Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all our friends and we wish you an awesome 2013. Our prayers go out to our dear friends,John and Suz, who have been dealing with a major struggle in their lives. And prayers to all our other friends who have been given a mountain to climb by our 'guy upstairs'. We are in Baden, Ontario today with our daughter, Michelle and her family for Christmas Day. Turkey is in the oven. We left Davenport, Florida on Sunday, Dec 16th and drove 2 1/2 days to arrive at Dione's in Belmont. We had just taken Dewayne and Nancy to DisneyWorld to tour some of the resorts and show them that there is more to Disney than just theme parks. This picture is of them at the Grand Floridian in front of the ginger bread house. Looking forward to showing them more of Disney once we return in January. In Ontario, we were able to travel and get in a number of the kid's hockey games. For Christmas, Dione gave us tickets to a live performance of 'Miracle on 34th Street" at the Grand Theatre in London. We took her 4 kids and had an awesome time. We love live performances so couldn't have received a better gift. The evening went great and, when we got out after 10 pm, we all stopped at McDonald's for french fries. The kids loved it. This past Sunday we drove to Owen Sound to visit my mom. She is 87, in a retirement home and doing great. Finally found slippers that work for her and some of you may appreciate what a wonderful accomplishment that was. Dione and her family will come to Baden tomorrow for our family Christmas dinner. Friday we have a wedding in Toronto and then Sunday we will take the grandkids to Owen Sound to visit my mom and see the lights. We will stay overnight as the hotel has an indoor pool. This has been an annual tradition which mom looks forward to. She is on the receiving end of Christmas carols by her great grandchildren. New Years Eve at Dione's to celebrate our family's health and happiness in 2012 and ring in 2013. We plan on heading back to Florida on January 2nd.

Osborne Dancing Lights at Walt Disney World Florida

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgsqChJIyKU&feature=plcp

Tried to link this youtube video but still learning how.
We enjoyed a spectacular event at Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World, Florida on Thurs evening with our friends, Ron and Carol. Spent about 2 hours taking in the lights, music and ambiance.

Candlelight Processional, Epcot, WDW Florida

Last night we went to Epcot at Walt Disney World to the Candlelight Processional. We purchased the Dining Experience in order to have priority seating and the total cost was worth every cent. We ate at the Rose and Crown Pub which included as appetizer (we chose the Scotch Egg and the Roasted Scallops),an entree and awesome desserts. We chose off the menu and it didn't matter whether you chose the $17 fish and chips or the $30 steak. Of course, we chose the $30 steak with the Yorkshire pudding, vegetables and fried fish. Food was excellent. When we left the restaurant we walked to another area for the show. The WDW Orchestra, Voices of Liberty and WDW Cast Choir were joined by choirs from some schools to present the Story of the birth of Jesus. Last night's show was narrated by Neil Patrick Harris. It was beautiful.

Key West Florida

We left Davenport on Monday Nov 12 and headed south to spend some time on the Florida Keys. First stop was an easy drive to Miami Everglades RV Park where we enjoyed an inexpensive, full hook up, pull thru for the night. We met Mark, Brenda, Gilles and Gerry from the Niagara Falls ON Canada area. Turns out we had a mutual friend, Norm, who is now in Pennsylvania. Small world. Then we drove to the keys to spend the week at Bluewater Keys RV Resort.( www.bluewaterkey.net )which we would highly recommend. If they are full when you phone, try calling Rita, 305-744-0999, who owns 8 sites and rents privately. Not sure if she has free wifi or cable with her sites but she says she is less expensive than through the park. Park is def first class. Ate at Two Friends, Jimmy Buffets, Mamma Mania and Hogfish Grill. All were excellent. Chiko was greeted by a Blue Land Crab under the step one evening and we had a resident iguana outside our coach. Stopped at Ortona South COE park ($12) on the ways home which was excellent. Great trip.

Davenport, Florida

Well we are on our site in Deer Creek RV Resort for the winter. Have already been to wii bowling and cards at the clubhouse and another One-to-One class at Apple. Lots of friends already here and the fun has begun. Will head over to Disney Epcot Wine and Food Festival which is on until early Nov. Special prayers for John and Suz today as John undergoes a regiment of tests. Rain everyday this week but great for lawn and gardens. Plus getting lots done indoors.

