I am feeling Skinnie

Actually, that is only in the camaraderie sense.  We recently attended our second Skinnie Winnie rally at Live Oak Landing Resort in Freeport, Florida.  A total of 39 rigs gathered for great fun and information.  There were  some really great meals provided by the volunteers to make the gathering a big success. One of the food highlights of our five days was the fish fry- really good.  There was also a small group that played Texas holdum poker, and I will avoid mentioning that I was the big winner.

We have been to so many rallies and other group events that I have started to generally avoid the informational seminars as either: I have heard it before or I am immune to the sales pitch.  However, I did attend the one seminar offered here called the technical session.  Normally, in these kind of sessions there is a wide diversity of rigs and lots of cross information.  In this case everyone had the same equipment and the information exchanged applied to everyone in the group. 

We had a great time and hope to make more of these events, as they are held around the country about five times a year.

We mostly had pretty good weather for Feb and one morning I managed to get up early enough to take some pictures of the sun rising on our waterfront campground in the river system.  I have made a note to myself to try and get up early more often!

Superhero gathering

Actually, it was our granddaughter Victoria's third birthday party.  She has been very much into superheroes, in particular Spiderman for some time now.  It was only to be expected that her mother arranged for a superhero party. 

It was a great time with the guests finding their own superhero cape hanging on the wall for them, as they arrived.  To be sure, there were the usual party events including lots of good food and gifts.

My job was to try and get some pictures in those rare moments when the party goers were not moving for a least several seconds.  Based on the level of activity and noise, it was a huge success.

I cannot speak for the kids, but I was sure pooped when it was over.

One of the perks of living in Florida

Let me start by saying this is not a weather blog.  Certainly weather plays a role in this perk, but not the only one.  We have lived in numerous places, but one thing is different, at least for us, about Florida.

We first noticed this perk while living in Miami for a year.  We found that we were suddenly popular.  Almost as soon as we settled into our condo on Biscayne  Bay, we started to have friends and family visit in a steady stream.  I certainly get the appeal of being in Miami in the winter rather than the other places like OH, PA, or DC where we have lived.  Whatever the attraction, we enjoy the opportunity to visit with friends old and new wherever we are.

These last two weeks we have been lucky enough to have two couples we have known for many years visit along with relatively new friends that we met on a rally back in 2010.

 

Our friends Judy and Gary stopped by on a road trip from the Tampa area on their way to New Orleans.  They made the Alaska trip with us back in May of last year. Their picture is from the glacier tour out of Valdez, since I failed to get a picture during this visit.

Next Jim and Helen made an extended stop here with their new motorhome to help us taste test some wines from our wine club.  We had a great time with them and even managed to get out see some local history at Fort Pickens. 

Most recently, Dan and Corrie stopped for a few days in their motorhome to visit on their way west.  We have known Dan and Corrie since the late 1970's.  Dan and I were stationed together in Rotterdam and we both left with Dutch wives.  We have continued to cross paths over the years and even were stationed together in Rotterdam during the last part of the 1990's.  Since then we both have enjoyed RVing, meeting up along the road occasionally.

We certainly hope this perk continues, as spending good times with friends and family is what it is all about!