Kingsville - Happy New Year, Ship Decommission, Family members are traveling, expanding, bowling, walking and building bears!!

Thursday January 1st, 2015

Well, at 2am this morning Bryan started to get sick and was up and down the rest of the night.  Unfortunately at about 7am we had to call Brenda and ask her to come and get the girls as we didn't want to risk them catching whatever it was if it was contagious.  I woke the girls up, no easy feat, and got them packed up.  Brenda was there before I even finished packing their bags.  It was a shame as they were so good, but for the best as Lily was not exactly a pleasant environment for the rest of the day.

Hopefully, this does not set the standard for the rest of the year!!!!!   We will try and think positively though.

I watched the Pasadena Rose Parade on TV.  It is on my bucket list so maybe one year we will be there.  I have been to the one in Spalding, Lincolnshire, many, many years ago and really enjoyed it.

Friday January 2nd, 2015

Bryan was feeling a little better today but we just took things easy.  I watched The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize being awarded to Billy Joel.  It is well worth watching this if you're a Billy Joel fan. He is a favorite of mine and I have seen him a few times live in concert.

Saturday January 3rd, 2015

Spent this afternoon and evening thinking of Ian as he was flying to the Phillipines for work.  It is a good opportunity for him to see some of the world but what a long while to be in the air.  He is scheduled to take off at 3.15pm our time and will land in Dubai at 10.10pm and then take off for Manilla, Phillipines at 00.30 tomorrow morning.  Eventually landing there at 8.30am.  Two long flights but he will be in business class and I hear that Emirates Airlines are very good, so will be an interesting experience for him.

Sunday January 4th, 2015

Well, Ian arrived safely so I can breathe again.  We always worry about all the kids when they are traveling.  It has been quite cold here and gloomy and we are low on propane so haven't run our heating but relied on our small heater. Our batteries have been getting low and we're not sure why so we are trying to be careful on the power we are using as well.  Our blankets have come in handy to keep warm but we are not as bad as some parts of the country so we are thankful for that.

There is no one in this area that delivers propane and none in the park so we will have to pack up and go to get more propane.  We had been trying to last until we are due to leave but we will not have enough to cover us for the basics for another 2 weeks so tomorrow we will just have to bite the bullet and go and get the tank filled.

Monday January 5th, 2015

We got up, disconnected the hoses etc. and packed up the minimum so we could bring the slides in and get Lily ready to roll down the road to fill her propane tank.  We were gone less than half an hour but is a real pain.  When we got back we had a message that Ryan & Christina wanted to Skype with us.

Guess what, we are going to be grandparents again.  This will be their first but our fifth.  We are so excited!!!!  Here is the announcement they put on Facebook to announce the news to their friends.

We got this Christmas ornament for Ryan's first Christmas all those years ago so we will now be able to pass this along to "Stewart Little" as the baby has been affectionately named.

Tuesday-Thursday January 6th - 8th, 2015

Did the usual boring things, food shopping, cleaning, eating - blah, blah, blah.  While we got our food shopping I did look and find an outfit for Hattie.  Remember Mum's white bear.  I wanted to get her clothes to try and keep her clean.  I can wash the clothes easier.  You should have seen us looking through the baby clothes in Walmart for a suitable outfit. In the end got her a 3-6 month Valentines outfit, red with hearts.  It has long sleeves and leggings, perfect. Here's a picture of Hattie in her new outfit and Gonk.  Gonk is a  ????, well a gonk, that my nan made me from curtain material.  Can't remember exactly when I got him but I must have been in my early teens.  That makes him nearly 50 years old.  One of the dogs got hold of him at one time and he lost an eye and has some puncture marks but he survived.  Now both he and Hattie are riding along with us.  Bet they have some stories to tell already!!!!

Friday January 9th, 2015

Today is the decommissioning ceremony for USS McCluskey (FFG-41), Ryan's first ship.  We would have liked to have been there but our travel plans have altered slightly with recent events and Bryan's pending jury service in Florida.  Here is a picture of Ryan in front of the ship today.

