Johnson City time...

We arrived around four p.m. Yesterday, after a wet day on the road. Oh Ya, the temperature was dropping like a rock just as advertised...made it to 29 degrees F. Last night, but with heater help, we survived.

Best part was meeting up with the gang for supper! (Jenn cooked up homemade macaroni with chicken.....yummy...). Check out the video I took of Emmie and Paige doing Cheers they have learned...

After dinner they took us on a tour of the new pool...when we left last fall, this was a big mud hole!

The pool Company did a terrific job...amazing! Check out the video I took of the power cover...

This makes for a nice safe pool. All the pool controls are sent from Shawn's smart phone....very cool.

Today Shawn and I worked on a bunch of odd jobs around the house and Judy played with the kids!

Birthday Party tomorrow for Paige!

Till tomorrow...

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Leaving Florida behind...

Seemed hard to drive the big wheels out of Florida this morning...it has been another great winter!

616 Klms. wound up on the odometer today, as we ended up in Yemassee, South Carolina. Had a bunch of rain half way through the trip, but pretty Un-eventful thank goodness!

Found a Passport America Park tonight which is in the middle of a swamp it appears...supposed to rain tonight too! We have our CAA Card inches from our iPhone to make the call for the hook if needed in the morning!

Will make Johnson City tomorrow!

Till tomorrow....

 

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Rainbow Resort Customer Appreciation Day...

Rainbow Resort planned a full day of fun, and games, and food for all the residents staying here this year. This is now a Sun RV Resort, and the large Corporation in certainly not afraid to spend some money thanking the guests!

We enjoyed the day with Tom and Cheryl, and Roger and Terri. Just a great day temperature wise again, way up in the 80's...

We started of with Judy and I beating Tom and Cheryl at ladder toss! We were smokin hot!

Go ahead, guess how many little crackers were in that jar...

Cheryl is showing her prowess at the washer toss game... it was hard!

There were many different types of shuffle board you had to complete...

Tom was giving Judy and I advise on how to manage the blindfolded golf cart challenge...

I was blindfolded, while Judy told me where to go! I did... but we didn't win....

Tom caught this balloon, to avoid his second shower of the day...

The Resort set up a big tent and brought in a Band for the Residents to enjoy a free concert... C & W and some Rock and Roll to boot...

The Band was facing the big tent of course... great entertainment...

We finished off with a great dinner of pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, and baked beans, topped off with ice cream.

Hope you enjoyed your day!

Till tomorrow...

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Bits and Pieces tonight...

The hot blazing weather continues here in mid-Florida, temps way up in the 80's and 90's which is just great with us! We actually had to go out and buy a new table fan to help cool us down in the evening, and Patra uses it during the day. This will continue here until we leave this Thursday.

I have just a bunch of different things I wanted to blog about tonight, and a lot of it centers around the Grands of course.

Little Paige, will actually turn 5 years of age tomorrow! Hope you have a great day Paige!

Paige and Emmie recently attended a birthday party for a friend, and they got to paint pictures on an easle... great idea. That is Paige posing above with her artwork, and below will be Emmie with hers...

I thought they did a terrific job on the art work... they are happy, as the weather has made a majour change up in Tennessee, and they have actually been able to get out and go swimming in their new swimming pool that was installed over the winter. Seems to me I just posted a video of them all sledding down the driveway! Check out these pictures below of the new pool...

I think there will be a bunch of new patio equipment on this deck soon...

Looks to me like Emmie taking the big jump into the pool... Shawn did say he had the pool heater going, so I am not quite sure how warm the water is a this point in time...

We will be up in Tennessee this coming weekend to help celebrate Paiges Birthday, and will get a chance to check out the new pool... not sure if I will make it in or not, but time will tell.

Two nights ago I looked up and saw the moon with nothing but a big smile...

It is hard to get a picture with an iPad when it is dark out, but this is what I got, along with the one below...

Now, if I was an astronomer, I would be able to tell you what that planet was next to the moon, it was huge! Probably Venus or Jupiter.

Kristina posted a few pictures of Lois that I borrowed... check out this first picture she made up below, which shows a comparrision picture of Lois and Gwenny, both as babies... we are thinking they look a lot alike!

It is always so hard to get a baby to pose with their eyes open it seems... just for laughs, here is a picture of Gwenny along with Lois now... Gwenny looks like a giant against little Lois!

Alright, I found one of Lois with her eyes open!

So, that is about it for tonight folks... tomorrow is a big day at the Resort here, as it is our Customer Appreciation Day, which is full of fun games, and free lunch and dinner, followed by a free concert! Looking forward to it!

Till tomorrow...

 

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Visiting Anna Maria...

We felt it was time for a beach visit as the weather has been so great, so yesterday we saddled up the Cruze and made our way over to Anna Maria Island, which is just over an hour drive west of here, close to Bradenton, Florida. Tom and Cheryl joined us to get their feet dirty in the sand... Prior to the beach though, we decided to hit the Red Barn Market in Bradengton.

