Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

Yesterday was our last day visiting with Brandon, Megan, Brynlee and Jax. We have had a very enjoyable visit this week. It has really flown by and we've had a lot of fun.

I went strawberry picking with Megan and Brynlee. We had to drive quite a ways north to Mims, but the strawberries were huge and delicious. They don't care how many you eat and they don't care if you bring kids. Sounds like a win-win. It didn't take long to get our fill, both in our baskets and in our tummies. I think I ended up with about 6-7 pounds. It was a lot of fun, but then I wondered what I was thinking with picking that many. It's just hard to stop, though, when you see all those huge ripe berries.

Once we got home to the motorhome, I cleaned them all and put them in bags. Later the next day, I mashed them up, put a little sugar in them and froze them. Then later we bagged them in airtight bags with the foodsaver. Oh, I did forget to mention that I made homemade biscuits and we did actually have strawberry shortcake! I like that with fresh strawberries or strawberry pie. Both are excellent, but I didn't think we'd have time to eat the pie, so I made the strawberries up for shortcake. Looking forward to enjoying that later.

The next day Megan, Brynlee and I went to Orlando. Megan had to go to a followup eye doctor appointment for her Lasix surgery. She is doing very well and seeing better than most people do. She is so glad to have had the procedure done. It was a long drive up there and a long drive back, but we did stop after the appointment and have a late lunch at Whole Foods. That evening, Terry and I babysat for Brynlee while Brandon and Megan went out for dinner and did a little shopping.

Saturday evening we went out to eat at Sonny's BBQ with the kids and Megan's parents, Percy and Diane. We had a very nice dinner and I got to chat a bit with Diane. She is also a teacher and is retiring at the end of the school year.

Sunday morning we had an Easter brunch at Diane and Percy's. We ate and then the kids all hunted Easter eggs. Brynlee and her two cousins all joined in the fun.

Later, Brandon, Megan, Brynlee, Terry and I all drove to Viera and went to a spring training baseball game. The Atlanta Braves were playing the Washington Nationals. I haven't been to a baseball game in 20 years or so. Not really my thing, but it was a lot of fun to be with loved ones and getting caught up in the excitement. Brandon almost caught a foul ball, but a tall kid in the row above has the souvenir. It was a hot day, 84 degrees, and sunny. We all had hats and sunscreen, but we were getting a little uncomfortable when the sun went behind a cloud and stayed there the rest of the afternoon. It dropped the temperature 2 degrees which actually helped and we were able to tough it out. The stadium there is very nice. It's not very old. All the seats were contoured and had backs on them. Brynlee got tired early and Megan ended up taking her home. It isn't very far from their house, so that is good.

It was a great visit and I'm so thankful our kids have wonderful families and lives. And so, we are off on our next adventure. . . to Charlottesville, Virginia, to see the other kids!

Till next time. . .

Dale

More family time. . .

Jocelyn and the kids left just before the 4th because they wanted to spend the 4th watching fireworks from their favorite site in Charlottesville. I got the house cleaned and ready for the next "wave" of kids to come.

After they left we were able to squeeze in a closing on another duplex! Whoo hoo! Three down, one to go. The fourth is actually under contract and we have a closing date of September 14, so life is good. We are keeping the "storage condo" for now because it provides a nice place for the kids and their families to stay when they come to visit other family.

Thursday, July 9, we picked up Brandon, Megan, and Brynlee at the Fort Wayne Airport in the evening. We had a cup of coffee while waiting for their plane and once we retrieved their luggage, we headed for Goshen. We got them all situated in the house and then we left for the campground.

We spent the next few days visiting with them and helping Brynlee celebrate her birthday. Since her birthday is later in the month and we won't be able to be there, we decided to give her our gifts so we could watch her unwrap them. I got her quite a few clothes because I found some really cute things on sale and we also got her a kids' Kindle. It is quite versatile. . . not quite a I-pad, but much cheaper and is able to hold a lot of kids' movies and books and things that they like to look at. She is also quite adept at "2" at maneuvering her way around an I-phone, so the Kindle will be a breeze. Aenea is good at that too. Brandon had made the suggestion because when they travel, Brynlee is always wanting to use their devices, so now she will have her very own. I think she really liked it. Brandon showed her how to do some things on it and it didn't take long before she was using it on her own. We enjoyed getting to see her open her gifts.

