The Last Day of 2009 !!!

Today we met mark and Tabitha at the park... It was a gorgeous day.. 78*... Guess I was dressed too warm...

Tim and Mark had a great time watching the kids and talking... When did Mark get so tall ????

The kids had a great time riding the scooters and playing on the climbing bars... What a great way to spend the last day of the old year..

Yesterday we had a Tea Party for 3 of the grand girls.... We really did have more to eat than it shows...

Christmas Day !!!

Tim and I on Christmas eve after the church service... NO !!!we did not wear the hats to church...

Grand daughter Bekie just HAD to swim on Christmas Day so into the pool we all 3 went... water was warm so we ended up swimming for over an hour... I figured it took care of some of that delicious Christmas dinner we just ate... Hope you all had a Merry Christmas !!!

Fun with Bekie...

Tim and Bekie decorating the palm trees in our front yard.. The weather has been cold... thus the sweat shirts... only 63* The yellow flags are for our " circular drive ".

Bekie helped us make lots of cookies to give to our neighbors.

On Monday we met Tabitha and the kids at " Pump it Up " Tim and I did not jump and bounce... only went along to take pictures and watch...

Tabitha and kids were so tired after 2 hours !!!!!!

On Sunday night just before evening church, the daily " ice cream truck " went by.. Can't miss it's LOUD and CRAZY music...

I received 2 comments on my last blog that I did not want so I have deleted my last post... My blog will not let me do it any other way... We have been busy as I am sure everyone else has getting ready for Christmas... We have really enjoyed the pool every day but are expecting cooler weather for a few days so have closed the pool for now... I am sure we will open it back up soon as our grand daughter Bekie ( 8 ) is coming tomorrow to visit... The tree is up, house decorated, and we are making Christmas cookies and Holiday breads to give to our neighbors , mailman and trash collectors... They sure do a good job for us as they will take anything we put out there... tree branches, leaves and Palm fonds....We celebrated our 44th Anniversary yesterday... We honeymooned in Florida and now we live here !!!! We went for lunch at Chili's and enjoyed ribs and raspberry cheesecake... I received a Shark Steam Machine and so last night I did every floor in the house.... Tim is out 'staking out 'our lawn as we are going to have an irrigation system put in and a circular driveway....We are really starting to enjoy our new church and went to a meeting where they planned new ideas for growth.. love to be a part of a church that wants to grow... have seen and been in so many churches that just exist....and are satisfied... Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas.. Hard to believe it will soon be 2010.!!!!

Well, since I did not get any comments on my last blog... maybe no one is reading it anymore.. But I will try again. We left on Wednesday and drove 700 miles to Birmingham, Al. to meet our daughter Kathi and Mike and 6 grandkids for Thanksgiving.. Had to stay over night in motel in Albany, Ga. on the way but drove straight thru on the way home on Saturday.. Good food at Ryans... turkey, ham, steak, salmon and chicken.... plus NO dishes or clean-up !!! The motel was real classy ( and very reasonable priced ).. We had 2 suites at the Best Western Carlton... mints on the pillows, fancy folded towels, warm pool, 2 tvs/ suite.. ( kids loved that ) !!! On Friday we went to the Children's Science Center... 4 floors and VERY interesting.... Ci Ci Pizza and more swimming... full delicious breakfast in the motel and at 6:AM on Saturday , we headed home... We enjoyed our new church today and went out for lunch with 3 of the people to " The Twisted Lemon ".... The church people are very friendly and want to grow so I think this may be the church for us... Have a lot of activities planned for Dec.... Pray you enjoy the Christmas Season and Celebrate JESUS !!!!!

FUNNY BLOG !!!

This is going to be a very funny blog.. Notice the girls wearing grandpa's swim trunks and t-shirts.. WHY ?? They came over to swim and forgot their suits ( they each own 4-5 ) so they decided to swim anyway.. good thing we have a private pool ! The water was great !!! 87*

They stayed over night and so we decided to make " smoothies "... Their folks got us a " bullet " last Christmas... Emily LOVED it !!!

Tim received a small coke bottle at his HS Reunion last May and Sarah always teases to drink it.. He finally said OK so she was REAL happy !!! She couldn't get over the fact that it was marked 10 cents..

We FINALLY came home to Cape Coral on Friday and when we met Mark and Tab's family... the girls gave me a dozen white roses... They are so pretty !!! Yes, the project is over and we are home and have already decorated for Christmas and have our Christmas letter about ready to mail... Since we have been home 3 1/2 days, we have went shopping and bought a new washer and dryer and a new couch ( 2 recliners ) and a matching recliner.. Guess we are set to settle down and enjoy our home.. Except we are leaving in the morning to drive 700 miles to Birmingham, Al. to stay in a motel ( indoor pool ) and share Thanksgiving with daughter Kathi and Mike and 6 grandkids !! FUN !!! This Thanksgiving , Thank GOD for all HIS blessings !!!

work and waves

Tim and Chuck busy planting scrubs in front of the church. I think they planted about 60 !!!!