Cedar keys

OMG! We just came back from dinner at Steamers. I had fresh steamed clams, fresh shrimp and fresh grouper. My dinner was soooo good. We came to this CG today via 98 to 19 to 345 to 24. Realized afterward that we would have been better to come in the exit and ended up in site 7 instead of 8. Here until Sunday when we will move on to Davenport. Tomorrow going to Annie's for fresh mullet, eggs and bacon. Looking forward to enjoying seafood all weekend.

Carrabelle Florida

We are set up here for the 3 days overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Another Bill and Nancy referral. Beautiful spot. To arrive at this CG, we took exit 174 off I-10 and drove north on 12 (going under 10) for about 2 miles then turned south on 65. Watch for 65 as it's not an intersection. We took 65 south to Telogia where we turned left onto 67. Just above Carrebelle, we turned left onto Lake Morality Rd which is the truck route. Then when we connected with 98, we turned left and Ho-Hum was right there on the right. Well worth the stop and we will go back.

Deer Run RV Park

Bill and Nancy recommended this park and it is an excellent choice. Will use again. $27 with Good Sam 50 amp/pull thru/cable/wifi/easy off and on. Approx half way between Red Bay and Ho-Hum CG,Carrabelle,Fl.

On the road again!

Today we are finishing our work in Red Bay and getting ready to leave tomorrow We had Chris change the valance on the kitchen window as well as the bathroom window, with very pleasing results. Once we get to Florida, we will change the mid tv for a large one. Then the coach is pretty much done the way I want. Fridge is still working great on the inverter. George did give us a hint that, because we did not upgrade to a stronger inverter, when we stop along the road to have lunch we will def want to put the generator on as the batteries will not handle the fridge and microwave at the same time. Good point. We’ll likely stop at Ho-Hum park in Carrabelle Fl for a few days on our way to Deer Creek. Bill and Nancy highly recommend it, it’s on the way and sounds like worth checking out. Will try to stop in and visit Jim and Sophie if they are in Brookside. This past week we’ve had a fun time with George and Sandi who have been at the Tiffin Service Site for the past two weeks. Met their friends, Mike and Mary Ann and look forward to fun times with them in the future. Both couples are coming to Florida this winter so will hook up with them at some point. We are going to use the site in Deer Creek as a home base and will take the rv on short trips throughout Florida. ie Cape Canaveral, Fort Myers, the Keyes etc. Bill and Nancy will arrive toward the end of Oct and Paul and Sylvia toward the end of Nov so looking forward to enjoying their friendships. We already bought tickets to the Singing Christmas Trees Concert in December. Lots of friends in Deer Creek who we’ll enjoy seeing again We’ll travel to the rv parks where some of our friends are staying and get in some fun visiting in. John and Suz are planning on coming to Deer Creek for a month in the Spring again. Then next winter we will look at going west again.

Friendships

After a great visit with Nat and Candy, we moved south to the Elkhart Fairgrounds in Goshen Indiana for a week to hang out with our friends, John and Paula (another Texas couple). It was so much fun. Paula has lost a lot of weight and looks FABULOUS! They were there for a SMART rally so the timing was great for us to hook up while we were heading south. While in Goshen, we got our Splendide washer/driver combo fixed. It kept stalling out when we were drying clothes. Turns out the hose in back was plugged with lint. Westland serviced it and taught us how to keep that cleaned out in future. I have always liked the combo so glad it was an easy fix.

Southward Ho !

We stayed to see the kids return to school including Sarah's first day. Then we met Dione and Sarah at the Flying J parking lot to say a final goodbye and began our trip south for the winter .We left Ontario Sept 5th and headed for Haas Lake RV Park, New Hudson, Michigan. Full hook up/50 amp/pull thru for a few days while we visit with Nat and Candy. This is our third stay at this park. Candy and I got started on our plans for our trip to Italy next Sept. We’re all getting excited now that the time is getting closer. Their new home in Ontario will be finished soon and they will start to move in. Nat will stay in Michigan to continue working as Candy enjoys being closer to Mandy and Sawyer.

