Our 1st Full Day at Harbor Lakes!

Ken and I had a good night's sleep only getting up around 7:30.  We ate breakfast and got ready to head to the pickleball courts at 9.  When we got there we could not believe how many people had shown up to play.  We would have had to wait forever!!!!  So different then when we were here in November. We would go there every morning at 9 and played till about noon, sitting out every now and then.  So, instead of waiting around, we took a long walk around the CG, stopping by Ernie and Noela's to check out our plans for the day.  They wanted to go shopping for new shoes and a new bike for Ernie, so we decided it was a good time for us to do some errands too!

We headed out to find an UPS store and then went to Dollar Tree for some cards and to Wal-Mart for a few necessities!  We only returned around 1, just in time for lunch.  Then we spent time on the computer sending required e-mails to one of the main guys at Winnebago and to our service rep at Lazydays, both specifying what work still needs to be completed under warranty.  Ken has some frustrating times on the phone with our hospitalization people, one of his accounts, etc.  It is never easy or simple, especially trying to get to an actual person and not a recording!  What is this world coming to?????  While he was on hold with one of the companies waiting to talk to a "live" person, they ask him to take a survey of how well they did with their service on this call. Whatever!!!!!

Ernie and Noela came by at 4:30 with Ernie's new bike.  The 4 of us decided to take a ride our bikes to the Bean Depot Cafe to have a Happy Hour drink.  It was about a 2 mile ride and when we got there, it was closed on Mondays!  So sad!  So we did some more bike riding getting back to the CG around 6.  We had some wine at their 5th wheel and enjoyed some more time just chatting. 

Leaving the campground.  Notice how wide the roads are in
Harbor Lakes!  Amazing!

At the site of the Bean Depot Cafe!  They have live
music some evenings, but it certainly is a very "rustic" place!

No sunset tonight (too cloudy), but the sky was still nice!

It was getting dark when we got back to the CG!

We were back to Waldo around 7:15 and made dinner.  We were excited to watch the football game, but unfortunately, we were not able to get ESPN. Seems to me that such a big game should be on a major network. So disappointing!  We spent the evening just relaxing.  Hope to take a long bike ride tomorrow if the weather cooperates.  They are predicting rain especially in the afternoon.  We shall see what happens!

Arrived at a "Normal" Campground!

Lazydays CG is very nice and the amenities are great, but we were so ready to move on to a more relaxing and get in the lifestyle mode CG.  We left Lazydays around 8:30, stopping to get gas in Waldo at the neighboring Flying J (2.03 per gallon - yes!.  Hooked up the CRV and were on our way by 9. 

It was about a 2 hour drive to the Harbor Lakes CG near Port Charlotte.  This CG is about 80% Quebec campers and most of them speak very little English. But our friends, Ernie and Noela are staying here for 3 months, so we are excited to spend time with them.  Also, Neil and Nancy Savage from back home should arrive next Sunday, so we will enjoy seeing them too.  We were all set-up and settled in by 1, just in time for lunch.  Decided to take a short walk, stopping by Ernie and Noela's site.  They weren't there, so we headed back to Waldo after a little more walking around the CG.  Ken took a short nap while I watched football and made some earrings.  Then we went outside to watch football and I enjoyed making more jewelry in the great outdoors!

The campsites are rather large and very deep.  Even have a cement
pad for the table!

Around 4, Ernie and Noela came by.  We had so much "catching up" to do.  Both of us downsized this year, us to an apartment and they moved from a large old stone home on the ranch to a smaller ranch style home about 20 minutes from the family ranch.  Their son and daughter-in-law moved into the farm house and took over the ranch.  Ernie and Noela will continue to help out but on a limited basis. It was a lot of fun to "reconnect".

Our special friends, Ernie and Noela, that we met in the fall
of 2013 at Topsail on the Florida Panhandle.  They are
from Quebec, but fortunately they speak English!

They left around 6:30 and Ken and I made supper and watched the end of the Denver game.  What happened????  I am a Manning Fan and was very disappointed.  Not sure who to root for now, either Green Bay or the Seahawks.

We called it a day around 9:30, both of us rather tired and eager to get into a "regular" routine starting tomorrow.

Last Full Day at Lazydays!

It has been an interesting time at Lazydays.  So many things to stay "on top of".  After walking to the Dining Hall and having breakfast, we decided to take a walk around the CG to get our 10,000 steps.  

There is a Winnebago Rally here at the CG that we did not sign up to participate in, but we were able to met with the Service Manager of Winnebago Company to air our frustrations regarding the warranty work we had done in PA at Thomas Shaffers.  Steve sat with us in Waldo and was interested in our concerns.  He wants us to e-mail him a copy of our work order and bill when we get back home.  Also, he will be stopping by Thomas Shaffers in the next month or so and we discuss our concerns with them. So nice to have a contact person.  He also helped us with a problem we were having with one of our outside storage bins and made a call to the service dept. here at Lazydays to get us a piece we needed for a temporary fix until we come back here in March.  What a guy!!!

