Ketchup post. Lots of catch up.

I decided, after the long absence from our New England Adventure, that I needed to document how life has unfolded since then. After a brief check of the photos on my phone, it seems like I neglected to keep the chronicle of my life up to date, which is the only way I can guarantee I don't forget the special "days of our lives."

Savannah with 2 sets of grandparents!

 In mid-September we headed south and made a stop in North Carolina to celebrate Savannah's 11th birthday. We had a great time visiting and got to have a spectacular birthday dinner together. This lucky girl got to spend it, not only with her immediate family, but with both of her grandparents!

Even a rainbow to celebrate a special girl!
Good grief, Charlie Brown, she will be taller
than me before next birthday!

Dessert caused a bit of havoc on my insulin reserves, but it was well worth the sacrifice. I was unable to upload a video of her breaking the pinata, but believe me, it was a sight not worth missing. 

We don't often get to spend birthdays, watch plays or musical or dance performances with them, so anytime we visit is special and was worth the risk of extra insulin and running "high."

My fire cracker getting ready to break
her chocolate pinata!

We only arrived in Florida a couple of weeks before getting on the road again to spend Thanksgiving in St. Pete's Beach, FL. There, we would spend the holiday with three of my grandchildren and their mom, Meily, who would be flying into the area from snowy Colorado to spend the holiday with my ex's family. As usual, we were invited and welcomed with open arms to stay and celebrate the holiday together. As Meily worked in the Tampa office of the company she works for, I was able to take the girls to the pool or beach and spent some quality time as we enjoyed perfect weather. We went out for dinners as a group, got sand in our suits as a group and shared germs as a group!

Love this one with sisters holding hands.

Lola looking happy and beautiful.

Nina enjoying watching the boys stare at her.

Me with three of my five precious girls
on Cousins Aaron's and Karen's boat.

Confident and a cutie, Emma with Uncle Gregg.

A sunset from the balcony of the condo at St. Pete Beach, FL

Boston Market Turkey Dinner

The night before Thanksgiving found me with the start of a sinus infection that required a trip to an urgent care facility and a script to knock it out of my system. George ended up picking up my prescriptions along with two turkey dinners from a Boston Market. We were thankful for many things despite missing celebrating with family.

The next day we headed back to our Florida "home base" where I could recuperate and not infect anyone else. I missed out on "apartment hunting" with Meily, who is seriously considering relocating to the Tampa area to be closer to family!

I ended the month of November sneezing, coughing and miserable, but I had already finished my Christmas shopping on-line, had it all wrapped, boxed up and ready to ship out by December 1st. I tend to always be a step ahead, just in case!

Valentine Card Boxes for Lola and...

Emma. Early, but promised last April.

The extravagant Valentine Card Boxes were part of their Christmas gifts. I made them after seeing the ones they had used the year before. I promised I'd make them real pretty ones for next Valentine's day.

Almost forgot to include my new car!

Decided to buy after leasing two prior to this one.

Geo

As soon as we had arrived in Florida in November, I needed to trade in my Nissan, Sentra. That Sentra had been my second lease and I liked the car so much I decided to go ahead any buy this one.

George and I decided that December would be better. Bunion surgery, that was originally scheduled for the 3rd needed to be rescheduled to the 10th so I could recuperate from the sinus infection. After that I'd be spending the rest of the the year just resting and healing. Poor George would have the honor of being my caretaker. Life (as we knew it) was good.

Lucy, feeling bummed out after realizing
we didn't have apple pie for dessert on Turkey Day!

Deep thought for the day:  "Go ahead an make all your plans you like, but never forget that we are just pawns on the chess board of life." ~ vc

While this was written after the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic, I had too much information to document leading up to this devastating time in history. Once we hit my "surgery" date, the story gets even more complicated before we reach the point of "LIFE AS WE KNEW IT."

Catch Up Post

I have found myself writing too many posts that begin, "It's been a long time since I've posted here....." and here I am once more in the same situation.  I don't know what prevents me from keeping up to date, but being retired seems to keep me very busy - not doing much. I'll attempt a recap from my last entry, which will be difficult to top, since it was the Wonderful Walt Disney World extravaganza.