 

This is quite a large market that we visited recently on a tour with Howard and Teri. There is a lot of people that attend this market everyday, so it is quite busy! We spent a couple hours making our way around picking up a few deals along the way...

Just before we got onto the island, we stopped at a great picnic facitlity along the way, right on the inland water way, and enjoyed our picnic lunch. There were a bunch of people fishing at this spot...

To describe Anna Maria Island, would be to call it a great big tourist trap. The Island is about 10 miles long, but only about a 1/2 mile or so wide, so it is long and thin. The entire west shore of the island allows the Gulf of Mexico to wash up onto it's nice soft white sandy beach...

If you are into walking along the beach, this is the place for you, as you can walk for miles... temperatures yesterday were around 32 degrees C. but it felt a little cooler than that, with a nice off shore Gulf breeze. There were a lot of spring breakers here enjoying the day at the beach, and I would think a lot of them were Canadians. This is prime Florida Beaches here!

Judy found a nice little nature trail on the inland water way system that we checked out... Cheryl is walking out one of the many boardwalk over looks.

Why not enjoy the afternoon on the water in your Kayak...

We got some relief from the sun as we walked through the mangrove trees and some good old Florida Swamp Land.

Doing her homework in advance, Judy knew there was a great FREE Trolly system that worked the Island. It is sponsored by the State and the Federal Governments, to help keep traffic to a minimum on the island. They have a few of these trollys that simply drive up and down the Island from end to end. You can jump on or off at a number of differend stops along the way...

I ran into these tourists while on the bus.... oh ya, they were nicely air conditioned! You needed it!

While up at the north end of the Island, we walked out on the fishing pier. This is a very popular spot, where you can enjoy a fresh caught fish dinner at a restaurant you see at the far end of the pier. It is always full.

 

Above is looking back at the shore line from the Restaurant area.

 

Judy and Cheryl are checking things out above. Note how hard it is as a good Blogger to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time!

We had a terrific day, and enjoyed a nice dinner at the local Outback Restaurant in Bradengton. Nice way to end the day.

Till tomorrow...

 

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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DAIRY QUEEN!

In case you did not know... Dairy Queen turned 75 years old today!

I was up in Winter Haven this afternoon with Tom, Roger, and Dave, and we stopped at a bicycle shop for a new tube for Roger... well turns out there is a DQ right beside the bike shop!

 

Well, it turns out they were giving FREE ice cream out today to anyone who showed up! Well, we showed up!

Yes, they offered vanilla or chocolate... I opted for the vanilla. Still time to go folks...

93 degrees here, so this is all we did today!

Till tomorrow...

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Happy Birthday Judy!

Judy says she can't remember the last time it was 87 deg. F. on her birthday! She may be right... neither can I. We continue to cook here in central Florida, but we are far from complaining! Love every minute of it actually!

Last Thursday evening, Chery and Tom hosted a little party for Judy's Birthday, also Cheryl's Birthday earlier in the week, along with Roger and Terri's Anniversary! Terri made this great strawberry shortcake desert!

This morning Judy received a nice Facetime call from Gwenny, Charlie, and Lois up in Ontario! (Kristina and Chris too...) I do not know how to make a video off of a Facetime Call, but took this short video clip of Gwenny singing using my iPhone 5, off of the iPad...turned out not too bad!

Happy Birthday Judy, and start enjoying those CPP cheques!

Speaking of Lois, she is doing just fine in her first week on planet Earth. She easily regained her birth weight after a couple of days, and reports are she loves to eat, sleep and ..... well, you know the rest!

Here is Lois on the Facetime call today, wishing Judy a Happy Birthday...

We had a fun week... got to head over and visit with Judy's Brother Howard, and Terri over in Bradenton. They are doing well, and enjoying the nice weather. Did not take a single picture for whatever reason, so you will all have to search your memory banks for pics of them!

Today we headed up to Old Town Kissimmee. This is a bit of a tourist trap up near Mouse Land. Was a nice day for a ride in the car...( AIR CONDITIONING!) and walk around catching the sights.

It looks a little deserted above, but things just get going here in the afternoons, and evenings.

There is a whole bunch of different shops and restaurants along the main street, with lots of benches to sit outside.

They have 3 different car shows here a week, so the benches are made out of spare car parts.

Above are a couple of the old/classic cars that showed up today... I will post a video, which is about 1 1/2 minutes long to warn you, but it is full of all the old cars we saw today on parade down the main street.

Had a great day enjoying the weather...

Below is a picture Judy took of a local magnolia tree in full bloom. This is for Kristina, to show you that "YES", there is some hope yet for your tree! Maybe it will be in bloom when we get home!

 

Glad to hear that winter is starting to break back up home... we will be leaving here for the Tennessee area in less than 2 weeks now!

Till tomorrow...

 

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