Just a Wonderful Day with Friends/Family

Tuesday
May 26, 2009

Back to a normal morning, I got up while Gina continued to sleep. It’s so nice waking up with her in bed next to me. The only bad part is I had to go to work. This morning it started raining just before I walked out the door but it only lasted for about two hours. Around 10:30 I called Gina and she was just getting up. I think she was more tired than what she thought she was. I called her back around one o’clock and she is back in her environment. She was walking Angel and Zoey around the park stopping and talking to everyone. We still have a lot of friends here from when we lived here in 2007. I meant to take some pictures of our site but I keep forgetting. I promise to have them tomorrow. Anyway Gina had a good day visiting with the other fulltimers in the park. I called her at five and she tells me that Rick & Pam (owners of the park here) are coming over at six o’clock for margaritas and fruit. I finally got home a little after six and Gina was showing them our home. I got changed and made each of us a margarita which was followed up with a fruit tray Gina had prepared earlier. We went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. We just chatted and kind of caught up with what all us have been doing the past two years. Rick & Pam have done a wonderful job with their park here. They are slowing trying to get out on the road and so they can travel more than what they have been able to so far. They have a place here along with a house in Lubbock, Texas. If you’re ever down here in the area of Rockport/Aransas Pass this is a wonderful place to stay in my opinion (Ransom Road RV Park). The only downfall here is that there’s no swimming pool otherwise it’s a wonderful park. Well they left around 8:30 and we went inside to eat dinner that consisted of a leftover hamburger and some fresh green beans that came from Uncle Jim’s garden. Gina brought them with her last Friday. After dinner we walked our dogs and finally made it inside for the night. Not very interesting but we really enjoyed sitting down and chatting with Rick & Pam. For the most part this will be our daily routine until June 18th when we leave for our vacation out west.

It’s so amazing to me when I write these entries how blessed we are to have family and friends that we can share our lives with. I cannot put into words just how much we enjoy this life. Gina & I feel so blessed that every night before we go to bed we tell each other just how wonderful it is to have so many friends that we consider family. The community of RV’ers is so fantastic that no matter where you park your home you’re among family.

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

A Wonderful Memorial Day Weekend

Sunday
May 24, 2009

I hope everyone enjoyed Nicole’s entry yesterday. From the time she got here she wanted to write an entry. We’re a pretty close family as if you couldn’t tell from the pictures. We didn’t have anything on the agenda this morning so for the most part everyone slept in. Of course Gina and I were up early since we went to bed earlier than they did. Once they all woke up and had their coffee we sat outside discussing what we would do today along with watching Nicole write the blog entry. After a few minutes Gina walked outside with hot muffins, both blueberry and chocolate chip for a little variety. It started getting hot so we went inside and somehow a movie got put on and everyone started watching it while I uploaded all the pictures for the blog. Finally Nicole got finished with the blog and posted it. Then we all had to read it which we laughed at some of the parts but most of all we had a lot of fun. We were going to go crabbing but we Gina and I had to go to Wal-mart first to get some chicken necks and other food to grill this evening. What would Memorial Day be without grilling? After we got back from the store we got loaded up and headed down toward Rockport where we lived back in 2005. This area has always done well for us in catching crabs. However, when we got there we noticed that they had removed the old pier and replaced it with a new pier and it appeared that they had dredged the harbor. Needless to say the crabbing wasn’t good at all but we all had fun trying to catch some.

The Baits in the Water


Ashley and Nicole reading & waiting for someone to Catch a Crab


Thomas thinks he has a Crab


Ashley Soaking Up some Sun


Thomas Trying to Catch a Crab


Shane & Nicole doing the Three Leg walk

(Nicole broke one of her flip flops)

We made it back home and and grilled some chicken, hamburgers and sausage. It was kind of interesting that while I was grilling outside the camphost came by and said she needed to talk to me. She told me that my neighbor had called and complained that we had been partying since 5:30 in the afternoon and had kept them up until after midnight with loud noise and opening and closing the camper door. Then she followed all that up with they always complain about something. Well we just kind of laughed it off since we all went inside at 9:45 to watch a movie. Sometime after eleven o’clock Gina & I went to sleep so I know the TV wasn’t too loud but oh well it was a holiday weekend and we had a great time with our children and they are leaving tomorrow. After we had eaten we all decided to get showers and settle down for the evening. We watched another movie and called it a night.

Memorial Day
Monday
May 25, 2009

I got up at six this morning to put coffee on so it would be ready when the kids woke up. They finally got up around 6:40. We all sat outside drinking coffee and eating the leftover muffins from Sunday morning. After which they rounded up all their cloths and packed everything in the car and said their good-byes. Of course Thomas & Haley wasn’t in hurry but they finally got out of there around ten o’clock. Gina started cleaning up her home which wasn’t dirty but it didn’t look clean to her. I realized my black tank was full so I went outside and started to dump it. Right when I started, Rick the owner drove up on his golf cart and asked me to come take a ride with him. I closed the valve and hopped in the golf cart with him and he took me to another site and asked if I liked it. I told him Gina & I looked at the same site yesterday and was going to ask if we could move there. My thought process was just to move there in July after we get back from our vacation out west but Gina had a different thought, like let’s move there today and get it over with. We walked up to the office to talk to Rick & Pam (the owners) to ask them if we could move there today. However, in the process we learned a lot about our neighbors. They made a comment last week after I got there to Pam that the park was beginning to look like a truck stop and Pam’s response was “I see beauty when I see their rig”. Earlier this year they complained about another camper’s campfire. They didn’t like the smell and they just told them to get over it so you should get the drift that they complain about everything. Well we headed back home to get it ready to move. We got moved to the new site around three o’clock and began setting everything up and finally finished around 4:30. Gina & I were both hungry so I broke out the grill and grilled some more sausage and chicken. Afterwards we decided to ride up to HEB to get some food for the week. Once we got back we went and took care of our laundry. We rounded up all our cloths but mostly towels since eight people go through them fast. We finally finished around eight o’clock and decided to sit outside for awhile and enjoy the beautiful weather and our new site. Somewhere around nine o’clock we went inside and took showers after which we were both tired and decided to go to bed. We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with our children and look forward to many more with them. Gina & I hope yours was just as exciting and enjoyable. I cannot say thank you enough to all the men and women that have fought and died for us to enjoy these freedoms!!