We ate lunch in the Dining Hall and then spent about 3 hours working outside - washing our bikes, washing the things that got wet underneath and were a bit mildewed, and then reorganizing and repacking the outside storage areas. Things are looking good!!!

We did some work on our computers and then Ken took a short nap.  I made salads, quinoa, and warmed up chicken for supper.  We enjoyed watching the exciting Ravens/ Patriots football game!  Talked to Doloris back in PA and Melissa in Tennessee!

Tomorrow morning we head to Harbor Lakes CG near Port Charlotte.  Looking forward to seeing Ernie and Noela there and our friends from Lanc. Co, Neil and Nancy Savage!  We are soooo ready to get back to a normal schedule and routine and more relaxing days.  Our time here has been so busy with appointments, restocking Waldo, and reorganizing.  We are anxious to play some pickleball and spending time on the beach.  Hopefully we will also get some photos to add to this blog!!!!!

Too Much Shopping!

Ken and I were up by 7:45 and decided to walk to the Dining Hall for our Free Breakfast!  We thought it was time we get back to walking daily and trying to get our 10,000 steps.  It has been quite awhile since that has happened!

We left the CG to go to Parkesdale Market, known for their wonderful strawberry shortcake sundaes and strawberry milkshakes.  We were strong and did not purchase any of those wonderful "creations".  (Actually it was only around 50 degrees and cloudy, so cold ice cream was not a huge temptation.  Also, it was right after breakfast!!).  We did buy lots of fruits and veggies at very low prices.  Then we bought some gas for $1.99 (who would have thought we'd every see prices under even $3.00!) and found another fruit stand that sold Honeybell Oranges, my favorite!  They are the sweetest and most juicy oranges I have ever eaten and I look so forward to them.  Unfortunately, they have a very short season, about a month!  

This famous market has pictures of many of the Presidents
eating here!  The original owners are from PA.

Sorting the oranges!

They are ready for a big day of  selling their strawberry
shortcake creation!

The treats are huge and not very expensive!

5 lb. Bags of navel oranges and grapefruit are only $1.69!

There are so many strawberry fields near the market!

Ready for "pickin"!

From there we went to a mall to find me a pair of Sanuk sandals, since I left my navy ones at home.  Sanuks are the most comfortable sandals I have ever worn, the soles being made from yoga mats!  Couldn't find navy, but did get a white pair.  Then to Wal-Mart for a few additional groceries.  It was 2:30 till we got back to Waldo so we were starved and tired.

After lunch we walked to the main building to schedule the work needed on Waldo in March.  We will leave him here when we go home for 3 weeks over Easter and hopefully all the necessary work will be completed then.  We can hope!!!!

We actually cooked dinner in and spent the evening relaxing inside Waldo.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a slower, more relaxing day.  I'm not complaining!  The fun is only beginning!

Busy, Good Day!

Feel like we made a lot of headway today with Waldo.  After our free breakfast at the CG Dining Hall, we met with Sam, our contact person here at Lazydays for the warranty work needed for Waldo.  She was understanding of our feelings and frustrations and did a great job of helping us.  When we got back to Waldo, Rob, the mechanic who was assigned to "fix" Waldo was there to see what we needed.  He went out of his way to help and even gave Ken a "class" on how to use the Blue Tooth feature on the radio and hook-up the phone and I-Pad to it too.  

Ken and I left to go to Costco for needed groceries, especially meats.  We were back in time to have our Free Lunch in the CG Dining Hall.  Wow, are we getting spoiled or what????  Then we left to visit Dustin and Leticia Hagy and their children Teya and Cale.  Dustin's parents and our special friends, Dan and Jackie along with Dan's sister, Darlene are here visiting them.    Dan and Dustin will be running the Disney World Marathan on Sunday.  It was great that we could all get together.  We enjoyed spending time with this special family and seeing where they live.  We were going to eat at Outback, but there was a 2 hour wait, so we went to a local hamburger place, Wayback Burgers, and had a fun time.  

What a nice home in a great location for Dustin's family!

I think it is called "health food"!  I did enjoy
the pina colada milkshake!

What a special family and special friends!

After dinner, Ken and I headed back to the CG and spent about 1 1/2 hours sitting outside with Bob and Carla, the campers across from us that Ken had chatted with last evening.  Very enjoyable time.  By 9:30 we called it a night and I headed to bed.  We have had 3 very busy days and are looking forward to getting into some kind of routine!  It will happen!!!!

WE ARE IN FLORIDA!

