Show Us The World

Happy Birthday to the former Boy Boy

2012-01-23T20:31:00.004-05:00

When Austin was little, Nathan called him "my boy". That somehow then changed into "the boy". Usually that name was used in this sentence: Guess what the boy did now! At some point Austin decided he wanted more and started to call himself the boy boy. So the boy boy it was.

Seventeen years ago, this boy boy came into our family and I can think of very few things that have altered the family quite like it. To say he made things more interesting is an understatement. It has been an honor and joy to have him in our lives. Today as I shared with him what his birth and life with us has meant to me personally, I had to also admit that he is no longer our boy boy. He is almost a man now. A young man at the very least. And we most likely have very little time left with him sharing a home with us. So I'm savoring the time left.

We squeezed in a birthday lunch at the Chinese Buffet because he had to work tonight. We bought him a red velvet cake that we then promptly ate 1/4 of. And I promised him a trip where he can cash in his birthday gift money and do something he wants to. It was not the big party I would have loved to have thrown for him but we still celebrated how special the day was. It was good.

Happy Birthday, Austin. There is a part of me that will always see the little boy in you. And the other part of me sees the wonderful young man you are also.

Hedy and Art Treat Us to Dinner

2012-01-23T20:21:00.001-05:00

We have Happy Hours fairly often. We go out to eat with friends. We have enjoyed both since we went full time. What we don't do is have sit down dinners at each other's homes, unless we count eating at the picnic table. So you can imagine what a rare and precious thing it is to have a nice dinner together at a table.

Last night Hedy and Art treated four couples to their house and did all the cooking for it. We were treated to Chicken Cordon Blue, Salad, Peas, Baked Potatoes, Rolls and yummy punch. It was fabulous. We enjoyed great conversation while we shared the meal. We talked about how we are not only friends, but also family. And if that wasn't great enough, we had Hedy's cheesecake for dessert. It was the best cheesecake that I've ever had. It was just a great night, all the way around.

A Wedding Celebration Happy Hour

2012-01-20T17:09:00.000-05:00

Buddy is one of our favorite pickleball people. He is pure sunshine and has a permanent smile on his face. He partnered with an equally sweet lady named Diane last year. I didn't really get to know Diane until this year. I could see why he fell for her after I did spend time with her. They are both musical, so they share a common love in that area. She doesn't play pickleball, but she will come down and visit with us when Buddy plays.

They were married during the holidays and we decided to throw them a celebration party-Pickleball style, meaning with a Happy Hour. Rich and Donna helped us pull off a great party for them.

Here is the honored couple. Don't they look miserable together?!?

They are so cute together. They walk through the park, hand in hand, with those big grins on their faces. They remind me of what honeymooners look like every time I see them.

Since we have that great shared space, we had tons of room for this party!

Donna got a guest book for people to sign. Vicki and Mira coordinated a huge pot of spaghetti sauce and meatballs and everyone else brought goodies. We had three tables for food for this feast! We were discussing Happy Hour food when going through the line and saying how everything we have ever had at a Happy Hour is great.

We had a great crowd, milling around the fire chatting with each other and giving the couple hugs and happy wishes for their shared life together.

Here is the guest list, copied from Donna's blog:

The Guest List:
Nate and Krystal
Bob and Vicky
Vick and Judy
Rene and Mira
Tom and Karen
Art and Hedy
John and Carla
Earl and Cindy
Garth and Rosemary
Paul and Carla
Woody
Sally
Jim and Patti
Jim and Judy
Nick and Tonya
Rich and Donna

Here is a shot I captured before it was too dark to take pictures and before most of the crowd showed up:

It was a great night. Best wishes Buddy and Diane! We will throw you that baby shower we talked about, if you do end up needing it!

Living the life in friend filled Florida!

Center for Great Apes Tour

2012-01-17T16:16:00.000-05:00

When we were doing volunteer work for Reach the World, I wrote about a sanctuary that is nearby that houses a famous chimp. Michael Jackson's chimp, Bubbles, lives there now. The kids really got a kick out of that and asked me lots of questions about him. Unfortunately at the time, I couldn't really answer because I hadn't been to the place he lived so I couldn't tell them.

