Arrived in Florida

We arrived at our new winter home in Florida on Tuesday, 12/30/08, around 5:30 p.m. We had a good trip to the South as the weather was warm and sunny all the way. We were very lucky we didn't even have any wind or rain.

So far we like our new site. It has a concrete pad for the trailer, concrete driveway, and a concrete patio. This sure is nice. The weather is warm about 74 today.

Sorry LaVon we haven't taken any pictures yet but we will later and get them posted. Well, I need to run and finish getting things done. We are going to the park's New Year Eve's party tonight. The people here seem very friendly. Will post more later.

On the Road Again!!

Whee, made it through Christmas!! We had a wonderful day with our sons and their families. The grandchildren, of course, makes it a fun Christmas. Emma, our 8 year old, was into it big time this year. She gets so excited over her presents and is the drama queen - we just love her!! Bronson, the 2 year old, was a little overwhelmed with all of it but had fun ripping open his presents and discovering there was toys inside. All of them had a wonderful time.

The tree and presents before the kiddies got here:

Bronson looking at his stocking's goodies:

Nico just resting and watching everybody:

Cathy Marie with her boys:

Emma (Miss Drama Queen) showing off her clothes:

Zack (and Bronson) looking at his World Series Poster with pictures:

Chad and Craig looking at their gifts:

This says it all - at the end of the day Bronson just laid down and looked at the snow globe as it played music. He was so tired.

We woke up this a.m. to 60 -70 miles a hour wind and thunderstorms - in December?? Yes, it was 68 degrees here yesterday but we paid for it early this a.m. and more. Some places had trees up-rooted and windows blown out. There are about 34,000 people without electricity. It is now about 36 degrees. Luckily, the rain is suppose to be out of here before it gets to freezing - sure hope so.

Jack went and got our fifth-wheel yesterday out of storage and we started packing it up for our trip to Florida!! Yippee - yippee!! Can't wait to get out this crazy weather. We are going to finish up loading it today and pull out tomorrow. The weather is to be sunny tomorrow and in the 40s. So hopefully we will have safe and calm trip.

I may not be able to blog for a few days on our trip down so I will catch up when we get there.

Winter is here and Christmas is Coming!

Well, this week we have definitely experienced "ole man winter" here in the Midwest. We have had rain, sleet, snow and very, very cold temperatures. I will post a couple of pictures that Jack took a couple days ago when the snow was falling. You know it is beautiful to sit in the house and look out at, but if you have to be outside and traveling in it, it is not fun.

We have been busy with some Christmas parties and get together, which is always fun.

On Thursday, December 12, we went to Craig and Shannon's house to celebrate our oldest grandson's birthday. I can't believe he is 14 years old. He is growing up so fast but is still a very sweet boy.

On Friday, December 12, Jack and I met three of my old co-workers for lunch (Sheila & Doug, Kathi, and Theresa). We had a real nice visit and was so good to see them. Sheila and Doug were in town for some medical tests. They now live in Ft. Worth - she was transferred with FAA a couple of years ago. She would love to get back to the KC area because her children and grandchildren live here. Hopefully one of these days she will get back. Kathi and Theresa still live here and we try to get together every few months to catch up on our lives.

On Saturday, December 13, our neighborhood had its annual ladies' brunch. This year it was hosted by Lisa, Nancy, and Peggy. We had 12 attendees and had a nice time. This is how we catch up with the neighbors that aren't close to us. We only have 19 villas that are sold. So we have a pretty small neighborhood. When all them are build and sold I believe we should around 30. So it is small enough to know all your neighbors.

Jack and I trying to get all our doctor's appointment in before we leave town. So we have had a number of them the last couple weeks. I believe we are done for this time frame.

Yesterday I attended a Christmas luncheon with my old office bunch. We had it downtown at our new Kansas City Power & Light District. This has been a rebuilding of the downtown area and it seems to be doing pretty good despite the economy. It was fun to see everyone but my office workforce is dwindling - as the FAA is consolidating offices and districts. When I retired 3 years ago we would have around 30+ people at our luncheons and yesterday we only had 13 and that included 3 retirees. It is sad to see all this happening.

Tonight we were to see our good friends, DeAnn and Bruce, but they are forecasting freezing rain to start around noon so we decided to cancel and try again next week. Hopefully the weather will improve.

Well, I hope everyone is ready for Christmas as it is approaching fast. We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and if you are traveling, stay safe.

Old Man Winter has Arrived!!

We just looked at the temperature in Lake Placid, FL, and it is 77 degrees!! What are we doing in Kansas City.....

It is snowing and the wind is blowing about 30 miles an hour. It is about 29 degrees and is suppose to be down to 11 degrees tonight. So I think we need to start our packing for our winter trip!!

We can't wait, and are looking forward to loading up and heading out. We are looking at leaving here probably on December 27 - it really depends on the weather forecasts.

We have just been busy getting things ready for Christmas. We have got all the decorations up and have a lot of our packages wrapped. Still have a little shopping left but getting on the tail end of it.

Last week, Jack and I attended my FAA Retirees' Luncheon. It was nice to see some of my old buddies from work and catch up with them and their families. Had a nice lunch with about 45 people or so.

Then Saturday night, we had our good friends, Frank and Linda, and Marlin and Dora, in to play Tripoley. This is a old game but we have just started playing it again in the last couple months. It is a fun game with cards and pennies. We also went out to eat before coming back here to play. I had read an article in the KC Star about a restaurant that had opened up (Stephenson's) out South. This restaurant used to be open, and had been an established one for many years in Lee's Summit. One of the sons has now opened this one up again. Well, let me tell you it was not like the old one for sure. We were really disappointed in the food!! So for you local people, you might not want to waste your time.

