Bryce B-day Party

Fri. We went shopping and got a new apple computer.  We had them transfer the files from the  old one to the new one.  We pick up the computers on Mon. so I am back tracking.

Sat. We got to Tam's early and Linda went with the girls to Hope's parade and I went with the boys to Brendan's and Bryce's cross country.  They bot did well and it was a longer race for Brendan one mile instead of 1/2 mile.  We left there and went straight to Bryce's basketball game.  After the game we all met at Tam's.  We had lunch then to the boys boyscout parade.

 Sun. after church and lunch we went to Bryc's  baseball birthday party.  We had a good time playing baseball and other sports. We went out to Jason's Deli for dinner.

Mon. We picked up our new computer and went to Tam's and made lunch.  Bryce was home with Hope because he was not feeling well.
Tues. We went to the dentist to get our teeth cleaned (we both needed it). Then we went to the Tam's ate, then helped the kids make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. They all did a great job then ate some of it.

Wed. We went to the apple store and had lessons on our new computer.  1 1/2 hour group lesson and 1/2 hour which was a hour individual lesson.  We drove to dad's for a few days.

Thanksgiving- Dad's move- Bryce birthday

Thur.  What a greatful day.  Before we went to Thanksgiving dinner at Skidders dad gave us our Christmas present (top left).  It brought tears to our eyes.  It is a 28 day cruise leaving Ft. Lauderdale going on the Northern Europe Passage then Scandinavia and Russia. We keep pinching ourselves thinking it's a dream.  We will be leaving in April on a cruise with him.  When we got to Skidders we found the Alvarez family waiting for us (top right).  After a filling dinner we came back to dad's. Al and I hung some things (middle pictures) for dad.  We watched Xander's school play (bottom left). When it was time for them to leave we took there family picture with dad.

Fri. To Skidders for breakfast then shopping for house hold items. Top left I'm getting the microwave ready, hung two plants, With two phone calls to Mike I did some electrical work, with dad helping (top right) Linda put the kitchen stuff away.  After a long day at working we went to Skidders for dinner where dad arranged (after 17 years going to the same restaurant he does have alot of pull) to have ribs (bottom  pictures) yum yum Linda and I could only eat half of them.

Sat.and Sun. On Sat. we were able to watch some of the college games (top left).  We left to go home and stopped by Ikea to look for a book case for dad.  We found just what were looking for. They also had a special where we could eat free and we did $42 worth of dinner.  We got three sections for dad and they were so big we drove back to his new place, put them in the house then drove to the rig. Sunday after church we went to Tam's, had left overs and played with the kids (top righ)t.  Linda and Hope made turkey pot pie.  Two dinners worth and we ate it in one. On the way home we looked at some Christmas lights (bottom two).

Mon. We stayed at home all day cleaning, washing the truck, and doing laundry.

Tues. we went to Mt Dora in the afternoon (see pictures below). We did some shopping on the way home.  The weather here is wonderful in the low 80's 

Wed. After a morning at home we went to church.  We drove to Tam's and picked up Bryce so he could spend the night.  We stopped at Wal-Mart for him to pick out what he wanted to eat while with us.  When we got to the rig he played with our army men, we played a game' then we watched a movie.  As you can see it did not take long for him to go to sleep.

 Thur. When he got up he (top row)opened gramps card, helped me make coffee cake, (2nd row) we ate the coffee cake, put together a puzzle, played basketball (3rd row) we played soccer,   he blew bubbles, and we played baseball (4th row) we played checkers, an other puzzle, We ate what he picked out popcorn chicken, tater tots, and corn 5th row he got rolled in a tunnel, birthday ice cream sundae, and he got money from us so he picked out three lego items

 During the day we went on a walk we found (top row) mushrooms, some type of fungus 2nd row) some harry stuff, cactus, bird feathers (bottom row) birds, butterflies, and flowers.  We went to Tams for his birthday dinner and birthday cake ice cream.

Tn. to Fl Dad selling house buying Condo

Thur. After a relaxing day we got great news on my blood test.  All of my counts are good even the cholesterol.  When Chris got home I helped him finish one of his lawn jobs.  We had dinner and the wonderful apple cake desert Linda and Katie made yesterday.  Linda and Jen played spades with Chris and me (we won)

Fri. We drove to my heart Doctors and he was very pleased with my health.  He is letting me stop lipitor.  Now the only thing I am taking is vitamins and baby aspirin (Yea).  We got home then went to their Pastor David's funeral.  We went to Subway for dinner and then some of the apple cake they made.

