Settling Into Our Schedule Here

Monday January 7- I love our site, when I get up and take the dogs out you never know what you are greeted by. It is a view that is always different and never gets old. We walked the pup, trying to keep her and myself in shape. Then we decided to load up some stuff and make our way to the inter coastal. We took Miss Ruby with us. We found a spot and unloaded. It was still shady which I don't prefer. It was also a beautiful view. There are trees around you and to get some sun early you have to be in the water.

Jeff liked the shade. He also loves to fish so he brought his pole. He waded out and gave it a go.

He didn't catch anything but sometimes the fun is in the process. Miss Ruby was really good. Then Jeff took her out in the water. First he was carrying her. Then he let her see if she wanted to get in. She wasn't sure she wanted to walk in so then we took her out and set her down in the water. We wanted to see about her swimming skills. She had a life jacket on of course.

We hung around there for a few hours and decided we both liked the scenery and what you could bring with ya. Jeff wants to put his kayak in there and I'm going to get to use my floating bean bag chair. We will be back. Then on the way back I tried to pick up my meds at Walgreens. Had a bit of an insurance issue. They needed to update information. I didn't have a new card so of course I had to get a hold of the insurance company. Yep it was a hassle as usual but after it was resolved I was relieved.

Tuesday January 8- Back to work today. This will be our first full week. We have noticed how quiet the park seems this year. Everything seems to be in good order too. We had a good day today and we managed to finish at 1. Everyone checked out early or on time. After we cleaned the shower houses, then we just watch for the sites to open up so we can clean and check on things. We took Ruby with us to check on sites and she was loving it. She likes to have the wind in her hair.

After work I had to run down to the Kimball Center to get our set of keys from Korey. Then home. Our neighbors Ken and Sandy are inviting the volunteers to there site for a happy hour. They had quite a few come. We met the new ones and now we just need to try and remember there names. I forgot to take any pictures.

Wednesday January 9- Another work day that went really well. We didn't experience any problems and everyone left in a timely manner. The rest of the day we just hung around here. I worked on the blog a bit. Jeff went down to Ken's to have a beer. A nice day.


Thursday January 10- This is our last day of work this week. I started to walk down to the shop in shorts and flip flops....brrrrr. It is way to cold for this. So back to put on some pants and socks. It got down in the 40's last night. It is really cold when you are driving in an open cart. It was another good day at work.

Friday January 11- I made my way down to the laundry facilities early. I needed to wash sheets and bedspread. Then I made a trip to Walgreens. This time I was making enlargements of pictures of the kids. I wanted to change them out with some updated pics. When I got home I did some sewing together of rows for my newest quilt project. I also figured out I will have to come up with some more fabric because this is going to come out way to small. I guess that's why most people use patterns....not me. Then we left around 4:30ish to meet some people at Blue Point. Jeff wanted to hear who is playing at 7:00 tonight. When we arrived there was quite a group of guys there. I think they had been there awhile. We enjoyed the scenery and this time we ordered some dinner. Jeff and I shared the chicken tenders and fries. The chicken tenders were really good. Jeff even liked them and he is normally not a fan.The music started at 7 and it was a couple girls that were super good. The name of the singer was Jodi Gaines.

Saturday January 12- Another nice day but both Jeff and I were slow to get started today. We went out and took Ruby for a walk. We saw some campers we have met here before, Rita and Frank. This year they have a new camper so we went in and looked. It was nice to see them. Then we headed back home. Before long Jeffrey and Maren stopped by and we sat down to discuss our dinner plans for later today. We managed to agree on a spot and time. The day just kind of disappeared. We went to pick up Jeffrey and Maren at 3:30. Then we went to Port Salerno. We walked into Manatee Island and got us a table. It wasn't too busy either. We sat and visited for a bit. Then checked out the menus. They have happy hour from 3-6. During this time they had some items on the menu for 1/2 price. We all ordered and loved our meal. We even got some dessert. It was a wonderful choice and the company was wonderful as well.