We really enjoy having the little ones in the house, but the dogs seem to enjoy the peace and quiet of the motorhome after we leave the house! In some cases, Butterscotch can be found on somebody's lap, safely out of reach of toddler hands. Most often, Duchess is hiding under the desk in the kitchen!

The kids are here because cousin Kellie married Tommy on May 8 and is having a reception on Saturday the 11th. We are taking our little motorhome down to the woods at Nita's and staying there with our dogs. The kids got a hotel room. This one picture is of Mom, Dad, Brandon and Brad. They are the only grandsons and are 10 months apart in age.

They got to spend some time with Mom and Dad before and after the event and we got some great pictures. The kids have always enjoyed spending time with Mom and Dad and my parents appreciate the time the grandkids make to visit with them.

Here are a couple of pix with Mom and Brynlee, ages 90 and 2 and Dad and Brynlee, ages almost 91 and 2.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Where do I start, part deux?

We drove three days from Virginia to Florida and got settled into our camp in Wickham Park. This is a very nice county park which has upgraded to full hookup sites. We stayed here years ago but it was quite a ways from Brandon's house and then there were those itinerant gypsies who took over one loop of the campground. They have since moved on and since Brandon and Megan moved, they are less than two miles away from the park! Whoo hoo!

The kids had just closed on their house on the Wednesday before our Sunday arrival and had not stayed at their new place till Thursday night. I was amazed when we got there, however, at how much they had accomplished. Brandon had actually emptied the two storage units he had as well as the pod sitting in the driveway. A lot of the stuff was in the garage and there were a lot of boxes in the house to be emptied, but furniture was set up and the first night we were there, Brandon got the entertainment center up and the TV working. By the time we left, almost all the boxes in the house were emptied and put away and the garage was emptied enough to put Megan's car inside. They worked every day and we helped out while we were there. I watched Brynlee and Terry had several projects that required his expertise. Brandon wanted new fans in the a couple of the rooms, so Terry helped with that. This time around, however, he supervised and Brandon did all the work!

They have a lovely lanai in the back, with access from several rooms. It is all screened in and there is a pool. It's lovely and we sat out there in the evenings and enjoyed the bug free environment.

The first night there, I went with Megan and Brynlee to "Boo at the Zoo." The zoo was decorated for Halloween and the employees were passing out candy to the kids. It was a fun time and I think Brynlee enjoyed it. When it got dark, however, you couldn't see any animals.


Yesterday Megan took us out to where the manatees hang out in the winter, but there weren't any there. It's been pretty warm there, so imagine it would take cooler water for them to head for the canals. We went to a boardwalk and walked out on the steps to take pictures of the ocean. It was really beautiful and Brynlee was mesmerized by the sand. I think she liked it on her feet, but after we got back in the car, she wanted the sand off her feet. Hah. That's a toddler for you!

Yesterday little Brynlee had surgery for a "lip tie." This occurs when the upper lip is tethered to the upper gum. Brynlee's actually passed through her front two teeth causing a gap there. The doctor said it definitely needed to be "released" so that it wouldn't interfere with talking, etc. So yesterday was the day. The kids had to take her in early, but the procedure only lasted a couple minutes. Brandon said they were very surprised it was so quick. They just cauterize it and release it from the upper gum. She was fine after the procedure but her lip did swell up a little. Understandable. We just joked that she had had a "botox" treatment. LOL

We enjoyed our time in Wickham Park, although we weren't there much. The girls stayed in the motorhome while we were gone, but we were there most mornings, came back for lunch, then out again, then back for supper. So they really weren't alone that much, got lots of walks in, chased squirrels and "observed" the armadillos. I don't think I would want the girls to try tearing into one of those, but I'm sure they would give it a shot. They were certainly curious about them and mostly just stood very still and watched them.