Most of what followed, while not Disney created magic, was magical with shiny and sparkly adventures with family and friends. Celebrating Christmas in North Carolina with son, Glenn, and family topped the list. We traveled two days, each way, and spent 3 fun and food-filled days with our NC Crew. It was great to be able to  enjoy the holiday with these grandkids who are growing up way too quickly.  My daughter in-law’s parents, who conveniently live right next door, are lively, terrific hosts and so much fun to be around. Ronnie outdid herself with presenting a wonderfully festive and healthy Christmas Eve dinner and Joan pulled off Christmas Day expertly. Kudos to both. 

This year, once again, I planned some "Minute-to-Win-It" games and fun was had by all, including great-grandma, GiGi.  I can't remember who won, but I do recall all of us laughing a lot during those games. The prizes were varied, but the most coveted of all, for the second time, was the package of dog treats! Next time, I'll need to get extra bags of Beggin’ Strips and hope I don't win that prize. 

Although a short visit, we did get to share time with the legendary 53-year-old Rubber Baby Jesus, a tradition that began with a gift to me the Christmas of 1966. I think I managed to snap a shot of everyone posing with Him. I was extra vigilant to keep Tucker and Buddy an arm’s distance away, even though I caught Glenn trying to taunt him in front of Tucker.  Years ago, the same situation with a different dog left Rubber Baby Jesus with one less pinkie finger.  

Before we headed north for Christmas, we finally got to (sort of) attend  the Christmas Spectacular in Epcot with friends, Kathy, Ray, Tricia and Craig. We began with a dinner in France and got to see Père Noël before heading over to the outdoor amphitheater.  As we got closer to our destination, the sky opened up and we were caught in a deluge. We tried to be troopers, but even with rain jackets and umbrellas, we gave up.  We were able to watch and listen from a distance under an overhang.

On January 1st, we hosted our Third Annual "Laid Back" NYE Bash. New neighbors, Carole and Serge were included in the mix this year. We ate, drank and were merry.

Speaking of my new neighbors, we feel pleased and lucky to have had them purchase the lot directly across the street from us. Carole is a very talented sewer, artist and calligrapher and she sparked an old passion of mine for sketching and calligraphy. We watched You Tube videos and sat together on warm Florida winter evenings inspiring each other. There will be a future Blog entry that will include our new friends as we booked a couple of campgrounds together in Connecticut and Maine this month.

A huge accomplishment, that deserves noting, was achieved by "daughter," Meily on January 9th when she earned her US Citizenship. The timing was perfect since her mom was visiting from Brazil and was able to witness the event. "Uncle Gregg" was there to help save the day and even FaceTimed the whole ceremonny with me. Anyone who has obtained their citizenship, understands that accomplishing this with a full-time job and three kids is worthy of respect and pride.

Valentine's Day arrived in a flash, and it found us celebrating it with good friend, Charlie. He had driven down in his new Winnebago View - aka "Winnie II," which replaced his former RV. Just the year prior, "Winnie I" went up in flames on his way home from our campground and was totalled. This year, he chose to stay at Thousand Trails, just a mile down the road.  We did get to enjoy a few meals together in he towns of Celebration and Clermont, which naturally included at least one where Sesame Chicken was served,  (Private joke - every time we go out for sushi, George orders Sesame Chicken.)

Last item of note, while not an RV journey, I flew out to Colorado to provide three of my grandchildren with a few fun-filled summer-break days (and nights). We went to see the movie, "The Lion King," and it reminded me that grandson, Cooper, acted in a production where he played the character, Timon (pronounced Tim-own). We spent a day at a water park, thanks to Aunt Patty, who drove us to "Pirate's Cove, where we met her daughter-in-law, Marie, and her two little girls, Sienna and Lena. It was a perfect day to get wet and wild. At the end of the day, Lola developed a bad allergic reaction, which made her very uncomfortable. Some Benadryl and cortisone cream did the trick (and a bit of special Meema love) and she was soon feeling better.

