HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween Everyone
I love the fall for the weather and decorations but I have never been really fond of Halloween. I think the reason for that is that I am not artistic or creative. My kids always had the store bought costumes. It is such an exciting day for little kids but I never wanted my kids to go out as teenagers. I was the mean mom. I figured they would only get in trouble. In Massachusetts, it is THE THING for the teens to go out egging or shave creaming. Also it was THE THING for the high school kids to STEAL pumpkins and then on Halloween Night they would choose a teacher that would get dumped on in his or her yard with hundreds of pumpkins. I did not like this tradition and wonder whether or not they still do it. Anyway my grandkids are small and very much looking forward to tonight. And because of that, I am happy for them and will enjoy their enthusiasm.
This has been a great week. I am easing into the work thing very slowly. Because the schedule had already been done for the week when I returned, I was just an extra. I worked 4 hrs on Tuesday helping out with a box lunch for a girls high school tournament. Today I worked 2.5 hrs doing the inventory. I also got to some cleaning in the house that has been neglected.
I have been very bad with the choice of food since I have been home. I don't know if it is stress eating or what. I know what foods are bad for me but thats exactly what I've been eating. I hope it doesnt continue.
Tomorrow looks to be a good day. I will start the day off at a church festival. I love those craft type fairs. Don't know why since I don't have the need for any more STUFF.. Then we are going to the Continental Airlines Employee picnic. Sounds like a fun day and looking forward to it.
You all enjoy and don't eat too much candy..

Quiet and Lazy

Ok, I have been home now almost a week and can't say I've got much accomplished. Of course the usual laundry and grocery shopping but not much more than that. The weather here is just beautiful. I love fall..... I did go see my boss at the golf course. I told her I was back and that I didnt want to work very much right now. Maybe 2 days a week. So as of Tuesday, I am working again. I want to be home with my daughter and try to motivate her a little. She has good days and bad ones.
Today hope to get outside and maybe do some cleaning up. Then its just relaxing and watching football.

Cutting Our Stay Short

You gotta do what you gotta do. Thats what we did. We had to pull out of Florida sooner than we planned. I had mentioned before, that our daughter is suffering from severe depression right now. She was released from the hospital a little over a week ago. Well, she is still having a hard time and we felt we need to be with her. She and her husband are flight attendants and although she is out on sick leave, her husband still has to fly. He is gone 3-4 days at a time. So that left her home alone with her three small kids. She needed us. I have been really stressed while away. I felt pulled in two directions one being our commitment to the park to workcamp and the other of course to be home with her. Family comes first and that is what they told us at Topsail Hill when we broke the news to them. They are great people and we hope to return there again next fall.
In the meantime, I will go with her to see her dr tomorrow. She actually seems much better now that we are here.
I hope everyone is enjoying the fall. We have beautiful weather here in Texas. Cool mornings and evenings with warm afternoons. I hear cooler temps are on the way.

Work Then Play

We were on duty M,T and W this week, driving the tram to the beach. Our day starts at 8am, we pick up the golf cart at the shop and proceed to the beach to blow off the boardwalk and empty the trash. At 8:45 we go to the office and pick up the truck/tram keys and get the list of checkouts for the day. The tram run starts at 9am and continues every two hours this time of year. We have three stops. Between the runs, we blow off sites when campers leave. Our last tram run is at 5pm. We finish up about 5:30. We get 10 hrs each for our duty day. We did three of them this week which is a total of 60hrs combined. Now we will have 8 days off.
Yesterday it was off to the beach. It was a beautiful day but the water was a little on the rough side. There was an undertow, which scares me, so I didnt spend much time in the water. Kevin likes to body surf but I am a chicken. Loved the peacefullness of sitting looking at the water though.
Today we went out to explore. First stop was Eden Garden, a Florida State Park. The focal point of this park is a beautiful two story elegant house with a wrap around porch. It was an estate that was owned in the 1800's by the Wesley's, a Florida timber family. It is surrounded by beautiful trees and gardens. Although this time of year, alot of the flowers are sleeping. We missed the tour of the house by 10 minutes. Hopefully I can get back another time to tour the inside. I'm told the collection of Louis XVI furniture is the second largest in the U.S.
Next stop was Deer Lake State Park. The lake is one of the coastal dune lakes that are extremely rare worlwide and in the U.S. they occur only along the Gulf Coast. We have two here at Topsail also.
If I could figure out how to post the pictures that I took I certainly would. Unfortunately it isnt working for me. I shall do that at another time.
We finished our fun day by having lunch at the Dewey Destin. It is right by the Destin Marina and sits on the water by the Destin Bridge. They cook up fresh fish right off the boats. Yum. We both had grouper sandwiches.

Back in Florida

I am back here at Topail after spending 3 days at home in Texas. I flew up Monday morning and met with my daughters counselor. Helped out with the kids, did some cooking and stayed put until my daughter was released from the hospital. Hopefully she will start feeling better real soon. I fly standby and tried to get out Wed. night but didnt. Returned to the airport on Thursday, couldnt get into Pensacola so flew to Mobile, Al. Kevin had to drive 3 hours to pick me up and then back again but I guess I'm worth it. I found out later that evening that I could have flown into Ft. Walton, uh oh, not too far from here. Oh well he likes to drive anyway....
He worked Wed. and Thur. helping out in housekeeping. I joined him on Friday and although I don't like to clean we really didnt do much. I swept the floors in the bath houses and he mopped. They pay housekeepers to do the cleaning so they do the rest. We were done early and relaxed the rest of the day. Today we started our day by going to clubhouse for Breakfast with the Ranger. It was good. I did the laundry and grocery shopping while Kevin cleaned our awning. The weather is beautiful. Didnt get to the beach today but will try to do that tomorrow. We have some nice neighbors so I have spent some time talking with them. Tonight we plan to watch our Boston Red Sox proceed to the World Series, hopefully... We are next scheduled to work on Monday driving the tram to the beach.

Bad Timing But Finally Here

We have arrived....Finally. We were to leave last Monday for the workcamp gig in Santa Rosa Beach but due to family emergency with our daughter had to postpone until late Wednesday night. We drove thru the night and stopped at the Hollywood Casino and Campground in Bay St. Louis, Ms around 8am. How nice to have a campground let us check in then. We had a nice breakfast at the buffet, played a little, then off to rest for several hours. We put some chicken breasts on the grill and some rice in the microwave and had an easy dinner. Back to the casino for a few hours. I didnt do well on the slots so I joined Kevin at the blackjack table. We both ended up winners. He ended up winning $200 and I ended being up $50. It was a good night.
We had a good nights sleep and took off early for Fl. It was about a 4 hour drive to the campground. It felt good to be back here. We checked in and got our schedule for work. We were to run the shuttle Fri, Sat and Sun but because we were late arriving they found someone to cover for us and let us settle in for the weekend. How nice. Our next work day is Wednesday and is with housekeeping. We don't have any idea what that will involve, this is something new added to the duties. They have paid housekeepers so I guess it is to help them out. In the meantime... I got a call that my daughters dr wants to meet with me if possible. So, I am flying to Texas tomorrow to meet with her. (luckily we fly for free) I have no idea how long I will stay, have to wait and see how things are. May not be back in time for housekeeping, so hubby will have to pull the weight.
The weather here is beautiful. We went to the beach this morning for a few hours. I find the ocean so relaxing. Just what I need right now.....