Our Golden Girl (October 14, 1995 - September 12, 2012)

Life Story of Kasey   (October 14, 1995 - September 12, 2012)

We lost our beautiful girl this month and our hearts are broken.  However we choose to celebrate her long life and remember her with  love.

Summer in FL

Well, summer has been in full swing for some time now.  Temps are in the mid to high 90's on a regular basis.  We have been relaxing a bit as we don't work as much in the summer months.   We enjoy the pool, the gazebo, and the long days.  The kids are still enjoying 4-H activities like meetings, bake sales, car washes, and shooting sports.

TS Debby came through our little, southern town on June 24-26.  She wreaked havoc on our area.  Jim Cantore from the weather channel was here.  There was massive flooding, roads washed out, giant sink holes, and our entire town center was under water.  Our property had several feet of standing water for weeks.  We just pumped the last of it out 2 days ago.  Many are still in bad shape.  FEMA is still here as well as the Red Cross and The Salvation Army. Thankfully we are dry now and we did not suffer any major damage, others have not been as lucky.  We figure, this is life in Florida, but rain like this does not happen very often and many were unprepared.  Historic buildings may have to be bulldozed, our City Capital building is in danger of falling into an underground sink hole.

On a lighter note, both kids are preparing to become young drivers and our son has finished high school.  We have lots to be thankful for and treasure each day that we can still live the lifestyle we enjoy.

May

May was a quiet month spent mostly at home. We had several 4-H activities including another archery tournament in which both the kids participated.  We finally got the pool up and have been enjoying it a lot as it has been very, very hot so far.  We celebrated Mother's Day, my kids were great to me.  We wrapped up our work with the golf kids for the summer and will be back at it in Sept.  Looking forward to a great summer.

APRIL

The month of April brought us Easter with family in GA and the celebration of Tim's birthday.  My Little boy is now 18, a young man. Where does the time go?  It's been unseasonably hot in FL,but we're getting by.  We're getting ready to set up the pool, so hopefully we'll be swimming soon.  We hope everyone is enjoying Spring.

4-H State Archery Tournament

Our daughter recently participated in her first archery tournament with her 4-H club. She had a really good time and learned a lot. She did not place, but is looking forward attending more events like this. She realized that there is always room for improvement and she is anxious to practice more. We were very proud of her.

Spring is in the air, at least here in FL. We've been enjoying beautiful, if not hot, weather. We've traveled for a few events, but mostly have been hangin' here. We had a quick visit to Orlando. We did not visit any theme parks, but made time to take an afternoon visit to Downtown Disney for ice cream and shopping.

We are wrapping up the Junior Golf events we have been working on all season and will be finished in May. We are looking forward to a fun summer, not sure what it has in store, but we are always ready for a new adventure.

Happy Birthday!!

We recently celebrated the 2nd birthday of our furry kid, Sasha and another birthday for my husband. Celebrations are always a good time.

Happy New Year!!

There are seasons of life, as we all know. I hope the seasons of this year lead to a bounty far beyond any you've seen before. It's amazing to see the calendar turn and give us a fresh, new, beginning. I hope this year brings you a mountain of blessings and great things in your life during the next twelve months.

Merry Christmas!

Ho! Ho! Ho!...from our family to yours.

Travel Supreme Mini Rally

In early December we had two sets of RV friends visit us at the same time. We are all Travel Supreme owners, all RVers, and we had a really nice visit. It was fun to have everyone here at the same time.

Hunter Education Safety Certification

In October my family attended a Hunter Education Certification class. This was through 4-H and certifies them as safe hunters. It involved an on-line portion, an in-class written exam, and the target shooting portion. They had a good time and loved shooting practice. I don't know if any of them will be hunting this year, but they are certified to safely do so.

Universal Studios

Our final trip to Universal before our annual passes expire. We have enjoyed our visits here, but we decided to let the passes go and take a break from here. We enjoyed the rides and of course the Butter Beer. Our final ride on the Dragon Challenge and the Forbidden Journey. We look another visit to the Orlando area again in Nov., but we bid Universal Studios a fond farewell.

Gulf Shores, AL

Our second visit to Gulf Shores this year was a lot of fun. This time we went with family, We enjoyed the beach, Lambert's, mini-golf, go-carts, and the Shrimp Festival. We tried a couple new restaurants and enjoyed spending time with family. It was a lot of fun.

Happy Autumn

Recently the kids participated with their 4-H group in a hay bale decorating contest. They had a great time and all the kids did a fantastic job. We are proud to present Thomas Henry III ( the kids made up the name). I am especially proud of our group because our turkey was made completely by them. They had assistance and direction from the adults, but all the work was done by them. Other groups had kids running around while adults did all the work. While we may not win, (we find out on Nov. 1st) they are all winners in my book.

We bought a pool.

Well, after draining, disassembling, and loading up, and 4 1/2 hours, we have a 24' round above-ground pool. It is in very good shape for being about 8 years old. We will need to purchase a new liner, but everything else has been taken care of. The pool was well maintained by the woman who owned it and she gave us everything she had to go with it. So, we will probably begin the site work this fall, but we probably won't fill it until spring. We're looking forward to enjoying it for many years to come.

The hunt for a pool.

We are currently looking for a used, above-ground pool for our property in FL. We have looked at 2 so far and driven all over North Florida. It is frustrating, we are trying to find a good deal that is not a piece of junk. We looked at one near our home that we like, and the price is right. However, it is still full and assembled. The owner is a single woman, so we will have to drain it, take it apart, and bring it home. We probably won't put it up until spring, but there is still a lot of site prep work to be done. We'll see how it goes, and decided if it really is worth all the effort and expense. So keep your fingers crossed for us that things work out the way they should.

4-H Banquet

We arrived home from Illinois just in time to attend the end-of-the-year 4-H banquet for our county. Kids are recognized for the outstanding work with 4-H. Our kids received awards for completing a 4-H related project and receiving blue ribbons. They worked hard and deserved the recognition. Other kids from our 4-H club were awarded and recognized as well. We really enjoyed the evening. Our club rocks!! I am so glad they are part of 4-H, they have really grown and learned so much from it. We are definitely looking forward to several more years.

On the road again (finally)!!

While we have been spending most of the summer here in FL, we were very happy make a trip to Illinois recently. Our very good friends stay at a campground there and we were looking forward to a nice visit with and them. We always enjoy our friends and Leisure Lake Resort. Tim did a lot of fishing and caught a small bass and lots of Bluegills, we did a lot of eating (Maciano's and Portillo's YUM!), Kelsey enjoyed the Pet Lovers weekend they were having and participated with Sasha & Kasey. We acquired a new vehicle to our fleet, a 1990 Club Car golf cart. It definitely needs some work, but it runs and will be helpful around our home and be good to have at campgrounds. We are looking forward to the fall when our friends come south to visit is here in FL.

A day of service

At our local Tractor Supply Co. the kids and their 4-H friends recently participated in a pet-friendly event where they attended a watering station for dogs at a pet event. It was a fund raising opportunity for our 4-H club and a community service event for the kids. The local Humane Society was their as well and the kids really enjoyed playing with all the dogs.

4-H Day Camp

The kids are involved in a club that involves shooting sports and fishing. We recently had a 3-day-long camp for kids interested in these sports. It was a really hot week, but we had a lot of fun. The kids did archery, air rifle, fishing, and had visits from several guests with animals. They got to pet a really large alligator and hold an enormous python. They enjoyed their 4-H friends and all the activities.