Christmas Tree Lot and Beyond

When we finished with the Pumpkin Lot, we had a couple of weeks rest.  We were able to do a little touring of the Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks areas, meet friends for lunch and go back to Canyon Country and meet up with a couple of our employees from when we managed the Christmas Tree lot there.  Before we knew it, it was time to start setting up for the Tree Lot in Simi Valley.

Roger and our Zone Manager, Patrick Delaney

Trees

We repainted the Pumpkin Cashier booth for Christmas

The tree is "fresh cut"

A hole is drilled to screw the stand onto tree, customer pays for the tree and then loaded into their vehicle

We stayed at the tree lot until December 29 cleaning up and "closing up shop" till next year.  Yes, I did say "till next year".  We already told the owners that we would love to come back and manage both the Pumpkin and Tree lot.

Off to Blythe, CA.  We rested for a week and then took off from the Phoenix airport for Minnesota.  Lucky us, we landed at MSP for the coldest days that Minnesota has had in 20 years.  We froze!!!  Our stay was lots of fun and very eventful.  Not only did we get to see our newest Grandson Leo, but we celebrated Christmas with all of Roger's kids and had lunch with my Aunt JoAnn, Uncle Verle, Cousins Debbie, Diane and Joe and their families.  We stayed with friends Kittie and Terry; and "babysat" Roger's daughter Denise and her husband Tony's house while they took the kids to Disney World; had lunch and with friends Lee and Pam and assorted dinners with family.  Whew!!  It was good that we rested before coming to MSP because we were very tired when we left.

Grandma and Grandson Leo

Son Scott with his nephew Leo

Grandpa and Grandson Matt

Daughter Jen

Daughter Amy with Linus, son-in-law Tom in background

Granddaughter Faith with Leo and Grandpa

Grandsons Kyle and Blake

Grandson Jarod

Grandson Leo with Daughter-In-Law Lisa

Uncle Verle, Aunt JoAnn, Cousin Joe and Kerry

Cousin Debbie and her son Ryan

Cousin Diane her husband Dennis and daughter Katie

When we arrived back in Phoenix after our whirlwind trip, we were greeted at the airport by good friends Pat and Son.  We spent a wonderful day/evening visiting with them and left after breakfast to return to our home on wheels in Blythe.  We didn't exactly let any grass grow under our feet when we got back.  Our friends Bob and Chris, who own the Riviera RV Resort where we are staying, gave us tickets to go see the Bluegrass Festival in Blythe.  The festival featured Bluegrass bands from all over the US.  We had a great time!

The big Quartzsite RV Show started that weekend, so we decided to wait until Monday to go check it out.  Quartzsite AZ is a tiny town about 17 miles from Blythe.  The town is basically a ghost town during most of the year; but when all of the RV'ers appear during the winter months to camp on Bureau of Land Management Land out in the desert; it becomes a metropolis.  The RV show is huge and really fun.  We were only going to go one day and we've been there now 4 times and we're going again on Friday.

We'll be leaving Blythe on the 29th and heading to San Diego.  I made reservations to stay for a week at the Chula Vista RV Resort.  Talk to you all then!