Surviving yet another storm

Friday night was awful! Well, first it started raining and we were watching the weather channel and seeing all the tornado's and severe storms coming across from Texas into Louisiana and on into Mississippi. Then we lost our satellite and could no longer get the up to date info. We have a weather radio for emergencies but it has not been working where we are camped. The signal is to weak. Then Josh called us about 9:30 and told us that a tornado had been spotted and was heading in our direction. Well, we got ready to head across the street to the bath house. We must have spent at least an hour to an hour and a half over there with the storm pounding all around us. The ranger came by and stopped to make sure we were alright. He told us of another exit from the park if we needed to leave and the main road was flooded. He drove around most of the night and that was a great comfort to us. It rained sideways and the bath house started to flood. Just the one side. So we moved over to the other side. Finally we were able to go back home and try to get some sleep. We found out that a tornado had hit south of us. We then had to get up early to watch Jay for the day. He was good for us and we enjoyed being with him. Today we got up and took a walk around our park. Here are some shots of the flooding here. These steps go down to the beach. At least they used to, no beach for now. This picnic table just down the road from us is under water. Glad we didn't pick that site. This is the road on the way out. The lake is not supposed to be at the road. There are roads around here that are closed due to flooding. Today the sun shone and the water was real blue. The wind was a bit brisk and it was 45 when we got up. Tonight it is supposed to get down to 40. I think we are being primed for the trip up north. LOL!!! Here is a picture as we were coming back into the park after being over with Josh. This one is for you Don. I know how upset you are at us for camping along the lake. LOL!!! This after noon we took Jay out for ice cream. He didn't eat it all but he had fun making a mess. Then shortly after we got into the truck to head back, he was asleep. So we went for a short drive. When we got back, he woke up and as Rick took him into the house, he went running over to Josh and tripped and fell and hurt his arm again. That slowed him down. He was content to sit and watch TV for awhile. Tomorrow we might play a round of golf with Jim and Donna, old friends from way back that now live in Mississippi. Hopefully, the golf course is not flooded.

Rain, storms, and grand kids

I finally have the pictures of Jay's arm, Jackson and our campsite. Jay did not want his picture taken, so few are of his face. but you can tell he has a broken arm. He does not have it in a hard cast yet. That should happen next week. As you can see, he would not let me get a picture of his face. I caught him off guard when I took this one. Tuesday night Jackson came to spend the night with us. Unfortunately, it rained all day the next day. So he was playing PS2. Here are some pictures of our campsite. We can look out our back window and see the lake. We look out our Arizona room and see the lake. This is an awesome place to camp. If you walk down the steps, there is a landing that has a cement picnic table and benches. Wed night, I was up most of the night due to the storms coming thru. The wind blew and the lightning was almost constant and the rain seemed like it would never end. They did have a tornado touch down north of us. Then Thursday night, it started to rain about 9:00 and it poured all night long. At least, I was able to get some sleep. Today, some of the roads around here were flooded out. But they say that tonight is the night that the tornado threat is greater. I hope not. That is the worst part about spring, the storms. Tomorrow morning we have to be at Josh's early to watch Jay. Both Autumn and Josh have to work. Jackson will be spending the weekend with his dad. Did I tell you that Josh was my hero? He was able to figure out why I could not get satellite in my bedroom. One of the wires was messed up. So I am a happy camper now. Hopefully the weather next week will be better. Sunday and Monday for now are calling for sun and no rain. At least we are not as bad as way up north in the Dakotas. I feel bad for those people. As it is, we are watching the lake creep up closer to our site. But we are up high enough that I am not worried.

Arrived in Mississippi

We left FL and Sat and arrived today. We had some traffice problems along the way, but nothing that we couldn't handle. Just took us longer because of the tie ups. But we got to see some wild pigs as we were leaving the area of Frostproof. That was neat. And the orange blossoms were so fragrant, it was heavenly. We got to see all kinds of spring flowers. The colors of white, pink, red, orange, purple, and yellows were gorgeous! The roads were a bit rough so I did not take any pictures. It felt good to hold our grandsons again. They are growing like weeds. Jay is supporting a very big cast and wears a sling when he is up and about. At least, he is supposed to. We saw the x-rays and boy the breaks were real bad. He was lucky they did not come thru the skin. But we were real concerned about the way they put the rods in. This Wed he goes back for more x-rays to see how it is healing and Josh and Autumn are going to ask questions about how they did the rods. But he is adapting well to using just one arm. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow. Our internet connection is not so great in this area. But we have a lovely site on a lake. That's all for now.

