A Funny Kind of New Year's Eve

December 31, 2007

We spent New Year’s Eve at Ocean Resorts this year…. On the beach……

A group of people went down to the beach in the afternoon and dug a great big hole. Wood was gathered and the pit was ready for the fire.

People started to gather at about 8:00pm. The fire glowed in the dark although there was a full moon. What a neat sight! There were about 70 people coming and going all evening. Many didn’t stay till midnight so the crowd to welcome in the new year was small. Some brought snacks and some cooked hot dogs. Fireworks was shot off also.

Needless to say, it was a very different New Year’s Eve.

Back to Texas for Christmas

December 19-28, 2006

After some Christmas festivities in Florida, it was back to Texas for the holidays. BUT, we didn’t drive the motorhome, we flew. Since we were only going to be in Texas for a week or so, driving would have taken too long AND we brought Joni’s Mom, Lee, with us.

We traveled to DFW, where Delton’s brother, Ron, had left our car. We went to see Ken and Shawna’s new house. They were completely renovating it and hadn’t moved in yet. It’s going to be beautiful. Then we went to Kathy and Skip McKie’s house for some visiting and diner. Since Kathy is Italian, Mom enjoyed talking about Italian food and visits to Italy. Chris joined us for diner also. Kathy and Skip’s son, Tom, is a very close friend of Chris’. We’ve all been friends for a long time.

Then we continued on to Lake Kiowa. Ron, Delton’s brother, and his wife Trude, graciously allowed us to stay at their house while they were on a vacation in Cancun. Ron has allowed us to use his address as our permanant home address while we travel the country in our motorhome, so we were really "home"! We have lots of family in Lake Kiowa – Delton’s brothers, Ron, Larry, and Steve, and Larry’s daughter, Lisa and all their families.


After a lot of visits in Lake Kiowa, we headed to Stamford for Christmas with Delton’s Mom and brothers and their families. Joni’s Mom, Lee, was with us and was sometimes alittle overwhelmed by all the people. It’s a big, fun loving family and there are always a lot of activities going on.

Delton started our Christmas present opening with a reading of the Christmas story from the Bible.




After Christmas, it was back to Lake Kiowa and Larry and Linda’s house. Larry celebrated his birthday while we were there, so we had a birthday celebration at IHOP! It is one of Larry’s favorites. Shown is the party at IHOP.

We also got to see many of our Texas friends. Shown are Kathy and Larry Lehrmann having diner with us at the Outback Steakhouse. We visited so long we almost shut the place down.

After a very busy, active time in Texas, we headed back to Florida. Mom was glad to be back home, although she had a real good time. She said that it’s always good to go back home. We were glad we were able to take her with us.

Christmas at Ocean Resorts, Florida

December, 2006

An outdoor Christmas celebration was held at Ocean Resorts.


Santa arrived in his “summer” outfit to join in on all the fun. This consisted of his regular Santa uniform, but instead of pants, he wore his shorts. I guess his reindeer thought the weather was too warm for them. Santa arrived in his motorized wheelchair……

We had a “live band”, caroling, and refreshments.


Santa's elves enjoyed the festivities also.

Shuttle Launch

December 11, 2006


Cape Canaveral is about 100 miles north of Ocean Resorts.

A space shuttle, carrying astronauts to the space station circling the earth, was launched in December. The residents of Ocean Resorts have seen many shuttle launches over the years. We were fortunate to be able to witness this one.

We walked to the beach and looked north along the shore. We are pictured here waiting for the shuttle to launch.


Pictured is the rocket as it ascends. You must look closely as the rocket is hard to see in the picture. It's just a streak in the sky.


A night time launch allowed us to see a spectacular view of the night sky as the rocket went up. We could see the initial explosion of light as we looked north along the coast, then a streak of light as the rocket rose in the sky. We could see the separation of the booster rockets as the shuttle got higher and higher. Then it appeared to start coming down. What was actually happening was that it was disappearing over the horizon. It was amazing to be able to see this so clearly being that it was 100 miles away.

Thanksgiving at Ocean Resorts

November 23, 2007

Our Thanksgiving was a little different this year. We weren’t in Texas, we weren’t at Mom’s (Delton’s or Joni’s). We were totally away from family.

