Our New Home

We finally did it.  We bought a new home!  It's a 2006 Country Coach Allure Motorhome and it's beautiful.  We bought it at Lazy Days RV Sales here in Florida.

It is  42 feet long and has 4 slide outs.  We feel like we are living in a mansion now with all the extra room.  Our Monaco Dynasty had no slide outs and was 38 feet long.

As you can see, it's cozy and comfortable. 

We decided to bite the bullet and go for it and trade in our old one.  As far as we can tell right now, we will be full time motorhoming for quite a while longer.  We needed more room inside because we like to have company and it could get very crowded in our old one. 

We now have a 22 cubic foot residential refridgerator, a stacked washer/dryer, heated tile floors, a king size bed with a TempuPedic mattress, a couch that opens to a queen size bed, and many more upgrades. 

So, come see us!  We travel to some pretty interesting and fun places and would love to have friends and family enjoy this wonderful country with us.

Lots of Tennis

We've had another exciting tennis season at Ocean Resorts in Florida. We play almost every day and sometimes more than once a day.

Ocean Resorts has a traveling team. We travel to other parks and play tournaments. We have played in all the matches and have won some and lost some. All are fun...win or lose!

Ocean Resorts also has in house tournaments, where we play people within the park. We have a mixed doubles match and a mens/womens doubles match, where partners are picked by the people in charge of setting up the tournament. We also have a SPOUSES TOURNAMENT!!! We have won this tournament both last year and this year. See us in the photo with our prize - a tennis/ball chip and dip dish. It's perfect!

Joni also won the womens doubles tournament this year with her partner, Betty Bonetti. Betty played extremely well and deserves all the credit for the win.  We all had a great time.
Our courts are artificial turf much like that used on football fields. It's better on the joints - for us old people! It also makes for a slower game, the ball isn't as fast. We love these courts and wish they had them in more areas of the country.

A Special Baby Shower

WOW! This is the best baby shower Joni has ever been to. A Baby Shower for Joni's 1st grandchild.

Joni flew up to NYC to attend a baby shower for Barbara (and Jim). Leaving Florida, where it was warm and sunny, and arriving in NYC where it was cold and snowy was exciting. Joni hadn't seen that much snow in years......... Actually it was kind of fun.

The shower was held in an Irish Pub in NY. About 30 guests attended. Barbara was concerned that the weather would keep people away, but New Yorkers are tough!!!!! A little snow won't stop them. It was well attended.

As you can see, Jim and Barbara received many wonderful gifts. There were some gifts that were sent directly to Jim and Barbara's apartment, so there are more than all the gifts you see here.

We had some delicious food and the usual baby shower games. One game was to try and guess the size of Barbara's baby belly. See the photo of measuring her belly.

Joni was very emotional during the shower. She has been waiting a very long time to become a GRANDMA!. Can't believe it's really happening. She cried a bunch of very happy tears. It won't be long now. The baby is due at the end of March.

Christmas in Florida 2010

We spent our 2010 Christmas in Florida again this year. We can get together with all of Joni's kids and they can also get to spend time with their dad, who lives in Florida.

This year we had another cold front that came down from the north, so the week between Christmas and New Year's was cold.

We couldn't spend much time on the beach or even picnic outside for our meals due to the cold temps and wind. But, we were able to spend time playing tennis, which is always a fun thing to do. We play round robin tennis so everyone gets a chance to play. Barbara didn't play this year because she is HAVING A BABY!!!!!! SEE THE BELLY!!!!

We were also able to spend a little time walking the beach but had to wear sweatshirts or jackets. That's not what Florida is for..... it's supposed to warm and sunny.

The kids all came to see us a few days and we were invited down to their dad's house for one day. He has a very nice home in Boca Raton, on the intercoastal, with a boat dock and pool in the back. We spent time jet skiing and in the pool. Ron, the boys dad, also provided a very nice backyard lunch for us.

We're very excited that the new grandchild will soon be here and and that next Christmas should be fantastic with a baby to play with and enjoy.

Back Home to Texas

Sorry I haven't updated our website in such a long time. We've had a very busy fall in Texas, but mostly have been doing our regular Christmas/Fall stuff.

A sad event happened. Delton's mom passed away in November. We spent time visiting her while she was in a nursing home in Anson, TX. She broke her hip while getting out of bed and was bedridden for the last few weeks of her life. She is now with the Lord and Delton's dad, Doc.

We took part in our church Christmas presentation, as we do every year. It's called "Journey to Bethlehem". See our past posts for lots of information about "the Journey".

