5 Years in the making...

  Hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!   We have been enjoying the condo on the Gulf, getting some much needed R&R, watching the surf roll in, taking walks - the beach and through town. We are really enjoying the peace and  solitude - even though we miss our family!   Finished a couple of crafting projects (sorry no pics...they are gifts!) and even got our Christmas poem written!  There is still hope that those cards will go out before Christmas!  We found a little restaurant just a block from the condo, JD's , and we have been enjoying some meals there!  Rick loves the Grouper Ruben!  I met a friend and her friend from Toledo at JD's one evening.  It was wonderful as we had never met in person before!  You have to love how you can connect with people all over the world via the Internet these days!  We have a Women's Bible Study group that has people from all over the Country and  even Brazil!  Can't wait to ...

It has been awhile since the last post.  Today is November 20, and    it is the anniversary of Rick's Grandma Anna's passing.  So, 35 years ago today we were driving straight through from Denver to Chicago to be with the family.  In ways that seems so long ago, and then it also seems like yesterday.  The first time I met Grandma Anna, a short, wide Polish lady, she we so sweet and   going all out to praise her favorite, which she freely admitted, grandson...until he left the room.  Then she was all business!  The first thing out of her mouth was, "he will never marry You!"  Wow!  Rick and    I had only just met a week or so before, so I wasn't even thinking about getting married!  But I digress.   November 15, took us through Tennessee where we stopped to see my childhood friend, Jane.  We haven't seen her in years...since they moved to Tennessee which was over 10 years ago!   We left Jan...

 Just a quick little post...As we were leaving the Ark and  looking for a place for the evening, the sun was setting and  it looked like it was on fire!  I know the pics won't truly capture the beauty, but it was amazing!

Sunday brought us together with another friend from Rick's old job in Fort Wayne.  We all had a wonderful lunch at Salvatori's  in New Haven, Indiana (we were introduced to Salvador's by our old friends Ken & Tami years ago!).  It was great to catch up!  Sometimes it seems that no time has passed at all.  Thanks to our "driver" we were able to drive past the places we lived between 1989 & 2003! Now I am motivated to find our old photo albums and find pics of all the work Rick did when we lived in these locations.  Our houses could have been shown in Better Homes & Gardens with all of his meticulous landscaping.  Sorry to say, that is all gone:(   It was now time to head back and pack up for our Monday departure. Monday took us to Ohio!  We made a surprise visit to see my cousin and her husband.  It had been many years since we had seen them!  (For all my knitting friends, she is a part owner of Hank, A yarn boutique !) A...

November 10 , 2023, began at Bob Evan's catching up with some long time friends for breakfast.  Pic courtesy of our kind waitress, Jennifer.  How great to actually see Jim, Mary, John and  Pat in person was great!  We have promised to do better about keeping in touch... Now to keep that promise! On to Angola, Indiana to catch up with Julie and  Mike for lunch...Yes, we are eating a LOT!  Good thing we should be doing a lot of walking at the end of our trip!  Maybe I should be including food pics as the journey goes on... We continued South arriving in Kendallville at Ken and  Pam's.  What fun to be able to see the "kids" who are now grown with families of their own!  We were blessed to be a part of the family chaos!  4 boys,   one girl, three dogs and    loads of testosterone and    laughter!  And    noticed everyone had their eyes open in the pic! Today was a bit quieter. ...

On the road again!  This has been a trip years in the making!  Our final destination will be Disney World!  But there will be many adventures along the way!   We braved the rain and  snow to pack up Shelly, the RV.  Alayna helped me make the bed. She is just the right size to get in the way back and    pull those sheets up!  She was so precious telling me how much she would miss me and    wanted to come with.  So, I asked if she would really be ok being gone since "home" is here favorite place.  She responded, "Well, home is my favorite place, but I also LOVE camping".  LOL  Isaiah was busy riding his bike and helping Papa load the back.  We woke on November 8, 2023, to cold and  rain and snow.  We loaded the remaining items and  hit the road at 8:30 am.  Before 9:00 am we had our first souvenir... A big rock hit dead middle of the passenger window!   No time to fret. ...