Joni’s Mom went to see her brother, Rich, and his family in New Hamphire for one and one half weeks during the Thanksgiving holiday, so even though we were in Florida and close to Mom, we were alone (not with family).

Ocean Resorts has become our family this winter. A big Thanksgiving diner was held in the recreation hall, so we signed up to go. It was very nice. There were about 30 people there. We all contributed to buy 2 huge turkeys and we all brought a dish to share. Delton was asked to say the blessing before we ate. We got to meet a lot of new people, we may have been without family around but we were not alone by any means.


Of coarse, Delton also got to watch football. See Delton by the window.

Mom enjoyed her visit to New Hampshire. She got to spend time with Rich, his wife Adele, and their kids, Justin and Ryan. Then they all went to New York and Mom got to stay with her sister, Connie and Connie’s family. Joni’s son, Jim and his fiancé Barbara, drove out to Aunt Connie’s from NYC and got to visit with Grandma and Rich. Mom also spent time with Adele’s family. She had a very full and busy trip.

We were able to drive Mom to and from the airport, which made things a lot easier for her and we stayed with her for 3 days after she came back.

Ocean Resorts, Vero Beach, FL

November 6, 2006 – March, 2007

It was very hard to leave Nettles Island. In the 2 weeks we were there, we made a lot of friends. Sometimes, you just “click” when you meet someone new and that’s what happened when we met Bill and Louise, and Gene and Marge (at Nettles). We promised to stay in touch with them.


Ocean Resorts is similar to Nettles Island, but on a much smaller scale. After spending 3 weeks at Ocean Resorts last season, we knew we wanted to come back again. Mary Jane and Dave Mulaski will join us here in January, 2007 and we are looking forward to our tennis games, kayak rides, bridge games and bike rides with them.

We continued to visit Joni’s Mom on a regular basis, every week or week and a half. She seems to be doing well and is starting to get used to life without Dad. We brought her to Nettles for a day and want to bring her to Ocean Resorts also. It was good for her to see our new “life style”, although she still thinks we are crazy to be doing this fulltiming thing.

Since we will be here all winter – almost 6 months, I will break our stories into separate posts about our life here at Ocean Resorts and introduce you to many of our new friends.

Nettles Island, Florida

October 23 – November 6, 2006


 
Before heading to our winter spot in Ocean Resorts at Vero Beach, we decided to check out a place which was recommended to us by our friends, Mary Jane and Dave Mulaski. We traveled around Florida with them last winter. They have spent time at Nettles Island and thought we would like it as much as they do.

They were right. Nettles Island is great! It’s a very large RV park where all the sites are privately owned. Pictured is one of the canals in the park. Homeowners on the canal have private boat docks behind their homes.  
Many have homes built on them and some remain as RV sites.   


Nettles Island has 2 tennis courts, a putt putt, a marina, 2 large pools (one which is located right on the beach), shuffle board, horseshoes, bingo, bridge, poker and much more.  
All activities are open to all owners and renters.

 
We made instant friends when we played in the open tennis round robin held daily from 7am to 9am. We were welcomed very warmly into the group. Tennis abilities varied greatly as did ages. It is very exciting to see people in the 80’s playing tennis and riding their bicycles. We will be just as active when we get “old”.


We were fortunate to have picked an RV site right across from Bill and Louise VanTongeren, long time residents of Nettles Island and loved by everyone.  
They welcomed us into their “family” of friends. Bill is an avid golfer, so Delton and Bill got along great right away. Pictures are Bill and Louise, Marge and Gene (tennis friends), and us.

  

Nettles Island residents hold church services every Sunday. Pictured is the Nettles Island Church Choir – which we decided to join for our short 2 week stay. We attended and met even more people. Notice Delton and I singing in the choir. The empty seats are for the choir - church was actually full.

Marge and Gene invited us to their home for a prayer meeting, to pray for the coming elections. We were happy to attend and meet even more Christians. Although the elections did not go as we had prayed, we know God is in control of everything.

It was hard to leave Nettles Island, but we had already made plans to stay in Ocean Resorts for the winter. Ocean resorts is only 20 miles away from Nettles Island, so we plan on keeping in touch with our new found friends.