Good-bye to Florida

Today is our last full day in Frostproof FL. We went and had lunch with Dave and Darlene and had a great time. Hopefully we will cross paths with them again. We have always kept in touch by e-mail and will continue to do so. Here are some of the pictures from our lunch with Buddy and Shelley, Bruce and DeAnn, and Jack and Cathy. The food was great and the company was even greater. A great way to end a season. Then Buddy and Shelley took us for a drive around Venice and then on to Nikomas. We stopped at the beach and then went to a park and walked out on the jetty. As we were walking out we were watching for dolphins. And we did see them. But as we were walking back to the car, we noticed this guy swimming close to shore. One of the locals said that this was a sea slug. It was the weirdest looking and the neatest looking thing I had ever seen. And this storm was fast approaching. We watched a lot of boats coming into port real fast. And after we got in the car and were on the main highway heading back the rain started. It poured! And this area was the only one in the area that received any rain. Florida is in a real bad drought. We stopped for ice cream on the way home (after the rain was over with) and had a great day! I will be off the computer for a few days until we get set up at our next park. Everyone traveling, please drive safe.

Jay is home

Rick just got off the phone with our son Josh. They are home and Jay is full of energy. Bless his heart. The kids are exhausted but Jay slept most of the day yesterday and part way home today. I know when I was on the phone with Josh yesterday, he said that Jay was tired and I heard him in the background saying "I'm not tired." But he was cranky because of the pain. So this will be interesting as to how much this keeps him down. I know in Sept., when he tried to jump from his chair to his bed (He is all boy!!!) and they thought he broke his foot, that didn't keep him down at all either. LOL!!! I wish I had half his energy. We are pretty well ready to head out. We have almost all the outside stuff picked up and the bikes are on the back of the 5th wheel. I did laundry tonight and tomorrow we will dump the tanks and pick up that hose. Then Sat, all we have to do is pick up the satellite dish and the electric. Time to move on. We will be having lunch with Dave and Darlene tomorrow. We met them in AZ last winter and they are just down the road from us.

Our 3 yr old grandson Jay needs your prayers

This morning our son called and said Jay had fallen out of bed and broke his arm in two places. Autumn and the boys were visiting her mother in FL. Jay had to have surgery to have 2 rods put in his arm. He broke both of the bones in his right arm. He is being kept in the hospital tonight for pain management. They have him on some pretty powerful pain killers. Please pray for healing of the bones and patience for his parents and brother for when they take him home. And pray for the pain to be taken away. This little guy is very active. Well, this afternoon we went to Buddy and Shelley's and then went with them to Venice to meet up with Jack and Kathy, and Bruce and DeAnn at Sharky's. We had a very nice dinner on the beach with great friends. Pics will follow at a later date. I am real tired. Tomorrow we pick up the truck. It has been fun driving around in the 2009 Ford Flex. But I miss not sitting up high and being able to see. Have a good night.

Shuttle launch, lunch with friends and lunch with relatives

We have been going to different places and taking in the local flea markets. Most of them were a big disappointment but we had fun. Sunday we did nothing most of the day. I did not get out of my pj's until it was time to go out and watch the shuttle take off. The sky was cloudy and we weren't sure how much we would be able to see. My pictures are blurry but here they are. Rick was able to get a little better pictures with the movie camera. Then after it was gone, you could see this white cloud above the regular clouds and it was caused by the shuttle. I stood there and watched it get bigger and bigger. It was really neat. Then on Monday we met Bruce and DeAnn, Jack and Cathy, and Buddy and Shelley for lunch in Sebring. (this was the gang from Quail Run last winter.) Bruce and DeAnn have gone back to work for a while and they were here for a few days to get out of the cold. It was really good to see them. They haven't changed a bit. We had a really good time. Our truck was in the shop again and we were driving a 2009 Ford Flex. So I forgot to take my camera to the luncheon. Sorry. DeAnn showed up with red spots all over her legs and a few on her arms. By the time lunch was over, the spots had spread more on her arms. Come to find out, she was having an allergic reaction to the no see um bites. The no see ums are little sand fleas. They are horrible! We had them real bad in Fort Myers Beach but have not noticed them here in Frostproof. After lunch the girls went to Beall's Outlet for some shopping and the guys went for a ride in the Flex to a Winery. They came right back because the Winery was closed. So they joined in the shopping spree. We then said our good-byes and were on our way back home. Today we got up and decided to go visit my uncle who lives in Winter Haven. He lives in a golf complex. Here is his house. We had a real nice visit and lunch with them. This is my Uncle Don and Aunt Carol in their back yard. And this is them with their dog, Charlie. Uncle Don is my Mom's baby brother. He drove us around and showed us the golf course. It was a nice visit. Tomorrow we go back to the Ford dealership and check on the truck. We will be heading out of here Sat. morning. We figured we will get to our son Josh's on Sunday morning. Can't wait to see how much the boys have grown. Jackson is growing so tall and Jay is 3 1/2 and I'm sure he has grown a lot. Will post pictures when I get them.

