Florida, Orlando - Sunday, December 29, 2013 - Elite RV Resort

Christmas Day was a travel day from Jacksonville to the Elite RV Resort in Clermont, just outside of Orlando.  I haven’t gotten out to take pictures yet, will have to do that before we leave on January 2.  We are only 18 or so miles away from the condos where the rest of the family is staying but with traffic it takes at least half an hour to get there.

Christmas Day afternoon Robyn, Jason and Maddie came out to our place because the condo wasn’t available yet.  So we got to have a nice visit sitting outside in the sunshine while Maddie played with her ball.  Even though we are on a corner lot with a good sized yard, it was just too tempting to not throw the ball underneath the coach so she managed to get herself into a “time out”.

 

On Thursday we fixed spaghetti at the condo for the Jones group of the Crosley clan and the grandkids opened their Christmas presents from us.  Jackson had called ahead while they were on the road and talked to Papaw Greg about this because he was concerned that we might forget this very important part of the visit.

It got a little hectic.  We had originally thought we would have the kids all come to the coach to open gifts, glad we didn’t we wouldn’t have had nearly enough room and the noise might have gotten us thrown out of the RV park.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

 

The grandkids were able to get in the pool for a while on Friday, but blue lips soon set in.

Friday the family had a euchre tournament going on when we arrived.  We took the grandkids to the playground so they could run off some steam.  The whole group (24 in total) went to Sweet Tomatoes restaurant for supper.  This restaurant has a ridiculously large salad bar in addition to pasta, bread and desserts.  The only problem was we had to park about half a mile away in a dark area behind a local Burger King and then walk to the restaurant.  Traffic is just bumper to bumper in this part of town and getting around is a real pain. 

Saturday evening we went to the town of Celebration just outside of Orlando.  This is a beautiful little town that was originally part of Disney.  I’ll have some more facts on it later.  Greg and I are going back on Monday while the rest of the family goes to Sea World.  We ate at the Celebration Town Tavern on the square.  Greg had a lobster roll and I had a scallop roll, we were both pleased with our selections.

Today we stayed home because of the rainy weather, watching football on TV, reading and napping.

Florida, Jacksonville - Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - Pecan Park RV Park

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM.  She’s an amazing lady and I’m proud she’s my mom.

This was a “me” day today, I took time to give myself a manicure and pedicure and read a book, Summer’s Child by Diane Chamberlain – very enjoyable.

The weather here has dropped to 60 degrees with a good bit of wind so no riding today.

We treated ourselves to beef filets, twice baked potatoes and some bubbly wine for dinner this evening.  Couldn’t have been any better if we had been at a five star restaurant.

We’ll be moving to Orlando tomorrow to spend a week with the kids and grandkids.  Really looking forward to that.

Hopefully after the first of the year we’ll be coming back here to finally get the fridge fixed

In case I don’t get to post tomorrow, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

Florida, Jacksonville - Sunday, December 22, 2014 - Neptune Beach

We had talked about going back to St. Augustine today since the weather was supposed to be in the 80s.  Well, the weather was in the 80s but the wind was blowing pretty hard so we decided to enjoy the sun a little closer to home.

We headed to Neptune Beach instead and spent a wonderful day.  The wind was kicking up a few more waves than the last time we were here.

 

I did get brave enough to get my feet wet.  The ocean water felt pretty cool but several people were out in it.

A family just down the way from us got into the Christmas spirit and built a snowman.

 

We stopped for lunch at the North Beach Fish Camp.  The fried green tomatoes we had for appetizers were really good although they were fixed a little differently than we were used to.   They had some kind of a sauce, herbs and goat cheese sprinkled over them.

I’ve got to admit that goat cheese hasn’t been a staple in our kitchen but I might have to rethink that.  We followed the tomatoes with shrimp buns which were a generous helping of shrimp salad on a toasted bun-very good.  Eating outside on the 22^nd of December was wonderful.

Florida, Jacksonville - Saturday, December 21, 2013 - Pecan Park RV Resort

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2013 has been a wonderful year for us.

I retired on Friday, June 7.  Lots of very special people left behind but not forgotten.

On Sunday, June 9 we took off from Hidden Paradise Campground in Indiana to start our new adventure – living fulltime in our 43’ Mandalay motor coach with our Harley tagging along.

 

 

This year we have stayed in 18 states and in addition visited Washington D.C.

In New York we were awed by Niagara Falls and renewed our wedding vows in Syracuse.

In Pennsylvania we walked where Confederate and Union soldiers fought 150 years ago.  We had a sweet time in Hershey and checked out the new bikes in York.

We stayed in Maryland while we visited with our granddaughter Maddie and her family.  Hated to leave, they grow up so quick.  We get to facetime, but it’s not the same as a hug.

In Washington DC we enjoyed the Eastern Market and then wished it was closer for the rest of the year.  We spent the Fourth of July on the Capital steps enjoying the concert and fireworks.  Arlington National Cemetery is breathtaking.

 

In Virginia, Old Town Arlington is always a favorite of mine.

 

In North Carolina we met up with our friends Barbara and Ann in Maggie Valley.  We also met some new square dancing friends.  In Ashville we toured the Biltmore House (this had been on my list for years).  In Charlotte we enjoyed all things NASCAR at the motor speedway and the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

 

 

 

In Tennessee we really enjoyed the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and a walk downtown.

We just spent overnight stays in Missouri and Iowa on our way to South Dakota, we’ll have to come back and enjoy some more time there.

