Day 31 Wednesday Departure Day

After a great holiday, seeing all our Paradise Park friends again, and the kids in Mexico 3 times, and despite Katie's broken bone in her foot, we are on the road today heading home.

We are not in a hurry this morning, It will be packing the car, and taking out time closing up the trailer. Not much sense rushing as it all depends on what time we want to get to the Best Western Hotel in Denton. We don't really care if we get there at 7:30 or 8:30 as we would rather miss rush hour traffic around Dallas/Ft. Worth if possible.

We will say goodbye to our friends who are still in the park, and plan to leave the park between 11 and 12.

and so ends great times in the Valley....

more later....

Day 29 and 30 Monday and Tuesday

Katie and I decided we would leave on Wednesday rather than Friday, as it is just too hot and humid, and tough on Katie with her cast. So we have been packing and straightening things up around here. Had a nice visit from Bonnie last night.

We got the car washed and detailed at a Mexican car wash today...and they did a great job!

So packing up is the order of the day...and we can take our time a bit tomorrow to close the trailer up, as we are only driving to the Best Western in Denton where we like to stay...about an 8 hour drive or so. Thursday we will drive to Council Bluffs about 10 hours, then Friday we will head home, about another 10 hours, and we are hoping the wait at the border will be short as it is Good Friday.

Katie has to be back to work next Wednesday and has an appointment to see about her broken foot at Legacy Sports on Tuesday. She is hoping for the best which means no surgery.

Extremely bad weather in an around Dallas today with tornadoes. Good thing we are not leaving today!

more later....

Day 28 Sunday

Just putting around today until 5:00PM when we went over to Danna and Remi's for happy hour/pot luck dinner. Danna said she was providing the pulled pork and buns and everyone should bring something that would help them clean out their fridge.

Katie took some potato salad, and we went to HEB in the morning to get some tart shells, so Katie could make Remi one of his favorite things...lemon pie or lemon tart from real lemons. Katie did not have time to make a pie as it would not have cooled in time so she make the tarts instead. We're pretty sure that Remi enjoyed them.

It was pretty hot so we all sat inside, and the pulled pork and other items were delicious. Remi kept trying to get rid of beer he had in the fridge, so we tried to help him as much as we could.

After dinner, it was lots of pleasant conversation, and laughs so hard it make tears roll down Katie's face. The laughs were supplied by Brian and Linda Connolly, as they told stories about their arrival in Canada as a young couple, and the trials and tribulations they had with their thick Scottish brogue.
I can't tell you how funny it was as both told some stories, but Brian had more and just kept going. It was hilarious. If laughter is good for the soul...ours were in great condition by the time we left. It was a great fun night. Thanks to Danna and Remi for being such excellent hosts.

And so ended another great day in the Valley!

more later...

Day 27 Saturday

It was really hot today. Katie and I decided to do some puttering around inside the trailer, and that's about it. Pretty much of a lazy day.
In the evening our friends Steve and Janet dropped by, and we had a really nice visit. We hadn't seen too much of them since we arrived, they
are always busy doing something. It was good to see them.

And so ended another great uneventful day in the Valley!

more later...

Day 26 Friday

Day after the storm and all is well. We dodged a bullet here in Pharr. Katie and I did a bit of grocery shopping in the morning, then went to Bonnie's in the afternoon so I could install her router and Nettalk phone device. I had configured pretty well everything at home, so the install went pretty smoothly.

The rest of the day was spent puttering around, we grabbed pizza for supper from Pizza Hut. We changed the crust on the order and were disappointed in the result. We won't be doing that again, and probably not ordering from there anymore.

Watched some TV at night. Pretty relaxing day overall.

and so ended another great day in the Valley...

more later...

Day 25 Thursday Trip to Mexico and Big Storm!!!!

I'll start off with the storm...There was a tornado about 5 miles from us

There was tremendous amounts of rain, up to 4.1" in some parts of McAllen. Big lightening shows, high winds and hail. Flooded streets. Water was up over doors and windows of stores. Lots of power outages and cars broke down from flooded engines. One of the Meteorologists on TV said this was the worst he has seen in 30 years. At time the hail in parts of McAllen lasted 30 minutes. Video below.

Lots of cars in places where the water was up to the windows. We were very lucky here in Pharr, got a very small amount of hail, our power did not go out, and all was good. When they start talking about Tornadoes though, the thought of being in a mobile home like we are is not very comforting!

I hope all our Mexican kids did alright, good thing we went to Mexico yesterday, because the roads are so bad in some parts they would most likely be impassable today!.

MEXICO TO SEE THE GIRLS!

We net Sister Maureen, Ken and Vickey on the Texas side of the International Bridge around 2:15. Got waved through the Mexican check point even though Sister Maureen had the back full of clothes, medicine, food, clothes etc. Our roller bag on wheels we put between Katie and I on the back seat as we didn't need more attention to what was in the truck.

Sister Maureen had to pay some bills, deliver some medicine and other items to a clinic, then we were off to our little Vickey's place. Sr. Maureen, Ken and Vickey still had other things to do in Canalas, so they dropped Katie and I off to spend time with Vickey and her family. This caused a little trepidation on my part as they speak absolutely no English. Previously Sister Maureen was always there to perform translation duties. Vickey came out of the house as she always does, running at full speed, up into my arms, puts her head on my shoulder and just hugs and doesn't want to let go until I give her to Katie. What a feeling!

