Black Friday Fun

While many of you might have been out shopping for the Black Friday specials, we were home out of the hustle and bustle having fun with the grandkids.

Kourtney and I had a lazy morning, but Mark was up early.  It was a beautiful day and he was out with wax in hand.  Today’s target was my car.  Looks great.  He even polished the wheels.

Before we knew it the morning was gone and Scott and the kids showed up.  They weren’t here long before the kids were making their own fun.

Koutney was trying to get Caden

  to play trucks, but

he was too busy scooping dirt to pay her much attention.

Andrew and Lauren were

busy creating their own game.

Then it wasn’t long before Andrew was off

on his Kubota and the girls had retreated to the house

to play with their dolls.  Kourtney just couldn’t wait to get her hands on

all of Lauren’s dolls.  Guess Pop is going to have to start yet another doll collection for Kourtney. LOL, I should have stock in American Girl Dolls.

It was soon lunch time and nap time for the little ones as we had a fun activity planned for later in the evening.

Tonight we would be going to downtown Fort Worth for the

annual parade of lights and the lighting of the city’s Christmas Tree.

There were a lot

of others that had the same idea.  But, even so, we got close enough to see.  And, Kourtney,

found a great seat on Poppa’s shoulders.

We saw lots of

floats,

boats,

cars, and

fire trucks in the parade.

The

Grinch was there, but so was

this cute snowman.  And, last but not least was the

Jolly Old Man himself.

What a fun Black Friday we had officially welcoming the Christmas Season to Fort Worth.

A Day of Thanksgiving…

This Thanksgiving Day started out early.  Karen and Kenneth were up and by 7:30, they were ready to leave for College Station.  They will be attending the Texas A&M/Texas football game tonight.  “Go Aggies”

Kourtney is staying home with us for the weekend.  So after breakfast, she and I got started with our part of  lunch.  One of the things we made was

Caramel Apple Salad.  She is quite a little helper.

While we were in the motor home getting our stuff together, others were in the house

working on the rest of lunch.  I think these two are just waiting for something to taste.

  Mom would be bringing the turkey and dressing and lunch would soon be served.

  Seems that Scott got duty

supervising the kids table.

After lunch, it was outside for

fun on the slide.  Or maybe, you would like to

play trucks, or

stop long enough for Moppa to take a group picture.  I even got a great pose from

my sister and her family.

The rest of the family was in the house in front of the TV watching the Cowboy football game.  No time for pictures from them.

What a great day we had…how blessed we are.

I hope each of you had a blessed day and remember…

not just today.

Busy Days in Fort Worth

Yes, I know…it has been over a week since I last checked in here, but we have been busy every day since our return trip from Alabama.

Kids, grandkids, doctors, and chores have kept our days full...so let’s catch up.

In addition to all the work we had done in Red Bay, we still had a leak in the kitchen sink.  However, Mark decided

he would take care of that chore himself.  And, so it was…old drains out,

new drains in and no leaks.  Perfect…all that was really needed was a little putty, but I talked Mark into two new bright and shiny strainers.

Then there was a

sick day with Kourtney.  While I took care of her, she took care of Pink Baby.

Mark also has had me busy…let’s see, a few days ago, he and the ladder took a tumble while he was cleaning in the storage barn.   When the dust cleared, he had a few bruises and some sore spots, but no broken bones.

Also, while we were in Alabama, Mark started having some eye problems.  He was experiencing eye floaters and flashers.  I made him an appointment with the doctor just as soon as we returned to Texas.

The first exam showed some blood on the back side of his eye, which increased the risk for a detached retina. But, after the initial exam there was no sign of a tear.  Dr. Rosenthal had us wait a week and come back.  So, yesterday we went for the follow up appointment.  Everything was about the same with the floaters and flashers, but the blood was better and still no sign of any retinal problems.  We were very thankful for the report.

Other than trying to keep Mark under control…there have been…soccer games, school programs, tumbling classes, and making plans towards the upcoming Thanksgiving day lunch.

  Of course, there is the usual laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping.

And, so continues the busy days in Fort Worth.

This Is The Day

All finished in Red Bay!  We left early yesterday to head back to our home base in Texas.  We enjoyed the

beautiful fall leaves as we traveled along the Natchez Trace.

