Sea World, San Antonio.

We recently spent the day at Sea World. The weather was beautiful, although very windy. The park had very low crowds so the experience was great.

There were no wait times for rides and the animal interactions were so great because there weren't people crowding around as we have experienced in the past. The kids enjoyed the thrill rides. The Steel Eel (roller coaster) was their favorite. They got to ride multiple times due to the crowd level being so low.

The only disappointment was that the attached water park was closed, so we did not get to enjoy that, but we may go back.

Overall, we had a wonderful day and were really glad we went.

San Antonio, TX.

We are currently hanging out in the San Antonio area. We are at a membership park on Medina Lake in Lake Hills, TX. It is quiet and peaceful and full of wild life. The animals here are very used to humans and love to be fed. There are deer, ducks, jack rabbits, red squirrels, and lots of birds (south Texas is a big birding area).

The weather is warm and the evenings have been mild. We have made time to wash the RV, go to ice cream socials and play mini-golf.

We are enjoying our time here. We will be here for about 2 more weeks and then it's on to The Rally in New Mexico. We have a day trip planned to Sea World and possibly a visit to the Witte Museum.

So, until next time, see ya.

Happy Birthday Kelsey!

We recently celebrated Kelsey's 12th birthday. It was a small celebration at home with our immediate family, Nana and Aunt Kim. Kelsey received a few gifts, but her main gift was a new laptop that she has been really wanting.

I can't imagine where the time goes, next year we will have 2 teenagers in the house. For now, I will enjoy what time I have left enjoying her as a child and I will cherish every moment.

Happy 2009!

It's been a while since I checked in. We have been hanging out in GA since Christmas and getting some work done. It's been cold here but we have been seeing some mild temperatures recently. We managed to find the time to take a week to go to FL and enjoy our first WDW trip of the year.

We are back in GA now for a few weeks, more work to do, then we hope to go to south TX for a few weeks. We haven't made any concrete plans yet, but I will post when we do.

Anyhow, just wanted to share the new Disney pics and let everyone know what we are up to.

Take care until next time.

Sharing some family pics.

The kids putting together the holiday decorations, they did a great job.


Kelsey helped bake the Christmas cookies, they were delicious!

Happy Holidays!

Greetings one and all. I hope this holiday season finds everyone happy, healthy, and with the ones they love. Our holidays were all really nice. We spent Thanksgiving in FL where we were working at the time. The campground we were staying in had a lovely meal that we shared with all the other RVers including some friends that met us there. It was a little sad not being with family, but we enjoyed doing something new.

We were in FL for most of November and 1/2 of December. We managed to fit in one more trip to WDW and we also got to visit Sea World this time. We enjoyed these trips very much.

We returned to GA for Christmas to spend it at home with Bob's family. It was a nice, quiet day. The kids loved all of their gifts and we enjoyed a lovely day that was in the 60's. It was warm so we were happy.

We hope everyone had a nice Christmas and Santa was good to all. We want to wish one and all a very happy and prosperous 2009.

Coming Home.

Upon completion of the rally we had to make our way back to GA our final job of the year was coming up and we needed to prepare for it. So the next few weeks will be spent here in GA working and visiting with family. Our next job will take us to Orlando in the beginning of Nov. We will be there for Thanksgiving and will return to GA in the beginning of Dec. Of course we will make time to visit our favorite mouse while in FL. It will be our final trip of the year.

School is going well and we are moving along nicely. Recently we took a break from book work and had a home economics lesson. The kids made some Halloween treats for all to enjoy. They have decided that they are too old to trick-or-treat and don't want to dress up. So we will spend a quiet evening at home watching scary movies and eating popcorn. They definitely don't need all the candy anyway.

We are all well and enjoying the lovely colors and cooler temperature that the fall brings. We have enjoyed seeing many animals out foraging for food and getting ready for the long, cold winter ahead. We are happy to see some relief at the gas pump and are eagerly anticipating Nov. 4th. So much could change. We hope it's for the better.

HDT Rally.

We left TX and made our way to Hutchinson, KS. We would be meeting up with fellow RVers all of whom drive HD (heavy duty) trucks like ours and pull 5th wheel RV's behind them. There were 32 rigs in all and we met some very nice people.

There were many social opportunities, classes and seminars, catered and pot luck dinners, evening entertainment, and door prizes. We had a really nice time and enjoyed meeting everyone for the first time.

The kids were the only ones there (as usual) and we had many nice compliments on their behavior (if they only knew, lol). On the last night prizes were given in various categories and they made a category for youngest rally attendees and the kids (as well as us) were given tickets to the Hutchinson Cosmosphere. We all really enjoyed it and of course turned into an educational experience.

Overall, we had a really nice time and look forward to making it an annual event.

Trinity, TX.

During our vacation we got a call from our friends in TX. Hurricane Ike had struck their area and we had called to see how they made out. We had been planning to go to TX after our vacation to help them with the construction of their new home, specifically, the installation of new kitchen cabinets. We wanted to see if this was still possible as their area had no power for about a week. They called to inform us that power would be back on in the camp ground by the time we arrived.

