Happy New Year

    We rang in the New Year in a very quiet manner this year because we have both been fighting some bug.  So we stayed home and watched movies, and listened to the fireworks and cheering outside our window.

We also took the time to discuss what we though the New Year might bring for us and what our goals for this coming year were.  We had planned to "hit the road" again this spring.  Something we've waited two very, very long years for.  It seems that might not happen in exactly the same way we thought it might though.

  Because during those two long years of primarily being in one spot, something happened that has changed our lives in a pretty big way.  I fell in love.  It was not something anyone could have expected, and yet it isn't hard to believe that it did.  After all, the guy I fell for is handsome, rugged and really smart and fun.  Who could resist that combination?

 The truth is, I fell not only for him, but for a bunch more spectacular creatures at the sanctuary I enjoy spending time at.  The more I spent time there, the more all of them became a part of me and this love has changed me.  I was in denial over how much so until we went away to The Villages this past summer.  I discovered that while I loved our time there, I missed the horses so much so that I seemed to only be able to go a few weeks away from them without seriously missing them.

 This led to some talks about what to do about that, and long story short: we are now considering buying a house so I can foster some of the horses.  The long talks between Nathan and I were not so much whether to do that or not.  It was kind of a no-brainer to do it given my love for it.  The part we needed to figure out was how to blend that with being full timers.  Because we are full timers, no matter what else happens in our lives.  Just like we are parents, no matter what happens else happens in our lives.  We haven't just been traveling as in it was one thing on a long list of things we have done, but we are gypsies at heart as in that's who we are.

  I have found in sharing this past week, that there are those that get that and those that don't.  So I share and if they get it, we talk about it because they understand the fears and sadness that go along with the huge sacrifice of surrendering some parts of the full timing lifestyle that we have enjoyed for years now.  If I share and they don't, I quickly just move onto parts that they hopefully can relate to.  I understand that unless you have lived it, there isn't any real way to "get it".

 So why write all of this out here then, if I know that many who read it really won't "get all of it"?  Because it is a part of our show us the world journey, even if the way we are doing it might be altered due to new things in our life.

 So as strange as it will seem to most, this is not us settling down or a entering a new chapter in our lives.  It is us adding to the life we have and enjoy and figuring out how to add more to it without taking away from the parts that are most important to us.  And it has been no small task to figure out how exactly that will work in real ways.

 We have thought long and hard about how to blend all of the parts that are "us" together in a way that is truly do-able.  We hope to find a place that is a mix of as little of a house obligation as possible and as much horse friendly land as possible, along with the ever important kind to our budget so we can still move about and see the world that way some too.  We'll see how we do with that rather tall order.

  I'm fortunate that unlike most horse people, I have a place for the horses when we do want to physically move about.  I'm grateful that being in one spot much of the time will give me time with my children who will all be within driving distance except the one in Michigan that we are working on to get back down to Florida.  And I'm really thankful that everyone we have shared this with, is happy for us that we are moving towards something that brings us joy.  It's a great thing to celebrate on this New Year's Day!  




  

Happy 4th of July

Earlier this week, we made plans to celebrate Independence Day with Rich and Donna.  That was great news for me because I really enjoy celebrating holidays, and having others around makes it that much better for me.  Last night Aric, Austin and Brittany came to stay with us making my day twice as wonderful.

After the kids arrived, they and Nathan played rook while I started party foods for today.  Today I finished up a few food items, Nathan made pulled pork BBQ and when Donna arrived, she provided three delicious homemade salads to top it off.  We ended up with plenty of good food for everyone.

After our meal, we hung out on the lanai and chatted a bit while the kids played with sparklers.

Next we headed over to Mulberry Recreation Center to play some pickleball.  Miss Ava was so happy that she smiled the whole time.  This is her first visit to the courts since we came here.  Unfortunately we only played one full game and one half game before it started raining.  After Rich and Donna left, we watched a movie together and then ended the night with some Phase 10 fun.  It was a long day, full of fun things and good memories with some of the people we love the most in this world.

Living the life in The Villages!

Happy Thanksgiving

I have been down with strep throat for the past week, so I missed the dinner at the park.  Luckily, Ambir invited us all down to her place the weekend after Thanksgiving, so I was able to celebrate still.  All the kids, minus Ashleigh, were there.  My Mom and my niece and nephew were there.  Austin brought Brittany, so the family was able to meet her.

We did our traditional dinner, cooked by my Mom, the first day.  The second day we celebrated as true Floridians do.  We spent time in the water by spending the day jet skiing.

  I was still recovering, so I opted out.  Which meant I got to take pictures all day long.

I was very happy with this arrangement!

 

Ava was not so happy with not being able to jet ski.

 Still, she seemed to enjoy being able to watch the action.  It kept her and I entertained all day long!

Hoping everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving also!  We had much to be thankful for this year, most of which was with us this weekend: our family!

Happy Halloween

One wonderful thing about being in the park, is that we can celebrate the "kid" holidays even though we have no kids left in our house.  Since I work at the park, I have no choice but to be there when the park is celebrating.  Which is fine by me.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween wherever you are!

Happy Birthday Ambir!

 Today is our gorgeous girlie Ambir's birthday.  I still remember my very difficult pregnancy while I carried her and my very easy delivery when I finally gave birth.  She was the most striking newborn and baby that I think I've ever seen.  So much so people would stop me in public and ask me if I had considered putting her in modeling.  She still is gorgeous so clearly her good looks are going to last.

