NANCY and BILL: November 2010

Family, Friends and Food - Friday - Nov. 26, 2010

Nancy here...

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We sure did and I want to share some photos.

This year, we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room of The Lakes of Litchfield, my mother's new residence. I thought this was a great idea as they would be doing the cooking and not me ;o)

We all met at mom's apartment and made our way

to the dining room.

The tables were beautifully set and reserved for all the families to share dinner together.

Our Table - Barry, Bill, Bill, Chris, Mom and Gail

This was within arms reach of our table....

EAT DESSERT FIRST !?!?!?

But we decided to check out the buffet line and carving stations

Wonderful Buffet Table

Ham and Turkey Carving Stations

GOOD EATS !!

We even had our own Pilgrims visiting for the day.

We had a wonderful time and I could tell Mom was very pleased that we decided to come to "Her Home" for Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving - Thursday - Nov. 25, 2010

Since Nancy works in RETAIL, that mean we will not be going too far from home. She is scheduled to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday ;o(

But the nice thing is we will heading to Mom's new home at the Lakes at Litchfield and letting them do the cooking ;o) They encourage family to come to the Lakes and share meals with the residents in the beautiful dining room.

We will also be joined by our good friends, Bill and Chris, as well as, Nancy's brother - Barry and his wife - Gail.

Nancy and I have so much to be thankful for and we hope each of you has a wonderful day and the opportunity to share the day with people you love!!

Happy Thanksgiving !

A Great Visit and SURPRISE! - Friday - Nov. 19, 2010

Today was a fun-filled day for us. Nancy has been communicating with Howard and Linda from RV-Dreams to arranged a visit with them. They are currently staying at Cheraw State Park, a park we stayed at about a month ago. Nancy has also been emailing with 2 couples we met at last years RV-Dreams rally: Gin and Syl -- Sherry and David. They are both staying at Huntington Beach and today was a day when both couples would be available. So we made arrangement to all get together around 2pm this afternoon. However, what they didn't know was that Howard and Linda would be coming with us ;o)

Howard and Linda drove to our house and the four of us drove to Huntington Beach SP and took a quick auto tour before heading to meet the group. First we stopped at Gin and Syl's site. They were just getting set up. Syl was on the roof and saw Nancy and I get out of the car. When more car doors open and they saw Howard and Linda...yes they were surprised. Next we went to Sherry and David's site. Nancy knocked on the door. Sherry answered and was all set to make some "we're not buying any" wisecrack to Nancy when she saw Linda standing to her side. The look on Sherry's face was priceless...wish we had the camera ready!!

After initial hugs and greetings, we gathered at Gin and Syl's site in the woods where we shared stories and RV advice with each other, laughing almost non-stop.

Bill teaching Sherry about Geocaching GPS

David and Gin comparing RV notes. They both own the same style Motorhome.

Howard just taking it all in !!

Linda and Bill or Papaw or Sugar Daddy or Mr. Bill, depending on who you ask!!

Howard, Linda and Bill on the Marsh Walk

View across the marsh

Sherry and Linda all 'Dressed-up' to go out for dinner!

Temperature dropped so we headed inside... Yes, you can put MANY people in a RV!!

We topped the day off by having a nice dinner at one of Nancy's and my favorite restaurants -- The Hot Fish Club. A good meal and great company is hard to beat and this was no exception. As we parted company it is always a bit sad, but we were not saying good-byes, we were saying things like: "See you in Florida next month" or See you in April at The RV-Dreams Rally."

Nancy and I just think it is so amazing that RV-Dream Family Friends seem to go out of their way to get together. Most of us have only spent limited time together, but when we get together, it is like old home week. That's what RV-Dreams is all about. It brings like minded people together in friendship and fun. Then along with that, we all learn something from each other. It's a beautiful thing. Thanks so much Howard and Linda for all you do to make RV-Dreams so special!!

What a Terrific Day -- Thanks to ALL!

Nancy here...

I really did not get many photos of the gathering. I was too busy listening and laughing!!

Go to each couples blog for Nov. 19th to see and read more:

Howard and Linda's Blog

Gin and Syl's Blog

Sherry and David's Blog

Enjoy the Journey - Thursday - Nov. 18, 2010

Nancy here...

This morning, I got up and just was in one of those moods...;o(

Just thinking about meeting with our RV-Dream friends on Friday and wishing we could get started on our full-time journey. While I am excited to be seeing some RV-Dreamers (they are always fun to be with), I am disappointed that we cannot sell the house. I know all things come at the right time, but today would be a real good time to sell the house ;o)

I am always saying you need to enjoy the journey, but I really have enjoyed working at Home Depot long enough and need this journey to head in a different direction!! As I was getting ready to go to work and feeling as sorry as possible for myself, I walked into my living room and there was the most beautiful, though somewhat confused, Christmas Cactus in full bloom. It decided to bloom early to cheer me up and it worked. So I thought I would share the smile of my day with everyone. Yes, I need to see the beauty around me and enjoy the journey!!

Have a GREAT DAY and enjoy the Journey!!

Weekend with the Grandchildren (Part Two) - Raleigh, NC - Friday and Saturday, Nov. 5-6, 2010

Part Two: Saturday

On Saturday, Steve was off and all 8 of us decided to try our luck at geocaching again. We drove or I should say, Steve drove, to the nearby Durant Nature Park. The two boys were not getting in any car of which I controlled the keys ;o)

Loaded and Ready to Go Geocaching

Heading down the Trail

Map of Durant Nature Park Trails

Today was a much better experience than yesterday. I had uploaded about 8 geocaches that were located in the park. We found SIX and all of us, Andrew and Daniel included, had a great time. As the pictures will show: we found lots of treasures, climbed lots of logs, enjoyed the beautiful fall weather and had a terrific walk in the woods!! Nancy and I also got a good opportunity to break in our new hiking boots.

Cache 1 - checking out the treasures

Cache 2 was a Virtual Cache of a large rock that looked like a whale!

Samantha found her own treasure -- a beautiful leaf!!

Emily found her TREASURE

Daniel found Cache 3 under the log

Everyone spent some time hunting for Cache 4

Andrew found Cache 4

LOGS ARE FUN !!!

Cache 5 was a Micro cache (very small) and came with instructions. Those instructions said that when you find the cache, you must climb the rocks and proclaim the following,

"Hear ye, hear ye, I am the greatest geocacher of all time!!"

Tiny little frog we DIDN'T step on :o)

Like mother -- Like daughter

A little hide and seek!!

Beautiful Fall Colors

Location of Cache 6

We knew we were close to Cache 6, but this was a micro cache and it took some time to find this one. So this was the perfect place to take a break and do a little refueling.

While the kids got their snacks, Steve and I searched. We finally found the cache in the side of the bridge. It was a small magnetic container in a hole in the bridge. Yes there was a paper log in the container....really!!

Cache 6 in its hiding place!!

Cache 6 stuck on the outside of its hiding place!!

THE WHOLE GANG !!

We had the best time and that was just in the morning... We followed that up Saturday afternoon by taking the kids to a neighborhood Harvest Festival. The community was accepting can goods for needy families and having a fun time while helping others!