It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Wow…time has really gotten away from me since we returned from San Diego.  So much to accomplish this time of year.  We spent this past week going to all of our doctors, physicals, labs, dentists, eye exams, etc.  But, yeah…other than the fact that I have to re-due some lab work in a month, we both seemed to be in good shape for another year.  So….

With doctors behind us, it was time to get to the Christmas shopping.  First on the list was the gifts for nieces and nephews that needed to be shipped.  That was easy and those boxes were soon on their way.  Next on the list was the gift cards.  My mom’s house has always been the place to go on Christmas Eve and the rule is…bring a $10.00 gift card and an appetite.  There will be lots to eat and a fun time of exchanging and stealing, and bargaining for those gifts cards.

Okay….gift cards are purchased and wrapped.  Then I was down to the serious shopping and that is the shopping for the grandkids.  Lots of fun for me and believe me I checked their lists twice before heading out.  Some of the items were easy to find, some were ordered online, and some I had to search for…but with a little effort, mission was accomplished.  Now, those items are just waiting for all those little hands to unwrap in seconds what took me days to find. LOL

So…with all the gifts accounted for…it was time to think about some baking.  There was a lot going on at

once…while Scott was busy with  the homemade marshmallows, I was getting the savory little oyster crackers ready for the oven, and Karen was all into making cake balls.   These are part of goodies that Scott will take to his work and Karen will take to school.

Kourtney

watched her mom with interest, while Uncle Scotty

finished up the marshmallows and

my crackers cooled off for packing.  Karen’s cake balls took the longest, but she too was soon

finished and we had cake balls everywhere.

The cake balls seem to be an on-going project.

  Each cake mix will make about 50 balls and of course everyone wanted some.  She made them for Scott and Kenneth to take to work in addition to making them for her school facility.  So before we saw the last of the cake balls she had made several boxes.  Finally got wise and recruited a little help

from Lauren and Zachary.

Kourtney decided that

coloring was a lot calmer activity than all that was going on in the kitchen.  And, Poppa decided it was just best for him to go to the motor home and stay warm

with his new heater than to get in trouble in the house for tasting all the food.  LOL

Now, that the shopping is finished and the cooking is under control, Mark and I finally had time to set down and start talking about what we are going to do after the holidays.  We talked about several options.

From East to West to South, se couldn’t seem to come up with anything that was just right for us.  We went back and forth for a few days, did a little research, and made a few contacts…and then we finally made a decision.

  So…after New Year’s, we are going to Retama Village in Mission, Texas.  We are staying in one of Jack and Danielle Mayer’s sites for the month of January.  February has yet to be decided on, and in March we will be at The Last Resort in Rockport, Texas.  We are looking forward to getting back out on the road soon…

But, for the next couple of weeks, we will continue to enjoy this Christmas and New Year’s with family.

Back To Texas

Last night we had to hug Jim and Ellie good-bye until the next time.  Then, this morning, after we made breakfast last until almost lunch time, we had to tell Rod and Deb bye until the next time.

They headed out of the parking lot to return to Needles, California while we headed to

the San Diego airport to wait on

our ride home.  And, what a ride it was.  We were lucky enough to grab a couple of first-class seats and were pampered all the way to Dallas.  I think we ate and drank all the way.  It was a great flight.

This is a photo

I took from 32,000 feet, just as the sun was setting.

We arrived at DFW a little earlier than scheduled and found Greg waiting on us at the baggage claim area.  We dropped him off in Arlington and headed on to Fort Worth.  It is burr cold here…I am glad Karen turned on the heater in the motor home before we got there.

Again, what a great time we had with friends.  Spending time with you guys made this Christmas season a little more special.

Now, tomorrow, I have drag myself back to the reality of laundry, cleaning, and cooking!  Oh, yes, there is the Christmas shopping to finish too!

More San Diego Fun

Tuesday brought a better weather day to San Diego allowing us to wake to sun, a blue sky, and a plan for the day.