We saw hawks, blue jays, scrub jays, and ibis. And also in the park we see tortoises once in a while. We saw two large ones (could have been the same one) and one small. They are very timid and it you try to get close to take a picture, they will head for the brush. Luckily, I had my good camera when we saw one out and I was able to get a few shots of him.

We really enjoyed our time with the kids. They let us come and spend time when we could and we tried to help out as much as we could as well. I especially liked taking care of Bryn. After the first night, when she saw me come in the door, she would toddle up to me with her arms up. That melt my heart! Hated to leave the kids, but we will be back in the spring.

We are headed west, spending tonight in Lake City, Florida.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Escapade and work!

I'm a little late with this post, but I have been sick so I guess that's a good excuse. LOL

Escapade started on Monday, May 12. We had the big motorhome in the shop and weren't sure we were going to get it back in time to take it over to the fairgrounds. As it happened, they finished it up on Friday evening and we picked it up at 9:30 p.m. Gotta love a truck company that's open until midnight. We brought it back to the house and loaded up some stuff that we had removed. The refrigerator was empty as we had the gas shut off while it was in the shop, so we had to restock that. 

On Sunday we all drove down to Nita's and from there on down to Wabash to the Honeywell Center where we had Mother's Day lunch. They always put on a nice buffet and we weren't disappointed. We had a nice visit again with all the family and then drove back to Nita's. We visited for awhile, then came on back to the house.

Monday morning the kids got up and packed up and hit the road back to Indy where they were catching their plane in the afternoon. I think Brynlee did very well on her first airplane rides. She slept through most of the flights which is good. They were concerned she would fuss and make things uncomfortable for people around them, but she did very well.

We moved on over to the fairgrounds once the kids left and picked up our registration packet for Escapade. This is a week long rally for the Escapees, people who enjoy the RV lifestyle. They usually do a good job and friends of ours are the directors again this year. The only hitch we had all week was the weather. Up until the rally, we had enjoyed very good weather; and then in true Escapade fashion, it started to rain. It rained the entire week and although it didn't dampen our spirits, it did dampen the infield where we were parked. Thank goodness we have "water shoes" which are perfect for such an occasion. We also took good advantage of the courtesy shuttles, not really having to walk anywhere during the week in the rain.

There were a few new seminars we haven't been to before and we learned something new at each of those. We didn't buy much this week, which is a real shocker. We usually have some new gadget we want, but not this time. The entertainment was excellent, although we didn't take in the Ham-O-Rama, which we have always found to be lacking. It's like a "follies" put on by members. All in all, it was a very good week and we enjoyed meeting new friends and seeing old friends. The fairgrounds gave those of us in the infield a free night's stay after Escapade so that we could stay put and move the next day, giving the track an extra day to dry out. We took advantage of that and drove out on Monday morning without any problems.

We are now over at the Elkhart Campground. This has been our home for the past week while we run over to the apartments every day to work on one that was vacated earlier in March. The carpet in this one was really soiled and we were sure we were going to have to replace it. But today Terry's Carpet Cleaning came in and worked their magic. When they got done, it looked as good as it did before this tenant moved in. We have spent the week working on the place, painting all the rooms and doing general cleaning, although more than what we normally have to do. Some people just live a lot dirtier than others do. We still have work to do there, but it will have to wait now until after our trip south to the Pace family reunion. I have the lower cabinets to clean, the refrigerator, the stove and mopping the bathroom and kitchen floors. Then I'm done. Terry has to rehang some closet doors and some other odds/ends to attend to.

On top of all that, I have been sick for several days. Don't really know what was wrong, but influenza is high on my list of suspects. I ended up going to a doctor here, but they couldn't find anything wrong, although they still ran some x-rays and bloodwork. I made an appointment in New Castle to see my regular doctor, so I am hoping he can follow up on the tests I had done. The bottom line is I am much better now and gaining my strength back. I still have the deep nasty cough, though, and would so like to be rid of it.

