Camping with the boys!!!

This year we chose to take the guys back to Clabough's Campground in Pigeon Forge, TN. We had a great time, but it was a lot of hard work. 

             A check in with mom before we head up the mountain is always a good thing!

                                          One cannot spend too much time in the lazy river!

      Sam could not get enough time feeding the ducks.... 2 lbs. of frozen corn made for happy ducks!

                                            And a good race on the bounce pillow is a must!

                I think the best part of the NASCAR track were the water boats!  It was a hot day!  They evening before we left we all went to Dolly Partin's Dixie Stampede.  They were sold when the food started showing up, biscuits and your own roasted hen were a hit and they loved the racing pigs!!!!

I just love these guys and we have had a blast camping with them each summer for the last 4 summers.  We may have to reinvent our summer trips with them but for now summer 2019 is in the books!  Happy summer Jack and Sam!!!

Camping with the girls!

Our camping trips with Celia and Lily are such a highlight for us!  This year we went to Lake Ridge RV Resort in Hillsville, VA.  This particular campground is in the mountains, the weather was beautiful and they have a water slide......and it did not disappoint. However our first stop was in Mt. Airy, NC at Barneys Cafe.  The girls were barely aware of The Andy Griffith Show but pictures on the walls and our stories about the television show made the burgers and fries more interesting, and who doesn't like a malted milkshake.

  The girls had a blast on the water slide and I was eternally grateful that the weather cooperated! They wore themselves out waking back up the hill but where can you go and slide as many times as you want with virtually no waiting line.  The looks on their faces when they went down the first time said it all!!!!!

I hope when they are grown they remember these trips with fondness because we already are!  This is our fourth year taking them on a summer camping trip and I can't believe how blessed we are!  Love these kid like crazy!  Happy summer Celia and Lily!!!!!

LET US NOT FORGET........

What an absolutely incredible winter we have had! As we prepare to leave in 2 days I am reminiscing about all of the fun we have had.  This has been an exceptional time for us!  The weather has been simply wonderful!  Our exercise routine has been an important time for us as we do it together! And John and I have just had so much fun being together!!!  And these are some of the wonderful friends that we have blessed our time here with their friendship!

JoAnn and Don - So graciously include us in their holiday plans and this year our Thanksgiving was  special because of them.  Very grateful for their hospitality!  And they accepted our invitation to come for a quick weekend to be a part of the Solivita Car Show!

Tom and Tris - It has become our tradition over the past few years to join them for the Winter Park Christmas Concert but the concert this year was especially wonderful!  It was a crisp evening and the music was angelic!  And tomorrow we meet them at  Disney for lunch!

Ruth and Gary -Yummy dinners with a game of Golf.  And then we launched into our first Sunrail trip to Winter Park with a Lyft ride to Bostons for lunch...shrimp that can't be beat.

Ron and Diane - Seafood dinner in Celebration and on to Old Town for a celebratory ride through town in the GTO.

Riva - Always good to spend time with this sweet lady. It wouldn't be a winter in Florida if we didn't get to see her!

Jeri - Always good to meet her at Bostons to catch up on life and all of the kids.

Keith and Julie - We have visited with them in Naples almost every year since our winters in Florida began.  This year we got to join them on a Walk for Parkinsons and got to meet their sweet granddaughter. 

Candy and Darryl - Dinners and dominoes has become our routine get together but we loved helping Candy celebrate her birthday at Cheesecake Factory.

Carol and Mike -  Dinner with Johnny and then on to the Guys and Dolls holiday concert, what a fun evening!  Of course pizza at Tony's is one of our favorite things to do! Sunday acapella concert was a real treat.  An evening in Old Town and Carol was the queen in the parade. But Carol and I made the most of our Chair Yoga and shopping expeditions. She is always so much fun to be with!

Maureen, Ed and Char - What a nice evening, lovely meal, Nascar on television, fun walk with the dog and wonderful meal with long time friends.

Mace and Marianne - Sweet friends that we get to see once a year and catch up on life.

Steve and Teresa - What a special couple that make time to meet us for lunch every year.  I had no idea Steve and John had cars in common.  This may be a problem!

Deborah - Sweet lunch with a sweet lady!


Sometimes I feel like I really can't believe that I get to live this life.......so incredibly blessed!!

Panamal Canal #2

Life with John is ALWAYS an adventure!

This year our adventures took us back to the Panamal Canal via Holland America cruise line on the Zuiderdam!  Departure from Ft. Lauderdale with a stop at Half Moon Cay, teal crystal clear water that is as beautiful as I remembered! Next day a quick stop in Aruba....we had a fabulous day there on our previous trip which could not be topped so we decided to take a quiet walking tour. 

Williamstad, Curacao was the Queen Emma pontoon bridge, also called the Swinging Old Lady!A walking bridge that swings open to let boats and ships go through.  Fascinating!!

 

I had long wanted to be able to play with dolphins and now was my chance.  It was so amazing to be up close and learn about the training process and habit of these animals. What an exceptional experience that I will never forget!

That evening we got to enjoy the mesmerizing classical  music of Island Magic Steel Drum Band and later that evening stayed up until 1:15 to see a blood moon lunar eclipse.

We had never been to South America before and it was interesting to take a tour of the Old Walled City of Cartagena, Columbia! The people on the street selling their wares is almost overwhelming!  I fell in love with the beautiful old doors but John almost lost his head (see final picture)

On to Colon Panama where we took a tour and got to see the Aqua Clara locks.  These locks have been completed since we were there in 2007 and are 40' longer and 70' wider than the original locks.  What an amazing accomplishment!

