Christmas at the beach -Happy New Year

Christmas is over and soon the New Year will be here. Most of us reflect on what we accomplished, what we never got around too, the good times and some sad times.  So for us it’s been a little of everything.

We've accomplished making a final move from full Time RV’s to Winter Texans by leaving the 5^th wheel in Texas, selling the big truck and purchasing a new vehicle to make the trip to and from Michigan. We never got around to finishing some remodeling in the house but there’s always 2013.  We had many good times but one of the best was seeing our daughter Brandi marry a wonderful man. And of course there always seems to be a sad time, ours was losing our dear friends Larry and LaVila just one week apart of each other (at least they are together now). The next year hopes to have many more good times and maybe a few more accomplishments.

We made our trip to South Padre Island on Christmas Day. We took a walk along the beach and tried to get Pepper use to the water. She seemed to be alright until the water started chasing her than all bets off, she was heading for land.

After our little lunch on a pavilion by the beach we took our towels and enjoyed the perfect weather of soaking up the sun and people watching. We were surprised on how many families were there but this may be their tradition of opening presents and hitting the beach in the afternoon. I took several pictures and have posted them on Snapfish if you’re interested.

I received a picture from daughter Renee’ who wanted to share some of their winter wonder land. It’s very pretty and I really enjoy seeing this snow, especially when we are 1800 miles away from it.

But they aren’t the only ones who have had a cold snap. I’ll admit we don’t get the snow or as low of temperatures but when it goes from 89 degrees on Christmas day to a high of 54 degrees the next it’s darn right cold for us.

We’ve been working on a project that we were asked to oversee. When we were asked it was a “could you help” with the annual Walk through the Village event. As it turned out our “help” and the sales managers “help” are two different things.

As my kids will attest I am an organizer and a big one for notes – on everything and sometimes in triplicate. So when I found out that in the last four years of this event there weren't any I thought - well never mind what I thought.  And as my kids know there will be a full notebook completed for the ones who do this next year.

So we asked two other couples to work with us and we’ve been putting our heads together to try and make sure this thing runs smoothly. Every year the residents open their homes and coach houses to the public so visitors can see what it’s like being in Retama. It’s a pretty big event with several hundred people coming to our park. While the residents show their places we have many things going on at the clubhouse including food, raffles, vendors. So that we don't have vehicles all over we will have the visitors park in a vacant area by the clubhouse and use golf carts to shuttle them around the park.

I think we’re going to try something different, in the pass they have always served hot dogs but this year we are going to try Frito Pie. We’re having a taste testing tomorrow afternoon so we’ll make the final decision after that. But I have to admit that none of this could be possible without so many here that have volunteered their time and opening their homes.

I guess that’s it for this week.  Happy New Year to all and be safe

Larry's project - Grandsons boot - Ladies Pictures

Larry’s been working on a little project. As I mentioned before he has a Lionel Train set that he would like to get set up in the spare room in the house in Michigan. He’s been working on one of the scenes and I’m sure the family members will recognize this but for others this is one of the hip roof barns on the family farm. It’s not done yet but he would like to try and do a replica of the farm.

Daughter Brandi called and said our new grandson Dar’Relle dropped a weight on his foot at school. Darrell (dad) went and got him and off to the ER they went.  I should mention that normally our other grandson Darrius is the one who goes there but I think he has finally realized that yes Superman can do all these leaps and bounds without getting hurt but Darrius can’t. Anyway after the x-rays showed his big toe and the one next to it were broken the Dr. said he would have to wear a special shoe but would probably be ok to go back to basketball after xmas break. After trying every shoe/boot that the hospital had they had to send someone out to Michigan State Univ’s athletic department to get one big enough.

Thursday was the Ladies breakfast  and since it was at a place  I’ve never been I decided to go. Very nice local family owned restaurant that at one time was a house. I ordered their special 2eggs, hash browns, toast, ham and coffee for $4.50.  Of course have to share a picture of the group.

Another picture I want to share is a group one that was taken after the Ladies Luncheon in front of the fountain.

 

Last Saturday was my side of the family's Christmas Party. Some day all of the family might be able to come together for this party but for those of us not there it's always great seeing this.

 

 To all our family and friends where ever you may be, safe travels and may you all have a wonderful Christmas.

O-Pepper wants to share a picture she has of her friend Trash.

 

Till next time ..........................

Busy Week

Half the month of December is over. What happened to Thanksgiving wasn’t it just last week. So let’s start right off with a couple of pictures.

Our grandson Darrius is in his glory in this picture. He was chosen to be a water boy at his big brother Dar’Relle’s high school basketball team. What 8 year old that lives, plays and dreams this game wouldn’t want this job.

Another picture from our daughter Renee’ is of our grand-dogs. Can’t believe these two would sit still for this. I can just see Pepper; she’d be in Santa’s lap playing tug of war with his beard. Renee’ and Brian are a foster home for a pet rescue called Love a Stray in Ohio.(check out the website, our granddogs are on the front) This is where Pepper came from. Each year they have this event of having a picture of Santa with you’re pets to help raise dollars for Love a Stray.

