Welcoming the New Year

Happy New Year!!  We are hoping that 2012 will be as enjoyable as 2011 has been.  We had a fabulous year of travel. We spent two months in Yuma, Az, two months in California, two and a half months in Oregon, one and a half months in Idaho.  Followed by time spent in Wyoming, South Dakota and then back to Tx . In November we headed to Santa Rosa Beach Fl for our annual work camping  gig at Topsail, then headed back to Tx to take care of lots of dr appointments and spend Christmas with our daughter and her family. I had a few tough months in the fall with illness, but all is well now.  A few days after Christmas,  we left Tx once again ,and we are currently in Georgia, where we will volunteer at a state campground golf course for three months.. Our plans are to travel up the east coast, once we have finished here April 1st.  We are looking forward to being back in New England and visiting with family and friends…..

LIG

My Favorite Time of Year

I love Christmas time..I love the lights, music and decorations, but most of all the memories...  I do most of my shopping online, I do love the hustle bustle of the stores just a bit.. I have learnt to try to get the shopping out of the way, so I can enjoy the season.  The greatest part of course, is remembering the reason for celebrating.  I try to talk to the grandkids about the true meaning of Christmas..The birth of Jesus.  (My mom made this many years ago and remains a treasure to me)

We were not back long, before I had our home on wheels decorated..

 

The weather here in Texas this year has been really really nice. We did have about a four day cold spree a few weeks ago. In fact our hose froze up once, during the night. As soon as the sun was out it was fine.  Kevin went out the other day and drove around the neighborhood to take foliage pictures. Yes, there is foliage here in Texas but it’s a bit late getting here.

     

Between Kevin & I we spent 7 days for dr and dentist appointments. Several days, there were double appointments. I am feeling back to normal finally, and all tests came back good. Kevin has had alot of knee pain lately but the xrays don’t show much, except lots of arthritis.  He has also done alot of wheezing lately and although his xray isn’t normal, there is nothing serious that requires any treatment. Lots of scarring, most likely from years of smoking.. Hopefully that is over..

We have babysat a few weekends. Last Sunday I took the boys to a schoolmate’s open house, for their lighting of their house..

Friday was the last day of school for the boys. Brady had a program at his preschool.. He is the blonde curly head, second row up.. We love hearing the young children perform.  

I had a girls night out and lunch out another day with a friend. My son in law took Kevin golfing for his birthday…

This weekend I had a big surprise in the planning. I had hopes of flying to Boston to spend the weekend with our son and family. It was also a family get together Saturday night. I was all ready to go, but once at the airport the flight didn’t look good, due to another one cancelling. I was disappointed, but always have to be prepared for this ,when we fly for nothing..

All in all, it has been a great month. We only have a week left here in Texas, and then we will be heading to Georgia for the winter.

Our Grandkids…

Logan, Joey, Brady  (Tx) 

Christopher and Kailyn… (NH)

 

                                         MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Almost Time to Move Out

Wow, we are down to just a week left here at Topsail. Where is the time going? 

Last week we worked Wed, Th & Fri. It was not busy at all. Not a good thing, because time goes so slow.  Wed was cool and windy, we were bundled up in the morning. Not many folks going to the beach. We picked up lots of pinecones! Just in one spot, Kevin counted 600 just for him.. The following days the weather was warmer and sunny. We had a few folks going down to the beach but the campground is not very busy. But that is about to change. The weekend it will start filling up for Thanksgiving week, as quite a few schools are closed.

At 7am Thursday, I received a call from a Georgia State Park, offering us a volunteer position at one of their golf courses for the winter. I had filled out application online awhile back. Just this past week I pursued it a bit more. It paid off and we landed ourselves this gig. We will work either as a marshal, starter, cart barn or in pro shop. Sounds good and Kevin gets to play all the golf he wants..We are just hoping it doesn’t get too cold to take advantage of it. I may even learn to play!!  The timing works out well as our plans are to head up the east coast for the summer/spring. 

Saturday we did a few things around the home and settled in to watch some football.  Sunday we headed to the commissary at Hurlburt Field, to do our shopping.  We were there when they opened, to beat the crowds. That we did!  Kevin has decided that we wants to spend a nice quiet Thanksgiving here ourselves, so we bought all the fixings for a traditional feast. The campground does have a staff dinner at the clubhouse. They provide the turkey and everyone brings the sides. He would rather relax, watch football and EAT all he wants in the comfort of our home. (think he just likes my cooking!) Anyway, that is what we are doing, didn’t make a difference to me at all. I would have cooked up a turkey either way. Love the smell of it cooking and love having the leftovers…

Yesterday, I started my day sitting outside having my tea. What a beautiful day.  I headed to the outlet stores and did some Christmas shopping.  I do online shopping ,but also enjoy getting into the stores and hearing the music and seeing the decorations. I will not do this on black Friday!!  I came back, picked up Kevin and we drove to the harbor in Destin where we have a favorite place we get seafood. We sat outside on the deck and both had grouper sandwiches. We enjoyed, but were a bit disappointed in the fish, didn’t have much flavor.

