December 2011

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is only 10 days away, no snowy, cold, wet miserable weather upon us. I will have to say it sure is different hanging lights on palm trees instead of pine trees. The people in the park have all of their lights and displays set up, so we have decided to enjoy theirs instead of decorating the rv. We have a very limited number of decorations ( zero) stored away so why not look at the ones around us.

We have been enjoying the time here and the sightseeing we have done. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Aaron, Laura , and Gavin In January. We get to see him sometimes when we talk with them through the video camera, so it’s nice that way, but not like holding him. They will get to spend a few days with us then back to Wisconsin they go.

We are in the process of looking for our next job for the upcoming summer. We’re thinking of staying here in the south somewhere around North or South Carolina, but nothing is set just yet. We have 2 places we are talking with that want us to work for them, we just haven’t committed yet. A lot of things can change between now and April but we still like to have our summer job lined up before the first of the year. Cindy and I have been doing a little "beach combing" before the crowds get here. You'll see some of our finds, sand dollar, star fish, something that looks like a baby squid or octopus attached to a shell, some very rough water due to a cold front that blew through, beautiful sunsets, and numerous other things.There is nothing more relaxing than walking on the beach (when no one is there) and just listening to the sounds of the gulf.

We want to send our love to each and everyone of you and wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Remember to double click the slideshow for a full view of the pictures!!

Florida

It’s the 16th of November and we have been in Largo, Florida for about a month. We’re finding our way around this very busy town and plenty of traffic. I have been doing all sorts of outside work, planting a very large amount of shrubs, getting the pool ready to open, pruning palm trees, etc. The days I work I can stay busy the whole 8 hours. The weather here has just been absolutely beautiful with temps in the high 70’ s and low 80’s.

This past week I had the opportunity to go out fishing with one of guys from Canada. We went 9 miles out and were fishing for grouper. For those of you who know me very well, rough water and I do not go together. Fortunately the morning started out pretty smooth on the water but by noon we were getting into some rough waters. I’d like to pat myself on the back and say I survived the rough waters without losing my breakfast. We ended up bringing back 4 real nice groupers ( 24-30 inch) and somewhere between 25-30 white grunt, all in all, a very good day fishing. Staying in a 55 and over rv park has been a little bit of an adjustment for us. We both love the wide open areas, the mountains, and sparsely populated areas,(Cindy always said I was a hemit) so to come here to an rv park where the persons house next to you is very close, has taken some getting use to. The park here has 200 sites, very well kept, and they tell us 80% of the people here are from Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, truly northern snowbirds. The people here are very friendly and make you feel right at home.

We had the chance to go and visit a girl I went to school and graduated with the other night (Judy Strickland). She lives in Tampa, just about 30 minutes away. We had a great time with her and husband Wally.

This last couple of days we have driven to see the Sky Way Bridge ( pictures here on the blog), done some fishing in the bay, and all around just more site-seeing. Cindy caught her first lizard fish and her first puffer fish,(second most poisonous vertebra in the world), so there definitely some interesting looking fish around here.

We are enjoying ourselves in the warmth and sunny Florida. As the winter proceeds I have promised myself not to let you know the temperatures and how much sunshine we are having.

“Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them”

Summer Update

Guess I haven’t been keeping anyone out there up to date on our travels (sorry). We finished the summer in Wisconsin working at a state park just 5 miles from our new grandson Gavin. We had a wonderful summer there and were blessed to be able to watch him for the last 2 months we were there. We had him 5 days a week for half the day in July, in August we watched him on Thursday and Friday all day. It was pretty hard leaving Aaron, Laura and Gavin but we both knew he was going to be in excellent hands with Aaron and Laura We came back to the house in Sharpsville and camped out in the back yard for the month of September and part of October. While home we enjoyed attending grandparents day with Jamie at Tri-Central and showing her teacher a card trick I taught her. We did a lot of work on the house while there, removed the balcony, painted the whole thing, had a new roof put on and made a decision we have talked about for the past several years. We put the house on the market for sale and are hoping to have a quick sale.