After breakfast, Rod and Deb headed out to meet Deb’s niece for a visit and then lunch.  We waited at the hotel for Jim and Ellie.  They arrived around 11:00 and the four of us headed to San Diego Bay.

We found a parking garage close to the area where were needed to be, parked, and started walking

down the street.   The first thing on the agenda was

a place for lunch.  Dick’s Last Resort was the choice.

We were

seated and with bib’s on, we were ready to tackle a great lunch.  Hamburgers, Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches, Wraps, and Fries were the choices.  And, great choices they were.

After a fun lunch, we were off for the walk to work off all those fries.  We headed on down the street to the area known as

the Gas Lamp District.  This is the area of downtown that is close to the Bay, the Convention Center,  hotels, and lots of places to eat and shop.  It is also the location of

Petco Stadium, home of the San Diego Padres.

We made our way on across the street,

up the elevator and down the other side to the

walk way along

Embarcadero Park.

From here you could see

the bridge over to Coronado Island, and the

boats in the harbor.

We continued our walk along the water until we came to

Seaport Village.  This was a great spot to get in a little shopping.  It is filled with lots

of cute little shops,

lots of flowers,

walkways and ponds for

ducks.

The village was also decorated with a beautiful

Poinsettia Christmas tree.

Soon the afternoon was almost gone and it was time to head back to El Cajon.

Jim and Ellie made a run out to the RV Park to take care of the fur kids while we stopped off at the hotel.  We met up with Rod and Deb.  Then the four of us headed out to meet back up with Jim and Ellie at the local casino for dinner.

After a little slot play and dinner, we found that it was all too soon when we had to say not only good night, but good bye for this time.

Tomorrow, Rod and Deb will head back to Needles and Mark and I will head home to Texas, while Jim and Ellie will be staying on for few months here in San Diego.  But, as this adventure was ending, there were already plans being made for the next one.

Thanks Jim, Ellie, Rod, and Deb for a great time and see you all again real soon.

A Day In The Rain…

We woke this morning to the sound of rain.  But, we only have a few days here in San Diego, so we can’t let a little rain stop us.

Mark, Rod, Deb, and I

headed downstairs to breakfast.

Soon,

Jim and Ellie arrived and we were ready to head out.

Our destination for the day was Balboa Park which is located just minutes from downtown San Diego.  It is the nation’s largest urban cultural park and home to 15 major museums, performing arts venues, gardens, and the San Diego Zoo.

We arrived

at the entrance to the park.  It took us a little while to find a parking spot.  When we did, we found that we had to walk quite a ways in the rain, but no one seemed to mind.

Our first stop

was at the Tea House at the Japanese Friendship Garden.

Next stop…the Visitor Center.  It was located just across from this

beautiful building which is part of the Arts Museum.

After considering several different plans, we decided just to go on our own and take in just one or two of the museums.  One of the places we knew we wanted to see was the

Botanical Garden House.  We saw beautiful displays of

orchids,

sweet smelling herbs and greenery.  And, of course,

a beautiful Christmas display of Poinsettias.

Just across from the gardens was a reflection

pond that stretched all the way across to the other side of the park.

By this time, the rain was really coming down, but we moved on down the road to the Museum of Natural History.

We

paid our way in and then set out to figure out how to cover all the exhibits.  And,

there was lots to see and do.

By the time we made our way through all the displays, it was time to talk about lunch.  After visiting with the cashier in the gift shop, it was decided that we would go to Old Town San Diego

to a near by Mexican food restaurant.  We

continued our visiting over a great lunch.  Afterwards, we walked over to

little shopping area where Deb was looking for a Mexican Bakery.  We learned it was located just down the street, but it was closed when we got there.