We arrived in Shreveport around 4:00 and parked the motor home, unhooked the Jeep and went as planned to meet up with Joe, Sherri, Mike, Leslie, Don, and Cheryl.  What a great visit we had, just not long enough, but we will look forward to the next time we can get together.

We were up early this morning for the drive on to Fort Worth.  As we got on the road, I got out my computer.  One of the first things I do every morning is read a daily devotional that comes through my email.

I would like to share the one for today with you…

Live one day at a time--

While you can plan for tomorrow, you can't live it until it arrives. Most people spend so much time regretting the past and worrying about the future, they leave no time to enjoy today!

John Lennon once wrote, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Decide to make the most of each moment.

Sometime we run into

a detour that life throws our way…but

Jesus said, "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes" (Matthew 6:34 MSG).

Don't procrastinate - DO IT NOW!--"Never boast about tomorrow. You don't know what will happen between now and then" (Proverbs 27:1 TEV).

And, remember….This is the day God has made!

May each of you have a blessed and wonderful day!

You Just Have To Laugh…

Yesterday, we were up by 6:00, dressed and waiting for the call to come or not to come back to the service center.  Well, 7:00 came and went with no call.  Now, you just wait out the morning to see if you get a call to come after lunch.  Okay, lunch came and no call.  You just have to laugh!

So, after making sure they weren’t going to call us, we decided to go make the most of what was left of a beautiful fall afternoon.

We grabbed our cameras and headed into Mississippi and north up the

parkway to

Tishomingo State Park.  This is one of our favorite areas around the Red Bay area to visit.

Tishomingo State Park is located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and is full of history and beauty.  It is named after the leader of the Chickasaw nation, Chief Tishomingo.  The park has a unique landscape of massive rock formations and fern-filled crevices found nowhere else in Mississippi.

  So, upon arrival,

we stopped and paid our $3.00 and were off to look for some great photo opportunities.  Our first stop was

the lake.  We took a walk out on the dock.  It was pretty quite today.  Other than a couple of fisherman,

these ducks were all that the excitement on the lake.  Mostly, all was just

quite and beautiful.

We then drove on through the park

on the leaf covered one lane road and

under the Natchez Trace bridge to

the Pioneer Cabin.  This is a really quite and pretty little part of the park.  It is one of my favorite spots for photographs.  We walked along the

creek up to the

bridge.

This is the old bridge that crosses the road.

What a great afternoon this was turning out to be…that is, until Mark

rolled down the window in the jeep.  Oops…it won’t go back up!  You just have to laugh!

Well, needless to say, we concluded our afternoon at the park and headed the 16 miles back to Red Bay.  On the way, I consulted with “Flo” our GPS and found that we were going to have to go to Hamilton, Alabama, another 23 miles past Red Bay and Vina to find a Jeep Dealer.   So, after a phone call to them, we confirmed that they could repair the window if they had the part, but if not, they could at least get the window up and stabilized.

When we arrived, they got us right in…they found a broken cable and “no” they did not have the part to fix it, but as promised they got the window up and stabilized.  They offered to order the part and do the repair next week.  We thanked them, but told them we would just get it replaced when we got back to Texas.  You just have to laugh!

While we were in Hamilton, we made a stop at the Wal-Mart Supercenter where we picked up a few items for dinner.  Once back to Red Bay, it was dinner, a visit from Glynn and Sylvia, a little computer and TV time.

Again this morning, we were up by 6:00, dressed and waiting on that phone call from the service center.  No call, but, after a visit to the service center, we have been told maybe this afternoon.  We will just wait and see.  You just have to laugh!!

When I was pretty sure the call wasn’t going to come for this afternoon, I decided to load up the laundry.  Just as I started loading the dryers, Mark called for me to come run in the slides, he was headed to bay 36.  It was late, but they did get the back a/c unit replaced and the front one adjusted.

That was all they had time for this afternoon, and no one wanted to work overtime, so in the morning we will return to bay 36 for the remaining items.  Hopefully, the fabric for the slide topper is in stock.

Once again, you just have to laugh!

Getting The Job Done

Yesterday, Jimmy, called us to tell us it was our time to come to the paint bay.

Here, they would fix the surface cracks in the shower.  Thomas told us it would take most of the day.  The cracks were in the soap dish so he had to hand sand the small section, add some gel coat, let it dry, and sand it again.

