2012

TODAY IS BILLY'S LAST DAY!!!!! BIG RETIREMENT DAY!!!!

CHRISTMAS is over and it was great. God has been so great to us.





Father and Son bonding over a turkey

 

                             

               



Our first trip is to Fort Wilderness. We are leaving the 9th of January and will stay there until the 12th and the off to Wekiva Falls Resort for a month. We will be home from that trip until April 1 and then....6 months at Hanna Park. Yes, 6 months. We will be camp hosting there and can't wait.

Then September 30 we go from Hanna Park to Suwanne River Hide-A-way and stay until the end of the year. WOW



Alaska Cruise

We went on an amazing trip from Sept. 2 - Sept. 9!!

Our first stop was Seattle!!  Love it-

 



    Famous Places!

We got to Seattle on Thursday and spent the night.  We had an amazing time exploring this beautiful city and the interesting landmarks it offers.

THEN ON TO KETCHIKAN,ALASKA

Jan, Al, Melissa, Me, Deb, Buck
Carman and Billy

 It was so fantastic I am ready to go back and work for a season.

We all sorta did our own thing.  Billy and I did the duck tour and Sissy, Jan, Debbie and Melissa did the float plane!!

They actually rode on one of these and then got out and stood on the float part.  Brave girls.They also went to see the "dogs".  This is where they train dog for pulling sleds.

This was the most memorable thing we all saw.

TRACY ARM FJORD

We started watching this trip at 6:30am and every 30 min. the scene got more amazing.  This will be a picture stamped into our memory forever.

More Ice!!

This particular tunnel is in the Guinness  Book of World Records.  You can drive over it, around it and through it!

It was such a wonderful trip!

OH THE BEAUTY OF THE WHALES!!

WHAT AN EXCITING DAY IN JUNEAU. 

It was raining and very cold but we didn't care.  The whales put on a show for us and we were memorized.

We loved the whole trip from Seattle to Ketchikan, through Tracy Arm Fjord, to Juneau and then into Victoria, British Columbia. It was a trip of a lifetime.

140 days until Retirement

Today is Billy's 37th year anniversery with JM Family and SouthEast Toyota.

It is also 140 days until the "Big Retirement" day.

We are looking forward to this next chapter of our life.   BUT for now...........

We are riding bikes or walking 6 days a week.  Trying to stay in shape for our "Golden Years"

We want to follow the kids in their sports!

                             Chelsea                                  Bradley

AND of course we have our fall big games!!

We have a cruise planned on September 1st to Alaska!! We are going with My brother Buck and his wife Debbie and my sister Carman and her friend Mellisa.  Sister Holly and Dave could not make it but we will plan something else with them.

We will always have plans with one or more of the kids.

Christopher

Kole

Kellan

                                            

      Bradley, Stephen  and Jackson

Stephen, Jackson and Poppy

Aline

Bradley & Chelsea

Easter before Camrin and Aline

                              

Christopher, Kai, Camrin & Kellen

Kole, Kai & Stephen

                      

We also enjoy watching the birds and fishing in our back yard.

Bass



Blue Bird & Babies



         

Jekyll Island





7/20-7/23

Bradley and Aline

How exciting.  We are taking Bradley, Aline and Beau.  We are also going to Jekyll Island for the first time. We will leave around 10:00 and plan on getting there around 1:00. Bradley did a great job helping Billy load the camper.

We are here and it is beautiful.  Billy did a great job parking and we all helped him set up which is not easy (because he doesn’t give us clear directions).

We went to the beach and were quite surprised that the beach here is nothing like the beach in Jacksonville and St. Augustine.  There were no shells and no white sand.  The water was not clear at all.  One thing they did love was they could go way out because there was a sandbar. When we got home we decided to ride our bike and ended up going 100 miles (it felt like that to me).  Beau was in my basket being the ever whiny brat that only he can be.  It also felt like 100 degrees.

We took Aline and Bradley to “Summer Waves”.  It was great fun.  We rode on slides I didn’t even think I would enjoy but ended up liking them all.  It is really a busy place but we did enjoy it.

We went to the pier and saw on a deer on the way. 

A man was fishing and told us if we wanted to see deer to come out around 10:00 pm and we would see plenty.  BOY- he was not kidding.  We saw 5 bucks, just standing there, by the road from the pier and many more driving up and down the main road in Jekyll Island.

We had a great time.  Aline especially enjoyed being able to ride around on her bike back and forth. Poppy and Bradley rode the bikes around the whole island and were worn out when they got back.  We loved the bike paths around the whole island and the access to the river and ocean.

Erik picked them up Saturday and then they headed back to the Amtrak station to pick up Carman and Chelsea.

SATURDAY, July 23

Just me, Billy and Beau!!!  Winn Dixie trip and a bar-b-queue dinner!