Well, as most people would have guessed, Ken woke at 2 AM on Tuesday and asked if I was willing to get ready to leave.  By 2:45 we were on our way to Florida!  It was 16 degrees when we left - definitely time to head South!!!

The day's drive went very well all except for about 1 hour around DC when we were in a snow squaw!  The worst part was not being able to see the lines between the lanes.  But by the time we got to VA the roads were dry and soon after the sun appeared.  Yeah!  So, we stopped at a Denny's around 7 and enjoyed a great breakfast!

We were thrilled with the drive - not a lot of traffic and the weather was great after DC.  We arrived at the St. Mary's exit on Route 95 which is only 3 miles from the border of Florida around 5 PM.  A long day of driving but so happy to have driven about 800 miles. Stayed at a Baymont Hotel (our 3rd time time at this chain) and found the price and quality of the motel to be very good.  Also got to have dinner at a nearby Sonny's.  Another great pulled pork sandwich!

We were on our way on Wednesday morning by 9 after another breakfast at a nearby Denny's.  It was 41 when we got up but got to 64 during the day with plenty of sunshine!  We were at Lazydays near Tampa by 1 and then the fun began.  Some of the work that needed to be done on Waldo while under warranty was completed by not everything.  After some discussion we went to get into Waldo and head to Lazydays CG.  Unfortunately Waldo's battery was dead. Long story short, they jumped Waldo and we got to the CG, but then it was dead again once we were in our site.  They did send a mechanic to our site and we were able to discuss some of the other issues that were not corrected.  It was a rather stressful and somewhat frustrating day.   We headed to Exit 10, a diner here at the CG for dinner, but it was now 5:30 and we did not have lunch.  Needless to say we were starved, exhausted, and mentally not too sharp!

After dinner, we finished putting everything from the car in its place in Waldo and I worked on my computer.  Ken met some folks across the street and sat outside with them for about 2 hours just chatting.  It helped him to unwind from a stressful day.  We are just thankful to be in Florida and back in Waldo.  The rest will all fall into place!

I did talk to Melissa today, our full-timing friends from Nashville.  Please keep her mother in your prayers as she recently had a brain aneurysm and appears to be on the road to recovery.  But she also has MS which complicates the process!  Also, my sister Cindy is here in Florida and had hip surgery the beginning of November.  She needs prayer for total healing and patience throughout the process.  She is so limited in what she can do while in Florida.  Also talked to my full-timing friend, Nancy Savage, and prayers have been answered for a solution regarding her parents living situation.  Neil and Nancy will hopefully be on their way to Florida very soon!

Update of the Last Several Weeks

Here are some photos to bring you up to date on what has been going on in our lives with family and friends over the last several weeks!

View from our apartment on a snowy day

Katelyn and Sam are ready to go to school
on the day they have their Christmas Programs!

Katelyn and Mommy after the Program

Little Miss Katelyn is ready for the program to begin!

 Aunt Jamie, Grandma, and PaPa came to my program too!

Katelyn loves her Aunt Jamie!

PaPa and Grandma love their
Little Miss Katelyn!

Ken and I took all 4 granddaughters to the Choo Choo Barn to see the exciting model train display.  It includes a 3 ring circus - the girls favorite part.  (This is the 4th year we have been going there!)  After having dinner, they watched a movie and then Bria and Cali went home and Sam and Katelyn stayed for a sleepover.  We had a sleepover with Bria and Cali and previous weekend.  Both weekends we took the girls to Wilbur Chocolate Factory near our apartment to see the special display they do every Christmas.  They have a theme and then make the figures or people out of chocolate.  They entire display is edible and amazing.

Here is the elaborate 3 ring circus!

The Choo Choo Barn experience wouldn't be complete
without sitting on Santa's knee!

Sven and Olaf are made of chocolate.  They were started and
molded using rice krispie treats!

Sam and Katelyn helped Mommy decorate for Christmas and hot chocolate was the reward for all the good help!

Love this photo

Our entire family spent Christmas Eve Day at Jamie and Dane's house.  They had a brunch, we opened gifts, spent time putting all the different Legos together, and then having a deep fried turkey for the evening meal.  It was such a delightful day!

Santa Claus did a good job of gift giving!

Ken and I went to visit Jamie's family in the morning on Christmas Day and then went to Lanie's family to see what Santa had brought all the little gals.  Santa was very generous!

Sam loved the Knight Castle she asked Santa to bring.  Ken and
I got her and Sam a Lego Princess Castle.

 

Just a few other highlights during December -

Sam visited the Dentist to have a loose primary
tooth removed since the permanent one
needed room to come in!

2 days before Christmas Lanie, Sam and Katelyn went
to Masonic homes to visit my mother and father.  They had
baked gingerbread cookies and walked the halls giving
them to the residents!  It was a good experience for everyone!

What a fun month!!!