Summer with the kids

We have had a great summer with the kids on board although didn’t take a road trip this year. We all missed going on the road with the kids so will think of a plan for next summer. Spent most of the summer at Willow Lake Campground in Woodstock. It is halfway between both daughters’ homes so easy for enjoying the grandkids. We have full hook up/50 amp pull thru which is not common in Canada. And the owners, Ron and Jane are really nice. Skip and Lana, who we met in Texas three years ago, came to Willow Lake for a few days and we had lots of fun hanging out. While they were there we drove to John and Diane’s (another Texas couple) new home in Port Burwell. In a really nice senior community. We enjoyed our two weeks at Woodland CG, Sauble Beach with our friends Bill and Gail and Bill and Ange. Skip and Lana have reserved Woodland for two weeks next summer. They’ll enjoy touring the area with us. Continued to take One to One classes at Apple in Waterloo and London and got more work done on my family photo project. Did take the kids shopping for their back to school outfit and had a great time. The store, Justice, is in London, Ontario as well as the U.S. so it was fun to take the girls shopping there. Jack and John sat in the mall outside the store for an hour and Jack stated that next year the two of them would go to a movie while us girls shopped for girl stuff.

Well, it’s been a long time since we’ve updated this blog and it has been a busy winter. We did apply at DisneyWorld for jobs, did get interviewed and did get put on the list. If we were willing to go part time we would have been hired immediately but then we would have been expected to work in July and August when we are in Canada with the kids. Seasonal is more difficult so next time we apply, we will apply first of Sept for Food and Beverage and may stand a better chance. We did enjoy Deer Creek Resort for the winter tho. John and Suz dropping in for a few days after the Tampa RV Show. Skip and Lana dropped in for 2 wks in April. Laura came to stay for a week as did Candy. Dione and her family came for a week. She and Bob stayed at Disney while we had the 4 kids on the coach for a week. It was awesome. Did Legoland. Kids liked it but we did find it is for younger kids. Too young for Ty. Spent time teaching some girls how to do charcoal portraits of their grandchildren. Taught some others how to bead and I learned how to bead with wire. Our Norcold fridge burned end of Feb. but John and some neighbors installed a Samsung residential fridge which is awesome. Met some great folks and established some friends for life. Got our Disney season passes in May before we left as we are returning to Deer Creek in the Fall. We will not re-apply to Disney but will spend the winter touring Florida and using Deer Creek as a home base. Now we are in Red Bay, AL getting our roof rails and wet bays done. John changed the Anode rod on the hot water heater and somehow we ended up with no hot water for 2 days. He went on the tiffinrvnetwork.com with the problem and got a number of responses. One response included a picture of a valve which turned out to be the culprit. The techs were in and out in 15 minutes as that was the first placed they looked. We have been talking about dealing but now I (Sheila) want to enjoy this rv for the next year. Then John can find what he wants. This coach should be perfect when we leave here. There is nothing to do so it gives me time to get cupboards cleaned, purging done and just general catch up on things I have been procrastinating with. Looks like we will be here the long weekend (John has painting touch up they are going to do for him) but will wander over to Tupelo. We are too early to catch the Helen Keller presentation in June but I do enjoy touring Ivy Green. When we leave here we have decided to go straight to Ontario, Canada to surprise the kids early. They have busy summers planned so we will spend as much time with them as possible. Ty and Tate are getting a new lab puppy so we are looking forward to Chiko enjoying playing with him or her. I got a new MacBook Pro in April and had been taking classes at Apple in Florida on how to use. Transferred all my photos from my old pc and numerous backups. Have been organizing in Aperture and reduced the number of photos from 62 thousand to 17 thousand. Lots of multiple copies due to numerous backups over the past 10 years. Also scanning all my old photos from albums onto the laptop. Big project but like this app. Enjoying the mac over the pc. Had purchased a new iPod Touch in January and have been face timing a lot with the kids. Life is still great.

