Visiting With New Friends

Thursday
April 16, 2009

This morning we woke up and Thomas took a shower before getting on the road to Louisiana and I had my coffee with Gina before I headed to work. Gina called me later in the morning to tell me she was going to the pool to layout for a while. Around 1 o’clock she called me and told me that another big black Volvo truck and fifth wheel had just pulled in to the campground. After researching on the escapee’s forum I figured out who it was. Gina had stopped by there on her way back from the pool and met them and they invited us over for this evening for cocktails.

I had a long day at work today and didn’t get home until 6:45 this evening. Gina had already decided to have steaks tonight. Dinner consisted of a nice bacon wrapped filet with a baked potato and steamed broccoli. Before we sat down to eat, Gina put some of her great homemade brownies in the oven. We got the kitchen cleaned and then walked down to visit with Larry and LaVila, they’re the owners of the Volvo truck that pulled in today. They have a very nice looking rig.

Nice Custom Paint Job

While we were there, Tom & Susan stopped by and we all visited for a while. Tom & Susan left when it decided to start sprinkling and Gina & I got a tour of Larry & LaVila’s home. It is very nice and most of their fifth wheel has been customized as you can see by what they have done just to their entryway.

Agate Entryway

Well the sprinkling didn’t look like it was going to stop so we walked very quickly back home before we got too wet. Another evening getting back home after 10 o’clock, there are so many friends to visit with that I just don’t know how I have time to work anymore. LOL It was off to bed since I’m working tomorrow. This is rare since I do not work Friday’s but I took off last Thursday so we could visit with John & Brenda in Rockport. I’ll take that exchange since it was well worth it.

Any day that you can make new friends is a Great Day in my book. We enjoyed our time with Larry & Lavila and like RV’ers we never say good bye but just “see ya down the road”, as was the case here tonight.

Gina & I head back to our house in Louisiana tomorrow so Gina can put them there new rocks in her garden. There is rain forecast for the weekend so it’s not looking like the weather is going to be great but maybe the weatherman will be wrong.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.

Remembering My Mother & Tax Day

Wednesday
April 15, 2009

Tax Day, this is a day that a lot of us taxpayers hate but it is a necessary evil. Without taxpayers we would not have all these great national parks and BLM land to see and camp in. I do not mind paying taxes, I just think our tax system is broke. More importantly, today would have been my mother’s birthday. I could never forget her birthday because as an adult you do not forget April 15th. Anyway it was nice to reflect back on how loving my mother was to all of us children as we were growing up.

Anyway, I had a rough morning when I received a text from the guy that I normally ride with at 4 o’clock in the morning saying he might not go to work today due to a migraine. I laid in bed but couldn’t go back to sleep so, I finally just got up. Gina said she would bring me to work today since we were going to lunch. She dropped me off at work and then headed back home. After she had her coffee she went to Hobby Lobby to have a look around, (more like shopping) but she called it looking around none the less. After that she went to the rock place and bought some ROCKS.

Gina's New Rocks

Gina likes her rocks but these were for her new area in the garden and I cannot really complain since she only spent three dollars. That's a whole lot less than anywhere else she shops and this includes TCBY yogurt which costs more than that. So I guess I cannot say anything about her rocks.

She & Thomas picked me up at 1 o’clock today and we went to Babin’s restaurant. It’s a seafood restaurant that Gina & I really like. We highly recommend it, if your ever staying around Houston. Well, before we left I had to pay the bill and I guess my age is getting the best of my eyesight. I had to borrow Gina’s reading glasses so I could see the numbers on the bill. She got a good laugh from it.

Me Needing Glasses to See

From there Gina wanted to go into Marshall’s to look around and Thomas and I went to Best Buy. I wanted to look at the Netbooks. I bought one for Thomas at Christmas and I really like it. I want one to put in my truck to run a truck routing program pretty much the same way a dash mounted GPS unit works. Anyway, they didn’t have exactly what I was looking for but we walked around the whole store. We left there and picked up Gina and headed back home. I rode in the back seat and took a little nap. It felt real good. We all then headed up to the pool and hot tub and enjoyed a relaxing time together since Thomas will be leaving in the morning to head back to Louisiana and we are leaving Friday to head back to our house. We left the hot tub around 7 o’clock to watch a movie called “Marley & me” it was a cute movie. I recommend it if you want a good laugh. It wasn’t a great movie but it was funny. From there we went to bed and watched CSI New York which I fell asleep at some point since I don’t remember how it ended. We had another Great Day. I feel bad sometimes because everyday feels so great. In this life I think about a fishing quote “A bad day fishing is better than a great day at work” There are no bad days out here for the most part. I guess there are some things that could lead to a bad day but they are by far very few of them and the good times outweigh them a thousand to one. Gina & I have no complaints out here and it’s another day that we feel so blessed to be enjoying this lifestyle.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.

