After kissing a lot of toads, so to speak, from Fayetteville, AR to Pineville, MO, we finally found a decent and affordable RV park to call 'home' for the next few months. What a load it has taken off us to have that settled! Unfortunately, our park is in Pineville, a good 40-minutes from Tracy's. Still, it's a nice location, grassy and on the confluence of the Little and Big Sugar Creeks that come together to form the Elk River (a popular rafting river). We understand there's catfish in that there river, and have been eyeballing some fishing gear to see if we can catch any....

Right now, we're a little nervous about being very close to the river, as flash flood warnings have already raised the level by 2-3 feet. There's a sign on an electric pole as we enter the park that marks the flood level on April 25, 2011. Where we're now situated would have been under several feet of water. Nice that we can move our home if we have to! Folks on the other side of the river weren't that fortunate....

On to more important news: After several weeks of waiting for Tracy's contractions to get serious, she was finally scheduled to be induced on Maddox's due date, October 9th. Doctors were concerned about his size, as she was measuring at 42 1/2 weeks when he was 40 weeks! I was home with all five grandchildren that day, as Jack and Kate are on a 2-week school break. Tracy went in at 6 a.m., and Maddox Frederich Lindstrom was born at 2:01 p.m. weighing a whopping 10 lbs. 3 oz and 22" long! He has a full head of jet black hair, and is just perfect! He has mom and dad's long fingers and toes and, apparently, their height! 

I loaded up his five siblings and took them to meet their little brother. They were so excited! Of course, so was I....

Today, two days later, we stopped in to see Mike, Tracy and Maddox on an otherwise kid-free weekend, and Fritz's birthday present was to get to hold his 14th grandchild (along with getting a yummy treat Tracy made for him!)

So....it's recovery time for all of us. It's been an intense few weeks and I've been to Tracy's nearly every day, leaving Fritz a virtual widower. We can expect to achieve a little more balance as the Lindstrom/Little family adjusts to its new equipoise. Mike is home for two weeks to be the guiding force behind that adjustment. We're so grateful for him! He's the calm in the storm, much like Fritz.


Speaking of storms, our last week at the "Hilton" RV park, as I was returning from Tracy's, a tornado siren went off. I was only a mile from home, so made a dash for it. The other RVers joined us in the laundry room until the all-clear sounded. More severe weather is expected tomorrow night. There is also a sturdy restroom/shower area here, if needed. Between severe weather and the rising waters of the river behind us, I don't think we'll be able to really relax until the skies clear early next week!