Since we allowed Brandi’s family to open their Christmas present early Renee’ called and wanted to too. Since she knew about this one and wanted to put it out I said ok.

Wednesday was the Ladies Christmas Luncheon that Marilynn and I hosted. From all the comments it was a great success. The men did a wonderful job on fixing our meal and serving us. Here's are chef and waiters.

 

Once the luncheon was over Marilynn and I turned our attention on to the next event for Saturday. Marilynn was in charge of the monthly breakfast and I convinced her it would be great fun to have an “Egg in a Bag” breakfast. And I have had to convince her almost daily that this is a good idea. But it turned out to be a great success and everyone seemed to have a good time. Lots of prep work to get this ready for 70 people but we had a lot of help. Here's a couple of pictures.

 

 

This afternoon we along with Marilynn and Gary treated ourselves to a DQ Blizzard. We earned it.

Till next time..................

Bazaar - Rattlesnake

Another week has flown by. The good thing is I have my Christmas Shopping all done and it’s either on its way or has been delivered to the family.  The air hockey table arrived sooner than I was told so Brandi and Darrell picked it up one night. It’s a little too big to put under the tree or even hide in a closet so told her to go ahead and set it up.

Here’s Darrius and Dar’Relle having a little competition between brothers.

Monday was our 35^th wedding anniversary. Can’t believe it’s been that long. Seems like it was just a few years ago that we joined two families together and we all went on our honeymoon to Disneyland. We were both very lucky on not only finding each other but also having some pretty neat kids.

The residents here had a bit of a wakeup call recently. One of our friends was bitten by a rattlesnake. He admits he did a dumb thing, heard a noise in the bushes and moved the branch to see what it was. After three days in intensive care and five doses of anti-venom he’s doing fine and doesn’t have any long term effects. Trust me everyone is now using a long stick to shake the bushes before we start trimming them.

Marilynn and I went shopping one day to get the items needed for the ladies luncheon that we are hosting on Wednesday. The count is at around 60 so it should be a good lunch. Especially with the men fixing and serving it too us.

Last Wednesday we had a Clean out the Storage Room party. It had more crap in there from activity decorations that haven’t seen the light of day for several years. But it’s much better now with clear tubs labeled with the events so people will be able to see and get too the decorations.

Yesterday Donna and I hosted a Pre-Holiday Bazaar in the clubhouse and we really had a nice variety of items. We were both surprised at the number of people that came from our park and the one next door. Here’s a picture of the event.

 

We went out for pizza the other night with Bill and Kathy. They had their granddaughter Sabrina with them. Here’s Larry feeding little Sabrina her substitute pizza.

We lost two very dear friends.  We met Larry and LaVila about six years ago out in AZ in the middle of the dessert. Larry was a bull s****er (must be something about that name) and LaVila was an unbelievable hostess.  They purchased a RV lot not far from us and we enjoyed many times heading into Mexico together. LaVila passed away on the 26^thof Nov. and Larry on the 5th of Dec. We’ll miss these two special people

  That’s about it for this week. Till next time……………….

Border Patrol, Shopping, The Birds

Another week has passed and again I’m not sure just what I did to make it go so fast.

I have finished up the Christmas shopping or at least made the final decisions.. Don’t you just love on line shopping? We decided to do a family gift for Brandi’s crew and Sears had the item so we did go there on Monday to see what it looked like. Then I came home and ordered it on line to be shipped to the local store in Lansing. The rest will be ordered today and some sites even have gift wrapping. I enjoy shopping but not so much when I “have” to find gifts. I’m more of a walk around shopper and if something jumps out and says buy me I do.

Our neighbors Gary and Marilynn arrived on Friday from WI. So nice to see them, but I think Pepper was more excited to see Gary than anyone. I swear that dog is half human and remembers everything and everyone. We were heading out for a walk when they pulled in and she about pulled my arm off trying to get to him.

There was a meeting with a Border Patrol guy this week. He was supposed to come and just give an information talk but he sure blew it. A two hour meeting in a nut shell is he thought we were all basically dumb for living where we are and that illegals are coming here to do us harm. Oh and he also said we should never go in to the State Park next to us.  Boy the poop hit the fan when the owner of our development heard this and the people at the State Park notified the head of the Parks in Austin. We’re supposed to have another meeting with the head of the Patrol on Tuesday, Should be interesting. I forgot to mention that this guy kept repeating that his pay has been cut and some of the benefits. Hmm a little bitter maybe.

I only have one picture to share. This time of year we get hundreds of birds that use our area as a landing pad and fly overs. It normally only last a couple of weeks than they are gone. Our friend Bonnie took this picture from her place and posted it on Facebook so I have to give her credit on these.

Kind of reminds you of a movie doesn't it

 

I guess that’s about it for now. Till next time…………………