   

Today we are not sure what the plan will be. We may head down to the beach for a few hours if the sun will stay out. Forecast is for cloudy sky’s.

We will work our last three days this weekend. It should be busy. On Monday, we pack up and leave this beautiful Emerald Coast. We will head back to Tx for December. We are already scheduled to babysit when we get back for 3 days…….Until then

Everyone have a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Work and Days Off

Wow, this week sure has gone fast.  We worked Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We are suppose to start around 8:30 but usually start a bit earlier. Kevin heads to the shop to pick up the golf cart, comes back to pick me up and then we go to the office to get the check out/in list of campers for the day, along with a radio. We do our first tram run at 9am. When we get down to the beach Kevin blows off the boardwalk and I check trash cans. I love the beach early morning.

Just the seagulls and us…

    

This time of year, we only do beach runs every two hours until 4pm. In between runs, we blow off sites and pick up pine cones (lots of them!). We were lucky to have beautiful weather the days we worked.  Since then it sure has cooled off. We have six days off..

Thursday I drove over to Panama City to meet JoAnne Doubrouillet at Olive Garden for an early lunch. It was great to see her again, and hear how she is doing, since she lost her husband Doug. She seems to be doing well and sure keeps herself busy. She has an exciting trip coming up..

Friday was Veterans Day. Thanks to all our wonderful Veterans for their service!!   Kevin & I went to Pensacola, after a stop for an early lunch and another stop at Camping World.  We were planning to head to the airfield at the airbase to see the Blue Angels, but traffic was real bad and we heard we probably wouldn’t get in, at least in time to catch the Blue Angels show. They were expecting 100,000 people, so we headed to Ft Pickens, where we knew would be a good spot, since it’s across the water from the airstrip. It was crowded but it was a great choice to watch the show.

 

They started with 2..

Then there were 4..

 

  

And 6…

There were tumbles and turns and so much more…

 

It was truly awesome!!

Unfortunately when it ended we got stuck in the sandy parking lot. Kevin helped several people get out, figuring his big truck wouldn’t have a problem but it sure did. After many attempts at him pushing with several other guys and then someone trying to pull it out with a strap attached to his car. It was still a no go. At this point the rear tires were in up to the axles. I got on the phone to AAA. They arrived in 40 minutes and had us out in 2 minutes..I wanted to hang around for the night airshow, but at this point he said NO Way..

 

 

We did stop on our way out for this pretty sunset on the beach..

 

Moving Day and A Surprise Overhead

Today we were to move to Topsail Hill Preserve in Santa Rosa Beach. An easy 68 mile drive, so not too hurried.  Good thing, because I started hearing the blast over head..Yup, sure enough it was the Blue Angel’s practicing..

     

  

 

It was really cool to watch them.. We hope to get to their Veterans Day Evening Show next week.

We finally got packed up, hitched up and were on our way…

When we arrived at Topsail Hill, we checked in, were assigned our site and given our schedule for the month. We will be driving the tram and our first day isn’t until next Monday.. Not bad, we have almost a week to get settled!

We are Happy Campers!!!!!

Enjoying the Solitude

We love visiting this area this time of year. No crowds….Friday was a beautiful sunny day with temps reaching 76. We arrived that day and just settled in. Saturday it was cooler and windy. The sand was whipping around, so not a good day to walk on the beach. We did go late afternoon down the street to Crabs, to sit outside overlooking the beach and have dinner.  The wind was blocked by the restaurant. .. It was nice.

Sunday the winds had calmed down. Sun was in and out and temps mid to upper 60’s. I decided to head to the beach. I was really looking forward to a nice walk but it is difficult to walk on this nice soft sand. I kept sinking.

  

I did my best though, lol…There was the usual surf…

  And jelly fish…

And I love the sand dunes…

These beautiful white sugar beaches of the Gulf Islands National Seashore are composed of fine quartz eroded from granite in the Appalachian Mtns. The sand is carried seaward by rivers and creeks and deposited by currents along the shore.

Monday, perfect day. We headed down to the beach in the morning..

 

We watched these dolphins having fun…

Feeling guilty enjoying all this, when our son and his family are back in Massachusetts with no power since the snowstorm. They are telling them it may be the end of the week. Hope they can find a place to take the kids trick or treating….

This evening we headed back to the beach to catch the sunset…

Tomorrow we pack up and head to Topsail, where we will spend the month workcamping…..