Memorial Day Weekend.... errr WEEK!

So, as you can see from the last BOG date, I'm a tad behind. Of course, as soon as I get this thing up and going my internet goes to crap, its a holiday weekend, and my husband is home. So that, on top of the every day craziness over here, it has taken me a minute to get settled back down.

My internet was the biggest hurdle. I live in the sticks, so it has always been not great. But this last week or so it has just stopped working. I THINK I have the kinks worked out, so we shall see. I'm going to try and crank out a few BLOG entries in the next few days to get ya'll caught up on life here at the Riggan Homestead!

We will start with the holiday weekend, which since I work from home and my husband was home, it turned into almost a week of activities! So much fun!

We started off with an impromptu camping trip. Literally, decided at like 2 in the afternoon that we should head up to the mountains. It was Valentine's and Norma's FIRST camping trip. And our first camping trip in the new-to-us camper!

Some kinks to work out for sure. Might need to invest in a quite generator so that we have heat and electricity. It wasn't too bad, being summer. But fall and winter will be a different story.

Before we even left the house, James flooded the camper while filing the water tank. Ooops. It wasn't terrible and we got it dried out in a day or so. Hopefully no major damage. We also found out that our water tank leaks. I'm going to have to do some research to see if we can seal it or if it's going to need replaced. It's not THAT big of a deal, because we only use the water to wash the few dishes we make and its not leaking into the camper.

COOKING WAS AWESOME!!! I love cooking on a campfire, don't get me wrong. But being able to throw some eggs and bacon on the stove in the morning was awesome. Our burgers, dogs, and s'mores were all of course done on the fire. Along with sides like potatoes or corn, but having that little stove in the camper was super handy.

Valentine totally loved being outside all day and exploring the mountains. He REALLY liked throwing snow at his dad and thought it was just too funny! I love watching the two of them together. I'm going to have my hands full with them! I can feel the grey hairs growing already!

After we got home from camping Monday morning, we went to the cemetery to pay our respects to those who have died defending out freedoms. We also placed flowers on the graves of our loved ones who have passed. We have been doing this since 2016. James' mother, Connie, used to do it every year, so after her passing we took over the tradition.

I felt that this past year really brought families closer and made people grateful for what they have. And it showed at the cemetery. There were at least twice as many flowers as there were last year (and not because there were more graves or anything like that. Just that it seemed more people had come to visit than before). I was glad to see a bigger celebration of those we have lost.

Monday night we went to a BBQ with friends and Tuesday night we went wheeling/crawling with friends in the jeep for the first time. Wednesday James and I took a ride back up to get the jeep, whoops. A bolt had broke while we were crossing a creek and some rocks. Easy fix, but she had to sit over night. Was a total blast!! And I can't wait to go again!

Thursday and Friday we just relaxed at home and Saturday we had a BBQ with friends at our house. I tried to rush my baked beans.... not a good idea. I use dried beans, so they really need to sit in water for about 24 hours. I boiled and pressure cooked, trying to cheat. They were ok... but still slightly hard for my taste. Can't do beans last minute. haha But we all had a great time and had a good meal!

Sunday (yesterday) we took Valentine to see his great-grandpa and then his grandpa. Was another great day visiting with family. And TODAY we got news that James gets to stay home until SATURDAY!!! He was supposed to leave this morning. Makes me happy!!! Although, its a little scary (and sad for those that it effects), that the job was postponed because where they were going to drill, is on fire. Hoping that all are safe and that not too much damage ensues.

Well, I believe that covers the recent festivities. This was really a random long BLOG post I know, I will be back later this week with some updates on the Riggan Hatch and all our little critters!