Mom and Son Day

Tuesday
April 14, 2009

I woke up this morning to 46 degrees outside. It was just a wee bit chilly. Gina called me at 10:30 to ask if I wanted to go to lunch today. I said why don’t we do lunch tomorrow. Since we didn’t do lunch today they decided to go to shopping instead. So off to The Woodlands Mall they went so Gina could get her fix of TCBY frozen yogurt. From there they went to HEB to pick up a few things and then I asked her to stop by a local RV dealer to buy some caulking. I have one area that the caulking came off on the side and I wanted to seal it back up. I didn’t get home until almost 6 o’clock this evening but Thomas was already frying shrimp for dinner and Gina had made some yeast rolls along with steaming some asparagus. We sat outside to eat and just enjoying the beautiful weather. After we were done Thomas & Gina was playing around and I managed to get a few pictures.

Gina & Thomas giving eachother a Hug


Mom playing around with Son


Son playing around with Mom


Posing for our Group Photo

We then went for a walk while Thomas went to the hot tub. We stopped by there on our walk and Gina decided to soak her feet for a few minutes.

Gina Soaking her Feet


Thomas still Cutting Up with Mom

We continued our walk and stopped by to visit with Tom & Susan who stays at Rayford Crossing about one week a month. We sat outside with them until about 10 o’clock when we realized that it was getting late. They are just another example why we love this lifestyle so much. The people you meet are just fantastic.

We finally made it back home and called it a day. We consider this just another enjoyable and fun filled day. It’s day like this that we feel so blessed. Even though I’m still working we still have a lot of fun.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.

Sunbathing and Work

Monday
April 13, 2009

I decided to go into work late so Gina & I woke up together at 6:30 this morning. We just wanted an easy morning together. We both drank a cup of coffee together before I got into the shower and got dressed for work. I left for work at 7:30 and when I left, Gina was lying in bed watching the news. Her day was going to be at the pool sunbathing. She wants to work on her tan before all the ladies in our extended family head to the beach this summer. Gina & I were blessed with not only wonderful son-in-laws but their families and ours all became one big family. Normally when any of us have gatherings or get together's (depending on what you call them) it seems that we are all there together. Anyway, all the girls have a beach trip planned for this summer. Of course, I didn’t know of this trip until yesterday but that’s alright, Gina normally goes to the beach at Gulf Shores, Alabama every summer anyway.

Once I got to work I had a big meeting for today which took up all of my morning until noon. I ate my lunch and then tried to call Gina but it went straight to voice mail. I thought maybe her battery was dead and she was charging it. I kept trying to call her all afternoon and it kept going straight to her voice mail. By 4 o’clock I was getting concerned about her. I tried to call some friends at the park but couldn’t reach them either. I called the park’s office and got their answering machine. I was concerned about her but still just figured it was her phone and plus I just figured she was at the pool enjoying her day. I got home and of course she was alright but her phone was saying “no service”. I turned it off and back on and now her phone has service. She said she had a wonderful day at the pool soaking up the sun and relaxing while reading a book. This is why I was concerned but not worried about her.

We didn’t have anything planned for dinner so we just ate leftovers. Gina ate shrimp nachos and I had a hamburger and the remaining boiled shrimp that was left after Gina made her nachos. After dinner Gina continued with a puzzle that she started and I watched “House” and a show about Air Force One on the Discovery channel. We then both decided to go to bed and watch “CSI Miami”. While we were watching TV there was a knock at the door so I got up to see who it was and low and behold Thomas, our son was here. He was missing his momma. He called me around 6 o’clock and told me that he was coming so I wasn’t surprised but Gina was. He gets a kick out of surprising Gina. We all talked for a little while but it was now 10:45 and I still had to work tomorrow.

Gina and I had a wonderful day (could have been better if I would have been at the pool with her) and it was topped off with our son coming to see us.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.