This past week that changed because we not only visited his home, we saw him in person and saw he is doing well. I can't even describe how excited I was to visit where he does live, The Center for Great Apes. It is very close by where we are this winter, but because it is not open to the public, you would never know it was there. It is very discrete and on land that allows a beautiful place for the animals to live in a peaceful environment.

The center was started when it's founder agreed to take in an orangutan and it grew from there. You can read the story here: History of the Center for Great Apes. In short, it is now a sanctuary for orangutans and chimpanzees.

We had a very small group with us from Thousand Trails that went for a private tour. We rode over with new pickleball friends, Garth and Rosemary. Since our group was so small, it made the visit feel very intimate.

We were allowed to take pictures, but they asked that we not share them on the internet so I won't post them here.

I can share that this was one of my top favorite things to do since we hit the road full time. It was so much better than I ever expected. So many times when we visit places where animals are housed, I have conflicting emotions. I am glad they are safe, but at times it doesn't seem to be a way of life that I'd think is truly enjoyable for an animal. That was not the case here at all. This was the most impressive sanctuary we have ever visited as far as the thoughtfulness they put into the environment for the animals.

On top of all that, we were able to get much closer to the animals than I had expected. So close that it was overwhelming to me at times, because of the emotions that welled up inside of me. I didn't even edit my pictures for a few days because of the swell of emotions that I was still feeling from the visit. If you are in the area, get a group together and GO visit this place! You won't regret it!

We have been enjoying gorgeous weather here this winter which makes things like this even more enjoyable. Living the life in Sunny Florida!

A Riverview Site

2012-01-10T16:49:00.000-05:00

One of the advantages of having an annual site is that you can pick any spot in the park to plunk down on. One of the advantages to doing lottery and driving the park is when a great spot opens up, you see it right away. Which was the case a few weeks ago. As I drove through the park, looking for empty sites, I saw something that shocked me. One of my favorite spots that had been occupied by an annual site member, was now opened up. I drove back to the office and asked for permission to move to it. Then I went home and asked Nathan if he was ok with moving to it. Normally I would do that in reverse, but I knew if I waited then the site would be gone!

We are now on the end of a dead end road. Our side only has two spots, counting us. We are fortunate to have Rich and Donna behind us. Two of the spots on the other side of the road are annual sites with friendly neighbors also. And the site one away from Rich and Donna is the same way. So we are surrounded by great people that will remain neighbors for longer than two weeks at a time.

As great as they all are, the real draw is that this is now our "front yard".

More of the front yard view:

Most of the side yard is the part that joins with Rich and Donna's yard. Some of it empties into a hiking trail.

We are loving it here so far. It is so peaceful and we have a bit of space to spread out in, especially if we have company. The beautiful weather has meant that Nathan can work outside in the tent, and enjoy working without people walking by all day long. It helps him to not feel so cooped up inside and it gives me some space to get away from "work" when I am at home. We are already toying with the idea of renewing the site for next year!

Living the life in gorgeous Florida!

More Christmas Fun

2011-12-20T15:05:00.000-05:00

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 Goodies

2011-12-17T22:01:00.004-05:00

I am really enjoying our new convection oven and have used it as much as possible. I have especially enjoyed it for making Christmas goodies! I have so many wonderful memories of doing Christmas baking growing up, then with my own children and now I am having fun still continuing the tradition.

I am looking forward to the Princess being old enough to help me! In the meantime, I get to lick the beaters!

Living the life in Florida!

The Florida Air Museum

2011-12-12T18:53:00.002-05:00

Today Nathan and I visited a museum that I'd been to before, Florida Air Museum in Lakeland. It was Nathan's first visit and he really enjoyed it.

The museum has a main building with exhibits and an annex building with bigger aircraft. From their website: The Museum displays a wide variety of vintage aircraft, ultralights, experimental homebuilts, air racers, military, aerobatic and factory-built aircraft from all eras. The aircraft are supplemented by an interesting collection of engines from WWI to the present day.