On Sunday we took the girls in MinnieMee (our Class B+ motorhome) and went to Lafayette. My great nephew, AJ, graduated from high school this week and we went to his celebration party. It was a nice time and we got to see family as well. It was good to see AJ and congratulate him on his successful completion of high school and on his admission to Butler's School of Pharmacy.

Tomorrow we head south. We are taking a leisurely drive down to Mississippi and when we return, we will be at another RV Rally at the fairgrounds, this one an FMCA rally. Love the rallies! Lots to look forward to!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Moving right along. . .

Hard to believe we were at Brandon's for a week and we are gone again. I hated to leave that new little baby. She is such a sweetie and Grandma sure loves holding her. Even if she's fussy and squirming, she is still a delight.

We generally spent our evenings at their house catching up with them and the baby and Jax, the dog. We tried to bring our two new dogs into the mix, but they would have none of that. Believe it or not, our little wheaten Scottie, Butterscotch, may have previously been known as a "sweetie wheatie," but she nailed Jax twice on the nose. We tried a couple techniques that I thought would allow the dogs to coexist compatibly, but she wanted to tear into Jax. We can't let that happen, because Jax is part pit and he is way too strong. He is a very sweet, mellow dog, but very excitable and he would definitely be the victor. As it was, even after being nipped, he just wanted to play. Duchess, I believe, would be in harmony with the situation were she by herself, but she was terrified of the excitement. So there were no fights and we immediately removed the girls back to the comfort of our motorhome. I certainly did not want to stress either of them and they were happy where they were. We had hoped we could have them all together so we could spend a longer window of time with the kids, but it's okay. I am going to research the dog behavior and hope to work on socializing the girls with other dogs. In the Texas park, we have lots of dogs that get walked daily, so we are hoping they will learn to like the company of other dogs. If it doesn't work, though, not a problem. We love them dearly just like they are. We are enjoying the many walks we take them on every day. They love people and insist on being petted by people they meet!

We went to eat last Sunday with the kids and Megan's parents. We usually try to see them for dinner at least once when we are there. We always enjoy getting together and having good food!

The kids asked us to babysit on Monday night since it was their second anniversary. Wow. Hard to believe two years have passed since we all went to Florida for the wedding. What a happy time that was because of both the wedding and because we had found out not long before that Jocelyn and Tom were adding a second child to the mix. Little did we all know what route little Aenea would take into the world. . . being born at 28 weeks, etc. But she is now one and a half and absolutely perfect.

Megan and I went down to the outlet stores in Vero Beach one afternoon and did some shopping. She got some bargains for the baby and I got some ideas for Christmas. Of course we took Brynlee so I got to help with her as well.

Yesterday we packed up and headed out for the Naples area. We planned to meet up with a former fulltimer with whom we had exchanged correspondence over the internet. He and his wife had traveled with multiple complicated health issues and he had a lot of information for people like us who were just starting out our travels and dealing with health issues on the road. He lost his wife a couple years ago and no longer fulltimes; instead he has settled into a condo in Naples at Port of the Islands. What a lovely place. We drove down to Collier-Seminole State Park and yesterday afternoon, he and his daughter came by and picked us up. He gave us the tour of the Naples area and took us passed multi-million dollar estates which I'm sure rival anything Hollywood. Eventually we worked our way down to Marco Island where we had dinner at Porky's. It was a lovely restaurant and good times with good people. Afterwards, we went back to his condo and were treated to pumpkin pie for dessert. We are going back over today to see what Port of the Islands looks like during the day. It was too dark to see the development last night and I have only seen it from Google Maps, but it looks spectacular.

The state park here is pretty crowded with trees. At first glance at our site, I said I was sure we couldn't get in there. Nothing else was available so I took another look. Terry is always the one who parks with me directing. I told him I could get him in there. . . wasn't sure if our slides could be deployed, but we'd give it a shot. Well, we are GOOD, what can I say. We slid into that site like a knife through warm butter and had room for the slides as well. Pretty good tree cover, so we were totally blown away by the satellite coming in on all 3 satellites. Whoo hoo. Life is good.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Melbourne, Florida

We have been busy hanging out with the kids since we arrived. Actually Brandon was in Orlando for the first few days. He was attending some training for his company. We took Megan out for lunch on her day off. Then on Friday we met at their house and went to dinner with them. Megan's brother and his family and her Mom and Dad joined us at Grills north of town.  Her niece and nephew were both in their wedding and they have grown a lot. It was good to see her family again.