Florida

We finally did get finished in Red Bay and headed south to our site at Deer Creek in Davenport FL. Great to arrive Sunday and start setting up our new home for the next 7 mos. John's been busy spraying red ants and has those pests under control. Went to Downtown Disney Wed nite for dessert, wander around and to Skype the kids. It was dark when we got home but did see two racoons scampering out of our way when we arrived. John and Chiko have spotted a possom a couple of times while out for their walk at nite. I (Sheila) went to a seminar at the club house on Medicare and am now more confused than before. So will use a rainy day to see if I can figure that out. Will make a list of questions and then find a Medicare office to get them answered. John has John W's golf cart up and running and is having fun with it. Took Chiko to his first of six obedience classes and John and I did really well. Went to a murder mystery dinner in Frostproof Fri.nite and that was fun. Lots of live theatre near here so look forward to enjoying many performances over the winter.

Red Bay Alabama

When we got to Red Bay, without an appointment, we were advised we could be

here until into November. This was pretty discouraging as this is the 3rd time we need to have the rotting floor replaced on the driver's front slide. John talked to them and they worked some things around so we were able to get in Friday. The service techs will finish up Mon or Tues. Such a relief as we have doctor appointments Nov 3rd in Florida to check a couple of spots for skin cancer. While here we have met some more friends for life. I had heard at the rally that my gungy microwave could be cleaned with Bartenders Friend. Peggy told me not to buy it as she had and it didn't work. She gave me hers, I boiled a lemon in it and then used the Bartenders Friend. Could not believe the results. It looked band new! So Peggy tried the same process, using the lemon, and her microwave looks great too. We are passing around the BF, scouring pad and the lemon for others to clean their microwaves. Awesome. I had two couples over for dinner Wed as trying to learn to use the foreign buttons on my microwave. Made the Mexican Potatoes and Pineapple Pork Roast according to the Sharp Convecton Microwave instructions. I was so proud of the dinner. Everyone was impressed. I'll keep trying receipes using CompuRoast, High Mix, Sensor Cook etc. VERY pleased with how this microwave cooks. Can't believe I've had one for 10 years and just starting to learn. Peggy had invited all the Canadians over for the Canadian Thanksgiving dinner and served turkey, stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes etc. Awesome dinner. Life is good.

Alabama

We left the rally on Friday morning and drove 495N to 90W to 84S to bypass the New York traffic and we were able to make it to a Walmart in Chambersburg,PA. Worked out great as was tucked back in from traffic and quiet. We were up early then next morning and made it to a Walmart in Kimball, Tenn., just outside the Alabama State line. This Walmart is used by a lot of transports who leave the truck running all night and tend to be really noisy. Won't do that one again. It was an easy drive into Red Bay to have Tiffin work on our coach. We had set the month of Oct aside to get some major warranty repairs done. Took Chiko to vet Tues to be neutered and have his dew claws removed. He's doing just fine with his little bright green bandages on. We take him back Monday to have the stitches for the dew claws taken out. No stitches for the neutering. Pleased with the job the vet did. Went to Mr.J's for pizza last night with neighbors and food was excellent. Going to Rattlesnake Saloon tonight.

New England

Monday, Sept. 26 we left and drove I-95 north to the rally. We weren't there 10 minutes when we got a knock on the door. Free generator oil and filter change compliments of Bob Tiffin. We were given a sheet when we registered and asked to write down 3 items we would like the Tiffin Service Techs to look at and possibly repair for us. The list was put under the windshield wiper and the reps looked after everything. What they couldn't fix, we will get done at Red Bay next week. Tues we attended seminars and picked up some great tips. The Cumins rep advised us that 2,000 rpms is the sweet spot for the Cumins 360 that we have in our rv. When climbing, downshift and keep the tak as close to 2,000 as possible. Will make climbing hills much easier. Letting the coach lug up a hill is hard on the engine. John has been doing this and notices a big difference. Michelin put on a tire presentation and then visited each coach to tell the owners about their wear patterns and how to make corrections, if needed. Lucky for us our tires are wearing perfectly. Air pressure and alignment are right on. I (Sheila) had made a committment about a month ago to start learning about and using all the bells and whistles on my convection microwave. It was great to learn more about it at this seminar. The dog park at Normandy Farms is the biggest, nicest and most amazing one we have ever seen.