My favorite display in the first building was a model of the Spruce Goose because we have visited the real one and it was incredible.

There was some kind of show that was wrapping up while we were there and we asked a gentleman a bit about it He had driven all the way from Louisiana to see the show. He restored and flew model planes himself. He shared some interesting things with us.

It was a great time, and since I had been here before, I spent a little less time reading signs and a little more looking up close and personal at the planes.

I think we will visit here again, and hopefully catch one of the shows.

Living the life in Florida!

Who Needs A Horse?

2011-12-09T22:20:00.000-05:00

We see a lot of ummmm..."unusual" things where we are right now. The other day we went to Dollar General and there were not one but two horse trailers in the parking lot, complete with horses. I can't imagine one scenario where I'd be driving a trailer full of horses and absolutely need to take a detour to Dollar General, but what do I know. I've never driven a trailer full of horses after all.

I see what I assume is a local person that drives their motorized wheelchair around. Which isn't that odd by itself but the way this one is decorated in all different types of decorations does make it stand out. One day it had pinwheels that had LCD light in the center. And by pinwheels, I mean maybe 15 to 20. It was like watching a one man parade and gave me a big smile when I passed by.

We see really big trucks with really big wheels on a regular basis. And by really big truck, I mean bigger than our beast. I wonder how on earth the people get inside of these trucks. Do they have to climb up on the wheels first? Is there some sort of pulley system that gets them inside? I don't know the answers to these questions, but it is beginning to seem normal to me to encounter these things. At this point, none of this really fazes me.

But sometimes I see things that still have me doing a double take. This cool car was the case today. I took my cell phone and grabbed a few shots. Then Austin proceeded to tell me that it was the Cowboy's car. Ok...I'll bite. What does that mean? He tells me the guy who drives it looks and walks like a cowboy. I guess you don't need a horse to be a cowboy if you have a car like this that does the job instead.

Ah, I love life's random things. Makes it so much more interesting than the common normal things that we see so often that we don't even really see them. Pausing to really look is a good thing. In this case it was at least.

Living the life in still so warm Florida!

Boy and Panther

2011-12-08T03:00:00.000-05:00

Another creative sculpture from Brookgreen Gardens.

And the nature shot:

I Pledge Allegiance

2011-12-06T03:00:00.000-05:00

Another beautiful sculpture from Brookgreen Gardnes. And the nature shot:

Early Christmas Gifts

2011-12-05T16:30:00.000-05:00

We have already received two of our Christmas gifts early. One was from my MIL, and we have really enjoyed this one. It is a kitchen island that we bought while in Virginia. We took out our dining room table and chairs and this sits in that space now.

We love this thing! We still have some eating space there so we didn't really give that up. We gained tons of storage space and counter top space with it.

The other things is a microwave and convection oven combo. I have wanted this since we bought the RV and am thrilled with it. I have used it tons since we have put it in, mostly for baking bread, cookies and muffins.

I'm glad that I did get them both early, since they will help me with my Christmas baking! I think we enjoy both things for a long time.

Christmas Parade in Wauchula

2011-12-04T21:25:00.001-05:00

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

2011-12-03T22:29:00.000-05:00

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!

Pegasus

2011-11-27T19:06:00.001-05:00

Another sculpture at the Brookgreen Gardens and this one has the honor of being the sculpture that took the longest to create. Nine years in fact. It is worth it. And I say that knowing I wouldn't have the dedication to last nine hours on the project.

And a nature shot from the same beautiful place:

Wide Open Spaces...in Florida?

2011-11-26T20:12:00.001-05:00

I was telling my SIL, Katie, that if they came to visit us they would like it because we are staying at a park that is in the country this winter. She said she didn't know Florida had "country". So last week, while driving over to Avon Park, I decided to grab some pictures for her. As we were driving, Austin and I talked about how so many people truly don't know there are rural areas in Florida so I decided to share them here too.

There are many places where there is undeveloped land.