Today we walked the beach of the Atlantic Ocean...

The waves were awesome !!! It was so relaxing .... The weather is in the 70's....

It has been a while since I've blogged !!!

It has been a long time since I have blogged so even though I have to blog just a picture of artist Thomas Kincaid, I decided I'd better try...Sorry , no good pictures.... Both Tim and I have been sick since we have come to this Sower project. I have had a cough and have only worked 1 day.. and Tim even took off work 1 day.. for him that is unusual.. We are both getting better now and the project is more than half over.. But needless to say, we have not went to the ocean or flea- market.. In fact about the only place we have been has been the store, the doctor and a few restaurants.. Tonight we went to the Outback as they gave free drinks and " blooming onion " to veterans... Both Chuck and Tim were in the service.. We have rented our home to missionaries from Honduras but we are anxious to finish this project and go home... This Saturday, the Christian school is having a huge Banquet to raise support for their school. We plan to attend and the " silent auction " We helped fix some of the fabulous baskets they plan to auction off...The weather has been great.... We were a little anxious about the Hurricane Ida... but as you may have heard, it missed us and hit further northern Florida as a tropical storm. It is usually in the 80's but a COLD front is moving in tonight and we expect it to be in the high 70's starting tomorrow.. Guess I had better blog more often and not so much next time !!!

FINALLY fixed the image post and so I send you a picture of one of our bushes.. We have 4 bushes in our yard with red flowers on them..Palm trees and 5 citrus trees that we planted and some other huge trees.. I think we have one of the tallest palm trees in the Cape.... Now that my blogg works again.. I'll be able to post pictures of our handiwork.. painting and wood flooring... not sure how it will show up in a picture...

I still can not add any pictures.. the blog will not accept it... anyone else with that problem? It has been a while since I have written as we have been busy as usual... The weather turned cool here ( down to 65* ) but is back up in the 80's again today.. We have finished painting the spare bedroom... the dining room and living room and now starting on our bedroom... lots of prep work first.. also put in wood flooring... looks real nice... only 10 more days before we leave for our Sower project... Maybe then I will have some interesting news and sight seeing trips to post and some pictures..

Sorry that I can't add pictures.. my blog won't let me.. any one else having that problem??It is HOT here .. 97* yesterday.. YES.. the pool feels great... but the house is a.c. so we are starting to re-do the spare bedroom today.. First we completely emptied it and now to paint and put wood flooring down.. plan to do all 3 bedrooms and the dining and living room.... We have rented our home out for the month of November to some Baptist missionaries from Honduras... We are signed up to go to Stuart Christian church and school on the other side of the state... north of Miami.... We liked that project and some friends are the only other ones there that month... so we will be back on the road again for 3 weeks... then Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, my birthday, Valentine's , Easter... I could go on and on... I picture me here and in the pool... not sure of Tim's plans...ha ha...Our 4 year old grand son Ty spent his birthday in the hospital with an eye infection.. pretty serious... so we were busy there.... life is fragile... never know but GOD does and we thank HIM .... Trusting HIM !! Carole

Hi... Seems like I have no pictures for this blog either.. Thanks to those who commented on my last blog a week ago...Where did the week go? Tim was 2 days in West Palm with Mark and I had the house to myself... I have done a lot of walking on the treadmill and swimming...We both got our flu shot and pneumonia shot.... Had the grandkids over... baked bread and pies... attended the Wesleyan church again today. People are friendly and we plan to go back.... We also bought a new stove, side by side refrigerator and enough Pergo flooring to do our entire house except for the tile.... plan to paint the walls first... sounds like A LOT of work in the future !!!

Where is everyone???

Seems like no one is blogging any more... must be the busy summer.... We have been really enjoying the house here in the Cape....the pool has sure felt good on these 90* days... We have most of our stuff sorted and bought a used but good.. entertainment center and got cable tv... Tim watches alot of Westerns... and also a china cabinet.... yesterday we bought an excersize bike and a treadmill....now we will see if that helps....The grand kids get to come over to swim at least once a week or more and I have started to give the 2 older girls piano lessons.. a lot I know.. I taught myself and that not very good... oh well!!! I'll teach them some chords .... Tim plans to go with Mark a few days this week to his Seminar in West Palm so I will have the house to myself... wonder what I will do....My sister Donna talked me into making home made bread and we just bought some Ga. peaches to make peach crisp... what diet ????? We have decided to enjoy the house a little longer and get some things done like building shelves in the garage and painting some rooms.... Then we plan to do a Sower project over at Stuart Christian School and church.. been there 3 times already and like that project.. The only ones signed up so far are dear friends Kathy and Chuck from Indian... that should be fun !!! We attended a different church today... Weslyan.. REALLY liked it !!!What have ALL of you been doing lately???

