December 30, 2008

Since we retired the years seem to go by faster. Could it be because we are getting older? I doubt that is the reason. We don’t feel any older. Perhaps we are doing more things and having more fun so time slips past faster. Whatever the reason, we still believe we have time for the important things like enjoying life, our friends and our travels. Hopefully, we will be able to continue this life style for several more years.

Here are a few highlights from this past year. We traveled a little over 6000 miles through this great country. We attended the wedding of Ray’s cousin in Ohio. We stopped in the Dayton area and our friends Ron and Anna took us to the Air Force Museum. We visited with friends in Kentucky that we haven’t seen in many years. We attended the Woodke (Char’s side of the family) reunion in Indiana. We watched a crop-duster skim low over the fields at Bill and Jeanette’s farm. Ray spent three wonderful days fishing with his brother and nephew. Yes a lot of fish were caught. We shopped at the Mall of America in Minnesota. We celebrated the 4th of July at Mount Rushmore with Richard, Vera and thousands of happy, patriotic people. We watched our Granddaughter, Abby, play ball. We had a fantastic pulled pork sandwich and fresh homemade pie at a campground in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We visited many great places this past summer. Those of you who regularly read our blog have kept up with our adventures.

Also this past year we fulfilled one of our dreams and purchased a new diesel pusher motor home. It is a 36-foot Phaeton made by Tiffin Motor Homes. As I have said a few times before, we love this RV. It rides and handles much better than our previous gas motor homes. Charlotte likes the storage and space inside and I love the storage outside. If you are ever in our neighborhood, please stop in for a tour of our new home.

This motor home came with a rather pleasant man who lives in our bedroom mirror. Some friends have thought this may be an image of me but I don’t think so. This guy is a lot heavier and much older. At bedtime I’ve discovered when I turn the lights off he leaves. Luckily, I don’t think Charlotte has ever seen this guy. At least she has never mentioned him to me. This guy seems nice enough but I wish he would go away. I think my resolution for next year will be no lights at bedtime.

Even with our unusual visitor, we’ve had a terrific year. We hope you have also.

We wish everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

December 25, 2008

It is now Christmas night and Char and I are both tired. It was a great day and we had lots of fun. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas meal with 90 others from the Park at the potluck dinner. The recreation hall was crowded and noisy today with so many participants. The food was incredible as always.

Thurman did a great job of selling 50:50 tickets.

This is our Park Carolers who entertained at each RV last night.

We are extremely fortunate to have temperatures in the upper 70’s for the last couple of days. It has been very cold with lots of snow in Indiana where our families live. The lack of extreme cold and snow is why we chose to live in Florida during the winter months. At this time of the year we do miss our families but not the unpleasant weather they are experiencing.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas this year.

December 10, 2008

Last weekend we watched the local Annual Ponderosa Christmas Parade. It is always good to see people having fun. The temperature was perfect, low seventies in the sun and a little cooler in the shade. It was a great day for a parade.

We had great sunny seats along the parade route.

The first entry was a decorated motorcycle.

Here comes the band.

The Parade Queens were beautiful.

The Parade Participants gave out candy to the crowd.

A representative from the local Red Hatters and one of the band members stopped by our place after the parade. We enjoyed Bill’s music. Both notes were played with gusto.

December 4, 2008

We went shopping at Downtown Disney today to try and find a few gifts for Christmas. It is amazing to see all that Disney merchandise available in one shopping area. We have been retired now for a few years and it is fun seeing all the new merchandise. It is still fun to be in the middle of all the people experiencing the excitement of Disney World. We did find a few things and Richard and Vera found a couple of gifts also.

The highlight of the day was a stop at the Ghirardelli Ice Cream shop. Richard says they make a great Banana Split, Vera thinks the Hot Fudge Sunday is good and Char and I voted the Banana Hot Fudge Sunday the best. I’m sure any of the ice cream dishes are great when you can set in the midst of the many happy tourists as we did.

The Holiday Season is always especially enjoyable but it is even more pleasurable at the Magical Walt Disney World.

I think these happy smiles might be from the ice cream.

It is difficult to choose from the many items.

Vera and Richard with the Lego Santa.

December 3, 2008

Today we went to West Oaks Mall near where we used to live so Charlotte could get new glasses. Her prescription hadn’t changed much but her glasses had. She had lenses that changed automatically with the brightness of light and they had turned to a yellow color. This annoyed her so she didn’t wear them. She didn’t get the transition lenses this time. Her new glasses look great and she likes the look and the fit. She should be set for the next couple of years now.