There are many places where there are farms.

And I'll be honest, it is some of my favorite land to travel in Florida. It is not maybe the prettiest view. But it is peaceful. Excuse the blurriness, because Austin was driving and he doesn't slow down for me like Nathan does. Something about other people on the road and him not wanting to look lame and all.

And here's another shot of the double rainbow we saw. This time with the "real" camera vs the cell phone camera.

I will try to get more shots when I have an agreeable driver escorting me. In the meantime, enjoy some of Florida that does not look like Ft Lauderdale, Daytona or the Magic Kingdom!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

2011-11-22T20:12:00.001-05:00

When we first began the RVing lifestyle, we listened to "A Series of Unfortunate Events" on audiobooks while we made the three hour drive from our house to where our RV was set up. The series is about a family of children that has one "unfortunate" thing after another happen to them. Lately, I am feeling like I could be a star in this quirky book series.

I normally get sick ranging from rarely to never. In the past few months, I've managed to have one weird thing after another happen. None of them that major except maybe having my gall bladder removed. Still, each one has been painful and frustrating. I twisted my ankle while in the OBX. I then had the gall bladder infection leading to surgery. We had an attack of the lovely little critters known as chiggers that was surprisingly uncomfortable. I have had allergy symptoms off and on that range from the mild ones to the my head feels like it is in a vice ones.

When we first arrived here I got pink eye in a more serious way than I ever have before. Last week I was stung by a yellow jacket and had a funky reaction to it. Yesterday I guess I decided to close the loop of unfortunate events by repeating the ankle twist. Again.

Now I am sporting this look:

The good news is that it is only a sprain and nothing is broken. The bad news is I can't walk on it so that means no holiday prep and no pickleball playing. Luckily I do not work until Friday, so I can rest in the meantime.

I've decided I've had enough of this series and would like to begin starring in a new series. I think something along the lines of Life is Good and my body is healthy and whole would be good. In the meantime Nathan is waiting on me hand and foot and is even doing the housework. I have had sweet friends here send me the kindest get well wishes. I am getting to do some digital scrapbooking which I always love. I think I'll focus on the gratitude I feel for those things instead of whining about the painful foot. It is Thanksgiving week after all!

Living the still fortunate life in Florida!

Going Away Dinner at Paul's Kitchen

2011-11-21T14:29:00.001-05:00

Since we have been coming to Peace River, we have enjoyed one of the local restaurants here. The place isn't fancy. The food isn't really fancy. But it is good food at great prices and we love the comfortable feeling of the place. The restaurant is named Paul's Kitchen but I think of it as Paul's House because the place is in what used to be a small house and it just feels "homey" to me.

The staff is always great here. Pleasant and efficient. It is decorated in a simple style, but it neat and clean. The most remarkable thing about this place though is the size of the meals. They give you an insane amount of food for the price. I love it because that means I never have to worry about lunch the next day!

Last night, many of the pickleball players gathered here to have dinner with Keith and Marie who are heading out today. They are such a popular couple they ended up with a whole crowd, seventeen in all in fact! Because the meals are so giant, they normally have to give you two plates each to hold it all. So it was kind of comical seeing all of us trying to fit our meals on the table with so many of us. They were so accommodating of our giant group, they even gave us free carrot cake for dessert. I can't recommend this place highly enough. It is the kind of place I would love to see our oldest daughter Ashleigh own someday!

I didn't get pictures of our time together, but you can read more about it and see pictures at Donna's blog here: Florida Picklers. I can be really lazy with picture taking when Donna or Faye are around because they always take pictures too! And my kids don't hide their faces behind their hands when they are snapping shots so I manage to get a few great pictures of them too.

After dinner, Karen, Buddy, Nathan and I hit the courts to burn off our giant meals. We had some great games with each of them being very evenly matched. We are loving our time here this winter so far! I look forward to many more great times as we move through the season.

Living the life in Florida!

