Dec 21st- Can’t believe it’s almost Christmas!
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| Camping at Fort Wilderness |
We spent 3 nights in Orlando at the beginning of December. The weather had turned cooler, so that wasn’t so much fun. Our friends had suggested we stay at Fort Wilderness Campground at Disney & check out all the decorations at the Disney Hotels. Apparently they decided to cut back there too, because none of the hotels were overwhelming. A couple of them were nice. I’ll include some pics. The Grand Floridian had a huge tree & a huge Gingerbread House that was very intricate. The campground there was very nice & some of the campers had put up a lot decorations. They were better than most of Disney’s. Our daughter Collina & granddaughter Lexi, who live just outside Orlando, came one evening to see the sights. It was nice to spend time with them.
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| Lexi, Collina, Collins & Karen at Disney |
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| Collins, Lexi & Karen |
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| Mickey & Lexi |
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| Ginger Bread Gazebo at Disney |
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Collins, Collina & Lexi
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| Collins & Karen at Downtown Disney |
Collins & I also browsed Downtown Disney one afternoon.
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| Karen at Downtown Disney - Walking the dogs |
After our Disney visit, we went to Tampa to get the RV ready for storage. It got really cold while we were there, in the low 30’s.
We had a chance to visit with my 85 year old mother several times. We went to a Christmas Party at her new home, which was very nice & we went out for a nice dinner one night.
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| Collins, Karen & Mom |
We also spent several nights at my brother Larry & sister in law Deanna’s home while we wrapped things up. We were putting it in covered storage just outside Tampa. Also found a repair place right there where we could get some repairs done & they would take it to the storage place. That worked out well since we were going to have my brother pick it up & take it for repairs before we came back in April. Now it will all be done.
We left Tampa Dec 9 & headed for home. We stopped overnight to visit with one of Collins’ best friends from high school. He & his wife live south of Atlanta. The next day we drove 13 hours to arrive in Geneva before a predicted snow storm arrived the next day. We were so glad to get out of the car. We’ve gotten spoiled with the RV, being able to move around. Also, we never drove that far in one day. Luckily, the storm did not arrive that Sat. We spent the past week with my brother Rob & his wife Lisa. We’ve had a chance to get together with all the kids & grandkids here. It’s been nice to see all of them. One night last week, we spent with grandkids Katie & Ryan while their parents went to a Christmas Party. We had a lot of fun. Took them to dinner, they were so polite. Also got a chance to spend one night with neighbors. Everyone asked if it seemed weird not going back to our house & neither one of seemed to miss it. Sunday we moved into a hotel. It’s really nice – a suite with a frig, micro & small cooktop, sort of like our RV. I think tomorrow evening we’ll go out to dinner with long time friends. Today I took daughter Paula to buy a birthday present. Her birthday is Dec. 3 & she wanted to wait til I got home to go shopping. She bought a new coat. We had a real nice day together. We were hoping daughter Pam could go, but she couldn’t get off work. Tomorrow, I’m going to get together with all the grandkids (at least the younger ones) & we’re going to make Gingerbread Houses (from a kit). I promised ice cream when we’re finished! Collins has been hanging out with son, Doug, so they’re enjoying their time together.
We brought all our trunks & stuff over to pack for Punta Cana. I can’t believe we have so much stuff to take, although most of it’s food & other things we want there. It’s been cold & snowy here & we’re supposed to have more snow Friday morning, so we’re ready to get back to warm weather.
We’ll all get together for Christmas. Should be a fun day.
Merry Christmas everyone!!
Dec 31st. Can’t believe our time in IL has come & gone.
We did make our Gingerbread Houses as you can see in the pics.
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| Katie, Becca, Ryan & Tyler making the Gingerbread Houses |
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| Tyler & Ryan with finished House |
I must say, they were very creative.
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| Katie & Becca with finished creation |
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| Danny, Ryan, Tyler, Katie & Becca out for ice cream |
Afterward, I took them all out for ice cream.
Christmas was very nice. We all had a great day. Too much food & drink, but good. It’s been great seeing the kids & grandkids.
Christmas was very nice. We all had a great day. Too much food & drink, but good. We went to Paula's for breakfast, then back to the hotel to clean up & dress up a little. A little later in the afternoon we went back to Paula's for dinner. It’s been great seeing the kids & grandkids.
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Becca, Danny, Katie, Ryan & Tyler
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| Doug, Aaron & Collins Christmas Day |
The Monday after Christmas, I did a little shopping with Paula, Pam & Katie. We had a good day. Didn’t buy much, but had fun just being with the girls. This past week, I took Four of the grandkids bowling. Ryan & Tyler are pretty good. Bowling alleys sure have changed. This place was like an amusement park.
We leave bright & early tomorrow morning for Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. We’ll be there until the beginning of April. I’ll try to update a little more often.
Happy New Year to ALL!!
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Ginger Bread House at Grand Floridian
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