Happy Halloween!!

Some of the folks here really got into the Halloween spirit!  There’s no prize for the best-decorated site, but if there were, I think these guys would have taken it!

There was a costume contest for the kids, though, so while Bryce was still trying to decide if he should trick-or-treat, or not, Tom and I walked down to the pavilion to see all the kids in their costumes.  There were lots of kids, and some of them went all-out with their costumes . . . really creative! 

The Joker, for instance,

and this pumpkin head (Bryce had this idea, too, but I recommended against it!),

and this popcorn guy . . . very creative!

Some were just too adorable . . . like this brother and sister

and this dog (when they could keep the hat on him!)

When Tom and I got back to the camper, Bryce and Nick had finished carving their pumpkins,

and Nicolas had the fire started, waiting for the kids to start coming around for their candy.  Bryce decided he would go trick-or-treating, so Tom and I walked around with him while Nicolas passed out candy at our site.  With just 87 sites, it didn’t take too long, and soon we were back at the fire, ready to cook our brats and dogs to go with the chili I had heating in the crockpot – it was a yummy, warm-you-from-the-inside-out, dinner!

When the wind finally drove us inside, Tom and the boys watched scary movies while I posted yesterday’s blog post and then got in the RV-Dreams Chat Room.  It had been quite some time since I was in there last, and it was fun catching up with several people!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

Halloween at Evergreen RV Resort

We loaded up the RV on Friday, and hit the road around 10:30 am (after a “quick” little 15-mile trip “around the block” when Tom realized that he left his wallet in the car at home!!), arriving at Evergreen Park RV Resort shortly before 3pm, including stops for lunch and diesel ($3.09/gallon).

Due to some comp. time that Tom has built up, and a holiday on Tuesday, this was a convenient weekend for us to get away for a few days – just a coincidence that the RV Park is going all-out for Halloween, but we’re ready to celebrate!

The park is completely full, and there is activity everywhere!  This is our first time here, and we’re really impressed by the facilities – NICE bathrooms (toasty warm!), beautiful gameroom (complete with a HUGE bear – I’ll get a picture later), and wonderful indoor pool and hot tub. 

The park is surrounded by Amish farms, and there are lots of Amish people wandering around the park.  Some work here (I saw an Amish man running a (powerless) sweeper in the gameroom, and others set up tables where they sell baked goods and baskets.

When we arrived yesterday, we were directed to site #55, and after just a few adjustments, we had the RV leveled and all set up. 

Our lunch was early and light, so at the recommendation of my sister and brother-in-law, we headed down the road to the Amish Door in Wilmot for dinner.  They have a great salad bar, and all the normal delicious Amish food.  We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of broasted chicken (3 of us; Bryce had a ham & cheese sandwich), and wandered through the shops there.  We can’t resist a bulk store – and we walked out with a bag of “essentials” to take back home with us!

Back at the RV, we decided to check out the pool for awhile, before settling in to watch scary halloween movies.  The pool was warm, and not too crowded, considering the number of campers here.

This morning, after Nick finished up some schoolwork, we took a short drive to Kidron where we found a flea market, and the famous Lehman’s.

I’m not sure what kind of store to call it – it has lots of everything – kitchen items, food, toys, and old-fashioned appliances.  Tom found a cute new grill – too bad there’s not enough room in the RV!

We spent quite a bit of time there, but not much money . . . the aroma from the café was making all of us hungry, so we decided to get back to the RV for lunch.  On the way out, we saw this horse

and tractor,

and I just had to get pictures!  It was almost time for the Halloween festivities, but I’ll save that for tomorrow’s post!

Birthdays

 

Last month was “birthday month” around here, including our youngest son, Bryce.  Not that long ago, he was our cute little baby (this picture was taken in our first camper – a Coleman pop-up)

and now he’s celebrating his 12th birthday, along with his cousin, Kathleen.

With all the purging and cleaning going on around here, Bryce was really at a loss for what he wanted for his birthday (besides the customary clothes).  He finally settled on a BB gun, so he could “hunt” for varmints in the yard.

So far, he hasn’t been too successful!

In his Composition class, Bryce had to write an informative essay, so he wrote about gun safety.  It was a pretty good essay, so I’ll share it with you here:

How to Shoot a Gun  by Bryce

Did your mother always tell you “Don’t shoot your eye out”? If you are going to shoot a gun, the first lesson you need to learn is safety.

There are lots of aspects to gun safety. One of the most important is safety equipment. Safety glasses will shield your eyes from BB’s that bounced off something. Earplugs are also safety equipment. They would protect your ears from loud guns.

In addition, there are lots of features on the gun designed for safety. For example, the trigger safety button will keep you from accidently pulling the trigger and shooting. Another important safety feature, the trigger crosblock, is for when the gun is put away. It disables the gun so that it can’t be used unless you have the key to unlock it.

If you take advantage of these safety precautions and features, shooting is fun and you won’t shoot your eye out!

 

Fall Visitors

It’s been awhile, but we’re still here . . . LOL! 

We’ve been keeping busy with homeschooling, with everybody falling into their individual routine.  Nicolas is taking the Dave Ramsey Homeschool Economics class on DVD, and we’re all learning quite a bit!  He’s a very entertaining guy – I can see why he has so many loyal followers, and makes a lot of sense, too!

We thought we had our house sold a couple of weeks ago, but the offer fell through . . . very disappointing, to say the least!  One good thing that came from the incident, though, was that it brought us to the realization that we have not done nearly enough purging of STUFF yet!  So, we’re getting busy with that!  Our church was having a rummage sale last weekend, so I cleaned out my kitchen cabinets – getting rid of every appliance, utensil, pan, and dish that I haven’t used in the last several years.  We took a truckload of STUFF over to church – it was very liberating!  We’re also continuing to list any non-essential furniture on craigslist, thinning it out around here so it’s not a mad rush when we do finally have a buyer.

My next room to tackle is my office – paperwork – tons of it!  What kind of records do you take on the road with you?  I’m trying to get down to the bare minimum, but it’s difficult.  Here in the house, I tend to keep everything in 3-ring binders, but those take up too much room, so I’m trying out other storage solutions.  Any advise from the current full-timers?

So, that’s what we’ve been doing lately.  We’ve had some great fall weather lately, and we hope it keeps up for a little longer.  We’ve got a Halloween camping trip planned down to central Ohio, so we’re hoping for a few more days of warm, dry weather. 

A while back we had some visitors – I was looking out the front window and saw these guys strolling up the driveway.

They were meeting up with all their friends in the field out back,

before they all take off for warmer climates.

Like the rest of the RV blogging community, I was shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic deaths of Bruce & Margie last week.  It makes us realize, once again, that there’s no better time than the present to live your dreams!