Lions, Tigers and Bears

2011-11-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

Or maybe it is more panthers, otters and bears. I love that the Wildlife Refuge is right across the street. Even though it is quite small, it is great that I can scoot over there and visit for an hour or so and spend time watching animals. They are all so beautiful in their own way.

There were two bears, but only one would come out to let me take his picture.

I told Nathan that I was going to see if I could get the cats to talk to me here too, after my experience in Hershey's Zoo. Sure enough, the cat did the same thing here. I talked and it would talk back. I thought maybe there was something to me being a cat whisperer but then another lady walked up and the cat did the same thing to her. Guess that is not my superpower after all. I still enjoyed chatting with the cat, even if it was not exclusive.

What? You have problems with your male leaving his dirty socks on the floor too?

The otters were surprisingly lazy today.

I'm not a fan of the above animal, but they are everywhere so I have to include some shots of them. I am hoping to get over to visit this place more often this year, and hope to revisit the Lipizzaner horses too. We missed both of them last year since we weren't here.

Living the life in Florida!

The Snowbirds Are Arriving

2011-11-17T19:18:00.001-05:00

I've noticed this past week that the park is beginning to really fill in. I joked with Nathan that is must have turned cold everywhere else this past week. While I joked about it, it does tend to work that way. People stay further north until the cold drives them here. We would normally do the same thing. In fact, this is probably the earliest we have arrived in Florida and been able to watch as others trickled in.

The nice part about the park getting fuller, is that there are more pickleball players. I can't play on the mornings I work, and Nathan can't play weekdays. We have tried to play some on our days off.

It has been hot this past week, which means it is hard to play pickleball for very long without being exhausted. So I'm somewhat glad for the excuse of playing in the late afternoon most days. Donna works days, so she has been joining us at night too. Art and Heddy usually join us and they are great fun to play with. Julie joined us when she was here. And today one of my favorite people, Karen, joined us. We have had some great games because of the people that are playing.

Notice the low flying plane in the one picture. I'm not sure why he was flying so low, but I already had my phone out taking pictures so I went ahead and snapped the shot.

Austin and I saw a double rainbow while out and about today, and he tried to capture it with my phone. Can you see it?

Living the life in Sunny and Hot Florida!

Such a Flirt!

2011-11-12T05:00:00.000-05:00

Each time we visit the Wildlife Refuge, the ostriches amuse me. They can be busy doing whatever, and when they see us they always make their way over to the fence. Which is quite different than every other animal there.

They remind me of Ambir when she was young because they just move closer and closer posing for the camera.

And with their beautiful lashes, they end up looking like quite the flirt! I'm ready for my close up, Mr. Deville!

Living the life in Florida!

Hardee County Wildlife Refuge

2011-11-10T20:55:00.001-05:00

Last night we went to a Happy Hour at Rich and Donna's place. I forgot to take my cameras so you will have to go to Donna's blog to see how much fun we had. I hope we have Happy Hours every single week this winter because we have time to chat with each other and the food is fabulous!

Today Austin discovered some very sad news. He and Lee, the manager here, were the first on the scene of a very bad accident a few days ago. Austin was understandably very shook up over what they witnessed there. There were some very serious injuries involved. He read in the paper today that one of the victims, a thirteen year old boy, passed away. My heart ached over this news even without being a witness to the accident. It is the kind of news that kicks every Mom right in the gut. To be honest, I cried and cried when he told me. I hate that this happened. I hate that it happened because someone decided to drink and drive.

I decided to grab my camera and go visit one of my favorite Peace River places. The wildlife refuge across the street. Although there are many neat animals there, my favorites today were the cats that were there. We had to make nice to get past the ones guarding the boardwalk.

Once they saw we were determined to move forward, they formed a gang. The black one was rather feisty.

Some were sitting on the guardrail, meaning they were pretty much everywhere.

They cheered me up a bit immediately. I think it was mostly due to the babies.

Have you ever seen a cuter thing than a baby kitten face?

Or maybe it was seeing the Momma with her babies. It reminded me that although death is a tragedy that is gut wrenching when it involves a child, there is also always new life to celebrate.