Sunday January 13- Church day!....After church we went to Walmart before it got to busy. I couldn't put up my new pictures without command strips. We got in and out in record time. Then we went to breakfast at First Watch. We had a short wait and then got to our table. We ordered blueberry pancakes and some potatoes and split it. It was really good. We came home, changed clothes and put our stuff away. Then we grabbed our chairs, a cooler, Miss Ruby and made our way to Stuart's Riverwalk. They have live music every Sunday afternoon. It was a really good one this time. We even scored a perfect parking spot. We found a spot in the shade to put our chairs and got comfy. It was a nice afternoon, with good weather, good music and awesome kettle corn. I think Ruby had fun too.

While we were up listening to the music our son Seth was keeping us up with Aston's hockey game score. They are in Wisconsin this weekend. Yesterday they won both games and today they are playing in the championship game. It was very close the whole game. They ended in a 1-1 tie in regulation. So they had to play overtime. Again they ended in a tie. So they went to a shootout. They ended this in a loss. It is only there 2nd loss of the season. Ashton called me on the way home and said that his team just didn't play very good today. He said the other team had a really good goal tender or they would have probably won. Oh well have to get them next time.

Monday January 14-Did a little cleaning this morning. Then we knew we had to go get Belle some dog food. She is completely out. She has prescription dog food and it just keeps going up and up. The bag gets smaller and the price gets higher. Then I wanted to go to the beach to look for shells. Our grand daughter Hailey wants to do a craft project and we need shells. It was a beauty of a day. It was a bit chilly on the beach today. The wind was a bit crazy too.

Before heading home we stopped at Papichulo for lunch. Never been here before. I thought it was ok, Jeff didn't care for it. Oh well, win some loose some. The good thing we didn't order much so it was a inexpensive miss.






















Then we headed back to take it easy the rest of the day. We go back to work tomorrow....

Tuesday January 15- Back on the job this morning. It was a little chilly, people think we are crazy complaining about these temps, but when you ride in a open cart it can be down right cold. Our day was going along pretty uneventful when one of the rangers showed up to give us some training on the new chemicals and how to use them. We both thought it was a good idea because lots of people don't read the instructions on how to dilute them. We got all trained and continued on with finishing up for the day. We just stayed at home after work...its a nice place to hang.


Wednesday January 16- After our training yesterday we made sure we had all the chemicals we needed and that they were labeled correctly. We also got rid of some things. We had a couple campers that didn't want to leave. I guess they don't think the check out time is for them.


Thursday January 17- Last day to work this week. Did I say how good everything is going this year down here? It is, we have some wonderful volunteers at this park. It makes your job so easier when everyone does there job. After work we ran in to the grocery store. I had a list that just kept getting bigger. Then we ran in to a lot of sales...score.....the things on our list, they were on sale. I love it when a plan comes together. Well, when we left we had way more than we planned to get. When I got home I ironed all the rows that I had added to my newest quilt. Funny I think Miss Ruby really loves this one. Every time I put it down on the floor she lays on it.

Friday January 18- We had planned to drive to Stuart this morning to check out 5 Star Design Homes. Jeff is always thinking a head if we ever get off the road. Looking for options for us. When we arrived first thing we noticed was they didn't have many models to look at. We went in to the office and boy were they not helpful. It almost came across as rude. We said OK, thank you and left. We didn't even want to look at a model. What a bust. Well we stopped at Aldi's before heading back. We like to get our produce there and they have a very nice one. We found every thing we needed and more and headed home. We got a pizza there and had it for lunch. It was so big I couldn't get it in the oven. Cut it in half and it just wasn't cooking good. Jeff took it outside and put it on the grill. Boy that is the way to cook your pizza. The crust gets really crisp. We had marked on our calendar to go to Blue Point tonight to watch a band. The band is KillBillies. We saw them the first year we were down here and loved them. Well we got there a bit early to have a drink during happy hour. We waited and Jeff kept watching for the band to show up and instead of them a single guy got up to play. There was no announcement or anything. When we arrived they were on the board that they were preforming. When we left they had erased them. Something happened but we don't know what. We will catch them some place else.