Saturday morning I went with Brandon and Megan to the hospital for an ultrasound. She is officially 20 weeks and the baby showed up quite clearly on the monitor. It is a little girl and she moved a lot, arching her back at one point. Everything is great with Megan and the baby and sometime around the fourth of August is her due date. That's about the time we get back in the states from Alaska.

Last evening we spent some time with Brandon and Megan looking at baby stuff. We went to Target and the kids started a baby registry there picking out things they would like for the wee one. It's been nice spending time with the kids and helping them to celebrate becoming new parents. It's an exciting time and they are looking forward to it.

Today they both went back to work, so we had the day to ourselves. We started out with a walk. It was the first morning since we left Texas that it was warm enough for us to walk. It's been cooling off so much at night, which is good, but we have to walk when it's warmer. It was a warmer day today so we went out without jackets.

We drove up US1 to Patrick AFB. Brandon had told us about a good place to watch for manatees. There is an inlet where the waters are apparently warmer and they like to hang out there. We found the spot with no trouble. . . in fact, there were several people there watching. We parked and I took my new camera. At first we were off the main road at a culvert near a subdivision. There was activity there, but the water must be deeper because it was hard to see the manatee as they swam. We did see this heron and I got a close up shot of him. So we walked across the street and over to the main road bridge. There they were. All the way back as far as you could see. It looked like stepping stones in the water, but actually you are looking at the backs of the manatees. It was so cool.

Up closer to us were several small ones apparently with their mothers feeding on vegetation. They were quite active in that small area, so I got quite a few good pictures. A large turtle was also swimming with them. One kept rolling over and showing his fins and tail. They were very peaceful. We observed them for quite some time and got a lot of good pictures.

We came back along A1A, the highway along the ocean. We know this stretch of road well, but it's always fun. We stopped at a couple of beach parks and snapped some pictures. There was quite a lot of surf and the wind was pretty strong, so along down the beach you could see salt spray. I zoomed in on it and it almost looks like a rainstorm. I thought it was an interesting shot.

Some of the parks have walkways that span over the dunes area so you can see what the dunes and vegetation look like. I was hoping to maybe see a sea turtle nest, but no luck. We did see this beautiful cactus in beautiful bloom. The colors were beautiful and made me miss Spike, my barrel cactus down in Texas. Mom says Spike has three big beautiful yellow blooms now.

We had a leisurely drive back to camp and visited with some new neighbors. They are from Alaska, but are now retired and living in Georgia. We talked with them about our upcoming Alaska trip and they gave us some tips on where to stay and what to see.

Brandon came out after work and visited with us. We fed him lasagne. . . he didn't complain. Tomorrow we are going to dogsit for Jax I think and have dinner with the kids one last time. We leave on Wednesday and are headed to Virginia to see more family!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Zoom zoom zoom!!!!

First off, I just never get tired of these sunrises. We have been getting out and walking on the beach every morning and time it to coincide with the sunrise which is about 7:32. It gets us out exercising early while it is breezy and cool and is a change of scenery from walking in the park.

Yesterday we went to Cocoa with Brandon and Megan and took an airboat ride through the St. John's River basin. We were able to see several alligators and got fairly close to one who was sunning himself on the bank. He was missing a front paw so maybe that's why he wasn't so interested in moving, but we didn't harrass him either. When he started stirring, we left. Ho ho. We saw several others in the water and a couple on the banks and enjoyed our ride.

There are cattle that graze along the river's edge and the alligators don't bother them. The alligators won't bother anything larger than they are. Snakes, however, are more of a danger to the cattle.






Till next time. . .

Dale