I hate that any mother would have to know the pain the mother of this boy is living through right now. I hate that my boy is feeling a portion of that pain due to his involvement. I love that there is always new life. And that it is how the circle of life is, sad and happy at the same time sometimes. It's just one of those weird things in life.

Austin will be attending the viewing and the funeral. I am proud of his compassion and willingness to offer comfort during this horrible time and because I am his Mom, I'm worried about how this is affecting him. So please send all the love and comfort you can for everyone involved. Kiss your kids and tell them you love them. Remember that no matter how hard it is to be a parent, it is a wonderful thing to have our children here with us. They are always our baby kittens, no matter how old they get. And every single minute we have with them is precious.

Boys and Girls Part Two

2011-11-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

While I enjoy the differences between boys and girls, I am also fascinated by the dynamics of boys and girls when they are interacting together. I'll let the pictures tell the story again. Parents, you know the storyline, so feel free to narrate along in your head.

and we can all guess what happened between these the above and below pictures:

Repeat that about a hundred times a day, until you both hit puberty and learn to fight in other ways, and that is boys and girls together.

One time I was on the phone with Kyanna and she says very matter of fact: Hold on a minute, I have to go and hit my brother. I hear the phone being put on the table, a whack, crying and then she comes back and picks back up where she left off.

Luckily, they also get along really wonderfully sometimes. This is my favorite shot of the whole day:

Aren't they the cutest things ever? Love those kids so much!

Living the life in Sunny Florida!

Boys And Girls

2011-11-06T04:00:00.000-05:00

This weekend is National Digital Scrapooking Weekend. Which means I have sat glued to my computer for hours on end in order to download all the freebie goodies that were out there. Because I am a woman, I used that time to multi-task and play with a new photo editing program too.

I went back to pictures that I snapped months ago and played around with pictures of my niece and nephew. And while I was editing, I cracked up at what I saw. Starting with this picture where I was trying to capture Prissy Missy doing the girl walk in the pool. When I went to crop the picture, I noticed Wild Man off to the side doing his thing.

This got me to thinking about girls and boys and the differences between the two. This is not a boys vs girls thing, because it isn't a competition about which is better. We are just different is all. In the case of Kyanna and David, they are both equally cute and sweet. But they definitely have different focuses in life. Let me show you what I mean.

Girls:

Boys:

Girls:

Boys:

Girls:

Boys:

Girls:

Boys:

Girls:

Boys:

Girls (unaware of Boy):

and one last time, Boys:

Need I say more? All the nurture in the world doesn't change some things and I'm glad. It's nice to be who we are instead of fighting it so hopefully these two stay who they are, even when the world tries to tell them otherwise. They crack me up!

Living the life in Sunny Florida!

Settling In

2011-11-05T15:49:00.002-04:00

We are all settling in and finding our groove still. We are adjusting to Austin being back with us and he is adjusting to having parents again. It is always interesting when your offspring spends extended time with someone else because they just tend to change a bit when they do that. Especially when teenagers and experiencing a place where people live their lives a lot differently than your home does.

I think it is so good for them though so it's worth whatever bumps go along with that process. I love seeing how it has stretched his view in some areas and how much he is still the same in others. All part of the growing and learning that happens as part of being a person.

I'm also grateful that we have family that let him spend that time with them. He will no doubt have fond memories of that time for years to come and he knows the family better due to the time to bond more deeply. Family is so important to Austin, so it's one of the greatest gifts to him to be able to spend time there with them. Thank you for allowing that to happen.

As far as what we are doing here, well not much. We are having very slow and lazy days. We are playing pickleball some. Austin is tinkering and playing with his new favorite toy, a motorcycle. I gotta give him much praise on how patient he was to wait to ride the bike, since he actually bought it last spring and had to wait to ride it until now. He mostly uses it to ride to the Y, where we bought him a membership so he could work out.

Beyond that we are situating our lot the way we want it to be and figuring out what our lives will look like this winter. I think Ava rolls with the punches better than the rest of us, as long as she has a window seat view of the action that is!