Saturday January 19- Up early to do laundry. Then I waited for the quilt store to open up. I needed to get some fabric to add to my quilt. It needs to be a bit bigger. It is close to being finished so while I was out I got batting and the backing for it. Planning a head. I also had to stop at the store again. We are going to a brunch and Jeff wants homemade cinnamon rolls. I have looked at 2 Walmarts and they didn't have it. I have to admit I was starting to panic. Well when I arrived at Publix and looked in the frozen section I was extremely happy...score!!!

Then we looked online to see if our mail had been delivered to the park. It was so we rode our bikes up to get it. I have been waiting for my new insurance card and I had a check from Prudential. So excited that everything showed when it was suppose to. Then we got in our car and drove to the concession area of the park. A bunch of the volunteers were meeting there for happy hour. Come to find out it is Ken's birthday. We had a fun time visiting with everyone.

Miss Ruby even had a fun time. We went home and fixed us a nice supper.

Sunday January 20- Woke up this morning to something different....rain. It poured and the wind was just as crazy. We went to church early to greet. It was a chilly one. After church we hung around to see Diane Bunce. We met her and her husband our first year here and were in a small group with them. Last year Norman, her husband passed away. We were happy to see her again. She was only here for a few weeks. Her schedule has changed. She used to spend all winter here, but not now. So happy that we got to see her. I came home then and started making cinnamon rolls. The first batch was for the birthday boy, Ken and the other camp hosts Ken and Mary...and we had to try them too. The second batch was to take to our new small group at church. We will be meeting the first and third Sunday's of the month. We get together and eat, Jeff thought that sounded good. This time we all brought brunch stuff. We went to the hosts house, Lori and Todd. We met lots of new people, but I'm not sure how many of there names I will remember. It was a nice way to meet different people from the church. There are 3 services and we don't see a lot of these people ever.   When we got home I kept waiting to hear from our daughter in-law, Katie. Hailey and her are in Des Moines for another gymnastics meet. She kept us informed of her scores. I wish we could go to some of these meets but they always happen in the winter. So happy that they keep us up with pictures and videos.

The afternoon was spent watching the football games. I must say both games were super exciting, we don't even love football. I know my son was happy the Rams won, and I'm sure Patriot fans were pleased as well.

I will close this post with a picture of this wonderful sunset we witnessed tonight...next post will share pictures from the Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse. It will be happening tonight.

Til next time...............safe travels....

Good Bye Lion Country...Hello Jonathan Dickinson

Monday December 24- We have been invited to a Christmas Eve, late lunch or early dinner, which ever you prefer. We took care of the pups before leaving for that. We are going to the Jupiter area. Todd and Lori from Generation Church included us in there holiday meal. We had to leave our place at 12:30. We made it to there place and met her parents and family. They had planned and were preparing a wonderful meal. It was a wonderful time and the meal was super good. After eating we got to see a few magic card tricks performed by one of the guests. So much fun.   

The reason the meal was kind of at a weird time was because after  eating Lori needed  to be at the church to help set up for the festivities tonight. We went to help as well. They have really gone all out this year. They are having the service outside under the stars. They needed to build a stage and all that goes with it outside. They also had lots of other things to enjoy, especially for the kids. They had a live nativity, snow, Santa, and much more. Lots of people put in lots of time and effort for this.

 They had a few technical difficulties but it was a big evening finishing up with a candle lighting. We always did this at our home church in Iowa and is one of my favorite parts of the service. We aren't with our family at this time of year which makes it hard but we really felt included in our church family here in Jupiter.

After the service we made it back home safe and got to talk to the kids and grand kids. Our boys got together today and exchanged gifts. They also got to open there Christmas pajamas from Grammy and Papa. They sent us a picture of them in there new pj's...

Tuesday December 25- Merry Christmas everyone......This day for us is a long day. First we gave the doggies there stockings to look inside. They had a fun time. 














             





                                        
Then we wait to hear from the kids. First we got to hear and see Ashton and Hailey open some gifts. They were super excited this year. It is so fun to watch so much joy escape from them. It warms my heart.

They are getting older now so they are happy with other things now, like shoes....it runs in there family, this shoe thing. Then they got one more surprise, Ashton opened and read that they would be going to Hawaii next December as a family. Mom and Dad have gone a couple times but this time they will all go together. Both the kids were super excited to learn that. They will be flying for the first time too.