Disney World and my great niece Amy dancing

This morning we got up and when to Downtown Disney to see my niece Tracy and her daughter Amy. Amy's dance studio from Mechanicsburg, PA came to Disney World to perform. They did a great job! Amy is the one with the dark glasses on. She has been dancing for 10 years. She does tap, jazz, and ballet. I think that is all. She helps with the younger girls also and is very good with them. She did two dances and had about 30 seconds to change into another outfit for the grand finally. There were 91 girls that performed in all. Here she is walking out when they were all down. They performed in Downtown Disney at the Waterside Stage. This is a part of Disney World that you do not have to pay to get into. They have all kinds of restaurants and gift shops that you can walk thru. We found the Lego store and here are some of the items on display. This one was in the water. This one had the crab, the shark, and the fish. Then they had all kinds of window with different setups in them. Then we went to lunch at Planet Hollywood. The food was good but the music was a bit loud. Then home to relax for the rest of the day. Great job Amy!! Thanks for inviting us to watch you. Oh by the way, a Very Happy Birthday to my sister Judy. She hit the big 60 yesterday. I'm glad I am almost the baby of the family. LOL!!!!

Herrmann's Royal Lipizzan Stallions of Austria

Today we went to the training session of the great Lipizzan horses. They train here in Myakka City, Florida for the winter and then in the summer they go on tour all over the place. It was about an hour a half from where we are staying. It was well worth the trip. They do not charge to watch but they do ask for donations to keep them going. The show lasted for over an hour and Rick got some really good video of the show.  These animals are absolutely beautiful!! These horses are born either black or dark brown and they take about 6-12 years to start turning white. It is amazing. General Patton helped save these horses during WWII. They are still a very small amount of them in the world. Here are some of the still shots I took. They will speak for themselves.

The next day we got into Cozemel. We got up and it was raining. So we decided to take our time eating breakfast to see if the rain would go away. Well, it did begin to clear up, so we got off the ship and went up the pier into a little mall type area. Of course, there were lots of shops to shop in and this was the area you had to get a taxi to go the 3 miles into town. We went to Carlos and Charlie's bar for lunch. This place is a zoo when it gets busy. We laughed at all that was going on. This was before we got our hats. This was after. LOL!!! Aren't they the cutest things you ever did see? After lunch we went shopping. I got Rick a neat T shirt about being a fireman. The weather turned out great. As we were walking around the shops, we saw a mother with a young boy and girl. We asked her if we could give our balloon hats to her kids. She said yes. You should have seen the look on their faces when we put them on their heads. It was priceless. The little boy kept telling us thank you and he kept waving at us as we walked away. I didn't even think to get their pictures. Sorry. There were two Carnival ships docked with us. We watched one of them come into port. That was neat, since when we docked, we were still in bed. This was one of the many paintings and murals that were on the walls at every stairwell. Rick took a lot of movie pictures also. When we got back into Tampa, we stayed a few days with Jim and JoAnn. On Sat, we went to the dog track. We had never been to one before and we had fun. Part of the reason we had fun was we won some money!! We picked the daily double and then won 2 other races. We got back to our camper late Sat night and Sunday we spent all day inside. I never got out of my pj's. We are finally back on a somewhat normal schedule again.  Today, we went to lunch with Darlene and Dave Sutton (we met them in AZ last winter) and Buddy and Shelley. We went to the Jacaranda Hotel in Avon Park. This is owned by the college and the culinary students take care of the food. It was very good and the company was great. After lunch we went back to Dave and Darlene's and sat around for a few hours talking. It was a great way to spend the day. Our time here in Florida is coming to a close soon. In about 3 weeks, we will be heading to Mississippi to visit our son and his family. Then we head up north in April for cold weather. We are hoping for an early spring but I won't hold my breath. LOL!!! That's all for now.