By this time, Jim and Ellie needed to get back to check on the fur kids.  Mark, Rod, Deb, and I headed back towards the hotel, but not before stopping off at Trader Joes to stock up on our favorite snack bars.  Thank goodness I have an extra suitcase to get them back to Texas.

Later, we headed out to RV Park where we continued our visiting and making plans for tomorrow.

What a great day in spite of the fact that San Diego got record rains today of 2.11  inches of rain and snow in the mountains!

San Diego…Here We Come

Yesterday, our day started really early.  I mean, early like 5:00 am.  But, I was up as soon as the alarm went off and excited to start the day.

After living and traveling in the motor home, it is hard to remember what you need to pack to take a airplane trip. LOL, but I think I have everything.

We stopped in Arlington to pick up our son, Greg, who would be taking us on to DFW to catch our flight to San Diego.  We arrived in plenty of time, checked in and settled in to wait for our plane to arrive from New Orleans.

Soon we were boarding and in just a few hours we would be in San Diego.  Upon arrival, we had to catch the shuttle that would take us to the car rental facility.  We quickly were issued a car and drove the 15 miles to El Cajon, where we checked in to our hotel.

We called Jim and Ellie to let them know we had arrived in town and would out to the RV Park after we grabbed some lunch.  She had talked with Rob and Deb and they would also be arriving later in the afternoon.  They were driving from Needles, CA, which is about a 5 hour trip.

We did all finally make it to Jim and Ellie’s….there were hugs, laughs, and lots of catching up do to since we were all last together.  That took us right through the afternoon, right into happy hour, a few football games, and  into the wonderful dinner Jim and Ellie had planned and prepared for us.  Thanks guys, it was great food, and great to all be together again.

After dinner we discussed the plans that would carry us through the next couple of days.  The weather isn’t looking too promising for a lot of outdoor activity, so we decided that we might try some of the museums at Balboa Park.  I am sure there will fun whatever we do.

Soon, it was time for Mark, Rod, Deb, and I to say goodnight and head back to our hotel and settle in from the long day of travel.

Sorry there are no pictures from yesterday, but, it seemed I never had a free hand for the camera.  However, I promise to be better today as this adventure gets under way.

A Cold Day Project

Today was definitely a day to stay inside and I had just the project to keep me busy.

I had several books that need to be painted for Christmas delivery.

These scrapbooks are for a fund raiser project that I have been doing with one of the area high schools for the last several years.  I paint the school logo on the cover and then each will be personalized with different sports and/or extra curricular activity symbols.  Then, last, I will add the student’s name and class year.

Not a real exciting day around here.  Even, too cold for Mark to move too far from the recliner and the heater.  I made chicken vegetable and rice soup for dinner to help us stay warm.

Now that we are settled in for the evening, I will probably try to get a few more books started while Mark watches a little TV.

See you tomorrow.

What?

When we went to bed last night, the weather forecast was for low’s in the 30’s and rain.  But….when we got up this morning, the temps were in the 30’s alright, but the rain

  had changed to snow.  The weather radar

confirmed that there was a pretty large band that would be drifting our way.

And, we did get

a pretty good covering before it stopped.  The ground was much too warm for it to stick, but it was pretty to look at for a little while.

It was all gone by the time we headed out for our dental appointments.  But, it was still burrrr cold!

I understand we had another chance for the white stuff again on Friday.  Go figure, this is Texas at it’s finest. LOL

We spent the afternoon in the warmth of the motor home.  After lunch, we just been burned up the computers.  Mark was trying to re-install Google Earth, but it didn’t  want to cooperate with him.  Not sure what that problem was.

I was too busy making and confirming our final hotel and car rental plans for San Diego to worry about why his google earth wouldn’t install.  LOL

  I also talked with Rod and Deb and am soooo excited that they too are going to be joining us in San Diego.

What fun…now for sure you will have to wait and see what adventures come from this get together.

Now, I am off to meet up with Andrew and Lauren for dinner while Poppa is going to tumbling class with Kourtney.