Next it was time to see how the newest kiddo enjoyed her Christmas. Miss Maddyn seems to be picking up the skill of opening gifts fairly well now. She likes everything about the process of gift opening. The paper, the box and the gift. She was a hoot to watch as well.

The kids seem to have a great day. We had a long day. I went up to the pool for a little time in the afternoon. The day just seemed to go on forever.

Wednesday December 26- I knew what I wasn't going to do today...go to town. I decided to get the laundry caught up. I also decided to take down the Christmas decorations. We have to leave on the 1st. That is when I usually do it. I did some cleaning out. I called some family to wish them a Merry Christmas. We are kind of finishing up stuff here and starting to plan on the move.

Thursday December 27- Big plan today....the ice maker is froze up so...time to defrost. Jeff got out the cooler so I could unload the freezer. It's not my favorite thing to do. I also wonder if the freezer will work after I get it defrosted. Then there's always the question if the ice maker will work.. it did. We got the girls walked around the loop a couple times. I did a little sewing on the new quilt I started. The quilting thing is slow. Whenever I start a new project it takes a while to get it going. The wind started picking up so Jeff and I took down the sun shade, and rolled in the awning. Maren and Jeffrey came over for a happy hour but the weather changed, we got some rain so inside we came.

Friday December 28- We had a lunch date today with Wanda, the campground host from the second loop in Pleasant Creek. She has a home near here. We had made plans to meet her at Benny's On The Beach. We had never been there before, she had. She warned us about the parking, you have to pay and it is a bit pricey. She also let us know there would probably be a wait. We met her in the parking lot and we walked to the restaurant. It is right on the water and the weather could have been better. The wind was wicked and nonstop.  We put our name in and found a seat to wait. We were sitting outside until rain started falling or should I say blowing in. We took cover in the bar area until our table was ready. They were right on with the time....45 minutes.

They took us inside and upstairs to our table. The first thing I noticed was that there was 5 or 6 empty tables...what!!!! After we sat down they didn't fill those table up right away either. I thought that was strange since there are people waiting. We had a nice time visiting with Wanda. It was a bit slow getting our food and the service was just ok. Jeff and I had looked at the menu a head of time, cause Wanda told us it was kind of expensive. We shared a turkey club sandwich and boy am I glad we did. It was huge and brought to us with the wrong kind of bread...rye not white. Wasn't going to send that back. We had only paid for 2 hours worth of parking that was just about done.

We packed up the leftovers and made our way to the parking lot. We said our good byes to Wanda, telling her we would see here in the spring. Then we headed back to the park, the traffic was a bit heavy. We did make one stop at a music store Jeff had been wanting to see. It has live music quite often and a bar and coffee shop. It was really quite unique. We will go back next year when we are here to listen to music next time.


Saturday December 29- It was a warm one today. We put the sun shade back up today. It is fairly easy to do. I went to the pool today with my floating chair. It is a bit more crowded because the kids are out of school so family's are getting out to camp. Our friends Jeffrey and Maren came down for a happy hour and they brought supper with them this time. We had a great meal. Lasagna, salad and hot bread. It was really a nice meal. We also had nice conversation, we never run out of stuff to talk about.

Sunday December 30- We decided to stay in town and go to Newsound Church. It was a wonderful message given by a guest speaker. This is a wonderful, friendly church. You walk in the door and feel very comfortable. After church we came home. Spent some time at the pool again. We are also starting to pick up some of our stuff. Pulling out of here on Tuesday. We talked to Ken and Mary today. They are volunteers we work with at Jonathan Dickinson. They have arrived and wanted to know when we were coming.

Monday December 31- Packing up stuff today for sure. We also went out to fill up the car. We stopped at Trader Joe's to get some things. They fill up your propane here so Jeff wanted to take care of that.  Seth and Ashton are on there way to South Bend, Indiana. They have tickets for the winter classic at Notre Dame Stadium. They let us know when they arrived safe. The park is having a pot luck supper tonight but we decided to have our friends over for tacos instead. We had a fun evening but we did not make it to midnight. We want to take off fairly early because our site is available now.