The journeys of visiting multiple grandchildren are always filled with a lot of noise, chaos, laughter and love. A few photos depicting some significant growth since the Disney trip in October.

Lola and Meema Remmy and Meema with Lola Remmy

Nina with her Meema Lobster and Nina Lobster

Heading into Church

Three bathing beauties!

Emma with her Meema Bear and Emma Bear

Aunt Patty with Lena and Sienna

Deep thought for the day: Friends and family make up a "quilt" that depicts our lives. Most quilts usually need some ironing, but I hope your quilt is a masterpiece like mine.  ~vc

Push it......push it real good....

I titled this blog entry with a few lyrics from the song, "Push It," by rap duo, Salt-N-Pepa, because it actually defined what I did - I "pushed it real hard." Oooh, baby, baby.

Due to conflicting and busy schedules we only had a weekend to pack in some quality time and I'm pleased to say that we were able to squeeze a lot of fun things into that short time span.

Our first stop was to Sweet Spoons, a self-serve frozen yogurt shop. I witnessed several gummy worms, crushed Reeses bar, hot fudge, whipped cream and nuts being sprinkled over different flavored yogurts, but I stayed with my favorite - Salted Caramel Pretzel - sans toppings.

My Sweetie with Papa George.

Cooper

Summer

9/22 "Triumph - "umph," added to try. How appropos.

On Saturday, 9/22, we took a trip to "Go Ape," a ropes/adventure/zip line course. Although we opted for the Junior Course, it was still a challenge for my old and out-of-shape body. We all made it through and my fear of heights was averted, because instead of looking down, I kept looking ahead at how the kids and Joan were doing. For me, walking off the edge of a platform in the trees was the most difficult part, but the (too short) zip line ride was worth overcoming that "drop-off" fear. Like George warned me, the kids would have no fear. They ran off the platform...I hesitated, grabbed my rope tightly and slowly slid off. This is something I had been wanting to try and I'm so happy I pushed myself past my comfort zone to accomplish the deed.

The "Zippers" minus Summer (hiding behind the mascot).

Savannah and mommy, Joan

Monkeying around before the course.

I followed Joan throughout the course and was encouraged by her shirt! 

"The Bird" and I.

Getting harnessed up and instructed.

Each checking our rope and pulley.

First victim, uh, participant, Summer.

Low, practice run.

Cooper starting off.

Joan and I thinking, "We got this." But forgot to look up at the real course.

Does anyone else see "What's wrong with this picture?"

Getting higher into the tall trees.

Jumping off the platform.

Joan, with me, bringing up the rear. Getting higher each obstacle.

One step at a time and two-stepping each board.

Our official certificate stating that we completed the course.

George holding a coupon - He was our photographer.

For Sunday, I had booked an Escape Room at Cipher Escape. Neither George or I had never done an escape room, but the kids have done a couple prior to this one. We were not successful in getting out of the room in time, but we solved several difficult clues on our own and got three hints that helped us get further, but in the end, it was too difficult of an escape room for us. Some of the clues were quite obscure and I don't think it was meant for their age level. But, it was a new experience that I will probably attempt again.

She loves to bake. Peppa Pig Cupcakes.

On Sunday night, we regrettably bid our farewells. Hurricane Florence caused schools to be closed for two days the week before, so instead of having a scheduled break, the kids needed to make up those missed days. We weren't sure of the route we would be taking home at this point either, because Interstate 95 southbound was closed from the exit we needed to access it well into South Carolina.

Luck was in our favor, because after planning an alternate route that would have added a whole extra travel day, I-95 reopened in the morning. We had smooth sailing the entire way. George got to "push it real good" on the ride back to our FL home with only one overnight stop.

We arrived safe and sound at Elite Resorts to find weeds bursting though our pavers and stones. With temps in the 90's, we will have our work cut out for us.

Deep thought for the day:  When push comes to shove, I'd rather push myself - it's easier.  ~vc