Paul's 4th Birthday

Paul on his new "Lightning McQueen" bike

The Birthday Boy opening gifts

His "Cars" Cake

Last Saturday was my nephew, Paul's, 4th birthday. As usual, Kathy & Spyros put on a great party. I'm still not sure how they prepared for it with all that has been going on with my parents. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and a storm blew in just before the party was supposed to start. That meant that the party was pretty much confined to the inside of the house. Thank goodness their house is huge and perfect for entertaining, no matter what the weather is. All the kids seemed to have a great time, as did the adults. We took my Dad and were surprised at how long he stayed.

Jillian's 1st Grade Concert

Our Patriotic Princess


Ethan Bond & Jillian



Connor & Andrew Bond



I am late in posting this event...things have been quite hectic with my parents. My Mom did come home from the hospital (finally) on Friday. We left at 6:00 a.m. today (Saturday) to attend our rally at Natchez Trace State Park in TN. We are at Singing Hills Campground in Cave City, KY tonight. We will arrive at the rally early tomorrow afternoon and plan to get back to Michigan on Sunday, May 10th. It's nice to have a break from all the issues with my parents, although we did feel guilty leaving Kathy & Sue to take care of them.


Back to Jillian's concert...it was on April 22nd and it was the "Wee Americans" Concert - all patriotic songs. She was too adorable, putting her all into each song and doing all the hand movements that went with them. We thoroughly enjoyed it and we were glad we returned to Michigan early so we could attend.

Update on my Mom

Today was unbelievable. We thought they were going to do a test to determine why my Mom had a heart murmur during her surgery last week. Well, the test was a cardiac cath and they found she had 80-90% blockage in her aorta. They did a balloon and a stent and said her quality of life should improve greatly. Our question was, "Why didn't her cardiologist that she's been seeing on a regular basis for years ever catch that???" We have decided that my Mom AND Dad will both be getting new doctors that practice at Beaumont Hospital. We are firing their internist and cardiologist. We told my Mom tonight that she better not even have a hangnail after this...we're tired of her springing all these surprises on us. On a really good note...her leg is really healing well and it looks like she may be OK with that. Thank goodness!!!

We're Back in Michigan

We arrived at my parents' house at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday. It was a long, long trip in a little over 3 days. (Over 2,500 miles) My Mom took a bad turn Thursday night and ended up on a ventilator in ICU. She had received a 2nd blood transfusion and was getting extra liquids because she was dehydrated. Her body couldn't keep up with it and she basically had a fluid overload. She is doing fine now. They took the tube out of her throat yesterday and it was a great Easter present to walk in and see her awake and sitting up. My Dad couldn't stand up from his wheelchair fast enough to give her a kiss.. :-) He even had her nurse tearing up. Jason brought the grandkids over yesterday afternoon and we sure surprised them. They had no idea that we were back in Michigan. I made a ham dinner for everyone and we had a great visit. We will be staying at my parents for a while. Our trailer is just around the corner from here at a friends' house who has a lot of property. That worked out good for us. So, for now, our adventures will be few. We're still planning to attend the rally in TN at the end of this month, as long as things are OK here and we can have someone take over with my parents. We're just playing everything by ear right now.

Change of Plans

We have had a big change in our plans. Kathy took my Mom to the Wound Care Center at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak yesterday because she had a few blisters on her leg. Well, they admitted her right away to start IV antibiotics. Today the doctor came in and tried to clean the one area that he is most concerned about and couldn't do it in her room, so he scheduled surgery for tomorrow afternoon. He thinks it is a hematoma that may have gone to the bone. So, we are planning to leave in the morning and head straight back to Michigan. We will stay at my parents' house with my Dad and help out with him. At this point, we have no idea how long she will be in the hospital. Bob is planning to drive as long as he can each day, so I'm thinking (barring anything unforeseen) we'll be back in Michigan late Friday.

Joshua Tree National Park

View from Key's Peak -
The depression near the top
is part of the San Andreas Fault


A Joshua Tree


Interesting rock formations


Skull Rock


Yesterday we spent the day at Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojove Desert (it is considered the "High Desert"). It was a beautiful day and the park had many varied and interesting rock formations. The park is a training ground for rock climbers to "learn the ropes" and several climbers where there yesterday. We went to the top of Key's Peak (5,185 feet) to enjoy the view. We could see San Gorgonio Mountain, at 11,485 feet it is the highest mountain in Southern California. We could also see Mt. San Jacinto, which is the 2nd highest at 10,831 feet. They were both snow-covered. Although they were twice as high as where we were standing, they seemed to be about the same height. The temperature Key's Peak was only 43 degrees and it was extremely windy up there. It was about 80 degrees in Desert Hot Springs, where we are staying this week. When we left the park we went to Twenty-Nine Palms, CA where they have "An Oasis of Murals". They have about 20 murals painted on the sides of the buildings around town. It was very interesting.

Connor Wins Gold & Bronze!

Connor with his boards


Connor (center) accepts his GOLD medal



Connor and Jillian had a karate tournament today. Unfortunately, Jillian has been sick and she missed it. Connor won a gold medal in the Weapons Form category and a bronze medal in the Board Breaking category. Congratulations, Connor!


We moved today from Menifee, CA to Desert Hot Springs. It's a nice park and this will be our last week in California. :-( We will be heading to Salome, AZ next Saturday and then to Casa Grande, AZ the following Saturday. We drove to Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert this evening. Whew...you would never know there was a recession going on when you are there! We even saw a Bentley dealership in Rancho Mirage...don't think I've ever seen one of those before.


On Thursday we met Gwen & Jim; their son, Michael; their daughter, Jamie and her hubby and children; my cousin, Mari and her friend, Jim for dinner near our park. It was a great evening! I had not seen their son or Mari yet, so that was another great reunion. We are planning to meet up with Mari & Jim and Gwen & Jim this week for another visit before we leave. I spoke to Cheryl & Paul last night and we are also planning to get together with them this week before we leave California. They have been in Nevada getting their new motor home repaired for the past 2 weeks, so we haven't seen them in a while. This will be a fun week, but also very sad. It has been so great to see my cousins and get reacquainted with them after 40 years. We have had a wonderful time and they all made us feel so welcome. We will be sad to leave here, but we are definitely planning to return here in 2 years. (If they don't have our pictures posted at the border so we can't get back in.) When we return we are planning to go further north in CA and visit Yosemite National Park and a few other places. Have I mentioned lately that "THIS IS THE LIFE???"