Ringing in 2018!

The last day of December promised to be sunny and in the mid-60s – our best chance at a beach day – so we packed up chairs and blankets and headed down to Cocoa Beach.

We weren’t the only ones . . . lots of other people were glad to finally get a chance at some sun and sand!

The sunshine felt great, and without too much wind, it was pretty warm.  Bryce bought a volleyball at the beach shop, and they started up a game at one of the sand courts by the pier.

After a while, we walked down to join them.

 

They were having fun . . . although the sand could be tough on the feet . . .

or the stomach!

Watching a group in surf school . . .

They worked up a pretty good sweat on the volleyball court, and decided to check out the water . . . it was a little chilly, but not too cold for these Michigan boys!

Uh oh . . . somebody’s going to get wet!

I guess it’s both of them!

We’ll just watch from here on the beach . . . nice family photo!

Some of Paul’s family was staying in a condo just a little way down the beach, so we walked down and visited for a little while before we left, and then decided to try his Uncle’s recommendation for dinner . . . right on the canal at Port Canaveral.

There were some fishermen on the dock, cleaning their fish while the pelicans waited for scraps.

We all enjoyed a great dinner, and then went home to clean up and rest before our New Years Eve evening entertainment.

We had reservations for two lanes at a bowling alley Sanford which included unlimited bowling from 9pm – 1am, snacks, and a balloon drop & champagne toast at midnight.

None of us are stellar bowlers,

but we held our own and had fun.

Bryce has improved his form quite a bit compared to his grade school birthday party days!

It was a fun way to spend New Years Eve!

At midnight, all the little kids gathered to drop the balloons,

and we all enjoyed our champagne or sparkling cider toast.

We were pretty tired, and had a 45 minute drive back home, so after a quick group picture, we called it a night.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Welcome 2018!!

Cool temperatures followed our Michigan visitors to Florida!

The kids were hoping for sunshine and warm temperatures when they came to Florida last week, but unfortunately the record artic temperatures followed them all the way to south central Florida. 

It may not have been consistently warm and sunny, but it wasn’t bad enough to keep us inside!

There was golf . . .

 

they had a fivesome while we waited for Nick to arrive . . .

and a group of six for their second round, once he got there.

A good-looking group of golfers!

Tom and I got some bike riding in while they played 9 holes,

and it was almost dark by the time they finished and ended up back by our site.  It was a pretty good course for the kids to practice on (all but Hannah are fairly new to golf) . . . par 3 and fairly understanding residents . . . I think everybody hit at least one house or RV!

Another afternoon was spent on the tennis court . . . just for fun, not much score-keeping!

I think this was Nick & Bryce’s first attempt at tennis, and they did pretty well.

Tom gave it a try, too . . .

and the dogs were just waiting for a bright yellow ball to bounce their way!

In the evenings, we all gathered in the clubhouse to play pool, watch football (Michigan State was in the Holiday Bowl – and won!),

and play lots of card games – Euchre, Wizard, and anything else we could come up with!

One cool but dry day we took a trip to the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge to do some hiking.

The Palm Hammock Trail was a nice 2-mile loop.

It was a nice day for a hike – cool enough that a brisk pace felt pretty good!

The hammock of trees overhead were very interesting, even if we didn’t see any wildlife along the trail.

We made a quick stop at the Visitor Center, but didn’t see any alligators, and drove out to the Manatee viewing deck, but it was too cold for them, too! 

All we saw was this big guy!

We took a quick trip down to Playalinda Beach at the Canaveral National Seashore . . .

and it looked a lot different than the day Tom and I were there . . . lots of big surf today!

We were all getting a little hungry by then, so we headed over to the most famous restaurant in Titusville for an early dinner . . . lots of seafood, the boys had gator bites, and I had chicken fingers (my usual at a seafood restaurant) . . . oh, and those powdered sugar coated corn fritters . . . yeah, we all had a few of those!

Upgraded Jeep and waiting for the boys to arrive

After lots of research and investigating multiple sources for wheels and lift kits, Tom finally decided to go with the wheels and tires from Discount Tire, and a 2” leveling/lift kit installed by a shop in Daytona Beach – both could be installed prior to Christmas.

We got the tires and wheels first.

They looked pretty good, but it still needed something so the next day we headed up to Daytona Beach.  See how the front is down a little compared to the back?  There was about an inch difference, so that would be leveled out, and then the whole thing lifted another inch.

Getting to work . . .

and when he was done he checked the alignment.

Yes, we still had the old wheel and tire on the spare because Fedex lost one of our wheels and we were waiting for a replacement to arrive.  It got there the next day.

Looks pretty good!

Merry Christmas to us!

Overall,we’re up about 2-1/4” in the front from where we were before.  We’ll see what the effect on the towing setup will be – we might have to make a slight adjustment to level it out.

With that done, we finished up our Christmas shopping and mailed off the last of our packages to Michigan . . . and wrapped the presents for the boys.

We had some time to kill . . . and the days leading up to Christmas were beautiful . . . sunny and in the 80s!

Tom and I took a drive to Cocoa Beach on one of those beautiful afternoons . . . driving past Port Canaveral we spotted a cruise ship in port.

We continued to Cocoa Beach where we did a little shopping at Ron Jon, and walked along the beach to the pier.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and there were plenty of people out enjoying the sunshine and warm weather, especially down by the pier.

There were sunbathers and surfers.

Which way to go?

It looked like a nice pier and beach area – surf lessons, rental chairs and umbrellas, and several volleyball nets – lots of activity – just the kind of place the kids would like to hang out.

Back at the RV Resort, Tom and I enjoyed the holiday festivities – a happy hour party on Christmas Eve, followed by dinner of homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs with ravioli.

On Christmas Day, we had a potluck dinner with a large group of residents from the RV Resort.  It was a really nice event with lots of good food!

Bryce left Michigan on Dec 26th, travelling down to Florida with our camping friends (who also happen to be his girlfriend’s family), and Nicolas left Virginia on Dec 27th, travelling by himself.  They both ran into lots of traffic with all the snowbirds headed to Florida . . . and the trips took longer than expected, but they all eventually made it!

They were both pretty exhausted when they finally got here, but it was nice to have both of my boys under our roof for a while . . . although I’m not sure I recognize this guy who suddenly shows an interest in reading!

The gang was all together! Ready for a week of fun!