We had some gum and a few odds and ends for the kids...and they are always happy to get anything. Here is Vickey playing with one of the things...and her gum in the other hand.



We watched the kids play for awhile and they took out the soccer ball we gave them last time and had some fun. Then we decided it would be fun for the kids to write on Katie's cast. So I took out my phone and translator and we tried to get them to get us crayons and or markers or something. It was hilarious! The trouble with the translator is that it has a mind of its own. I say something in English and sometimes it gets it right, but sometimes it just says whatever it wants. So if it was correct what I said and translated into Spanish out load, I would shake my head yes and the kids would all yell "Si". But if it was wrong, I would shake my head no and the kids would all yell out "No!" and laugh and laugh. It was a lot of fun and this went on for a long time, and we never did convince them to go inside and get us what we needed. They got crayon just fine, and paper, and a few other things, but retrieving it from le casa did not resonate with them...

here are some other photos from Vickey's place...

Then the red truck rolled up again...and we were off...we stopped at the place where we always stop where they distribute the food and clothes Sister Maureen brings. The kids are so cute...and Katie and I always bring enough suckers for every child.

After spending some time there, emptying out the truck, we were off again to see our girl Libby. Karily came flying out of the house, up into my arms and gave me the biggest hug. These kids are so loving it's unbelievable.

Baby Eric was sleeping on the bed as usual, Erica has to take him to Monterrey Again next week to see the Doctor. Libby had obviously just been sleeping as she was rubbing her eyes and did not seem quite with it. She looked adorable. Soon we were inside giving the kids the loot we had brought. We brought them a bag of mini donuts, gum, skipping rope, things for their hair, a barbie doll each, clothes, paddle toys, pictures in a frame, one for Karily of Durga her sponsor (Madrina), and one of Katie and I holding Libby. We also gave them the electronic tablet like learning device, which is Spanish and English that they can learn and have a lot of fun with. We also gave them some rechargeable batteries and a charger as the electronic device takes 3 AA's.

Libby came over and gave me a big hug as she did for Katie. Karily is so thoughtful, she went in the other room and carried out chairs, and she instructed me to "sit" then she disappeared for quite a while.

We learned soon thereafter, that she had taken her bike and ridden into town to get her dad who works at a Dentist's office. He is not a dentist, he works there in some capacity. She returned with him, and we could immediately tell, that he is a good guy who is a family man. We were very pleased to see that.

We had lots of fun and the kids obviously liked their gifts. Libby spent a lot of time with Katie plays with the learning tablet. It was fun to watch her face.

Not quite awake...

what a sweetheart...

Both kids skipping...Karily is very good at it...Libby was having a hard time because the rope is too long...but she was doing better at the end and Karily will show her.





Here is a picture of all of us



We had such a good time...and we just love those two little ones...Karily was happy with her picture of Durga and took it outside to show one of her friend her "Madrina".

Libby would just come over every once in a while and give a big hug for no particular reason...making me melt.

here are some other photos

Then unfortunately it was time to go...so sad...have to wait until next year...as we were walking out...Libby as usual with no prompting from anyone, took Katie's hand to walk her to the truck because of Katie's cast.

Nice kisses and hugs from both Karily and Libby and then we were on our way back to the USA. No problem at all at the border, and soon we were in our car heading home.

and so ended that part of another great day in the Valley!!!!

Then later...the storm started....

and luckily that part with no damage for us and ended in with exciting night in the Valley!

more later....

Day 24 Wednesday

After breakfast we got ready, had to take something back to Walmart and then went to CompUSA. They made me a little angry as they sent an email flyer this morning with an item I wanted to get. When we went there, we found out that the only one place they had the item was a town in Illinois and in limited quantities. What a ripoff! Say you have an item to get people into the store, then to find out they don't have it, never did, and of course now they want to sell you one that is more expensive. Lucky there was something else I wanted there or I would have been even more angry.

Then it was off to Bath and Body Works...Katie was buying things for people at work. We walked out with a rather large shopping bag doubled because of
the weight.

When we visited George and Claire Walker in Weslaco a couple of weeks ago, Claire was nice enough to give Katie and I a $15 gift card for PJ Chang's. Because both Claire and George said how good PJ Chang's was, we decided to go there for lunch. It was in the same complex and we had planned it out that way.

After a very short wait, we were taken to our table. Then a server named Sam introduced himself and began to tell us all about how PJ Chang's does things and what options were available to us. He was excellent in describing the dishes and made them all sound so good, that we couldn't decide. Sam offered to do the ordering for us and surprise us. He asked a few questions to ensure he would provide the kinds of things we wanted or not.

A short time later...out came two different chicken dishes, as we said we didn't want beef or seafood. He also brought an extra dish which was english cucumbers in a sauce. He explained the dishes were spicy, then not so spicy, then cool with the cucumbers. There was also white rice and brown rice.

Katie and I dug in...and....it was oh so good!!!! Everything was delicious!!! One of the best meals we have had since we got here. We would definitely go back any time. We cleaned up every last morsel. Sam was great with the service, all in all a very pleasant experience.

We came back home...Katie started to sort out some of the things we are taking home, while I worked on setting up the router and the Nettalk for our friend Bonnie.

Time for supper, the left over spaghetti from yesterday, which was excellent.

Talked to my Bro, Al, for awhile.

A night of relaxation is now in order.

Now the best part is that tomorrow, we get to go to Mexico again with Sister Maureen to see "our girls". Can't wait!

And so ends another great day in the valley....

more later....