Sat. We went to Mackenzie tournament. Below she is pitching, hitting, we were cold, and in between games we played cards. Kari and Addy joined us.  During the second game the ball hit her thumb and bent the finger nail back. They played three games.

                              After the game we had pizza and the girls made gingerman cookies.

and decorated them.

Sun. We got up and drove to our rig, showered ,church, then drove to my dad's.  Some 900 miles with the majority of it pouring rain.                                         

Mon. Breakfast at Skidder's, then packing, then at closing we found out the bank was not ready. We did all the paper work that we could selling his home and buying his new codo. 

Tues. We started  moving his 54 boxes that he had packed.  We packed about 12 more and it only took two trips.  We were all exhausted.   Dad had taped some movies from Hallmark so we watched them.

Wed. Up early went to Skidder's then moving day.  The movers got things packed and moved by two.  What a blessing. Dad's house empty see picture below. A call from his realtor saying the paper work is done put the money will not be ready till Monday.

                                                            This is dad's new codo below.

Ky. to Fla. then Tn.

Thur.  Just when we think we have a plan it changes.  2 mornings ago we woke up with the gas heater not working I turned everything off and it started to work.  Yesterday it happen again and this time it did not start working.  So when we woke up and found Nashville was not going to get any warm weather.  So this morning we are leaving for Fla.  We had a wonderful trip.  Held up in Atlanta for about 20 min. but did make it to exit 222 south of Atlanta.

Fri.  We got up and drove to Eustis Fl.  Got here early enough to find they were going to have a chicken dinner at the school and a sing along afterwards.  We were so happy not to cook and were able to meet up with 3 sojourn couples. When we got home we were exhausted.

Sat.  We got up did our bible study, got things pack and went to the post office to mail a package. Then we drove to Tam's to pick up Hope and go to Brendan's ball game.  They won and will have there next play-off game Tues. at the same time Bryce has his.  After the game we went to Tam's where Tam and Linda talked at the back porch and all the guys and Hope played wiffle ball.  On our way home we stopped by Starbucks for there bogo then to Walmart for gas and exhaust fluid.  We got home filled the exhaust fluid, got the car packed, got caught up on some paper work then shower and bed.

Sun. We got up and drove to Jen's (what a long  trip).  Chris had dinner ready for us afterward we went to church.

Mon.We got up and found snow outside.  Linda went outside and sat on the bench (bottom left). We had breakfast and did our bible study before we went shopping.  After dinner we went to Katie's basketball practice. Chris is the head coach and Mackenzie is the manager.

Tues.  We had bad news that the William's pastor past away after a long bout with cancer.  Jen picked up the girls and we all went out to Egg and I.  The staff knew David and went out and got a card for us and they all signed it.  We ate then did a bible study before the girls went back to school.  We came home and tried to get the broiler to work on the oven.  After trying many things we just cleaned it and called it a day.  We got a new thermostat for the house and Jen's headlight working.  Chris made pot roast for dinner in the crockpot.  Yum Yum.  We played games with the kids after dinner.

Wed. Another cold night in the teens. We got up and left for the 100 oaks mall where Vanderbilt Hospital has offices.  I got my blood drawn then we had breakfast at the breakfast place there.  We then met with our financial person Luke.  Came back to Hendersonville for hair cuts and banking.  Linda and Katie made Shepard's pie for dinner (picture below).  We went to church and hurried home for it was cold again.

2nd Week Jamestown Ky.

Tues. We traveled to  Cumberland Falls (often called Niagara of the South) and ate at the Dupont Lodge.  We enjoyed a lunch buffet (top left) and the fire place (top 2nd picture).   We walked from the lodge down to the falls (top 3rd picture)65 feet tall and 125 to 300 feet wide.  I walked back up and got the truck and we went for a walk to Eagle Falls only to find the path blocked by trees after we were almost there.  So we turned around and walked back to the truck back to the Lodge for  banana pudding (bottom left)that there famous for. It has a meringue on top served warm!  That was our dinner,don't tell our kids!. We drove around and saw the tennis courts, stables, campground, pool, and other areas of the park.  Then after 6:30 we were back to the falls because this falls and one other in the world have a moonbow.  It is white and like a rainbow it only comes certain times with a full moon.. We saw it just before 7 as the clouds broke and the moon shown through the trees.  I tried to get pictures of it but it did not work.  The camera did capture the falls (bottom 3rd picture).  The bottom 2nd picture is a marina on the way home you can see that it was very foggy. Bottom right is after a long day my young bride makes us the BEST home made pizza.