Have a good week!!

Thanksgiving and Wintery Mix Weather

Thanksgiving week has come and gone, and we survived it all. We had a busy week just getting ready for the big day.

On Thanksgiving Day, we had 17 people in for dinner. We had our children, grandchildren, sister, niece and family, nephew and part of his family, and our friends, Warren and Jeannene. We had a great time with all the family and friends. Everyone had a good time visiting and of course, a wonderful time eating all the good food.

My goal for this year was to get an immediate family picture. You might think this is easy to do but with everyone's schedules it is not as easy as you think. But I knew that everyone was coming here at the same time for Thanksgiving so we decided that would be a great time to get one. Jack was excited to get to try out his new camera and use his remote control clicker and it worked great. Here is the outcome:

Left to right: Bronson, Chad, Cathy Marie holding Nico, Jack, Cathy, Craig, Emma, Shannon, Zack.

With the two little ones, we weren't sure how it would work out but overall it worked pretty good. Bronson had just woke up from a nap and wasn't in a very good mood.

Here is another family picture of Craig's family.

Chad's two little ones were not up to anymore pictures so we didn't get theirs done at this time. That is the way it goes sometimes.



On Sunday morning we woke up to a wintery mix of moisture. We had some on Saturday but then Saturday night, we had much more but not near as much as Chicago. Here is what it looked like in our front yard.

It is definitely getting closer to the time to head South. The wind chill was not good today. We looked at Lake Placid's temperature and it was 64 degrees and it was 28 here. Florida here we come -- right after Christmas!!

Branson and Big Cedar Lodge Trip

Boy, was it ever cold this morning - 16 degrees on our porch!! It is definitely getting time to head South. But two days before it was like 65, but of course it doesn't stay warm.

Last Monday, Jack and I went to Branson to meet our friends, the Likins, at the Big Cedar Lodge. This is located just outside of Branson and it is a beautiful place. For the ones you might not know, it is owned by the guy that owns Pro Bass so it is decorated all in the outdoors decor.

The plan was to meet up with them for a late lunch at Lambert's (a yummy place where they throw the rolls) around 2:00 p.m. Would you believe when I called Jeannene to see where they were we were within a mile of each other on the highway to Lamberts. So that worked like a charm. We had a nice lunch and then headed on down to the Lodge.

Here are a few shots from inside the condo:

How about that fish. This was the bench back for the table:

Got all checked in and were very pleased with our accommodations. It was really nice and roomy. The only thing Jeannene wasn't sure she would be able to sleep with the deer looking down on her!! We visited and then fixed the dinner and then we played dominoes until bedtime.

The next day we just stayed around the Lodge area (which covers a lot of acres and looked at things).

LaVon this tree picture is for you. Do you know what kind it is? It has orange balls on it.

After lunch we went into Branson and picked up some music show tickets and did some shopping at the outlet. Then we had dinner at the Hard Luck Diner. (LaVon I thought of you when we went there - sorry Jack didn't take the camera).


Went to the Jim Stafford Show - which I wouldn't recommend. It was all right but it was just too much Jim Stafford and not enough music and singing for me.


Then on Wednesday, we got up and went out to Silver Dollar City for their Ole Time Christmas. If you haven't been to see all their lights it is definitely a trip to make. They have millions and millions of lights on everything. We really lucked out as the weather was at least 70 and sunny so we really enjoyed the day and night. They had some really nice Christmas shows and it wasn't too crowded. Had a great time!! Jack didn't take the camera - that is one thing about his new "big" camera he doesn't like to take it everywhere.

Then on Thursday, we went to breakfast and then we split up as we both had places we wanted to shop and then we were going to head home. I got some Christmas presents bought at the Landing. We got back to Kansas City around 5:00 p.m.

We picked up Brandy from our sitter's house and boy was she glad to see us.

Now I need to serious about getting Thanksgiving's menu established and assign the dishes to everyone. We usually have around 17 - 18 at our house. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!!

November 14, 2008

Here we are in the middle of November. Where does the time go? Just six more weeks and we will be heading South to Florida. We are getting excited just thinking about it. It will be another adventure for us as we have not spend the winter in Florida before. We are looking forward to the new adventures it will bring. One couple we met in Arizona last year left for Florida last week. Looking forward to seeing some of the couples we met last year when we get there.

Things have been pretty quiet around here the last couple weeks. Nothing too exciting just doing our routine things.

Last Friday, we had the two little grandsons for the day. That was a fun day. They are so cute and fun. Then Emma called and wanted to know if she could come spend the night with us so that made a full day and night. But we enjoy all of them.

Jack went back to his foot doctor this last Wednesday for a follow-up. The doctor told him he was doing fine and he should keep doing what he has been doing. Jack is back go walking his mile and a half each morning. He still has some swelling with it but the doctor said that was to be expected. He said it could take up to 6-months to not have the swelling and some pain. But he did tell Jack no jogging!! LOL Jack never jogged in his life!!

Yesterday I went to the dentist to start the prep-work done for a crown. I tell you that was not fun. I was in the chair for over an hour with my mouth open wide. Man am I glad that is done!! Go back in a couple weeks to get the permanent one put on. Oh well, just another thing to happen as we enter our "golden years"!!

Next week Jack and I are going back to Branson, MO., to see all the Christmas lights. Silver Dollar City is one beautiful place at Christmas. They advertise that they have over a million lights and I believe it. We are going to meet our friends, Jeannene and Warren Likins, there. Sure hope the weather cooperates for us.