Greetings from Live Oak

This week we finished filling in all the trenches that had been dug. We were waiting on the phone company to run wire for our DSL. That being accomplished, we were able to finally fill in the last ditch. Robert got our little shed up and filled with lots of stuff and we got some plants in the ground around our perimeter. We don't mind our neighbors, but a little privacy goes a long way. In about 5 years or so our plants will be gorgeous.

The weather got a little cooler this week, but it is only Feb. we expect to be back in to 60's and 70's soon. So that's the latest update, more soon.

Happy Groundhog day!

Early spring for us in the south, you Yankees, sorry, six more weeks of winter (lol).

A few more pics

Here are pics of when the septic tank went in and the power pole was delivered.

Making progress.

A lot has been going on with us. The property looks great. We now have our well, septic, power, and internet. Life is good! Our property has a lot of birds, so we have filled all the feeders and are enjoying watching them. The kids are enjoying all the room to run around and play and have been spending a lot of time in the trees.

Of course we have been enjoying the FL weather. There have certainly been cold days, but the warm days are more frequent.

There is still a lot to be done, but we will keep moving forward. Enjoy the pics and I will try to keep up with the updates.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010 to one and all. We hope everyone had a great holiday season, we sure did. We are making a move in 2010 to spend more time in FL. On December 23rd we purchased on 2.3 acres of land in Live Oak, FL. We will be relocating our base of operations there. In the month of January we will be moving out of our location in ATL and moving everything to FL. It will be a long process and most of our stuff will be in storage for now as we don't even have a building yet. Our first order of business was to clear the land. We have been mowing, trimming, pruning and burning for about a week now and the property looks pretty great.

We are waiting for several permits and once we receive them all we will be moving the RV to the property and Bob will begin building a smaller storage/work building. Later a larger building will be added, but we have to start small for now. The well is being drilled today, power should be this week and hopefully the septic will be this week as well.

We are very excited! No more leasing from someone else. Having our own property and building is a big step in the right direction for us. There will be a lot of work ahead, but it has been and will be so rewarding.

Hangin' Out in GA

Well, we've been back in GA for about a week now and it is crazy cold here. Not liking these temps one bit. The good news, we will be in sunny FL in less than a week. I can't wait for the 70's and shorts again.

We have finished up work for this year. 2009 was a slow year for us, but we are optimistic that 2010 will bring good things and we will be busy. We have several RV shows planned and hopefully we'll be busy doing other things as well.

Until next time, here is a pic of the kids enjoying the bowling alley near-by at the Wal*Mart Christmas party with their Nana and Aunt Kim.

We hope you are staying warm, wherever you are.

Texas

Enjoying our time in TX. Work is almost done, the tournament is going on this weekend. All that's left is to get everything packed up next week and on it's way back to GA.

The kids and I visited Brazos Bend State Park. Brazos Bend State Park, a 5,000-acre gem on the Upper Texas Coast, is just about 20 miles from where we are camping. It is loaded with wild life and lot of nature trails. It had a nature center where we could get a safe close up of some of the park's residents - the alligators, snakes and tarantula.

The kids became junior naturalists by completing an self-guided tour and accompanying work sheet to receive a Junior Naturalist badge. We really enjoyed the park's quiet beauty.

Our time here has been pleasant and we hope to return next year.

Houston, TX

We have left GA and arrived in TX for 3 weeks. The weather is glorious! The camp ground is nothing special, but it is clean, cheap, quiet, and has full hook-up's. There is not much for the kids to do here at the camp ground, but we brought the car, so we'll have to go out exploring and see what we can find. The Houston area has a lot to offer like museums, restaurants, a zoo and lots of other fun stuff.

We will be back in GA for Thanksgiving and then on to FL for the winter, looking forward to that.

So, until next time, Happy Autumn to all.

Back to Disney

We enjoyed our time in FL. It was very hot and humid this time of year, but our vacation was nice and we really learned to take things a little slower. Besides Disney, we enjoyed Sea World and Aquatica (Sea World's water park).

We are back in GA for some time now. Time to begin working on our next tournament. We will be here until Nov., then it's on to Houston. We have enjoyed doing the RV shows, but we are happy to be doing what started us traveling in the first place.

Take care until next time.

On the road again.

We made our way back to GA where we are spending a week until it is time to go to FL and our annual Sept. WDW vacation. It's been hot here, it will be hotter in FL. I hope the hurricanes pass us by and we enjoy our time in the Orlando area.

Bragg Farm

Our last tour of the day was Bragg Farm Sugarhouse. We could not leave Vermont without visiting a sugarhouse and seeing how real maple syrup was made. Again, the sugaring process was not currently happening as sugaring is done in late winter/early spring, but we watched a video of the process, learned about the family history, and toured the sugar house with very friendly and informative gentleman.

Next was a syrup tasting, it was sweet. We learned about the 4 different grades of syrup and their different flavors and colors. We chose the one we liked best and bought some as well as maple candy lolipops. Outside there were a few animals to pet, so we visited with them and then it began to rain lightly, so it was time to head home. We had a full day and we enjoyed it all.