Tuesday January 1- Happy New Year everyone. It's a brand new year and we will be starting it off in Jonathan Dickinson State Park. We got an early start. We had a few things to pack up. We were on the road at 8:30. It took us about an hour to get here. We had a change to our site, first we thought we would be on site V-1 like last year but now we are on site V-9. It is the last site in the volunteer row. It is a very sunny spot but it is more private. With less traffic our dogs won't be barking quite as much. We got in the site and started setting up some things. We wanted to be done so we could watch the Iowa Hawkeye's in the Outback Bowl. We also wanted to watch the Winter Classic. Our son Seth and grandson Ashton are there watching it. The Hawkeyes won, The Blackhawks weren't as lucky.

Wednesday January 2- We weren't actually on the schedule to work today but we went ahead and got started. It was a super busy day. We had lots of campers leaving today. We also had to get everything situated like we like it. The shower houses and sites looked really good this year. We also got treated to a beauty of a sunrise today.

 The day went by really fast. We got all of our duties done for the day. We both were tired, we haven't been working for quite a while. We will have to get in to the swing of things.


Thursday January 3- Another day of work and today went way smoother than yesterday. I even managed to get my laundry done while working. We ran into some campers that we have met here from last year. After work I volunteered to make the dreaded WalMart run. It was super busy getting there and the store was a mad house too. When I escaped the store I went to get in the car and had this joker park next to me...like this.

I got out of my spot and made my way back to the park. Jeff and I didn't feel like making supper so we cleaned up and went to Burger Fi for a burger and fries.

Our dinner was great and hit the spot. We also walked around the area and enjoyed the scenery. The Christmas lights were still up.

Friday January 4- We have started our 4 days off today. We walked Miss Ruby this morning after witnessing a beauty of a sunrise.....

We drove in to town to look at the Lazy Boy store, we are still hoping we could get lucky and actually find something in stock that would work for us. Well it wasn't going to happen here, today. Then we found the Blaze Pizza that is here in the area. Well it was king of a mess going on. It wasn't anything like the one in Wellington. The way they are managed and run makes a huge difference. This one needed some help. To make my experience better, they lost my pizza. I think they gave my away but I think they gave me someone else. Well our next stop was the mall, Jeff wanted to get some more coffee. I went to Bath and Body to do some shopping. The afternoon we spent here at the campground. Then we got cleaned up and headed in to town. First we went to The Square Grouper to listen to some music.

 

Next we moved next door the U Tiki, we met Kip and Amanda there for drinks and dinner.

We had a wonderful time, the food, service and company was great. It was a fun night for sure.

Saturday January 5- We got a little rain last night. This morning we walked Ruby around the loops. It was a really nice day so we were sitting outside with our coffee when a couple went by on there bikes. Ruby went crazy in her play pen. They ended up stopping and asking questions about full time rving. Well we had quite a nice talk. They live close to here so hopefully we will get together before we have to leave. We were planning to ride our bikes to Blue Point and listen to some music. The wind just kept getting stronger. So we took the car. We found a table and got a drink. We had quite the view. This is our first time here and both of us loved it. Next time we will try there food. This place is right on the inter coastal. So lots of boats to watch. They have a pool in the middle of the place. The stage was set up to the side. The music started at 2...he was slow to start but turned out to be quite good. We will be back for sure.

It was really windy but the people there put up a wind block which helped so much. They were also preparing for the evening with heaters. The service was really good and the food looked good but I'll have to fill you in on that later.


Sunday January 6- We are on the calendar to greet at the church. Left a little early so I could go by Jupiter Doughnuts and get a couple. Then to church. Amanda met us there. The service was awesome and I left feeling blessed. I got a call from Seth this morning. He and Hailey are on there way to Des Moines to Hailey's first meet of the season. He sent videos for us to watch and kept up with the scores she received on each apparatus. She was really nervous he said but each time her scores went up. I could see improvement from when we were there. She ended up 2nd in vault, 3rd in floor and 5th overall. She also qualified for state in her first meet. Last year she didn't qualify until her last meet. So proud of her and all her hard work.

Well that's another 2 weeks in the books. So far we love our new site and our volunteer job is going great. Did I mention the weather has been awesome.....