Back at Mom's

October 19 – 23, 2006


Here we are! Back at Joni’s Mom’s. We decided to spend the winter in Florida again this year to help Joni’s Mom get back on her feet, after the death of her Dad this summer. The picture posted was taken in December, 2005.

Mom seems to be doing OK. She has her ups and downs. We hope our love and support will help cheer her up and give her some direction. After 3 days here, we will be staying in Vero Beach, about a 2 hour drive from Mom’s, and will be making regular visits to see her.

We ask you all to please pray for her as she makes some decisions for her future.

Siesta Bay in Fort Myers, Florida

October 15 – 23, 2006

We decided we would head to Mom’s via the west coast of Florida. We enjoyed our stay in Fort Myers Beach last February, so we thought we would go there again.


Our friends, Mary Jane and Dave Mulaski stayed at the Siesta Bay RV Resort a few times and we visited them while they were there. We wanted to give the place a try. It was GREAT! (It seems we think everyplace is great!!!!) The park is a combination of homes and RV spots. Pictured is our site.


It was a very very friendly place and we met people very quickly, especially tennis players, many who even knew Mary Jane and Dave. They had a round robin tennis match for anyone who showed up every morning, so when we showed up every morning, we had instant friends. Pictured are some of the people we met. Since it was still early in the season, many “snowbirds” had not yet arrived, so the group is smaller than during the winter season.


Joni decided to join the pool volleyball games held everyday in the larger of the 2 pools. Again, new friends were made. See Joni in the middle of the back row on the left.The games were good because a small section of the pool was used which made each person’s coverage small and there were 10 people on each team. It made it a lot easier to play. AND THE MEN DIDN’T HOG THE BALL!


During her daily bike ride, Joni noticed a strange object “floating” along in one of the lakes in the park. It was an alligator. Joni did not want to kayak with the alligator this time. She may never do that again! The lake is right next to the tennis courts.

We enjoyed our stay and again, didn’t want to leave, but on the Mom’s……….(just 2 hours away).

Heading South

October 12-16, 2006

After leaving Destin, we spent one night on the road and then stopped at Joni’s college friend’s home in Lakeland, Florida. Gayle McGibbon was one of Joni’s best friends in college. We have visited with Gayle, and her husband Dean, quite a few times in the last few years.

Brittany, Gayle and Dean’s daughter, had her second daughter, Sydney, in September. Joni loves little babies, so she loved holding and playing with the baby while we were there. Brittany was staying with her parents until she was able to go back to work.

We "enjoy" dicussing politics and religion with Gayle. She is always on the opposite side of the argument. What can I say - she's a democrat! We love you anyway Gayle.

We didn’t take any pictures while we were there, so the included picture is from our visit last year. We will visit again on our trip back north.

The Most Beautiful Park Ever

Topsail Hill Preserve, Florida
October 7 – 12, 2006

 The panhandle of Florida has the most beautiful beaches in the continental U.S. It also has one of the most beautiful campgrounds – Topsail Hill Preserve in Santa Rosa, Florida. It’s just 8 miles east of Destin. Before we got to Destin, we spent one night at the Navarre Campground. Pictured is the Navarre Campground Beach.

 
Pictured NEXT is our site at Topsail. It’s the most beautiful spot we’ve ever had.  
The landscaping is lush, green and full of colorful flowers and tropical plants. The reason the foliage is so nice is that the park has a sprinkling system. The streets have curbs. It’s neat and clean.

  
The park is located on the beach, although you must take a 1 mile bike ride, walk or shuttle to get there. Most ride their bikes on the private, paved path to the beach. Once you get there you can park your bike in the bike area and walk a little further, over the dunes to the beach. Pictured is the boardwalk to the beach. It’s all so very pretty. 

We met a few tennis players and enjoyed some fun games.   

Delton played golf. We had a great time and didn’t want to leave the area. We honeymooned in Sandestin, a few miles away, 19 years ago when we got married. The area has changed a lot since we saw it last, but the beaches are as beautiful as ever.

Prayer for Karen and Paul Reinhart

Steele Magnolia House with Karen and Paul
October 7, 2006


We were able to visit with Karen and Paul Reinhart again this year. We were on our way back to Florida for the winter and our route took us right by their home.

Their home is the Steele Magnolia Bed and Breakfast. They own the home where the movie was filmed. See December 2005 in our archives for more information on their home.