See Ya Down the Road John & Brenda

Sunday
April 12, 2009 Easter Morning

Today, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Gina & I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. It was a travel day for us. However, we were not in a hurry to leave friends. I woke up at 5:30 by Gina hitting me saying it’s raining outside, go put our chairs up before they get wet. Normally, I would have said let them get wet but I didn’t want to put wet chairs in our camper since it was a travel day. Well, after getting woke up like that there was no way I would have got back to sleep. So I stayed up, put some coffee on and wrote our blog entry. Somewhere in there I brought Gina a hot cup of coffee while she was still lying in bed. I had already told her that I would boil her another dozen of crabs this morning since we were going to get another twenty pounds of shrimp for us to freeze. When I walked outside to start the truck John was already outside and asked if I wanted to ride in his jeep. I said sure, so I told Gina and she had clothes on and was ready to go in under two minutes. The only reason she moved that quick was because she wanted to pick out her crabs. Gina loves blue crabs. You’ll see when we move down to here next month. The only difference is she’ll be catching them instead of me buying them.

We got to the seafood shop and she already had our twenty pounds bagged and iced down. All that was left was picking out her crabs. We then headed back home to boil her dozen crabs. While I got them boiling Gina and John took the heads off the shrimp and Gina bagged them up. I had a little accident while I was putting the crabs in the pot. One crab grabbed a hold of my finger and I dropped him on the ground. Well John had his camera out taking pictures of me trying to catch this crab on the ground. They were all laughing at me as I was trying to catch him. I finally caught him under my camper. He did not want to get caught but I won in the end. He didn’t give up without a fight though. He fought me all the way to the pot. These are some of the pictures.

I'm going to get you


Quit Fighting Me


I Think I got You Now


Well Maybe Not

Almost Defeated


I Won!!!

Anyway, we got the crabs boiled and the shrimp put into the freezer. It was now time to start packing everything up and getting our home ready to move. I got everything unhooked and Gina got the inside ready. Brenda walked over and asked if we wanted to go eat lunch with them. We said sure. I had told them about a Mexican restaurant so we headed that direction but it was closed so then we decided to go to Alice Fay’s instead. The waitress said the cheeseburgers were good so that’s what we all ordered. They were delicious and the buns were homemade. Brenda had been telling us that we have terrible bread here. But, Brenda conceded that these buns were comparable to the great bread they have in Canada. After we ate, we got a waitress to take our picture since we had not taken a picture with all of us in it.

Can you tell our bellies are full??

We made it back home only to hook up and say our “see you down the road”. Gina had brought a gift with her to give to Brenda. It was a butterfly stone to put in Brenda’s garden when she gets home.

Brenda holding up her Butterfly


Gina & Brenda and the Butterfly

We finally got in the truck and took off down the road at 2:15. Gina & I talked the whole way back about how much fun we had with John & Brenda. The time just flew by as is the case when you are having this much fun. We can hardly wait until my job finishes this year and we can go whenever and wherever we want to. This lifestyle is so great but the people you meet really make it special!! Unfortunately, I agreed to finish this job so it’s back to Houston for a few more weeks until we come back down here for the rest of this year.

For anyone out there that has not had the pleasure of meeting John and Brenda. You need to standby for the time of your life once you do get to meet them and for sure you’ll agree that they must be the nicest and funniest Canadians you will ever meet!!! Gina & I say thank you for the great time and we look forward to seeing you all down the road again.

We made it back to Houston at 6 o’clock and I started my job outside hooking up and Gina started her cleaning. She wanted to clean the inside of our home before Zoey & Angel came inside. There were so many of these little pod looking things on the ground in Rockport that no matter how much we tried to get them off the dogs they still managed to bring some inside. Gina wasn’t happy with her house being so dirty, so she was determined to get it clean before any dog came back inside. All together it took us about an hour to get our home back the way Gina likes it. This means all her decorations are out and her home is clean. We then started thinking about supper so she peeled all the leftover shrimp from our shrimp boil Saturday evening. She wanted shrimp quesadillas for dinner. After she was finished peeling the shrimp we left to go to HEB for a watermelon but they were closed so we went to Wal-Mart and picked up just a gallon of milk. Once we got back home it was time to make those quesadillas. By the time we finished it was almost 10 o’clock and Gina wanted to replace some plastic that was on the bedroom floor. We did manage to get it down but it was a struggle because the space on each side of the bed is quite narrow to say the least. We were done for the day and now in bed. I did have to work tomorrow and it was already after 11 o’clock.

