Back to Atlanta and All Those Girls

On Wednesday, we left Wanee Lake around 9 and arrived at Stone Mountain a little after noon.  Many of the trees were still holding on to their fall color at Stone Mountain.

After we got all set up at Stone Mountain, we went to a walk-in clinic in Decatur so I could have my pickleball injuries checked out.  I felt like my side strain was getting better (so long as I don't practice pickleball for a week or so) but the pain I was feeling behind my right hip was not getting any better.  The doctor at the walk-in clinic prescribed some muscle relaxers and put me on a regimen of 600 mg of ibuprofen 3 times a day for 5 days.  She also told me if the pain was not better after a week, I need to go to an orthopaedic specialist.  I'm hoping the medicine works!

We left the walk-in clinic and headed over to Tafanie's for a couple of hours.  She and her neighbor, Beth, were in the middle of making Christmas ornaments.  Bell and Emmaline were working on crafts too!  :)

I took over holding Ruby...

...while Chuck and Bell painted with water colors.

I put Ruby down for a nap which was really hard to do because she kept smiling at me.

When I checked on Emmaline, she had this look like she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, but she was just playing with her alphabet letters.

We left Tafanie's in time to be at Crystal's house by 6 pm.  We had dinner with Crystal, Grant, Avery and Hannah and had lots of fun playing with them too!

On Thursday, we went back over to Tafanie's, to babysit Ruby and Emmaline while Tafanie took Bell to pre-school and ran some errands with Bell after school.  Emmaline ate all of her Spaghettio's for lunch and some pretzels too!

We had fun playing with Emmaline and holding Ruby.  We went back to the camper after Tafanie got back from her errands because my right hip pain was still hurting when I walked and I thought it would be good to get off of it for awhile.

On Friday, we went to Tafanie's to help keep the girls entertained while Tafanie and Beth worked on the Christmas ornaments.  Chuck and Bell helped too!

Tafanie fixed some popcorn for a snack.  Bell and Emmaline REALLY like popcorn.  

You can tell by how they stuff it in their mouths!  :)

Ruby can't have popcorn yet but I think she was eyeing it very closely as she watched her big sisters stuff it in.

Chuck and I left Tafanie's around 2:15 and headed over to Crystal's to babysit Avery while Crystal took Hannah to the doctor for her 6 month checkup.  Avery was down for her nap when we got there so we took a little nap too!  But when she woke up from her nap, Avery was so glad to see us.  She showed us her fireman's hat.

After babysitting Avery, we went back to the camper so Chuck could disconnect the water since it was supposed to get below freezing Friday night.  Brrrrr.  We miss those warm Florida temperatures!

We all got back together for pizza at Tafanie and Cory's house Friday night.  The girls looked so cute running around in their PJs.

After the girls were in bed, we played two games of Sequence with the guys winning both games.  Rrrrr.  Congratulations, guys!

On Saturday morning, Crystal, Grant, Avery and Hannah came to see us at Stone Mountain.  Avery had fun playing with an old calculator we had on board...

...and Hannah liked sitting on the floor playing with her toys.  She is getting so big!

Grant and Chuck took Avery outside so she could ride her new pink tricycle around the campground.

Next, we all met up at Costco.

After a lunch that cost less than $12 to feed all of us, we walked around Costco looking for the bargains.  Aren't these the cutest shoppers you ever saw?

Grant and Crystal found a car seat they needed for Hannah because she is quickly outgrowing hers. Cory and Tafanie stocked up on batteries and pre-lit garland for Christmas decorations.  Another successful shopping day at Costco!

On Saturday night, we went back over to Tafanie and Cory's house.  Grant and Crystal were babysitting Bell and Emmaline tonight while Taf, Cory, and Ruby went out for a date night.  Hannah tried sweet potatoes for the first time and loved them.

It was fun watching all the cousins playing together...even Hannah!

When it was time for the girls to get ready for bed, I fed Hannah her bottle,

while Crystal and Grant got Bell, Emmaline, and Avery ready for bed.

We all listened to Uncle Grant read a couple of bedtime stories,

then we said our bedtime prayers together and kissed all our precious little granddaughters good night!

Heading Back North

On Monday morning, we were hooked up and ready to leave Royal Coachmen CG around 7:45.  We very sadly said our good-byes to Ken and Bonnie.  What a fun month it has been!

Few words were spoken because tears were close to spilling over for everyone.  But we gave each other great big hugs, wished each others' families the best, and are looking forward to seeing each other next year!  

Except for one slowdown in traffic north of Tampa, we made very good time and arrived at Wanee Lake Golf & RV Park around 3 pm.  Wanee Lake was our first exposure to fall colors this year.  