So, we made our way to Trinity and were happy to find all was well with our friends. They had a few set backs, but were mostly happy with the progress. It was a big change from the last time we had seen them and all they had was a bare lot. Now there was a home, landscaping, and they were nearing the finish line.

We spent a week enjoying their company and getting the cabinets done. It was nice catching up and just being together. I hope it is not another 2 years before we see them again.

Walt Disney World.

We enjoyed our week at WDW. It was nice to include Mom and Mike in our trip this time. They were seeing many things for the first time and I was happy to share my favorite magical place with them. We enjoyed long days in the parks, fine meals, and just being together.

The Year of a Million Dreams was magical to us as a dream was granted to us in the form of Dream Mouse Ears (see pic above). It was very HOT and humid the whole week which made it pretty uncomfortable, but FL weather can be very unpredictable. We enjoyed the A/C as much as possible.

Of course the end came too soon and our vacation was over. We said our goodbye's and hoped we would see each other again soon.

Catching up.

It's been a while since I've posted and we have done more stuff and been more places. We traveled through the early fall for vacation, visiting more friends, and catching up with other folks like ourselves who travel in and RV and drive a big rig truck.

We are currently in GA getting ready for our final job of the year which will be in the Orlando area, can you see where this is going ;)?

Check out the next several posts about what we have been up to.

Hershey, PA & GA.

After leaving OH we headed East to Hershey, PA. The park we visited there was very nice and had a lot of activities for kids. The camp staff was friendly. We visited Hershey's Chocolate World (sorry Uncle Ed). We learned some interesting facts about the Hershey family and the history of the Hershey company through a trolley ride with actors portraying the Hershey family members who explained their roll in Milton Hershey's life and about the Milton Hershey School.

We had time for a short, weekend visit to NJ to see some of the family. While it was short, we made the most of it. We got to visit with parents, siblings, cousins, and aunts and uncles.

Also while we were in PA I heard about the opportunity for Kelsey to meet a celebrity she likes. Vanessa Hudgens, the female lead in the High School Musical movies, was making an appearance at a near-by mall and doing a CD signing. We waited in a long line for 4 hours in the hot sun to meet the girl for like 10 seconds. Kelsey was so happy and she got her CD signed, so to her it was worth it. I really didn't mind it that much either. The other parents were friendly, the kids were mostly well-mannered, and I made my daughter's day. We got to spend the day together and that was what made most memorable for me.

We had a nice 2 weeks, but it was time to head for GA. We hadn't seen home since June. We had appointments to keep, a Nana to visit, and our shop to check on.

Once we arrived in GA all was well with the shop and everyone there. We spent about a week there until it was time to leave for Fl and our WDW vacation. We are excited that Mom and Mike are going with us for the first time this trip. It should be a lot of fun.

So, look for my next installment.

Ohio

Ohio was really nice. We had a long overdue visit with our good friends Steve and Cindy. We hadn't seen them in a very long time and were really glad we made time for this visit. We got to see the town they lived in and the beautiful camp ground they have been spending most of their time. The camp ground had a huge lake with a marina, lots of kids to play with, and plenty of wildlife. It also had very friendly people. They had activities for the kids and they won ribbons for their participation.

During our visit to OH we had the chance to visit a facility where they hand-carve and paint carousel horses. Carousel Magic had horses that were beautiful and the craftsmanship was unbelievable.

We also had the opportunity to visit Cedar Point. It was no Disney, but it was enjoyable. The kids rode some of the most outrageous rides. Top Thrill Dragster is a ride that goes 120 mph and goes 420 feet up in the air. It was insane, so of course they loved it.

Overall, our time in Ohio was pleasant and we look forward to visiting again sometime.

Great Cats of Indiana.

This is one of the pics from Great Cats of Indiana. This tiger was so gentle. He was being petted and played with by his handler, and loving every minute of it. The sign over Timmy's shoulder says, "Beware of Cat!" We thought that was pretty funny.

Indiana.

Since IL, we have been hanging out in Indiana. We spent a week in Monticello, IN where we visited a large cat sanctuary called Great Cats of Indiana. They have rescued over 50 large animals (mostly tigers and lions) who would have been killed otherwise. It was so touching to hear all of the stories and how they came to be rescued. This facility was part of a series called Growing UP on Animal Planet. On Growing up Tiger they had some tiger cubs that needed to be relocated. The cubs were born in Indiana and moved to TX. This place does really great work.

Now we are in Clinton, IN. Pretty much the middle of nowhere. It is quite a small town. It is peaceful though. The family has been doing a lot of fishing, and the kids are enjoying the pool and a billiards table.

We will be leaving here soon for Ohio. We will be visiting some friends there and Cedar Point. The kids are looking forward to that.

Leisure Lake Campground.

