A couple of nice celebrations

 

There’s been a steady stream of RVers moving out over the last couple of weeks, and it’s really starting to quiet down around here . . . but try to drive through Ft. Myers on a Friday afternoon, and you’ll doubt if anybody has left town!!

Our time here is winding down too, and we’ve been wrapping up a few projects that we’ve got going, and getting a list of maintenance items ready to be done over the summer.

 

 

 

Even with temperatures reaching into the 90s, it’s been quiet at the pool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took time out on Saturday to make our Easter Bread, even though I’ll probably have to make it again when we get to Charleston . . . it’s Nicolas’ favorite!

 

We sent some Easter treats to Nicolas with his quilt, and Bryce got his own little stash . . . can you guess what his favorite Easter candy is??  We had to get a box of each color!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The organized activities in the Resort are done for the season, but Bryce still has a small group to play pickleball with a few morning a week, and we had enough people to get together for an Easter potluck dinner.  The resort offered to supply a few hams for dinner, but the Activity Director wasn’t going to be here, so Tom and I offered to take charge of the dinner.

We got the hams in roaster pans when we got back from church, and decorated the tables with “Easter nests”.  At 1pm, everyone started to gather for some social time,

 

and Bryce made sure that the buffet table was ready.  As usual with a potluck, we had LOTS of delicious food!

Nobody left hungry, and Bryce got a full container of ham to have for lunch all week . . . but fortunately we ate dinner early enough that everyone was ready to go back in the evening for the Sunday night treat – homemade ice cream! 

 

 

 

 

It’s time to start clearing out the refrigerators and freezers, too, so when the Activity Director noticed a whole case of frozen hamburger patties, she decided to have a Pool Party/Cookout on Wednesday.  With temperatures reaching the 90s this week, it was a good day to be at the pool!

Several of the guys fired up the grill, and in addition to burgers, they also grilled bacon and mushrooms to put on the burgers . . . delicious!

It may have been a little smoky, but the burgers were great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, there was no shortage of food, and we had a great turnout on this beautiful afternoon!

Our friends from home, Todd & Sue, and their kids Josh and Kylie, are visiting Ft. Myers Beach for spring break this week, so they joined us for the cookout and pool party, and spent the afternoon at the resort.

We visited them at the beach, too, but that will be a blog post of it’s own!

Catching Up

We’ve moved quite a distance, covering about 800 miles in a week! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed our last few days with our new friends in Magnolia Springs, at the end-of-season picnic put on by the RV Park,

and playing games with Woody and Santa.

When it was time for us to move on, they came over to watch Tom and the boys pack up the garage,

and we said our good-byes.  Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone!

We drove across Alabama, across Mississippi, and into Louisiana . . . where we decided to spend Easter weekend at Bayou-Segnette State Park in New Orleans. 

The drive to the park was a little hectic, since we had to drive through New Orleans

and across this bridge!

We made it to the park, though, and got one of the last open spots for the weekend!

We had a nice couple of days exploring the area – see our posts on the French Quarter and Jean Lafitte Barataria Preserve – and spent the rest of the time getting ready for Easter.

We colored eggs,

made Easter Bread,

and enjoyed our “Easter Baskets”.

We had planned to take the Algiers Ferry over to the French Quarter again on Sunday morning to go to mass at St. Louis Cathedral, but due to the heavy fog, we found that the ferry wasn’t running in the morning.  We had to quickly come up with a “Plan B” and find our way across the river and find a place to park.  We lucked out and got a place on a side street near the Cathedral, and made it to mass in plenty of time to get a seat.

Sunday was another busy day in the French Quarter, but we had seen enough, so we headed back to the Algiers Ferry, which was running by then, and put the car on for the ride back across the river.

Again, the ride was FREE . . . I don’t know how they do that!

Rain was expected later Sunday afternoon, so as our ham baked in the crockpot, we got the garage packed up to save us some time on Monday.  This allowed us to get an early start for our drive to Texas, but it was still a really LONG day!  We covered 420 miles and spent the night in a Walmart parking lot.

We were originally going to an RV Park in Kerrville, but Tom had gotten a call from a guy looking for some help at Top of the Hill RV Resort in Boerne, TX, in the heart of the Hill Country, so we made that our destination.

We arrived early on Tuesday afternoon, and were all settled in before the thunderstorms moved in Tuesday night and Wednesday.  Yesterday, the sun came back out and warmer temperatures moved in, and I was finally able to get some nice pictures of our home for the next month.

We’re not quite at the top of the hill, but we’ve still got a great view in our “backyard”!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, there we are . . . all caught up and ready to start exploring the Hill Country!

Happy Easter!

It been a busy couple of days around here – between getting ready for Easter and still working on purging, we’ve gotten a lot done.

Luckily, we were able to avert one little issue that could have become a problem at closing.  Our county requires a well and septic inspection for transfer of property, so Tom started calling around to a few inspectors to get an idea of how much it would cost.  After talking to a couple of guys, we found out that the county did not have a record of our well and septic (even though we know it was approved!).

I dug out my records from when we built the house and found the well and septic permits and approvals, and on Friday Tom & I took them over to the County Environmental Department.  We talked to the woman in charge of the inspections, and she already had heard about the problem from one of the inspectors.  She told us that she had looked all over and could not find our records.  As it turns out, about 6 years ago they scanned all the old paper records and shredded the originals . . . well, somehow ours got missed!  She was very happy to see that we still had our copies, so she scanned them so they could be added to the online system.

We should be all set for our inspection now . . . whew!

Back at home, Nicolas and I made our Easter bread, and it turned out really good!

This morning I barely had it frosted before Nick and Tom dug into it for breakfast!  YUM!!

Today I made cookies and fruit salad to take to Tom’s brother’s house for Easter dinner, while Tom and the boys worked outside in the yard.  It was a beautiful day, and Bryce wanted hot dogs on the fire for dinner.  So after all the outside work was done, and I cleaned up the kitchen, Bryce got a fire going in the firepit out back.

We had hot dogs and brats on the fire, and enjoyed the warm spring evening.  Tomorrow after mass, we’ll take a day off from purging and cleaning, and spend the day with Tom’s family.  Then on Monday, we’ll be back at it . . . we just had a phone call from a guy who’s coming Monday evening to get our dining room set.  We’re making progress!!