He will miss her I'm sure.  Something special about that first ship.  He flew out to Panama and joined her on May 22nd, 2012.  His last day on her will be next Wednesday the 14th.

Here is a VIDEO that Ryan took of his gun on that first deployment.

Saturday January 10th, 2015

We went into Corpus Christi with John, Brenda, Collette, LeeAnn & Aimee.  The trip was primarily to go to Build A Bear to get the girls bears that we had given them for Christmas.

Photo Credit to Brenda - Thanks

We went to Outback for lunch.  Thanks John & Brenda, it was lovely.  After lunch we had a look around Barnes & Noble and World Market before coming home.  Unfortunately, the weather wasn't that great but it was good to get out.

Sunday January 11th - Friday January 16th, 2015

Nothing much going on.

The 14th was Ryan's last day on the McCluskey and I'm sure a sad one as he leaves his first ship.

Clifford Reeves, a local artist, posted this painting of Somerton, Oxfordshire, UK on Twitter.  This was painted from the front garden of the cottage that I lived in there and brought back many happy memories.

Ian arrived safely home from the Philippines on the 16th so everyone is happy.

Saturday January 17th, 2015

We decided to go bowling with John, Brenda, Collette, LeeAnn & Aimee.  It's been so long since I last went I can't even remember when it was.  Bryan hadn't bowled since last August but he hasn't lost his touch!!!  He gave the girls some pointers.

Photo Credit to John Greene, Thanks

Photo Credit to John Greene, Thanks

We had a fun time and Aimee beat me in the second game when we had a friendly challenge between the two of us.  Well done Aimee.  :)

Later in the day, Collette, LeeAnn and Aimee surprised us in the motorhome.  They had been walking at Dick Kleburg Park and saw the RV park so walked over.  We didn't realize that there was a gate at the back of the RV park into the park so Bryan & I decided to join them in a walk over there.  

Walking along the path into the park

The lake

LeeAnn, Sue & Aimee

A pier that was a little the worse for wear.

Picnic tables across the lake

It was a nice little park and we had fun walking through the brush at the back of it.  Here is the entrance at the back of the RV park.  They are building an extension and adding more RV sites here.

We got back to Lily and had popsicles and Aimee danced with me before they had to leave. 

It was a really fun day that we both thoroughly enjoyed and the weather was a lot better.

Sunday January 18th - Wednesday January 21st, 2015

The Australian Open started and so I will have a few late nights staying up to watch Andy Murray.  It's a good job we're retired!!!  

On the 20th, we went to Youngs Pizza with John, Brenda and the girls for lunch.  Youngs is a must have whenever we are in Kingsville.  Bryan went to High School here and loves the "Texicali" sandwich.  I had a "Patootie" potato with shrimp, delicious……..

We spent the 21st packing up and getting ready to leave tomorrow.  Everyone came by to say goodbye, until next time.  Hopefully when we visit next the weather will be a bit better but we shouldn't complain, there are a lot of people having it a lot worse than we are.

Take Care……….

Port Isabel Lighthouse, Turtles & New Years Eve with the girls

Tuesday December 30th, 2014

We decided to go to Port Isabel today to look at and show Brenda, LeeAnn & Aimee the lighthouse.  We were going to take our car but decided to take Brenda's van as there is more room and it would be more comfortable.  It is quite a drive and took over two hours but the girls did well.  Aimee and I played "Guess Who" for part of the way.

They are renovating the lighthouse keepers cottage, so we were unable to go inside it but the lighthouse was open for climbing.

Port Isabel Lighthouse

This interesting tree was in the grounds by the lighthouse.  Would be a good climbing tree.

This bird was hidden in the branches and making quite a noise.  He made me search for him.  We always seem to have a black bird wherever we go and it always makes a lot of noise.  We think it is Sue's dad.  Sometimes there is a white one, which always seems to be in appropriate places for Bryan's dad.

