My Bucket List - My First Harley Ride 7.10.10

I saw a movie called The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman...I thought to myself "What is a bucket list?"...Now I know...It's things that you would like to do before you pass away...I haven't really thought that I had a bucket list until I had my chance to have my very first motorcycle ride...Then I realized that riding a Harley was one of my life's things that I wanted to do...

Richard and I met this couple here at Lake Ridge in the middle of June...Their names are Jason and Jessica...They have 2 kids, Gracie and Landon (ages 9 and 6)...They were here for 10 days starting July 2 but before that they were here every weekend for a month (monthly rate for their camper)...That's when I found out that Jason had a motorcycle and that he was going to bring it to Lake Ridge for those 10 days...Since we became close, I figured I could ask if I could get a "small" ride on his Harley...(This is the same family who "adopted" Kayla)...So on July 10 about 5:40pm, after work, I finally got about a 40 minute ride with Jason on his Harley...

No, I did not make Jason ride without his shirt...His wife told him too...*raspberries*

I had to have help putting on the helmet ( the straps were difficult)...

Getting ready to leave Lake Ridge...

Whoo hoo!!  I was so excited...Do my legs look too short??  LOL...

Coming back to Lake Ridge...(See, our truck/rv is in the background)...What an exhilarating ride...

The end of my ride...Parking the Harley...Kayla is sitting on Jason's lap...Gracie and Landon wanted in the picture too...Landon was "upset" that I took "his seat"...Jessica was taking the photo...

I had such a fun ride...It is so different to see the countryside without a truck window in front of you...The air is cool and you really don't feel how hot the sun is...I can see why there are so many motorcyclers out there...The view is totally different...I even had music in my helmet...

Kayla's Vacation to Lake Ridge - Pt. 3

Hey Mommy...Look, I've got tattoos...Mommom helped me have them...What ya think???

Kayla and her flower tattoos...They lasted about 2 days..

Yummy!  Mozzarella cheese sticks for lunch...

Kayla working on a craft that she wanted to do for her Mommy...She loves her and misses her alot...

Since Kayla is on vacation, she has actually made some pretty cool friends...Plus she has had the couple above "adopt" her...Their names are Jason and Jessica...They are the nicest 2 people here at Lake Ridge and Kayla took to them and the 2 kids as if they were family...

The 2 kids are Gracie and Landon...Gracie is 3 years older than K and Landon is 6 yrs. old...They have enjoyed K being around 24/7 as if K was their sister...It is so cool to see them all play together...

These are the 3 Amigos...When all 3 of the girls are here together camping at the same time, (K is always here with us  LOL), they play together...On the left is Gracie, in the middle is Grace and on the right is our K...They had such fun together in the pools (big an kiddie) and also going down the waterslides (more pics to come)...

As you can tell, all of the kids were dressed for Disney weekend here at Lake Ridge...The girl in the cowboy was Jessie from Toy Story...Her name is Sarah...Sarah is a friend of Gracie's in her home town about a 2 hour ride from here...Sarah also became a friend of K's...All of the kids got to ride in the mustang...

Disney weekend...Who do we have here???  Oh no, it's that evil puppy snatcher from 101 Dalmatians...but this evil puppy snatcher is a sweet little girl who K is best friends with...Our lovely Jasmine, makeup and outfit...K did have a crown in her hair but I guess she lost it to her Prince..LOL

Another chapter will begin tomorrow, K's vacation - Pt. 4 - Being in the water...

Kayla's Vacation to Lake Ridge - Pt. 2

Kayla has had a good time in the crafts room...She does get bored if she is not doing something every minute of the day...We had gone to Michaels in Christiansburg to get her some crafts to do...So far, as of today July 6, she has only done a couple of her crafts...Been too busy with pool to be bothered with them...LOL

What ya think of Kay's sailboat?  She did a great job of making it and named it Sparkler...

This craft that Kayla worked on is a secret...It is something very special that she wanted to do for her Mommy...Kayla chose all her stencils and the colors she wanted to use for everything...She was very creative...Kayla was also working on a Lake Ridge tee that she finally finished last week...LOL

In late June we had Disney weekend...Luckily I still had the princess outfits from when Kayla and her sister, Brianna, went to Disney World...So from out under the bed I brought out the outfits and Kayla decided she wanted to be Jasmine...Her friends, Gracie and; Landon, were going to be in costume too...That Saturday night, there was going to be a Costume Hayride...Jessica and Jason had Kayla for the weekend and she got all the kids ready for the hayride...Kayla was Jasmine, Gracie was Cruella DeVille and Landon was Pinocchio, strings and all...

Here is our little Jasmine..

Gracie as Cruella DeVille

Landon as Pinocchio (Strings attached)

The kids got to ride in the Mustang up to the Hayride area...Lucky kids!!

Hayride...

The ride after the hayride...

Kayla had a blast...She was all made up with makeup and all...Hair was done...and her tan made her look even better...Jessica did a fantastic on her kids costumes...At the hayride, I took the pictures so I could pick out who was the Disney Hayride Costume winner...Needless to say, I had a tie..There was only a few kids who dressed up and out of those kids, they only put on a dress or held something and pretended they were a Disney character...I couldn't pick our own little Jasmine cause I didn't want people to think we were playing favoritism...Although we wanted her to be a winner...But in our hearts, she is a winner, Always!  Below are the pics that I made for the 2 winners, Gracie and Landon...I could not pick between brother and sister...