Sorry that I have been lacking on this blog entry thing lately.. seems like everyone is so busy this summer... We have really enjoyed the 2 weeks since we have been home in Cape Coral, Fl. I have been in the pool every day at least once except for the days we have over working at Mark and Tabitha's all day... We have most of our boxes sorted and organized and realize we need more space.... The weather has been HOT !!! Yesterday we enjoyed " endless shrimp " with Mark and Tab at Red Lobster and today we plan a few Dr. appt and some garage saleing.... Tim keeps busy with the yard and power washing the lanai... keeping the pool " crystal clear " and ordering cable tv... to be installed tomorrow.... we will see... was suppose to be Wednesday....Would love to have some visitors this winter... hope it is YOU !!!

Katie's Hawaiian Birthday Party...

Last Saturday was our grand daughter Katie's 2nd birthday. It was a real nice party and had a Hawaiian theme... Some of us were goffing around with the sun glasses... I was not especially dressed Hawaiian but one of the leis I actually received from the church we attended when we lived in Hawaii for 6 weeks...

Do you recognize this couple ???

Home at Last !!!

Hi...Sorry no pictures... We have finally come HOME !! We drove over 3000 miles from our last Sower project in SD thru Mi and now at last are in Fl. We had a bit of engine trouble on the m.h. and had to sat in a service garage for 6 hours to have it fixed..The pool is BEAUTIFUL and we have been swimming every day.. Dr appt. on Friday and all is well... Tonight is grand daughter Katie's 2 nd birthday party and it will be a Hawaiian theme... so went to the store and bought matching Hawaiian shirts for Tim and me... This is the first time in 10 years we have had all out worldly possessions in one place... so LOTS of sorting and organizing to do.. but we sort a few boxes and then swim and then sort and then nap and then sort and then eat... etc... no big hurry as long as we don't get any company soon... but we DO want company and especially YOU !!!

Andrea Faith....Mackinaw Island....Granddaughters

We sure enjoyed 2 days at our daughter Kari's in the UP of Mi. Baby Andrea was dedicated the Sunday we were there...

We also spent 2 days in Cheboygan with my sister Donna... On Tuesday we went to Mackinaw Island...

We even went to the Butterfly House.. We have a lot of fun with Donna and Dick..

Then we drove to the West Branch area and spent 2 days with daughter Kristy.. Here is Beth and her horse Dusty ...

This girl is our 14 year old grand daughter Jessie... They LOVE to spend time in the motorhome...

Custer State Park

The road in the park, were really something!!! They would switch back and a lot of time the speed zone would be 15mph...

There were piles of tree and brush to eliminate the fires.... They burn them later in the winter...

A lot of you have probably seen Mt. Rushmore.. You could see it from a distance from Custer State Park..

The view was really beautiful.

At Custer State Park , we saw lots of wild donkeys who would come right up to the car to get cookies and crackers..

There were hundreds of bisons roaming the grounds... the reddish colored babies were so cute.

They put up fences to keep the bisons out of the hay instead of the other way around.

The babies were usually reddish in color...

The views were great...

Custer State Park.. Berlin Wall

As we were traveling in Custer State Park yesterday, we saw many signs like this one.. very windy and doublebacks..

This is some of the beautiful views we saw on the Needles Hyw.

There were a lot of one way tunnels...

Can you believed that we fit through there ? Not our motorhome !! NO WAY !!!

Tim at the sections of the Berlin Wall in Rapid City.. Very interesting to read about it all..

Chapel in the Hills....

On Thursday evening, we visited a Norwegian church which is the exact replica of a 850 year old church Borgund Stakirke in Laerdal, Norway. This is at the museum located there.. Tim and I and Lena and Ole...

This is our group photo of the Sowers... in front of the church.. Nancy and George, Tim and I and Barbie and Ken ...

Tim and Dave ( not a Sower ) painting the lattice work..

Guess who painting the camp signs..

Tim and I enjoying being retired and yet busy working in Sowers..

Spearfish and Belle Fourche, SD

Today we visited the fish hatchery in Spearfish, SD.. There were HUGE trout in an under ground viewing area.

They used to transport fish to plant in rivers and lakes around the nation in fish train cars...from 1874- 1927.. there were 2 cars specially built.. they transported 73 billion trout ..

These statues commemorate the men planting the fish in rivers and streams around the country.

In Belle Fourche, SD there is a spot marked to show the geographic center of the nations.. It used to be in Kansas until 1959 when Hawaii and Alaska were admitted into the nation...