We spent a little over a month in Sioux Falls, South Dakota getting our paperwork finished up to make South Dakota our state of domicile.  Falls Park in the middle of the city is remarkable.  Our hometown has a Falls Park but it isn’t nearly as big as this one.  The Corn Palace in Mitchell was worth the ride.  We met more square dancing friends here in Sioux Falls-lots of fun.

Nebraska was just an overnight stop, but we got to see lots of Huskers fans.

Veterans Memorial Park in Pratt, Kansas was our home for a month while we visited with son David and grandkids Wyatt and Cheyanne.  We tried to be of help to David for the month that we were there.  Enjoyed time with the grandkids, as always hated to leave.

 

 

In Oklahoma we stopped at the Winstar Casino RV Resort.  I think this is one of my favorites.  We didn’t stay long in Oklahoma, we were headed to Texas to get some blinds repaired in the RV.

In Texas we got the blinds fixed and then headed down for a stay in San Antonio.  While we were there we rode out to the Hill Country and into Fredericksburg.  We enjoyed the River Walk in town and out.

 

In Louisiana we enjoyed our stay in plantation country.

 

On down to the Gulf Coast, our first stop was Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.  The rides along the Gulf were beautiful.

Continuing our Gulf adventures we moved on to Gulf Shores, Alabama where we met up with friends Mike and Sheila.  We spent a day at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola.  We need to go back, lots to see there.  Once again the rides on the coast in the sunshine just couldn’t be beat.

Right now we are enjoying high 70s, low 80s in Jacksonville, Florida.  While here we’ve ridden to St. Augustine and enjoyed the history there.  I think we will try to ride down to St. Augustine again tomorrow.

Our year will finish out with a visit with daughters Amanda and Robyn and son A.J. and their families in Orlando.

I really don’t think life could get any better than this.

Florida, Jacksonville - Monday, December 16, 2013 - Pecan Park RV Resort

This week looks like it is going to be better than last week – fever and aches are gone.  However, still no refrigerator.  Looks like it may be the New Year before that happens.  The part evidently shipped Thursday, but it will take eight business days to actually get here from Ohio.  That puts us up to Christmas Eve, I think.  The RV repair facility is shutting down between Christmas and New Year.

Since we are here in Florida for the specific purpose of meeting up with three of the kids and their families for Christmas in Orlando we are going ahead with that plan and then we’ll come back to Jacksonville after the first of the year (if the part is actually here).  We’ve gone this long without the fridge we can make it a couple more weeks.

Last week I was up enough that we got the Christmas cards signed and mailed.  The packages we sent to Indiana and Kansas have arrived at their destinations and we’ve finished our other shopping and wrapping so things are actually going well.

We have our Christmas tree up.  Someone on Facebook posted the other day, “remember having one of these when you were growing up?”.

 

We have our lighted garland up, but we are holding off putting up the ornaments until Christmas Day when we arrive in Orlando.  I just don’t think they would travel too well and they bring back so many good memories each year when we put them up, I’d hate to break any of them.

This is our first year away from an Indiana Christmas, it just seems odd to still be sitting outside enjoying temperatures in the 70s and 80s.  We are going to have to play more Christmas carols so I can really get in the holiday spirit.

Florida, Jacksonville - Thursday, December 12, 2013 - Pecan Park RV Resort

Not much to report tonight, since I last posted on Monday I’ve been down with something – fever, head congestion, aching.  So I slept for a couple of days while Greg kept things going.  I was up today at noon, fever is going down, congestion is breaking up and I’m getting my energy back.

I did get outside and soaked up some sunshine this afternoon.  It was in the high 60s today.

Florida, Jacksonville - Monday, December 9, 2013 - Pecan Park RV Park

First thing this morning we walked up to the office to get some ice for our coolers.  That’s it way down at the end of this road – it’s quite a walk.

 

 

We stopped to take a picture of the pool on the way.  Still a little cool to take advantage of it.

The temperatures are very warm and windy today, makes our flags look good.

We made a trip to the post office to get our packages on their way to Indiana and Kansas, should be there by Thursday.  I think we must have beat the Christmas rush, not many at the post office and they still had some Christmas stamps.

Greg found the extension cord so more pictures of our decorations will be coming shortly.

Some people here in the park go all out with their Christmas decorations.

This is our outside Christmas décor.  Greg nixed the idea of outlining the coach and all of its windows with little twinkle lights.

I didn’t do much this afternoon.  I baked a cake and then went outside and took a nap in the shade (it was too hot in the sun).

Florida, Jacksonville - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - Pecan Park RV Park

On Saturday we went in town to find one last Christmas gift – no more shopping on the weekend until after Christmas!!  Traffic was terrible.

I started to wrap presents today and found that I didn’t have any gift boxes.  I walked over to the Flea and Farmer’s Market which is right next door and was able to pick up some boxes and a nice poinsettia.

 

The market is open on Saturday and Sunday and seems to do a pretty good business, but the farmer’s market isn’t much this time of year.

There was a whole lot of stuff I didn’t need.

I did manage to get all of the presents wrapped.  Not so many this year, had to have some presents shipped direct so I didn’t get a chance to make them pretty.

We did get some of the Christmas decorations put up before we got too tired.  Some of the decorations are on hold until we find our extension cord.  It’s around here some place – it couldn’t have gone far.

This is on the dash just as you come in the door.  This nativity set is from Precious Moments and is made from cast iron.  I’ve had it for several years and now it is just perfect for our small space.

 

 

The dining area

Bathroom got a little decoration

Above the fridge – once again Greg gets the skimpy stocking