Our final port was Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.  We traveled up into the mountains by bus, passing banana plantations, to the Tayutic Hacienda which is a sugar cane plantation. We enjoyed a demonstration on how sugar cane was processed long ago.  The vistas were beautiful, lunch was delicious and the temperatures were perfect.  So glad that we went!

What a wonderful time we had!! John and I complement each other pretty well!  We have gone places and done things together that neither of us would have done on our own. I am so glad that John has such a wonderful sense of adventure because he has taken me to places that I have only dreamed of!!

Thanks sweetie!!!!

 

Reinventing Christmas

I also found this in the archives!  This was our first Christmas in Florida with no family and on our own for Christmas.  We certainly made it memorable and still talk about that holiday!!!!!
 

When we made the decision to winter in Florida John promised me that we would immerse ourselves in the sights and sounds of the holidays as only Orlando can provide, and he kept his promise and more.  As John knows, the holidays were going to be a challenge for me because I am not accustomed to being so far away from my family, but especially at holiday time.  And I just love the holidays and family and all that goes with it.

Well the festivities began with Christmas at Winter Park performed by the Winter Park Corale.  This was actually my favorite evening because it recreated one of our early dates, as we were just getting to know one another.    We topped it off with peppermint ice cream, just like we did 12 years ago.  Simply wonderful!!!  December was filled with musical performances, Methodist, Catholic and Episcopalian, each as wonderful as the last.  Ron, Diane and Faye joined us for several performances and loved them just as much as we did. 

We explored Solivita, watched a Golf Cart Christmas parade complete with Belly Dancers followed by a show put on by the community (just like being on a cruise), enjoyed the Christmas decorating competition sponsored by the community, and  went through a local drive through Nativity.  The Tuba Christmas Concert in Winter Park was their 48^th annual performance and was reminiscent of our early days together in Orlando followed by seafood at Bostons.   

Christmas day, after a holiday breakfast ,  we got ourselves together and drove over the Canaveral Nation seashore.  It was simply beautiful day, only the convertible could have made it more wonderful.  This area was new to me but a favorite of Johns and now I know why.  The day was warm with a slight breeze, the sky was a bright blue with blue, green water and light waves. A short walk was enough to give us the taste of the beach that we wanted.  Back in the car, we decided to drive to the end of the road to find the least populated beach.  As we walked the boardwalk, asked a woman to take our picture and enjoyed the views, John realized that we had discovered the nude beach, soooooo this became the “Christmas that Nana and Papa went to a nude beach”.  Oh my!!!!!!

Merry Christmas in Florida

A few of our favorite places!!

I found this in the archives and for some reason never published it!  Now is the time to publish!

Last year I started a wall of pictures of our favorite places.  When we ran out of Florida time and my wall was incomplete, I vowed to finish our photos this year.  Our recent trip to Tampa gave us the opportunity to take a picture of Hyde Park Presbyterian Church, the place where I worked for several years and the location for our wedding.  It was wonderful to be back there to reminisce about a magical time in both of our lives that changed life as we knew it forever.

And the final photo for our wall is a shot of Solivita.  Our time here, much like the church, has changed life as we know it forever.  Our home in Solivita pushed us to take the risk of retiring from our jobs and finding a new balance in life.  We are so blessed by our time here and I hope we never take that blessing for granted!

Wait....how about last fall!!

In September we gathered as family at the Livingston's Mountain house in Brevard!  Everyone was able to make it except Bobby and Susan (I am not sure what it is going to take to get them to actually make it to a family reunion).  The weather was perfect, chilly enough for smores around a campfire, amazing sunset and lot of good family time.  I am so grateful for all of these wonderful people in my life!!

In October we traveled to Statesville and joined Kathy and Dale Spencer and family for Carolina BalloonFest.  The balloons were fabulous even though the weather was anything but cooperative but we enjoyed the Spencers.  ( I tripped on a pothole and twisted my ankle and John gashed his forehead as he released the sway bars but other than that we had a good time! LOL)  It was so good to see  Bobby and Susan as we joined them for brunch and got to see all 42 of their chickens, Then we traveled on to stay at Bear Den Campground and enjoyed a wonderful day at Grandfather Mountain!  Amazingly enough I had NEVER been there but it was just beautiful and I got to see a glimpse of Charlotte from the bridge!!

The final big event for the fall was painting the Florida house. It had to be done, the paint colors had been approved and our time was up.  After all was said and done it wasn't such a horrible job, there were no big fights and I love the finished project. This ought to last us for the next 7 years!!!!!

Christmas with the kids

Christmas with the kids and grandchildren is always more fun! This was OUR YEAR to spend the holidays with family and we made the most of it.  Christmas eve and day we moved in with the Livingstons, attending Christmas eve services at John Knox with them and St. Giles later in the evening.  Spending Christmas day with them is always a hoot...great food, great fun!  The boys decided to jump into the picture with us, love it!

The next day Krista, Elissa and the gang arrived and I was asked on short notice to oversee the kiddos for an afternoon.  We created make your own pizza and had a Kids Cookie Baking Competition.   They got into it big time and we had a blast!! Everyone is a winner when you spend time at Nana's house. Love spending time with these guys, keeps me on my toes!

We had a few bad weather days and a few projects in the wings so I worked like a crazy woman!
Completed the back splash in the kitchen, finished Mama's sewing cabinet, painted the laundry room, sewing room and master bath!  Sooooooo excited!!

I am pretty sentimental and always add a few childhood ornaments to my tree.  Bobby has an ornament from those days so long ago but Billy didn't so I am sending one to him.  Memories and family connections are important!  Merry Christmas to all!