I decided I wasn't going to climb this lighthouse as my back has been hurting a bit recently and I didn't want to make it any worse, so I stayed at the bottom and took pictures.

Bryan took this picture of me, as I was getting ready to take the next picture of him and the girls at the top of the lighthouse

Bryan, LeeAnn & Aimee looking down from the top of the lighthouse.  Brenda was up there as well but I didn't manage to get a picture of her looking down at me.

Only six people were allowed up at a time and there were soon more people waiting to go up but I managed to get this picture of them as they came out at the bottom after coming back down.  Brenda's at the edge of the picture.

Bryan, LeeAnn & Brenda at the end of their lighthouse tour.

We had to go to the Chamber of Commerce across the road to get our lighthouse passport book stamped.  These statues were on the way.

Aimee & I found this ape to sit on.

We decided to look around the Treasures of the Gulf Museum.  It was free to military, which was a plus. They still had their Christmas tree and nativity up.

There was a children's area there and the girls had fun with a puppet theatre.  They both put on a show which I unfortunately missed as I was in the gift shop but arrived just as LeeAnn was starting a second show and Aimee decided to dance on the stage.  I took this VIDEO mostly of the puppet show.

After looking around the museum we were feeling a bit hungry and decided to have lunch at Pirates Landing

Aimee posed as the pirate!!!

And we all had fun with this one.

After a nice lunch where we sat at a table looking out over the water we went over the bridge to South Padre Island 

where we visited Sea Turtle Inc., a volunteer place that works on turtle conservation.  There are turtle cams on the website where you can watch the turtles, although they are not always working.

Sue, LeeAnn & Aimee by the sea turtle sand sculpture

 

This turtle was waving at us

This was the view of the lighthouse on the way back over the bridge. 

The back of Pirates Landing restaurant with the water view from the bridge. This picture shows the World's Largest Fly Road and Reel but you will have trouble seeing it.  It is the yellow pole in front of the third tree from the right.  If you look closely you can see the top of the rod above the tree. I got this piece of information from Roadside America, which is a website that people use to list attractions that they have found in different places that you might otherwise not find out about.  

We headed back home after a fun day out with the girls and they slept on the way home.

Wednesday December 31st, 2014

New Years Eve - Another year has flown by.  The days have long gone when we went out and partied the New Year in but we still have fond memories of them.  Sorry about the blurry picture but I had to restore it from our scanned pictures and it was the best I could do.

Our first New Years Eve 1987-88 with best friend Chrissie.  Look at my glasses, oh my!!!!

Nowadays we have just as much fun staying in and avoiding the crowds.  This year we looked after LeeAnn and Aimee so Brenda, John & Collette could go out.  We had so much fun, watching movies and eating popcorn and no alcohol.  We didn't realize until we were discussing it later that we didn't even have a drink to toast the New Year, ha!! ha!! 

We watched Planes, Frozen and Country Bears.  It was the first time we had seen Planes and Frozen and we both enjoyed them.  Listen to this VIDEO of the girls singing.  Did you recognize the song?

Aimee's impression of a monster worm using her sleeping bag

LeeAnn was enjoying herself

but she tired herself out and was asleep before midnight

Aimee stayed awake and we took a selfie at midnight.  We still look remarkably awake!!

Bryan & Sue's New Year picture

We managed to stay awake until midnight but it wasn't long after that and we were all asleep in our beds.

See you next year………….

Traveling, Kingsville, Family & Christmas

Monday December 22nd, 2014

We left Georgetown this morning and headed towards Kingsville for Christmas & New Year.  It was strange being back on the road after so long and it took me a while to settle down.  I used to get very nervous when we first set out on our adventure as I wasn't used to being a passenger in a large vehicle  but mainly because this is our house with us and all of our belongings in it and I can't bear the thought of something happening to it.  It didn't take too long  for me to get used to riding along again and everything was good.