We had a Great Easter and a good travel day. Other than leaving our friends in Rockport, you couldn’t ask for a better day.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.

Shopping and a Louisiana Spice Crab & Shrimp Boil

Saturday
April 11, 2009

We woke up again at 7:30 this morning. I was going to say we are enjoying waking up late but Gina does that every day so I am enjoying them for sure. I got our daily blog entry done and then cooked Gina some bacon & eggs. Oh and I did bring her coffee in bed since she said she’s the queen and she gets all her requests fulfilled. She did finally make it to the shower and dressed. She was going shopping with Brenda. We walked over to John & Brenda’s and then John and I said good bye to the girls as they were off.

Gina & Brenda off to shop Rockport

Brenda Driving

John and I sat outside just chatting and chilling waiting for the girls to return which they did finally. They know who feeds them (haha). Of course I saw Brenda bring a couple of bags inside but Gina didn’t have anything so I thought Gina went shopping and did not buy something. So I asked you didn’t find anything? She calls out for Brenda and they both walk back to the car and bring forth two plants in pots.

Gina with her Two New Plants

She did let me know she bought some shoes and a shirt later. Not bad for a Gina’s shopping trip.

While they were gone they decided that we were going to have boiled shrimp instead of sautéed shrimp over linguine & alfredo sauce. I’m sure Gina manipulated Brenda into that since Gina loves boiled shrimp. After the girls had revived themselves from all that shopping, we were off to get some shrimp.

Gina & Brenda reviving themselves from a hard day of shopping

We took them to where we have always bought our shrimp. The shrimp looked beautiful and they were just caught. Gina got ten pounds of shrimp which took all they had stored there so we had to wait for a few minutes for someone to bring more shrimp. Also, Gina got a dozen of blue crabs to boil.

Gina and her Blue Crabs

Gina & John waiting for more Shrimp

Brenda said it's Cold

We patiently waited outside well except for Brenda she sat in the car since she was cold. (the wind was blowing pretty hard today)

Brenda bought thirty pounds of shrimp so now instead of butter she will have to explain shrimp to the Canadian customs official. (We are going to want to hear this story for sure)

We then made it back home to start the boiling. I wanted to get the crabs boiled first since they take the longest and it would give us an appetizer before the shrimp. Plus it gave them time to dehead Brenda’s thirty pounds of shrimp so she could freeze them for their trip back to Canada. While we were going to the seafood shop we learned that Brenda has this hang up about eating things with a head on them. She cannot get past those sad, beety little eyes looking back at her. Anyway we convinced her that it was a much better deal to buy shrimp with the head on so that is what we did.

Gina & John De-heading Shrimp

Brenda telling Gina she wants no part of removing the heads

Brenda telling Gina can you not Rinse in quicker???

Since the only pot that we carry is not very big but it’s big enough for us. We have larger pots at home but just didn’t see a need in carry a big pot. This is the second time we have needed a larger pot so that is now on our list of items to carry.

John & Gina deheaded all the shrimp and then Gina rinsed them off while Brenda took them inside to put in bags for freezing. By the time they were done the crabs were done. They all sat down to eat and Gina showed them how to open a crab up and where the meat was.

Everyone enjoying the Crabs

I put the corn, potatoes, and onions on boiling. Once they were done I took them out and put the shrimp on to boil since they only take a minute to boil. We had a great feast and John and Brenda got to see what real Louisiana spices taste like. I had to laugh later because Brenda brought out salt and pepper and she never opened them.

Brenda serving Dessert

Brenda then brought out dessert which consisted of fresh pineapple, strawberries, cantelope and watermelon along with chocolate cherry cake with ice cream. If we were not stuffed before dessert we were now. We sat outside for a while until the mosquitoes ran us inside. It was getting late so we said good night and went back home. I got on chat last night for a little while until I saw the light go off in the bedroom and I knew it was time for me to say good night. I have an early morning since Gina asked me if I would boil another dozen of crabs so she could take them back to Houston. You know the queen normally gets what she asks for so it will be off to the seafood shop at 8 o’clock in the morning.

We had another wonderful day with our friends from Canada. We have really enjoyed their friendship and look forward to one day getting up north into Canada to see their farm and experience Canada.

Tomorrow is Easter and Gina & I wish everyone a Happy Easter as you all celebrate Jesus Christ conquering death. He is the risen Savior and He is Alive.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed each one us with.