We would like to request prayers from all our family and friends for Paul and Karen. Karen has been very sick with cancer. Please pray for her and family. Thanks.

Back Home in Texas 2006

September 15 – October 4, 2006

Well, here we are. Back Home! Again! It always feels good to be back home. AND we are having a wonderful time traveling around the country and visiting lots of family and friends everywhere. It’s what has made fulltime RVing wonderful.

We stayed at “the Vineyards” RV park in Grapevine, near The Gaylord The Vinyards Park is an old park that was renovated last year and now it is very very nice. It’s right on Lake Grapevine which is very very low right now. The Scout’s Landing Marina is right here, but the boat ramps are not usable because the lake is so low. We’ve enjoyed staying here and will stay here again. It’s nice and it’s close to friends, family and church.

  
Kathy and Larry Lehrmann came to the campground and we rode bikes to the Gaylord (pictured) and enjoyed diner. Chris joined us for diner that day also.    Also pictured is an indoor scene from the Gaylord in Grapevine.



We are sorry that we haven’t taken many pictures while here, but we just don’t think about taking our camera everywhere because we are “home”. We have just a few and will use some for previous times.

We were very busy doing lots of catching up on “business” like getting our car inspected, new tires, etc. We also got a new washer/dryer for the motorhome. Our old one wasn’t working very well and I don’t want to go the laundramat. Ron, Delton’s brother, helped him install it.

Delton got to play lots of golf at Lake Kiowa with his brothers and nephew Jay. He had to drive 1 hour each way but it was worth it for him. He loves golf and seeing his family as well.

 
Joni’s son Chris came to the campground a few times. One day he decided to go kayaking with Joni. They used Joni’s hard kayak and also the blowup one. Chris started out in the blowup one and after paddling for about ½ hour, we discovered it had a hole in it. Wish we had a camera. We managed to get back to the campground, but we didn’t have a lot of air left…… Pictured are Chris and Delton watching football.

Delton’s son, Chris, celebrated his birthday while we were here. We took him out to diner. It was nice to be able to be here to celebrate with him and his family.

Delton’s son, Ken and his wife Shawna, are in the process of purchasing a new house and we were able to go see it. We’re hoping that it closes soon and next time we’re here they will have moved in.

We got to see many friends and family: Chris and Michelle (Delton’s son), Ken and Shawna (Delton’s son), Chris (Joni’s son), Kandy and Val, Kathy and Skip, Kathy and Larry, many friends from church, lots of family in Lake Kiowa.   

We also got to meet Ron’s new wife, Trude. We welcome her into the family. Pictured are Ron and Trude.

We took a day trip down to Waco to visit Gayle and Walt Fengolio. They recently moved back to Texas from Glorietta, New Mexico near Santa Fe.

Wish we had more pictures. Sorry!

Palo Duro Canyon Texas with Don and Debbie

September 14 – 17, 2006

About 100 miles from Dalhart is Pampa, Texas. Our friends Don and Debbie Taylor live there. We met Don and Debbie at Fun Valley about 5 years ago and they have become very special friends to us. Of coarse, we couldn’t pass by Pampa without visiting Don and Debbie.


Debbie thought it would be fun to spend a day at Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Most of the panhandle of Texas is very flat, but then you come to the Grand Canyon of Texas – which is Palo Duro Canyon. You’d never know you were still in Texas.

 
It was a hot day, but since Texas summers have many scortching days in the 100s, 90 degree temperatures really weren’t that bad. We hiked about three hours. It was an easy hike compared to some of the Colorado hikes we had taken with Don and Debbie, but it was hot.


As you can see, the Canyon is very colorful with interesting rock formations. We hiked to “the Lighthouse”, a formation that looks like two lighthouses standing side by side. When we got there, Joni wimped out again.   

She almost made it to the top, but there were just a few spots that were steep and slippery and the footing was narrow. You can see the "trouble" spot in the picture. She had to scoot down on her fanny to get back down.

 
While on the trail, Debbie noticed a SNAKE!!! And SHE PICKED IT UP!!! Brave Lady!!!

While in Pampa, we also got to visit Debbie’s parents, Clark and Jean. We met them in Fun Valley also. They usually spend the whole summer there, but were unable to go this year, so we were glad to be able to get to see them.