We left for Christmas in Florida on 12/20. After a motor home break down, we finally arrived on Christmas day at Ocean Resorts, our winter haven. Our air brake sprung a leak, a very dangerous situation, but we were fortunate to a close to a rest area just west of Tallahassee, FL. After being towed to Tallahassee for repairs, we were on our way. The tow truck was almost as big as our motorhome. What an ordeal that was.

I will try to be more diligent about updating our web. We will have more interesting things to report soon.

Bentonville, Arkansas

Continuing our trip back to Texas, we stopped in Bentonville, Arkansas, home of Delton's son, Chris. Chris is doing well. He bought a house and is fixing it up and doing a great job of it. We were disappointed that Chris had to work the whole weekend we were there, but he was able to get off earlier than normal. We don't get to see him too often, so our visit was very special.

Also living in Bentonville are our friends Ken and Anne Montgomery and their kids. Hannah and Sarah. Ken is the Music Minister of the First Baptist Church in Bentonville and Anne is in the choir. Anne is in the first row, second from the right. We enjoyed going to their church on Sunday and having lunch with them afterwards.

Chris suggested we do some sight seeing, hiking and biking while we were there. We went to see the Mildred Cooper Memorial Chapel. It's beautiful. Made of mostly glass from top to bottom, it is unique in it's construction. In a treed setting, the light reflects and constantly changes as the sun moves throughout the day. It's also lit up at night. We didn't get to see that but Chris said it's beautiful.

As we traveled south, we also stopped in Oklahoma City, and had diner with Rob and Marie Hock. They are the parents Jay, who is married to our niece Lisa. They showed us the city and we enjoyed diner at a Mexican restaurant. We headed to the DFW area the next and finally arrived back in Texas after a whirl wind of a trip. From July to October, we travels about 5000 miles...... from Colorado to New Hampshire and Maine and back to Texas.

Rankin Brothers

We stopped in Branson to see the Rankin Brothers show. Matt and Mark Rankin are friends of ours from Trophy Club and First Baptist Church in Texas. They have always dreamed of making it big someday and they have!

Their show is at the Caravelle Theater on the strip in Branson. Highlighting the 50's and 60's they do a great job presenting the hits of the day, doing impersonations of Elvis, Buddy Holly, Sonny and Cher and others.

They have a band and backup singers. See Delton with the Rankinettes.

After the show, the Rankin Brothers greet their fans and thank them for coming. Also CDs are for sale.

See Matt and Mark greeting their fans in the lobby.

In the middle of the show, Elvis "entered the building" and after a few songs, "Elvis left the building" . Mark does a great Elvis.

Of coarse, it's always great to see Larry and Sherry Rankin, their Mom and Dad. They are wonderful people and have dedicated themselves to helping their kids make the big time.

See all of us in the lobby after the show.

Creation Museum

Heading back to Texas, we stopped at the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

If you didn't believe the biblical story of Noah and the great flood, you will after you visit the Creation Museum. See Joni in the ark!

There is evidence of the flood through fossils and rock formations, especially in the Grand Canyon. The way the fossils and land are formed, it had to happen over a short amount of time, not over millions of years. Finding fish fossils on the top of mountains sure is convincing!

Also on display was a scroll taken from one of Sadam Hussein's palaces. He tried to destroy as much as he could be left a few behind. Fasinating!

We went to the planatarium which was also part of the museum. WOW! What an amazing universe! We are but a speck in the realm of things. God certainly loves us to have created such a wonderful place for us. See Adam and Eve in the Garden!

GRANDPARENTS!!!!!!!!

WE ARE GOING TO BE GRANDPARENTS!!!!!! and Ken and Chris are going to be UNCLES! And Barbara will be a MOMMY and Jim will be a DADDY!

Jim and Barbara announced their great news and we are thrilled.

The baby will be born in the spring, end of March or beginning of April.

We saw 4 ultra sound pictures. WOW! Even at only 3 months, we could see little stubs of arms, legs and a head.

We visited Barbara and Jim in Manhattan during our stay in Lake George. We drove our car into the city. There's no way we would take the motor home anywhere near the city.

We took a walk with Jim and Barbara in Central Park. We also had a breakfast with Barbara's parents, June and Joe. They will be grandparents for the 4th time. What a thrill. All 4 of us can't wait for the new arrival. Barbara is June and Joe's only daughter and this is Joni's first grandchild. Delton has a grand daughter who is now in college.