Part of the reason we stopped at Wanee was to play a round of golf and practice pickleball on their tennis courts.  We got site #2, the same site we had back in August.  We relaxed and just watched a little TV Monday night.  

After breakfast on Tuesday, we walked up to the tennis court to practice pickleball.  I quickly discovered that I am not healed up from my left side strain and my right hip pain.  We practiced volleying the ball back and forth for about 20 minutes but that was about all I could do.  

Chuck went to the Piggly Wiggly and bought us some more pork steaks to go in the freezer.  After lunch, Chuck played a round of golf while I drove him around in the golf cart.  Wanee Lake really is a pretty little course.

We were back at the camper by 5 pm and decided to sit outside for awhile and enjoy what for us will be our last day of summer.  

Based on the weather forecast, it sounds like we will be heading straight into winter as the temps are predicted drop into the 20's in Atlanta and Nashville later in the week.  We can't complain though.  We have been in summer weather almost all year!  And we're looking forward to seeing our daughters and their families this week in Atlanta and my mom and the rest of our family over Thanksgiving.  

Last Day in Nokomis

After church on Sunday, we decided to go back to Sweet Tomatos for their delicious salad buffet for lunch.  We came plenty hungry and ate slowly enjoying every bite.  After Sweet Tomatos, we made stops at Costco and Wal-mart to pick up a few things and then hurried home to play pickleball one more time before we parted ways tomorrow.

The rain had stopped, the temperature was very pleasant, the winds were light, and the sun was lower in the sky.  Perfect weather for our last pickleball game.  I was a little sore so I couldn't run to the ball as well; but that helped me to get better at volleying back and forth at the net.  WE LOVE THIS GAME!!  Ken and Bonnie have been so good at helping us to get better and so much fun to play pickleball with!

I think we all would have loved to have continue playing longer but we all needed to get ready for leaving tomorrow.  There was one last sunset in Venice backwashing off the palm trees at the pickleball courts...

...and peeking through the palms back at the campground.

After doing all we could to get ready for an early morning departure, we went over to Ken and Bonnie for one last evening of cards.  The girls won SkipBo and the guys won Pinochle and Spades.

What a wonderful 4 weeks this has been!  Ken and Bonnie, we have had so much fun.  Thanks for showing us all your favorite places around Venice and experiencing new places with you in Clermont and Myakka.  Thanks for teaching us pickleball!  We're looking forward to seeing you next year!

Let's just go somewhere and celebrate life daily!  :)

Saturday in Venice

All that nice weather we have been having was about to come to an end.  We decided to get  pickleball and all the other things we wanted to do done early.  Like most of our other days, today began with pickleball.  Ken was ready to play.

We played 8 games switching up players every couple of games.  And you know what?  It's just as much fun (actually more fun) playing pickleball now as it was when we first began playing.  Someone just needs to convince our bodies how much fun we are having!

Around 10:30, we quit playing pickleball and drove over to Venice for their Saturday farmer's market...

and to Upper Crust Bakery for their yummy,

delicious scones.

After eating every morsel of our scones, we got back in the car and headed for Maxine Barrett Park...

We did not know it, but the REV3 Triathalon was taking place this weekend.

We walked through the vendor booths of the triathalon and over to Sharky's...

which is a restaurant and fishing pier.

From the pier, you can look back and see Sharky's restaurant...

...and the people enjoying the beach on this nice Saturday afternoon.

This white egret posed for pictures but refused to eat some fresh shrimp that someone had left for him.  I guess he was a picky eater.

As we walked out to the end of the pier,

we stopped occasionally to watch the swimmers practicing for the Sunday's triathalon.  It is just about as difficult to take a picture of a person swimming as it is a dolphin. I was able to get an arm here or there...

or an occasional foot,

but I was unable to get a full-body picture of any of the swimmers.  These were the best I got:

It is amazing to think these men and women swim, bike and run as much as a total of 70 miles in a triathalon. After watching the swimmers for a few minutes,

we headed back down the pier and then back out to the park.

From the park, we could see the pier,

but we also saw lots of birds.

And we also saw the finish line for tomorrow's race.

After leaving the park, we headed back to the campground for lunch and to begin taking some things down since both of us would be leaving on Monday.  We got back together around 2:15 and walked down to the office to borrow the equipment for putt-putt golf.  We only played nine holes with Chuck emerging as the winner and then it started raining.

We went back to our campers, the guys took naps, while Bonnie and I worked on our respective blogs.  Bonnie and Ken came over for games around 7:15.  The guys won SkipBo but the girls won both games of Pinochle and the best 3 out of 4 games of Sequence Dice.

A-nother best day!