The Muench Bunch

July 28...Although we just got home after our long drive back from Colorado and were super tired, had lots to do, I still wouldn't have missed our invitation to our friends, Dan and Angelia. Dan retired from the Navy and took on a job in Cedar Rapids. He started his new job in May and has been traveling back for the weekends. They still have their home in Ames and come back for the weekends. We hadn't been able to get together with them for so long. They are in the process of selling their current home, living in an apartment, and buying a new home. Dan grilled some awesome steak and Angelia made all the fixins. She even made a delicious homemade chocolate cake. The boys went along and hung out with Samantha and her boyfriend and Lizzy. Somehow our kids always manage to end up hanging out with "the boyfreinds." They were hoping their boys, Gannon and Griffin would be there too. IT was sad to sit in their back patio among the trees knowing it would be for the last time

Traveler is the roan horse I used in serpentine. He is a nice horse and safe for beginners at a walk and trot. When you gain speed, he can be fast and under pressure he can get hot with cattle and become hard to stop. He is a sweet horse, likes people and is affectionate. His ground manners are perfect.  We have talked about selling him for some time. We have too many horses now and he doenst get ridden enough. He has kind of been my horse. Jake has been able to ride him well and has taken him trail riding. He gets a bad cough and needs to have his hay watered down, so I wanted to make sure he went to someone that knew that and would take proper care of him. We talked it over and Jayden wanted to list him for sale. She was excited about taking on the sale. She wanted expeience in listing and selling a horse. I told her, he would probably sell in the first day. She went ahead and put a post on her personal facebook that only her friends would see. My friend Jessica was interested and be

We started our last full day in Estes Park Colorado by going to a fun park riding on Go Karts and bumper boats. The first race, Jake was in the lead and Mark was on a mission to pass. He is so competitive, he shows no mercy! He was creeping in on Jake lap after lap, then he made his move, bumped Jake and spun his car. Jake was not to happy about that. To lighten the mood, the got in the bumper boats and did some bumping and splashing. We had an early lunch at The "Egg and I" restaurant. At 1:00 we met at the stables on the YMCA property for our trail ride. The YMCA is on 860 acres of beautiful land nestled in the mountains. It is a busy happening community complete with, campgrounds, cabins, Inn, auditorium, amphitheater, museum, conference center, indoor pool, chapel, baseball, soccer, tennis courts,and mini golf. They have just about everything and were blown away by it. And of course they had the horse stable with 113 horses. We booked a 2 hour trail ride and were excited

Monday we rolled into Estes park Colorado and arrived at Ram's Horn Village after dark around 9/10PM. We stayed there exactly 4 years ago almost to the day. I just love it there, it is my "Happy Place". It is so beautiful, peaceful, quiet, and amazing. Everything is so perfect, the weather is cool and crisp in the evenings with bright stars in the sky and mountains surrounding you. The mountains are breathtaking and we can see them in every direction. Ram's Horn is a luxury cabin, set in its own little community. Each cabin has a grass lawn, hammock, porch, and grill. The street is paved all throughout with bikes to use as often as you like. There is a pool with a hot tub under the stars and among the trees. They have all the extras, free laundromat, the rooms each have a tv, a fireplace, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a view. We all love it there. We had a little time to sit in the hot tub before calling it a night. Everyone is so friendly at Ram's Horn. They all

After the Eldon Starr ranch visit, Mark wanted to take the scenic route to Cheyenne. I knew that Cheyenne was only 3 hours away, so driving on highways and not taking the interstate didn't bother me. However when 3 hours passed and we were nowhere near Cheyenne I was a little irritated. Not only were we a little ways, we were a long ways from the route. We did make one stop to see a historic site in Nebraska called Chimney Rock. We also made sure we stayed on the sidewalk. He had gone up north and all over the place. The worst part was, the view only changed slightly. Sand hills, sand hills, sand hills. There wasnt much to see! I was very annoyed when it took us 7 hours!! I was so happy when we finally checked into our hotel and had steak for dinner. Originally Mark didn't want to make the drive to North Platte in one day, he thought that would be too much driving. And here we were day two, driving another 7 hours for no apparent reason other than scenery! After a stay in a h

Back in 2014, we made a road trip out to Colorado. It was one of my most favorite trips and I have always wanted to go back and do it again. When choosing a summer vacation, we let Jayden make the call since she would soon be off to college. She had been wanting to go to Okoboji. One day we were randomly talking about Okoboji and Cheyenne Frontier Days. Mark asked Jayden where she would rather go. Cheyenne without a doubt was the answer. After county fair, I was making plans and Mark gave me the okay. I planned the trip 2 weeks before we left.  Our family was invited to the Eldon Starr ranch Anniversary party. Mark worked on the ranch some 25 years ago and has always wanted to show us. The timing was going to coordinate with our trip, which made him really happy. Jayden also had been trying to figure out a way to go see her friend Kara who has been working and living in Wyoming. We made arrangements to meet up with her too. I researched where to stay in Estes Park Colorado and surprisi

July 19. Just like any typical day in Ames, This time I was with Jayden and Luke. We were downtown for Luke's guitar lesson. Jayden had gone to the Loft and I went to a cafe too get a drink. Jayden texted me that we were under a tornado warning.  I thought that to be strange.  I walked out to see blue skies with big fluffy white clouds. The day had been perfect with a nice 70 to 80 degrees without all the humidity. We have had such high humidity that being outside was enjoyable, this was a pleasant day. I looked off to the east and saw lots of tall thunder heads. I figured we were on the backside of the storm. Later we discovered while we were in Ames, Tornadoes were ripping through Bondurant and Marshalltown! Both less than 30 ,Minutes away. Both places had extensive damage. Pella was hit also and destroyed much of the Vermeer plant. The pictures were devastating. These were taken from Google.

I have never been a fan of little dogs, so it has taken some getting used to with Rosco. They are very different from the big golden retriever dog that always stands by my side begging for attention. Rosco is more distracted and it is hard to get his attention. He has stolen Jake's heart. He is his dog and he is responsible for him in every way.   Tuff is the guard dog. He barks at every car coming down the road and if someone pulls in the driveway he doesnt quit barking until we assure himn it is ok. I am not a big fan of guard dogs and some people are scared to get out of their vehicles. He is a smart dog and Jayden has trained him well. She will snap her finger ans he sits, clap her hand and he lays down. He is very obedient and smart. Daisy has had a rough summer. She was carrying a thick heavy coat of hair so I took her for a hair cut. They shaved her poor hair so short she had very little left. I was so sad for her. She spent the rest of summer in a t-shirt to keep her fro