Cold Hollow Cider Mill

After leaving Ben and Jerry's we made our way down the street to a working Cider Mill. Unfortunately the mill was not running as it was not yet the season. However, we saw a film about the process, sampled cider, and got complimentary frozen cider pops. We got to watch someone make cider donuts and we also got to sample honey, spreads, jams, and other freshly made items. We were getting pretty full now with bellies full of ice cream, cider, and other various treats. We still had another stop on this day and it was a sweet one.

Ben & Jerry's

YUMMY! That's how we all felt about Ben & Jerry's. The factory tour was interesting and entertaining. The free tasting at the end was delicious.

From the web site:

"Nestled in the heart of the Green Mountains the ice cream factory sits on a rolling pasture overlooking the Worcester Range heading North from the town of Waterbury. The guided factory tours are fun & educational for all ages. Guests are offered the opportunity to learn about the production process & how the Company’s 3 part-mission statement is incorporated into day-to-day business decisions.

The tour begins in the Cow Over the Moon theater with a company history moo-vie. Find out how two childhood friends, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, turned a $5.00 correspondence course on ice cream making into a very successful business that shares its success with its employees, & the community & has fun doing it! "

We had some fun while we were there, first, of course, we ate ice cream.
The kids posed for the obligatory pics while we enjoyed our sugar rush.
Then, the kids did some spin art, and mom tie-dyed a t-shirt.
Before leaving, we took time to visit the Flavor Graveyard. Here lies retired flavors or ones that just didn't do well in stores. There were some funny ones and some that just sounded gross.
A good time was had by all, we recommend this to anyone visiting the area.

Vermont Teddy Bear

While in the area, we had several places we wanted to visit, one being Vermont Teddy Bear. We enjoyed our tour and had a very enthusiastic guide. We saw some of the biggest Teddy Bears we have ever seen.

While we didn't buy any, we admired the quality and care put in to making the stuffed animals. We also admired their lifetime guarantee. This is a must do if you ever visit the area.

Apple Island RV Resort.

Once the rally was over we had to leave the fairgrounds property, so some of the other vendors recommended a nice camp ground near-by and they were offering 2 nights of free camping. That sounded good to us, so we moved to our new location and ended up spending 4 nights there.

Apple Island RV Resort was right on Lake Champlain and was convenient to the places we wanted to visit. They had a nice, long site for us and the campground had some really nice ammenities that we enjoyed like a hot tub, pool, and a library.

If we ever find ourselves in the area again, we would happily stay there.

Some pics from the rally.

This is what passes for entertainment with a group of tired vendors.

We had the pleasure of enjoying a rainbow one evening.

Essex Junction, VT

After our week in VA we needed to go to Vermont for another RV rally. This would be our last one for a while and we really weren't looking forward to driving all the way to Vermont. It turned to be a lovely place. Vermont is beautiful with mountains, rolling hills, lots of green everywhere, friendly people, and best of all, ice cream. I know you can get ice cream anywhere, but we were looking forward to visiting Ben & Jerry's.

Touring would have to wait though, we had a nice time at the rally, the kids made new friends and enjoyed visiting with some they already knew. They had a youth activities program, so they had loads of stuff to do and were busy most of the time.

We enjoyed our evenings with the other vendors, and, as always, we enjoyed talking with RVers and sharing our enthusiasm for traveling. We stayed at a fairgrounds and were quite comfortable.

We look forward to doing more show in the winter, but for now we have swithced gears and it is back to golf.

Busch Gardens, Williamsburg

During the week we spent time at Busch Gardens. We went for one full day and returned later in the week for 1/2 a day. We had a really nice time. The kids found new thrill rides to enjoy, we all enjoyed the shows, and the evening entertainment was enjoyable. We always enjoy Busch parks and we were glad to enjoy Busch Gardens again.

Tangier Island Cruise

For the second day of our vacation we had booked a short cruise aboard the Chesapeake Breeze.

The cruise left from Historic Reedville, Va., the center of the largest fishing industry in the United States.

We enjoyed a relaxing one and a half hour narrated cruise (although Tim got a little sea sick), the ship then docked at Tangier Island where we were met by a friendly guide. She gave us some history of the island and took us to Hilda Crockett's Chesapeake House and enjoyed lunch. It was all you care to eat crab cakes, clam

fritters, and Virginia baked ham. The vegetables included green beans, potato salad, coleslaw, apple sauce, pickled beets, and delicious hot corn pudding. All that is served with fresh, baked daily homemade rolls and butter pound cake. We left full and happy.

After lunch we took a golf cart tour of the island which took about 10 mins. and a guide told more about the history of the island.

Finally there was some shopping in the gift shops and our return cruise to Reedville. It was a lovely day, although one that need only be done once. We all enjoyed our day.

Gloucester, VA

We were happy to arrive at Thousand Trails Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. The park was lovely with nice big sites. We checked in and inquired as to where Mom's cabin would be so we could park close-by. We moved twice before we found one not too far from the cabin and clear of big trees for clear satellite service.

The first few days were spent cleaning, doing laundry, and all the stuff that comes right after a show and several days with no hook-ups. We were anticipating Mom and Mike's arrival in Fri.

They arrived on Friday evening and we got their stuff unloaded and then went out for a bite to eat. We were glad they were here as we had not seen them in 10 months.

Our first full day together was spent relaxing at the camp ground, visiting, swimming, and just catching up.