Wed.  On our Tues. we read our e-mail from Vanderbilt Hospital  Dr. Zik office.   They said they had a opening for us on today at 9 A.M.  So we got up this morning at 4:30 and drove to Nashville Tn. We got there early enough to eat at Panera's.  I got a cin. roll for birthday from them.  We got into the office and they only found a few spots (10) after they froze them we met Jen for lunch at Calypso Cafe.  Then we drove home and both of us crashed watching the Today Show on the internet. It rained the entire time.

Thur. We got up and went to work.  We did all of the things that we do in the morning.  THEN we got to feed the three snakes.  As you can see they were very active before and after we fed them (top left). Top middle Linda feeding the mice embryo. Top rt. and middle left is after the snakes took the food.  Later that day the rainbow and brown trout eggs came in(middle 2nd row) 2nd. row right they place the eggs in water.  3rd row left they put iodine in the eggs. 3rd row middle putting the eggs back into the water. 3rd row right they analyze 100 eggs. Bottom left after measuring the eggs they put them in water that is constantly moving them in a circular motion. The last two pictures is the containers the eggs went into middle over 110,000 brown trout and right is 50,000 rainbow trout. there is two containers for each type of fish.

 Fri. We went up to the center for they got together and had a breakfast for us (top left).  They gave us our papers for volunteering and a pin. After getting our fill we rolled out to the fishery and helped feed the fish then to see the eggs.  They say they shipped the eggs late and they were starting to hatch already (top 2nd picture).  We then drove to Somerset 3rd top the fountain in the middle of town and 4th rt the town square clock.  At the library they had a children's garden (2nd left). We stopped at Haney's Appledale Farm to get some apples and of course fresh Fried Apple Pie! We drove to Nancy Ky. to the visitor center of Mill Spring Battlefield.  We watch a video of the battle then went through the museum (2nd row 2nd picture to 3rd row left picture).  One of the volunteers walked us around and told us about the battle and the displays they had there.  He told us how they were trying to get it to be a national park.  When we left there we were hungry so we went to Lee's Ford Marina (3rd row 2nd picture). We ate at the Harbor Restaurant & Tavern they have been in the Southern Living mag. Famous for grouper fingers. They were awesome.  We left there went to Sano Meats and got frozen vapor pac meat. Then to the Union cemetery (3rd row 3rd picture). Down the street was the battle field (3rd row rt.).  Also the Confederate mass grave where over 100 men are buried (bottom left).  2nd picture is the stones with the names of the men. 3rd picture is down the street about a mile the Confederate field hospital. The last picture is our welcome back by the deers at the center.

Sat. We stayed around the rig getting it ready for our leave Thur. We did venture out to a coffee shop and had ice cream and coffee.  We had to go to the store for we ran out of coffee for our coffee pot in the mornings.

Sun. We went to church then on our way home we wengt to Lake Cumberland State Resort Park. Top left is a overlook on the way to the resort. The next 3 are of the view from our table at the buffet. On the way out we saw the marina 2nd middle picture. We left the park and stopped by a boat loading ramp the picture does not show how steep the ramp is. 3rd row left is from the boat ramp parking lot.  After we got home we went on a walk 2nd middle is the water release at the hatchery. We saw two deers on our walk they did not seem to be bothered that we were just feet from them. The bottom three pictures is the back side of the dam.

Mon. Back to work we go.  The top picture is us with our certificates for volunteering at the Hatchery. The bottom two pictures is out our side window this morning with the fog.

Tues. we got up for our last day of volunteering.  We thought it would be a busy day being it was Veteran's day.  We only had 25 folks show up.  We had two more couples come to volunteer at the center and both of them came to shadow us today. We went out to dinner with the couple that came the same time we did.  We had a wonderful dinner and the coconut pie was the best.

Wed. We got some of the things done around the house, did laundry, and said goodbye to the folks at the center. Just in time for the cold winter week our heater broke in the rig hope to get it fixed in Fla. After church we got gas and came home.