Kayla's Vacation - Lake Ridge RV Resort - Pt. 1

Kayla is having a blast here at Lake Ridge in Hillville, VA...She has been doing so much and has made several friends while being here with us...
Her vacation started on May 3 when we left her home in West Virginia...We drove for almost 5 hours and she did really good for the length of time...We stopped at Bob Evans for breakfast and had a good meal...It actually lasted us until we got home...
Kayla has been up in the crafts room with me, her mommom...She helps me out with guests by getting water, their brushes or just sitting at their table watching them do their craft...She has made several acquaintances with this process...Katie was a teenage girl who would let Kayla sit with her while she did her craft...Kayla would bring her craft to Katie's table and they would work together...People ask if she is my daughter and right away I say "No, she is my granddaughter"...I love saying that...It makes me so proud...

Here at Lake Ridge the pools weren't ready until Memorial Day weekend...The heaters in the pool were getting the pools warmed up...Kayla was ready to get her swimsuit on and go swimming..Her goal this year was to swim in the big pool all by herself with no help with water wings or a floatie...The slide was put at the kiddie pool last year, 2009...All the kids have enjoyed going down the slide...As you can see, Kayla is getting ready to head to the top and make her way down...She has a blast...

Splash!!!

Here's our Kayla girl getting ready to get out of the kiddie pool and go back to the slide...She did this so much that she wore herself out...Kayla did play with other kids in the kiddie pool which is rare for her...She made friends with another girl, Grace...Poppy and I know her family well...

Kayla with no swimmies on...She is such a big girl!!

Before this time of her getting in the pools, she had become friends with a little girl and her brother, Gracie & Landon...Their dad, Jason, was down at their rv for a visit waiting on their mom to show up...Gracie and Kayla became friends instantly...Kayla was sitting outside on our deck swinging her feet when Gracie & Landon came over to say HI...Ever since that evening they have been very close...So much so that Jason kept an eye on Kayla while they were at the pools...I had told Kayla that she could not go in to the big pool without Poppy or I and one day while looking out the big crafts room window, I saw her getting ready to jump in the pool...It freaked me out at first but then I saw Jason...He stayed with her the whole time...He was teaching her to use the noodle and how to swim with it...His wife, Jessica, is very nice too...Jason, Jessica, Gracie & Landon have "adopted" her...They come and get her when they are here and keep her the whole time...Kayla is having the time of her life and she needed so badly...Poppy and I got to know Jason and Jessica after a cake eating contest for Mardi Gras weekend back around June 12...Their rv is right behind ours so we know that we can keep an eye on Kayla and when I'm up in the crafts room,  I can see how she is doing...So the picture below is the very first time she has decided to get in the big pool...

This is Jason with Kayla...He stuck by her the whole time they were in the pool...I thanked him for being there and helping her...

The little guy behind Kayla and Jason is Landon...He kept up with them as if he was protecting her too..

I don't know if you can really see Kayla's face but she is pretty happy being in the big pool...

The girl with the pink noodle is her new best friend, Gracie...

This all took place around June 17th...Kayla has not been out of the kiddie pool or the adult pool since she has arrived  here...Everyday all she wants to do is go swimming...She grabs her goggles, towel, and has sunblock put on and down the steps through a secret passage to the doors that lead to the pools...I am so glad she is having a blast..

Lizzi’s 3rd Birthday – May 2

Elizabeth turned 3…I don’t know where the years have gone but they have gone by very fast…

Each year a special day comes around and some of us look forward to it while others just want it to go by…But little kids love it when it is their day…Balloons, Cake or Cupcakes, Party Favors, Drinks, Games & then the Presents…This day was no exception for our 3rd granddaughter, Elizabeth…

Brandi came up with a very good idea for a cake…Cupcakes put together with icing going across all the cupcakes…Then decorate it…Wow!  What an awesome idea and all the kids/adults liked having their own cupcake(s)…Brandi did a great job on her daughter’s cake…

Lizzi don’t realize that her “ears” are on backwards…but she had a blast taking her Princess crown ears on and off…Her Princess Mickey Ears was bought at Disney when Brianna was on vacation…We thought Lizzi was coming to Disney in March for a few days…What a better surprise than on her birthday…

Here is the little Princess spinning in her Princess dress…She looked so beautiful in her pink & black dress…It’s a wonder that her ears didn’t fall off…

One of the birthday presents that Elizabeth received was that she wanted her ears pierced…There is a friend of Brandi’s, Gary, who wanted to get her ears pierced as her present…But it turned out that the price was a bit more than we both anticipated so we joined in the present cost…It take Lizzi forever to pick out a “nice” pair of earrings…She did a wonderful job in not crying…Talk about being proud of a little girl who should have cried when the first earring went in her ear…Lizzi picked out little diamond earrings…

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Lizzi, Happy Birthday to you!!!  whoo hooo!!!!

Attending the birthday bash were Gramms, Aunt Sarah, MJ, Keylie (I know this isn’t spelled right) & Courtney…Then there is Uncle Josh, Poppop…A pretty good family/friend gathering…

The others attending were Poppy and Mommom (the one taking the pictures), along with Mommy, Kayla & Brianna...

Some more attending the birthday bash were Gary, Brandi's friend, Gary's son Brent and Brent's friend...They traveled from Pennsylvania to be at Lizzi's party...

On the far left is Uncle Josh and on the far right is Poppy (Richard)...In the middle is Gary with his son, Brent and Brent's friend...

After singing Happy Birthday, Lizzi got her "cupcake" to eat...She truly enjoyed her chocolate cupcake...Then came the opening of the presents...Lizzi got plenty of great stuff...

Lizzi received a beautiful Princess Tiana dress with Tiana flipflops...She received a tea set, a hairdressing kit, a big erasable marker board and clothes...This little girl made out very well...What a wonderful birthday party...The kids even had bubbles to use outside...Plus a swing set in the back yard...Brandi decided to have grilled hamburgers & hot dogs, chips and drinks...