We left home on October 11th and headed for Largo, Florida to work for the winter. This is our first time to spend the season in a 55 and older park, so it will be interesting to see how living in an RV park will be. We have a lot of things we would like to see and do while here and want to see how spending the winter months here will be. We arrived here on Thursday 13th and have the rest of the week to get settled in and kick back and relax ( which we both needed after working on the house).

Visit From Randy and Family

June 5th Aaron & Laura had Gavin baptized and Cindy and I were there for the service. The following pictures are some taken during the service. The weekend of June 10th we had the chance to see Randy,April,Connor and Dylan. They made a 4 day weekend and drove up to stay with Aaron and Laura. They stopped here at the campground on Friday morning and Aaron & Laura stopped by around noon. We all had a great time crammed into the camper eating lunch and visiting. We went back to Aaron & Laura’s ( where there was just a little more room) and ate pizza that they fixed on the grill, had a nice campfire, then called it a night.


Saturday all of us went and done some hiking, visited Fastenal, and went to Lark Toy Museum for some reminiscing looking at toys we all use to have as children. I know that some of you must be thinking those would be antiques that I had and not just old, ha ha! Went back to Aaron & Laura’s and had another bonfire.

Sunday the old people stayed at home for a while and let the young ones do some serious hiking, then we all met up at Aaron’s again for supper and just hanging out and visiting. Monday we headed back to Aaron’s house and waited on the repairman to show up so they could have water. Sometime Sunday night their pump quit and they had to call a repairman to come out and fix it. Thankfully it wasn’t anything too serious and they got the water back on for them. We went to La Crosse to eat out. Randy’s gift to me for fathers day. After eating we came to the point that I do not like, saying our goodbyes and watching the four of them head back to Colorado. It was really nice that we were here this summer and had the chance to see them again. The last time we visited was way back in October of 2010, seems like a long long time ago.

Prairie Island Park

We moved from our location in Wisconsin to a location on the Mississippi river. Our site sits facing the river, which is real convenient for me to go fishing. I caught my first fish in Minnesota, a 12-15 inch sheep-head, at home we call them a drum. Cindy and I are watching Gavin in the morning and enjoying every minute of it. We will be here until the end of June then we are going back across the river to a state park in Wisconsin for July and August, where we will camp-host and watch Gavin 2 days a week. We’re excited about Randy and family coming up to visit in a couple of weeks. We last saw them way back in October of 2010, so we’re looking forward to their visit. I think we are going to try and come back for the “Slavey” reunion at Debbie’s house the last week of July. Plans are still up in the air but we are working on them and hope it will all work out.

Spring in Wisconsin

The month of May has arrived here in Wisconsin and we’re still waiting for some consistently warm temperatures. We have been told that this isn’t the normal for up here, they usually have weather in the 60’s by now. After watching the weather map for all of the country I would have to say that is probably true here and just about everywhere.

We are at a campground just 10 miles from Aaron and Laura so we are getting to see Gavin quite a bit. I think we are going to relocate and move to a campground with our site next to the Mississippi River, just 3-4 miles from where Aaron and Laura work. The reason being, we are going to watch the little one when Laura goes back to work part time. We also plan on doing some fishing since we will be just several yards from river, and take in some hiking and biking around here. The plans are to watch him for the month of June, then Cindy and I will be moving to a state park located 5 miles from their house. We will camp-host there probably until September 1st, then it will be time to “hitch it up” and make our way south, stopping back in Indiana to visit friends and family, then on to Ohio to see our son David. After that visit we’re not sure where we will end up, we definitely want to find some place warmer than we did this past winter.

“Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.”

