideas comprise Part 1 and Part 2 of the manuscript.

Now, I look at it as a way to remember these great years on the road.  Last winter when we were at Palm Creek Resort in Casa Grande, AZ to see friends Karen and Steve, I remember RV neighbors who showed us there hardcopy book of their book on the trip they took on a boat around the Great Loop.  It was amazing to have a copy of their adventures in my hand and be able to read about it.  More motivation to get the Roadrunner Chronicles (Vol 1 - the book) completed.

How I started:
Rewind back to almost three years ago when I learned a friend was writing a book.  Wow - that was interesting.  Wes has a very good command of words and a knack for painting pictures with his words.  His Little Book of Misadventures got me thinking, "Ugh - There is no way I could do that."  I know I don't have nearly as a creative mind or story-telling creativity.

On the other hand, we have stories.  We've been living the dream for over 9 years now, and I have my own approach.  It began here with the blog Roadrunner Chronicles.

Where We Are:
Over 70,000 words, thirteen chapters, I'm now almost done with the second edit and thinking I have one more to go.

I have a couple more changes to make before I am happy the book cover, but it will be some variation of this.

That all for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles -  next week, I'll share the titles of some of my chapters.  Thanks for taking a look today!

Putzing Around and the Playhouse

We're back in Virginia Beach after the hurricane Florence mandatory evacuation from the Ocean Pines military RV campground here in Virginia Beach.

We have settled into a routine of sorts with most of our time being spent over at Jon and Kelly's and the grandkids.

We are available whenever we can to help out and even more.  At the same time we have  had some time to ourselves and are enjoying hiking, biking and seeing friends here that we have made over the years.

Brooks is just starting team soccer and that has been fun to experience.

I'm impressed with the coaches that know how to make it fun and are creative and finds all sorts of ways to keep the little ones on task.  45 minutes goes fast but everyone learns and has fun with it.

We also threw in another visit to the to the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk.  The boys seem to always enjoy it there.

A couple of Sunday's ago, while Harrison was taking his afternoon nap, Jon, Brooks and I went to the Oceana Naval Air Station Air show.

 This was the highlight for Brooks.  He got to sit in the cockpit of the airplane and had a great time.

The Canadian demo team: Snowbirds flew a precise series of maneuvers in their CT-114 Tutor aircraft.

We spent a couple of hours there and saw an aerial demonstration by the F-18 Blue Angels.

We also helped rejuvenate a play house for the boys in their backyard.  Jon found a used one and brought it home.

We put a new ladder on the side, a couple of safety rails along with some new cedar shingles.

We also leveled it all and made a sandbox underneath it.  We dug out the dirt, put down weed control cloth and then filled it with bags of sand.

We topped it off with a weather vane.  

If you look closely in the background, you can see that Kelly and Pam gave the boys' picnic table a fresh coat of paint to match the playhouse.

That's a look at some of what we have been up to the last few weeks.  How about you?  Where are you reading this from?

That's all from this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for joining us!