While Thomas worked on the shower, we passed the time visiting with other customers in the lounge.  One of the couples was here the last time we were and it was fun catching up with them and their travels.  They left Branson heading for Florida and made a stop in Tunica.  While there, they lost the electrical system in their coach...so Red Bay was a must for them.

We couldn’t get to the motor home for lunch, so at someone’s suggestion, we headed downtown to Jack’s.  They have wonderful chicken.  Yummy…but it was the meal for the day.  Once we were back to the campground, it wasn’t long before we found Thomas  finishing up for the day.  Soon we were headed back to our site.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just hanging out.  Thanks to the time change, it was dark before we knew it.  I thought it was time for bed and it was only 6:00.  Well, guess it will take a few days to get used to that.

This morning came with sunshine and the promise that we could get into a 3-hour express bay.  We made the decision to try for the express bay because the service writer was still saying we had about 2 week wait for a regular bay.

  And, as promised they got us in right after lunch.  We spent the morning getting our list prioritized, with the exception of the heat pump, which doesn’t count against our 3 hours.  I think with luck and a couple of techs that will work, they can get it all done.  We will see.  They have 3 hours and counting…

Well, here we are at the end of our 3 hours…the heater is repaired with new fan blower, however, it came with a high pitch squeal.  At least we have heat and air.  And, tomorrow they will check out that squeal.

They replaced the roller on the slide out which corrected one problem, but we are having to wait on a decision about a tear in the slide awning.  A warranty issue.  They also replaced the gasket that was loose on the slide.  Seems as they had a batch of gaskets that were defective.  Guess we were one of the lucky ones.  Oh, well, they took care of it.

The wind deflector on the front door and the passenger side slide adjustment did not get done in our 3-hour time frame.  And, when your 3-hours are up, you are out.  However…

They are going to try to work us back into the system in the next day or so.

Weekend Family Fun…

On Friday, we were called to

service bay where they confirmed that Brent had made the correct adjustments to our jacks.  After checking it on the level floor, they then backed the motor home out

to a not so level spot and the jacks performed as designed.  Guess we can scratch that item from our list.  Now we will  wait our turn to be assigned to

yet another one of the many bays here at the service center.

They finished checking the jacks just in time for Mark to get to his appointment at

Bay Diesel.

While he was busy watching over the oil change, I went back to the campground to do the laundry and be ready to go to Birmingham when he returned.

Mark returned in a couple of hours, but before we could get things together a

storm blew in.  At the point they forecast it to last well into the night, we decided to put our trip off until

Saturday morning when the sun would once again shine.

Our trip took us along some beautiful

back roads with lots of

beautiful fall foliage.  Before I knew it, we were

seeing the skyline of Birmingham.

Not long after arriving at my brother’s house, it was time to head out to Jamie and Greg’s who are friends of Dan and Conlee.  How sweet of them to include us in dinner and trick or treating.

Nothing to do, but Danielle, my 5 year old niece, had to take

her jack o lantern with her.  He would proudly sit on Jamie’s front porch.

It was now time…with the help of the Fairy Godmother, Jamie,  for Danielle to became

Cinderella.  Oh, how beautiful she was…and the last touch was from

mom while big sister, Megan, watched.  Now, in reality Megan is a wonderful big sister, but just for tonight she was Anastasia,

Cinderella’s mean step-sister. LOL

But, to make the story complete, we had to have

Dad, dressed as Jack, one of the mice!

Then…

with a bibity, bopity, boo, they were all off to see how many treats they could collect.  What fun they all had and soon returned with lots of treats and just in time for dinner.

Thanks Jamie and Greg for including us in a fun evening, but it was getting late and Cinderella had to get home and in bed before the strike of midnight.

After “falling back” and getting an extra hour’s sleep, we were all up this morning and ready for church on time.  We always enjoy attending church with Dan and family when in Birmingham and today was no exception.  Great service as usual.

Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch and continued visiting at Jason’s Deli.  Conlee and I then sent Mark, Dan, and kids home and we took off to do a little shopping.  The afternoon passed all too quickly and it was time for hugs and good-byes, so we could get back

to Red Bay before dark.

What a great weekend…one filled with more treats than tricks!