We stopped for lunch at a rest stop at La Grange. Bryan stretched his legs while I made sandwiches.  The view was not bad as we sat eating lunch.

Hattie & friends enjoying the view

Hattie was mums "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" bear.  We found her on one of our shopping trips in Vegas.  We were both attracted to this bear at the same time, sitting at the top of the elevator as though she was screaming out "buy me, buy me".  We looked at her and wondered what was  so special about her.  She had a red hat, like the red hat ladies, and scarf.  Then we found the button that you pressed and she started to sing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".  It was so loud and for a moment we were shocked and had to have a quick look around to see if anyone had noticed us playing and dancing with this bear but we were safe.  We burst out laughing, played the song again and the bear got put in our shopping basket.  We have played her many times since and she always brought a smile to our faces.  I told mum many times that I wanted to bring the bear to her funeral and have it sing the song but mum was horrified at the very thought and I think of what people may think, so I refrained and respected her wishes and to be honest I couldn't bring myself to hear that song at that time. She didn't get the name "Hattie" until we got back to the motorhome and Bryan suggested it and so Hattie was reborn and is our companion and co-driver on our trips.

We arrived at our regular stop at Gateway to the Gulf RV Park in Victoria, Texas for the night.

Tuesday December 23rd, 2014

We got up and headed out to Kingsville, Texas.  The ducks were waiting opposite our site to say goodbye to us.

We got to Natures Own RV Park in Kingsville and got set up.  John & Brenda invited us for dinner but we decided to stay in and relax.  We are always pretty tired after traveling and even more so after more than one day on the road. 

Wednesday December 24th, 2014

I put my Christmas decorations up again after having to take them down to travel.  Next year we need to try and stay in the same place for the whole month at least to save the decorations fiasco.   Also did some cleaning and wrapped some presents.  

In the evening we went to the Christmas Candlelight Service with John, Brenda, Collette, LeeAnn, Aimee and Bryan's ex-wife Joanna & her husband Nick.  Brenda is in the choir and we helped LeeAnn light her candle.  It was an emotional evening for me as I sat in church and remembered mum.

Thursday December 25th, 2014 

We were up early and went to John & Brenda's for breakfast and to exchange gifts and watch the girls open their presents.  

We found out we were not having Christmas dinner and so we had our Christmas crackers with breakfast and wore our hats.

LeeAnn opening a present with Dad watching

Aimee with one of her presents

Brenda with a pretty bow & smile

Emily sat on Bryans lap & watched everything as well

Everyone had fun opening their presents and we helped LeeAnn with a 3D puzzle she had been given. It wasn't long before it was just John, Bryan & I trying to complete it and we ended up having to quit for a while.  Bryan & I have tried a 3D puzzle before, a few years, ago and it got the better of us then.  We did manage between all of us to get a little further with this one but still not finished!!!

We had Turkey leftovers for lunch and watched TV.  The girls had a friend visit and they played on the trampoline for a while.

We were invited to John's dad Russell's for the evening but we declined and on the way home stopped at IHop for Christmas dinner.  I had turkey and Bryan had ham, it was not very good but I got my gravy fix. 

Friday December 26th, 2014 - Monday December 29th, 2014

We stayed in and caught up on some everyday things that needed to be done.  I didn't feel 100% so we just relaxed over these days.  I stumbled across this saying which pretty much sums up what I think. Nothing worthwhile in life is easy.

On the 29th I found out the International Space Station would be visible flying overhead at 6.09pm for a few minutes.  So we went outside and looked for it.  We really didn't know what we were looking for but the sky was clear and we soon spotted a bright light moving across the sky in the direction it was supposed to be.  It looked a bit like a plane except there were no flashing lights, like you get with a plane.  It was just a bright light. 

It is the small white speck just left off center

Tomorrow, we are going for a ride to find a lighthouse with Brenda and the girls.  Should be fun.