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)!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope your holiday was filled with family and food. We spent the day without Bob as he had to be in Miami for work, but we had a nice day anyhow. We went out for a nice big breakfast to start the day. We did a little shopping (thanks Grandma). When Nana got home from work we went to her house and enjoyed a delicious ham dinner and got our Easter baskets and goodies. We enjoyed our day with family and, of course, ate too much candy.


We hope your days were as wonderful.

Happy Birthday Kelsey!

My baby turned 11! March 18th was Kelsey's birthday. She had two days of celebration. On her actual birthday it was a girl's day out. The day began with breakfast and gifts from Mom and Dad. Shortly after that the girls had a nail appointment and Kelsey had her first manicure. She loved it! They gave her some free nail decorations for her birthday.

Next was a quick trip to the post office to pick up a package with Grandma's birthday gift. Off next to the mall for a little shopping and lunch with Mom at the American Girl Boutique and Bistro. Her doll Nicki joined us for lunch and she got some new shoes after lunch. All of this was followed by dinner at home, shrimp scampi at Kelsey's request. We had a small cake for just the four of us.

The following evening there was another celebration at Nana's house with gifts from Nana and Aunt Kim, plus another cake (ice cream this time). It was a wonderful birthday. Kelsey was happy with everything and she said being 11 is not much different from being 10.

I can't believe it has been 11 years. Where does the time go?

Before we left FL, we found time to stop in Tampa and one more short visit to Orlando. So, Busch Gardens and WDW were on the itinerary. We enjoyed both. The kids enjoyed Sheikra, a roller coaster that pulls 4 G' s and stands 200 feet off the ground. They thought it was fun, I thought they were out of their minds. They are getting older, so I guess the days of "It's A Small World" are behind us.

Bush Gardens, Tampa Bay is a lovely park. We enjoyed their animal safari and met a woman from Animal Planet which was a highlight of our trip. We had a beautiful day for our visit.

WDW

On our recent trip to WDW we spent 2 nights at Disney's All Star Music resort in a family suite. It was a nice mini-vacation. This will be our last visit while we are here in FL. Our next trip will be in Sept.

Happy New Year everyone!

Well we are looking forward to great things in 2008. We currently have 3 tournaments this year, 1 Disney trip already under our belt and one planned for Sept. This fall we are considering going to the mid-west. Maybe Utah, Wyoming, and we'd like to visit the Dakotas.

We think we may spend our winter in AZ, but, we have no definite plan yet.
I'll keep you posted as to our whereabouts and adventures.

I hope 2008 is wonderful to everyone!

The Blue Angels

We recently had the opportunity to see an air show including the Blue Angels. It was fantastic! We also visited the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. We had a really good time. We are enjoying our time in Gulf Shores, AL. The weather is very nice, the ocean is really blue, and the RV park is peaceful.

The Disney Wonder.

We really enjoyed our cruise. The ship was just beautiful and the staff and crew were wonderful.

Jetty Park.

We enjoyed a week of down-time at Jetty RV Park at Port Canveral. Right on the beach and on Port Canveral property. We were able to watch a launch and visit Kennedy Space Center.

WDW!

We enjoyed our week at Walt Disney World. The weather was hot and it was rainy, but a good time was had by all.

Our new car.

I want to share our news that we got a new car. A 2001 Toyota Rav4 is now the proud new member of our fleet. We should be adding our new truck very soon.

I hope you'll share in our excitement.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. Here I will keep you posted on all things. Our RV lifestyle, homeschooling, HD trucking, and anything else I can think of.

I hope you enjoy.