After Canada, we went to Joliet, IL. Our good friends, and fellow full-time RVers, the Shermans had been asking us to visit their campground for a while. We finally found ourselves close enough to their park and we wanted to see them as we had not seen them in several months. We enjoyed 2 weeks relaxing, fishing, eating out, and enjoying our friends. The park had several activities for the kids as we found ourselves there over the 4th of July weekend.

Kesley won a fishing contest and a cash prize, Tim came in 2nd. It seems the lake there was overrun by Bluegills and they enlisted the help of the children to remove them. So around 25 kids fished for 2 hours to see how many Bluegills they could catch. The fish were all relocated to a nearby river. Kelsey caught 24 fish and Tim was right behind her with 23. Altogether, 170 fish were removed from the lake.

It was a very nice visit and we enjoyed spending time there. We will definitely be visiting again.

Niagara Falls.

With some time to travel for pleasure, we agreed to meet Mom and Mike in Niagara Falls for a week. We drove from GA to.....Chattanooga. Not too far, but the truck decided to be disagreeable and not go any further. We limped along the side of the highway to a campground just 6 miles away (we were very thankful that it was there). Also in our favor was the fact that there was a Volvo repair facility about 10 miles from the campground. We felt very fortunate to be in such a good location. There are much worse places to be broken down. It turned out that the transmission was not shifting properly and we needed a part. So, $800 and 2 days later we continued on our trek north actually arriving in Niagara Falls on time. It was a good thing we left ourselves plenty of time to get there. Instead of a couple of short driving days we had 1 long one.

We were happy to arrive in Canada, until we reached customs. Now, we expected to be searched and asked questions, but we felt violated. We sat on the side of the inspection area for about 1/2 hour while they searched the truck and RV with a very fine-toothed comb.

We were finally sent on our way and found our camp ground easily. Mom and Mike had made it there before us, so we got set up and met them at their hotel. We had a very nice week in Canada. The falls were magnificent and time with Mom and Mike is always nice. Niagara Falls is a very touristy place and we spent a lot there, but a good time was had by all.

Update.

I just realized that I haven't posted here since May. A lot has happened since then.

We left Miami and returned to GA to get ready for our next event. We had about a week or so before we had to be on the road again.
Next we were off to Memphis, TN for the Stanford St. Jude Championship at the TPC Southwind. It was nice because it was much more laid back than our previous event. We were able to work for a week, then relax for a week, then take everything down in a couple of days.

We had some time to see a few things in Memphis. We visited the Peabody Hotel and saw the famous ducks, we took a trolley ride around Memphis, and visited the Pink Palace. We also walked a bit on Beale Street and visited Peabody Place (a mall). We enjoyed some famous Memphis BBQ and did plenty of shopping.

Upon completion of this event we went back to GA and unloaded trailers and cleaned up the shop. This will be our last event for a while, and for the first time on several years, we have the whole summer off. Our next event isn't until December.

On our way home.

On our way home from Miami we decided we needed to have a little fun so we stopped, where else,in Orlando. We fit in some time at the Downtown Disney Lego store and had dinner there at a restaurant call Earl of Sandwich. After we ate we did a little shopping and just browsed the shops.

The next day we visited Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney's water parks, and had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants at the camp ground. We finished up the trip with an evening in the Magic Kingdom. It was fun as always, but this time of year was too crowded for my taste. Our next visit will be in Sept. with Mom and Mike, can't wait.

Checking in.

I haven't been here in a while. We were very busy in Aventura, FL with our last tournament. There were long days, lots of hours, and plenty of other chaos. But in the end everything went well and the job was done well, that's all you can expect.

We got a chance to visit South Beach and have dinner at a lovely italian restaurant. The food was delicious. We also got to enjoy Topeekeegee Yugnee park in Hollywood, FL. That is where we stayed with the RV. The park was really nice and had a lot for the kids to do. They had a really great water play area that we enjoyed one Saturday as well as the regular pool.

We were able to visit the beach a couple of times while we were there and the water was so blue. The beach was a little messy though. Kelsey was very worried about animals getting injured or sick, so she cleaned up the beach.

Another cool thing we saw in Miami were wild iguanas. They run freely around and are hanging out in the trees. We saw a few while we were there, the kids thought this was the coolest thing.

We also recently celebrated Timmy's 14th birthday. I can believe how fast the time goes. We took him out to his favorite restaurant, Golden Corral, for dinner and then to Dave and Buster's for some fun. His favorite gift was a new Nintendo DS from Mom and Dad, a close 2nd was his new camera from Grandma.

We are home in ATL for a couple of weeks, but soon will be heading to Memphis, TN for our next event. We will be there for 2 or 3 weeks.

We are all very well, a little tired and stressed, but otherwise good. The kids are looking forward to summer break as we have some fun things in mind for them. I hope all is well with everyone and you have lots of fun things planned too. We hope to see some family and friends this summer. So, until next time, TTFN (ta ta for now)!