I wish you were here with us, Bambi, but I'm glad you and Daniel are celebrating the day together.  If I had thought ahead, I could have had a birthday cake for you when you and Daniel were just here.  I guess we will have to make up for it next time.  Happy Birthday sweet girl!  We love you so much!

Happy Easter

Today was the last Easter that we will have a minor child of ours living at home with us.  That same minor child spent the entire day working so I didn't get to give him his Easter basket until late tonight.  So to ease my sadness some, I dug out some old pictures of the kids on Easters from long ago.  I especially love this picture of the five of them in 2001.  Austin still makes that same face so it is proof to me that no matter how old they get, some things never change.

Thank goodness for the positives of them growing up, like the reality that the Princess is now here due to them growing up.  Her Easter pictures made my day!

We really did have a wonderful day, even though it was quiet.  Hoping everyone else did too!

Valentine's Day Party

Normally we are pretty lame when it comes to Valentine's Day.  Meaning we don't really do much of anything to celebrate.  This year I signed us up for the get together at the park, hoping maybe we could break out of our normal tradition.  There was a show with Bobby Mack, who used to be a Vegas performer, and is well known at the Florida parks.

Miss Judy, our rec director threw one fabulous event!

Everyone brought a dish, so there was lots of great food.

And there was a full house tonight.  In fact, so many people signed up, they had a second show after our show was over with.

We were fortunate enough to sit with some pickleball friends, which made the night just that much better.

 On the left side is Nathan, Donna, Nell and Gene.  The right side is Marie, Keith, Barry and myself.  We enjoyed ourselves very much and I am hoping this will become a new tradition for us on Valentine's Day!

More Christmas Fun

We had two Christmas parties this past week, the first was the work party and the second was the dinner they have for the whole park.

I didn't remember to bring my camera to either one, so I only have pictures from my phone from the work party.  We had a nice time talking and we did a White Elephant gift exchange that was fun.

There was lots of good food to eat!

I love sharing Christmas fun with those that are around us.  It makes the holidays even more fun.

Christmas Parade in Wauchula

Last night we all went to downtown Wauchula, where I sat on Main street in order to watch the Christmas parade.  Nathan and Austin were going to be a part of the parade, helping out with the Thousand Trails float.  My ankle kept me grounded so I went as a sideline cheerleader. 

Since I was going solo for the parade watching, that also meant I got to do much people watching while there.  I love to spend time people watching.  It is fascinating to me.  You can really learn a lot from a place by doing this.  And I came away from this parade, which was beautiful, reminded that so often small towns in America offer a view of some of the best and the worst that our society has to offer. 

I saw much that told me that racism and preferential treatment is alive and well in our country.  No matter how forward we move in these areas, situations like this tell me how far we have to go yet.  My heart was heavy in the moments I was witnessing that.  It is not something that seemed congruent with a Christmas parade to me.

At the same time, those same people who surrounded me also shared what makes our country beautiful to me.  There is something touching about parades that feels almost patriotic to me.  People do a great job of pulling together to make the parade happen.  People do a great job of coming out to support the parade by bringing their families and enjoying the result of the hard work.  I love it when towns pull together in this way.

Parades give people a chance to share what is important to them.

I loved seeing those that were near and dear to me.  Nathan holding the banner and Buddy and Diane:

It was a wonderful night and I was really touched to see our "home for now" represented there.  The Jammers did a great job!  It definitely put me in the Christmas spirit even more.

Living the life in small town Florida!

A Special Christmas Treat

Since we have lived as full time RV'rs, there are many things that we have to do differently.  Most of these things are small trade offs inn order for us to live the life we want to.  But it's been nice to get some of those things back when we are sitting in one place for a bit.  This being a great example of that:

I have a real (artificial) Christmas tree this year!  And I couldn't be more excited about that.  Every time I walk in the door and see it, I smile.  I love that I can put gifts under the tree, rather than in front of it.

I love that I could put some of the many ornaments that my MIL has given us for Christmas over the years on it.  There are so many memories in those ornaments.

It's is really feeling like Christmas in our rig and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Living the life in chillier Florida!

Halloween Party at Peace River

Peace River had a nice costume party for the park on Saturday night, so we made sure to attend.  I miss having little ones to celebrate the holidays with so I love it when I can still have a reason to make goodies and dress up.  I spent the day making pumpkin spice donuts, cupcakes and chocolate covered pretzels.

When we arrived at the party, it was kind of dark inside and I was trying to figure out who was playing up on the stage.  It took me a few minutes to realize the couple singing was Buddy and Diane.  My shots didn't turn out, so you'll have to peek at Donna's pictures here: Florida Picklers. 

The only shots we did manage to get to come out decently were a few from the dance floor.  Notice my "I don't know what the heck I'm doing so I'll watch Donna" poses.

I have fun dancing even when I don't know what I'm doing. 

We even managed to get Nathan out there for one dance.  There were tons of goodies and great music and fun people.  We had a nice time.

I have to share this cute picture of Ambir with her boyfriend, Daniel.  It looks like they had fun that night too.  I know I'm biased but she is such a beauty and such a ham when it comes to pictures.  I love it!

Living the life in fun Florida!