On Wed. we took a cruise to view 10 Lighthouses and take a complete tour of Newport Harbor. Cool but sunny and just beautiful. We ate lunch at the Quonset Officer's Club at the U.S.Naval Complex and it was (actually a dinner) one of the best John and I have enjoyed. On the way to the cruise, our bus (one of 4) toured Providence RI when we learned the effects that the Gaspee Affair, the Great Depression, the Civil War and the New England Hurricane of 1938 had on this capital city. Thursday was "Sports Day' and, although it rained a lot of the day, we had great fun socializing. And lastly but most important, we met some new friends for life.

New England States

We headed east on Hwy 2 to take the scenic route thru upper New York State. It was pretty but before the end of the day we had switched to I-90 east. It was much faster and the toll cost was minimal. We called Normandy Farms in Foxboro, Mass. to see if we could get in early and do our sightseeing from there. Turns out they had a 25 % off for Mass. campers so were full. We called a member of the Nutmeg Allegro Club (Connecticut) and Jennie recommended Aces High RV Park in Easy Lyme (Flanders/New London area). It turned out to be an excellent referral. We are getting rain off and on but have managed to enjoy the Mystic Seaport area and Jamestown RI area along with the Foxboro Casino. The park is not big but clean with nice sites and walking trails along the water. We even have a Five Guys just down the street. Took Chiko to the vet in Groton Tues as he has been licking and scratching his one leg where we believe he was stung by a wasp the first of Aug. Turns out the vet, her assistant and the second vet at the clinic are Canadian. The Dr. believes Chiko was stung by something and, because he has been at it, he has a bacterial infection on the leg. So he is on antibiotics for 12 days to clear it up. We are so relieved it is not allergies. We had been giving him a half dose of children's Benedryl but she said to increase it to the full dose of 12.5 mg per day. The half dose had been the Canadian Benedryl which is only 6.5 mg strength. So we really increased it but she says it won't hurt him and will stop the urge to scratch more quickly. Will be happy to see him healthy again and will pay closer attention to where we walk him. Other than that, he is doing great. Turning out to be an excellent breed as a housepet. Still not barking and still no interest in people food.

Back in the U.S.of A.!

After leaving Ontario, Canada, we travelled southeast thru Fort Erie to Holley NY to visit Skip and Lana. They recommended we stay at the Hickery Ridge Golf and RV Park just down the road and it turned out to be an excellent choice. They very graciously took us sightseeing in the area and we were pleasantly surprised at how scenic it is. Easy to see why they love living where they do. They took us to the Dinosaur BBQ where we had the best ribs ever! Apparently Airforce 1 gets their bbq here when in the area. Awesome food. Skip and John golfed at Hickery Ridge Wed. for $18/18 holes incl cart. Both liked the course. Thurs. Skip took John out on the Erie Canal boating with friends. We didn't realize the canal came this far inland and it is beautiful. It was cold out but John enjoyed himself. Lana and I shopped both days. Good friends and we enjoyed the visit. We hated to leave but it was time to move on. We are booked into the Allegro Rally on Sept 26th so will spend time touring New England States before we get there.

Summer with the Kids

We stayed long enough to see our last grandchild go to school for her first day. Sarah, who turned 4 on Aug 31st, said it was a good day at Jr. Kindergarten as she didn't get sent to the office of principal at all. We had taken all 6 granchildren on our traditional 'back to school' shopping trip. We were really successful in buying outfits that they all liked and were happy to wear to class. It's another fun event for John, myself and each of the childen. They enjoy trying on clothes and then presenting a fashion show for ours and their parents enjoyment.
We then took Michelle, Tim, Bob and Dione to the Elm Hurst Inn in Ingersoll for a goodbye dinner Sunday evening. Food and ambiance were excellent.
Then early monday morning on Sept 12th, we were packed up and on the road again, heading south. First stop. Holley, NY.