So peaceful



7/24-6/27

Kole, Kai and Stephen

Monday, July 25^th

We started out the day with sausage and pancakes.  We try and make things all the kids can eat.  Easy, right?  Of course not.  The sausage one loved last time, did not like it this time.  Another one said the pancakes were not fluffy like his mothers and then another preferred cereal.  Go figure!!

A little down time-  Playing Sorry with Poppy

We got on our bikes and headed for the beach.  Right off the bat the one without his helmet is standing on his seat going down the road.  I, of course, really let him have it.  Billy is always in the front of the line and sees none of this!  Then there one the one that stops on a dime for no reason and I am behind him.  This happened several times.  He wanted to rest!!

We had a great time at the beach.  We found so many sand dollars and conch shells with the conch in it.  The loved it!  SO…..Billy decides it is time to move on.  Four miles later we get to stop again.  There were a lot of moans and groans out of the boy that needs to rest frequently.  I kept thinking, “what is Billy doing”, I know we have to go back the same 4 miles we just traveled, wait until we tell the boys that!!!

We get to a spot and find a store that has popsicles and ate them while we were in the ocean.  Billy did let them play in the water for a while but then the bad news……OK boys, let’s head back!  Moans and groans from all- even me.  We decided to head back on the bike trail instead of the beach.  I got the lead!!

We took this group to Summer Waves and again we had a great time.  Billy and I made them sit out while we rode the “big” slide.  They did not want to do that one.

We also took them to the Sea Turtle museum.  We had been the week before with Bradley & Aline and knew they would enjoy it.  They really did and were sympathetic to the turtles in the “turtle” hospital.



Baby Sea Turtle



Sea Turtle Hospital    He is missing an arm

The boys really enjoyed the freedom of riding the bikes around and around the camp.  This was great entertainment for them.  I enjoyed the freedom Jekyll Island gave the boys.

Okay Poppy - Watch us

It rained the last night so our campfire s’mores ended up being microwave s’mores.

 


Shark caught by fisherman





Camping

We got the camping bug

 I came home one day and there, in our neighbor’s driveway, was a Class C Winnebago.  This was in November, 2010. I knew when Billy got home that he would start the camping discussion again.

I was right.  We went over to look at Mike and Lizabeth’s camper and that is when the hunt began. When Billy is on the hunt, nothing stands in his way.  We did have some ideas on what we wanted and did not want. 

Number one- we wanted a trailer that we could pull with our Sequoia.  It just made sense to me (and eventually Billy) to utilize the vehicle we had and to be able to use it when we traveled after parking the camper. 

Number two- affordable in case we did not like it or did not use it very much. So, of course, the size was going to be determined by the price.

After several trips to look at them at different places and going on line looking at used ones, we thought we were ready.

Let me just tell you when Billy and I first got married we did tent camp twice.  Later we found a used pop-up camper and did that several times.  We took Bridget and Klint and enjoyed it. But that was probably at least 15 years ago.  Then we moved to a home that had a golf course and restrictions on having campers in your yard. (Go figure!)

Sooo………back to 2010.  We ended up getting an almost 30 foot Keystone Bullet.  We loved it.  Our first trip was in December to Anastasia Island (St. Augustine) and it was the coldest temperature Florida had had in years but we had such a good time.  We went alone without Beau and kids.  That was our first and so far last trip we took alone.  Not because we did not like being with each other but because we wanted them all to have a good time.

 Billy was not going to let the cold stop him from cooking outdoors.  Yes, we could have coked inside but not my crazy husband.

 YUMMY!!

  Typical Florida freezing one minute and beautiful the next.

 

The next trip we took was to Hanna Park with Kole.  They (grandkids) all have different “Spring” breaks and we wanted them all to be able to go.  We enjoyed having him and I think he had a great time.  We did the walking trail and he did get tired but he made it.  It was rather cool for the ocean but Kole came prepared with a wet suit.  He thought he was really cool (not cold).

       TOO COOL!!      

The following weekend we took Bradley, Kai, and Stephen.  They loved the fire and wanted one 24-7.  They would sit around it and their eyes would be burning so bad but they just rubbed them and kept on stirring the flame.  



smoke does not boter them





The Bullet



 BUILD A FIRE AND THEY WILL COME.
Bradley, Kai and Stephen!!

Our next trip was with Chelsea and Aline. Billy set us up on Wednesday and then went to work Thursday and Friday.  We had a good time.  I met my friend from BSF there (she lives at Mayport Navy base).  We sat out at the beach and chatted while Aline played in the ocean and Chelsea tanned.

Later the girls and I played Uno and Sorry. Carman and Bradley picked them up Saturday and we left Wednesday.

Girls at the beach

Cookies and Milk for lunch (Poopy was not there)

Camping is such hard work!!