It's a boy !! Gavin Lee Slavey

Most of you know by now that Cindy and I are new grandparents of a boy named Gavin Lee Slavey. Our oldest son, Aaron and wife Laura, had their first child on March 30. We left Tennessee the first of March and went to visit David in Ohio. We spent 4 or 5 days and got to visit with him for a few of them ( he is one busy guy). One day he took us out to eat with him,Shawna and her little boy Jude to the mall, where we had the opportunity to watch a stuffed teddy bear come to life. After our visit there we went home for a couple of days then headed to Wisconsin. Laura's sisters were having a surprise baby shower for her on the 19th of March so we came up here a week earlier than planned. When the boys were in maybe junior high,can't really remember the exact age, we took on a paper route so they could earn some money for going to Florida. Being the age they were they weren't really fond of doing it, but we told them they could have the money for Florida. Cindy and I would show them the route and we all pitched in and walked the route together. Aaron and Laura offered us a paper route they have here, so Cindy and I decided to help out by taking on their route while we were here. We were standing in the middle of the street and now the "student' was showing the "teachers" how we were to walk the route. Isn't it funny how life goes around in circles! The baby wasn't due til the 5th of April so we thought we would have some extra time to check out the area. Little did we know that Gavin decided to enter this world 7 days early. It was a good thing we came up when we did. Laura went in to the hospital around 7 am the morning of the 29th. We ended going up to see them in the afternoon to see how things were going. We just decided to stay until the baby was born. Well another 20 hours or so would pass before Gavin decided it was time to meet his parents. Grandma and Grandpa decided to sleep in the lounge just to be sure we were there for the blessed event. I will say that the chairs were a little on the uncomfortable side but being there when Aaron walked in to tell us " we have a baby boy " Gavin Lee Slavey, was worth all the waiting and sleep deprived night that we had. Gavin is now 9 days old and all is going well. Cindy and I will be heading to a campground on the 15th of April and hang around here for a while and enjoy the opportunity to visit with the new grandson all that we can.

End of winter in Tennessee

The days have come to a closing in Tennessee and we are looking forward to moving on. We are going to come home for a while then head to Wisconsin and await the arrival of "baby Slavey" which will "officially" make Cindy a biological grandmother. We are going to be there for 2-3 months then we're not sure where we are heading after that. We had a good time in Tennessee even though the weather was not quite what we were hoping for. I did get the opportunity to catch a number of small-mouth bass ranging from 1 lb. to a nice 4lb. We decided to come through Ohio and try and visit with David for a couple of days. Rain has settled into Ohio so we are spending our time reading, going to a big mall and walking around, and trying to make our plans for the upcoming summer. We went out to eat this evening (Friday 4th) with David and Shanna and her little boy Jude. We're planning on spending Saturday the 5th with them then heading back to Indiana on Sunday for a couple of weeks. After that we head to Wisconsin to be there for the arrival of the Aaron & Laura's baby.

Snow in Tennessee

The middle of January is here already and we're ready for some warm weather. We talked to several people that live here before heading this way. The consensus were that if (and that is a BIG IF) it snows here, it's here today and gone tomorrow. Well we have had several inches of snow on the ground and we are still waiting for "tomorrow". In all fairness, the people we have talked to, say this has been one of the coldest and snowiest years they can remember. The temps did get up to 49 this past Saturday and melted most of the white stuff away.




We drove into the park yesterday(Sunday, 16th) and enjoyed viewing the park in its snow covered beauty. Actually the park was very busy with people driving around and others, with snow shoes and poles, hiking some of the trails. We were amazed with the amount of traffic coming and going all weekend. The number of vehicles traveling this Highway 66 from I-40 to Gatlinburg is estimated to be over 40,000 cars per day during the summer and fall seasons. That's a pretty large number considering the length is roughly 15 miles.

I getting anxious for the weather to warm back up into the 40's and 50's so I can hit the water and try for that trophy fish. Fishing has been pretty slow this past 2 weeks so I'm more than ready to try and land the big one.

"One who looks for a friend without faults will have none"