Visiting Family and Friends

Over the past few weeks, Tim and I had the opportunity to visit with quite a few friends and family here in Florida. Between a little travel and joining many of the activities here at the RV Resort, we have been pretty busy. Time has just flown by and we are just about finished with our second month in Florida. So hard to believe it is almost March. I am glad that we decided to stay through April; we will need it to see and do everything we wanted to do here.

There are activities daily at the resort. After Tim started feeling better from that nasty cold he had, he started to participate in more of those activities. Lately he has been playing euchre once a week and shooting pool twice a week. Both of us have been going to Bingo, sometimes twice a week. We have been lucky and each won a few games. We also won a 50/50 at the weekly coffee/donut morning meeting so overall we have been pretty lucky! I have been trying to get in shape so started attending the twice a week low impact aerobic classes. I walk daily and we have been riding our bikes around the park. Even though we are pretty busy here, we have found time to see some more of Florida and visit family and friends at the same time.

Beautiful sunset over our RV as we headed to bingo

We spent one weekend with Sue and Greg, Tim’s sister and her husband. We met them on a Saturday at Disney Springs and spent the day there. It was fun except for the traffic back ups we hit on I4 both going there and heading back home. The traffic around Disney and Orlando is terrible. Disney Springs was fun though. We met them at the House of Blues and sat outside listening to music and enjoying appetizers and drinks. Then we walked around and checked out a few shops and the scenery. We ended the day with dinner at a seafood restaurant and then headed home.

We had fun watching these cars in the lagoon while we waited for our table for dinner.

We joined them again the next day at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa. I hadn’t realized how close that was to us. For Tim and I, it was only a 30 minute drive. After brunch, we gambled at the slot machines. I am not much of a gambler so I didn’t play much; mostly watched them. It was a pretty good day and we all went home winners. All in all, it was a good weekend.

A week later, we took a mini vacation and headed down to Port Charlotte to visit my cousin Patty and her husband Jim. My Aunt Babe and cousin Becky had flown down from Pennsylvania, so it was a good time to see all of them. We left on a Wednesday morning and stopped to visit our friends, George and Mary, on our way down. They made us a wonderful lunch at their beautiful winter home in North Point. We hadn’t seen them since early fall at Kalyumet campground in Pennsylvania. It was a great visit and I hope that we have the opportunity to see them again while we are in Florida.

It was only a short 30 minute drive from their place over to Patty and Jim’s. We arrived there late afternoon and spent the evening relaxing and catching up with everyone. While there, both Tim and I had the type of vacation that we enjoy. I got to tour around with my aunt and cousins while he stayed back at the house working with Jim on a little project. They built a new ramp for Jim’s shed. The old ramp was starting to fall apart and wasn’t safe to drive the tractor over. That kept Tim busy for a few days and each day after the work was done, he relaxed in the pool and drank a few beers. A perfect trip for him.

While he worked, I went to the beach with my cousin Becky. She loves to walk on the beach and search for shark’s teeth. I walked with her a bit and then sat and read a book all the while listening to the gentle waves flow in. My cousin Gary and his wife Pat, drove down for the day and arrived after we got back from the beach. We spent the afternoon visiting and lounging in the pool. Gary pitched in and helped the guys cut the wood for the ramp. The day ended with the guys grilling burgers and hot dogs and then a game of dominos.

The next day, the girls all headed up to the Tampa Zoo. It is a very nice zoo and worth a visit although it is a little expensive. We all loved seeing the animals and took many pictures of them. We realized when we left that we didn’t get any pictures of us. I guess we were having so much fun that we didn’t think about it. Here are a few pictures that we took.

These guys flew in over our heads which was cool to see. I love their bright colors.

I am almost in this picture. We were able to touch the stingrays.

The following day, I helped Tim finish cleaning up and getting all of the tools put away and we headed back to Zephryhills. We got back in time to attend the Valentine’s dance at the RV resort. The music was great; mostly 60’s and 70’s era. We had fun but Tim was a bit sore after the work he did so we didn’t dance a lot. Just enjoyed listening to the music, chatting with campground friends and watching others dance. All in all, a great ending to our little trip.

The ramp that Tim, Jim and Gary built. Having house projects is one thing that Tim misses. We have to find him some things on the RV to work on.

Friends at the Valentine’s dance. These two are fantastic dancers!

Tim’s mom and sister, Mary Kay, flew down for a visit this past week so we found some time to get together with them. They stayed in Orlando with Sue and Greg but came our way last Friday and we all met at the casino again. None of them had a good night at the slots but we enjoyed our dinner and spending time together. On Sunday, Tim and I braved I4 again and headed to Orlando to join them for brunch at Sue and Greg’s. Sue had a wonderful brunch prepared so we enjoyed the meal and the company. The ride over wasn’t bad; I guess traffic is lighter on a Sunday morning. Of course we hit the Disney traffic on our way back home.

As you can see, February has been a busy month filled with fun times with family and friends. I am sure March and April will bring more opportunities to visit them again and see others while we are enjoying the Florida sunshine.

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