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

Hijacked - A Day At The Beach

Saturday
May 23, 2009


Today’s blog entry is brought to you by Nicole Young, daughter of Rollie and Gina.


The four of us in the truck woke up around 6 am because we were hot. Dad’s new AC keeps the Volvo at meat cooler temperatures, but without it, the heat of S. Texas takes over quickly. Shane went to the Fifth Wheel to wake dad up and have him fix it because we thought it was broke, but he had left for work. After returning to the truck and relaying Dad’s absence to us, Parker and Ashley (who slept on top next to the unit) realized it was just off and not broken. So we turned it back on and went back to sleep after ribbing Parker and Ashley a little for causing our discomfort. The four of us finally got up around ten and went into the Fifth Wheel where mom was making homemade biscuits and gravy and Uncle Jim’s homemade sausage. We ate around eleven. Dad was still at work and we were all conversing about what to do for the day. One thing I have noticed when hanging out with my parents in RV parks is that the most pressing issue of each day is 1. What’s for dinner? And 2. What to do that day? So in the spirit of RV’ing we sat around discussing what to do and what to eat for dinner. The two are intimately connected with each determining the other. We decided to go to the beach and then boil shrimp for dinner. So we went about taking turns in the shower and getting ready to go to the beach. I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable and spacious dad’s bathroom is. Thomas and Haley opted to shower at the bath house. It is definitely a logistical operation coordinating eight people - male and female, married and single - changing clothes and getting ready in approximately 400 square feet of space. Despite Dad’s fears of being able to accommodate his children and spouses/girlfriend, his setup is remarkable. He has enough chairs for us to sit outside and enjoy the weather, he has plenty of seating inside for us to eat or enjoy a movie. And with the Volvo, we all can sleep comfortably.

So, we were finally ready – beach towels, tanning oil, sunscreen – and left for the beach. It began to rain on us as we approached the line for the ferry. The ferry was going to be an hour wait so we opted to drive around. Ashley, Parker, Shane and I followed Mom, Dad, Thomas, and Haley as we took the 45 minute drive around. The rain cleared up allaying everyone’s fears, only to start again as we arrived at the beach. Ashley and Parker live on the beach and commented how maybe we were trying to make something out of nothing. Well they were not going to let a few sprinkles stop them so Parker and Ashley and Shane left for the water. I hung out in the car waiting for Thomas and Mom and Haley to return with the boogie board so I could leave the keys of the car with Mom. Well, my husband had other ideas and carried me, in spite of my protest, into the water. After a mouthful of water I survived and began to have fun. Thankfully, the rain cleared up within minutes and the sun began to shine. We all played catch with a football and caught a few waves on the boogie board when Thomas and Haley returned. Eventually, I'd had enough and with the sun out went to lay out with mom. She was the only one of us to not enter the water. For those of you who don’t know my mom, laying out is not a simple endeavor. She is a professional tanner and with her French heritage is able to obtain a gorgeous tan easily. She’s got numerous tanning oil formulas depending on the depth of her tan, the type of weather, etc. and once she is “set-up” you do not ask her to apply sunscreen or oil because that will mess up the perfect layers of “formula” she has applied. Well my husband was still swimming and as you will see in the pictures I am white. So after much cajoling, and a little guilt trip, she applied sunscreen to Dad’s back and to counteract the sunscreen she had applied I convinced her to apply some tanning oil to my back so I wouldn’t burn. I haven’t been to the beach in a few years and it was so nice to lay-out and relax and listen to the waves and feel the sun and wind. The rain was a great blessing as it kept the temperatures down and the day was quite perfect as far as weather is concerned. Eventually the men left the water and came in search of food which we had none of. So we packed up and left the beach around 5pm. We took the ferry back which didn’t have a wait. Dad and Thomas and Haley dropped Mom off at HEB so she could shop and the rest of us returned to the RV park. The water heater had been off since this morning so we packed up our things and we all got to experience the bath house. They were surprisingly nice and clean as well.

Shane and Nicole


Shane and Nicole


Dad and Ashley


Shane and Nicole


Thomas catching a wave


Dad catching a football, while Nicole tries to intercept, with no help from Ashley


Nicole's makes an amazing catch, with some help from Shane


Haley going long


It's a catch - by Dad


Shane going over and under to make a catch


Ashley catching a wave - is Thomas helping?


Thomas and Haley


Parker, Dad, Thomas and Shane - OUR MEN!


Mom searching for shells - her number two priority at the beach


Parker trying to coral mom and get her so we can go


Wait, she found another one


Thomas and Haley - waiting for mom to give up the search


Look at my sexy husband - former bodybuilder - he works very hard to maintain his awsome physique


Parker and Ashley


Parker and Nicole and Ashley


Shane - After Marines & Thomas - Before Marines

(stay tuned for Thomas' after appx. Sept. 2009)


"Look at what I found" says mom


Mom and Shane


Dad, Mom, Shane and Thomas

Dinner was group effort. We had homemade chicken nachos and French fries and fried shrimp for dinner. This is a slight change from what was previously planned because Shane and I do not like boiled sprimp. Upon mom's returned from the store, we went about unpacking the groceries and preparing for dinner. Mom had bought more than just stuff for dinner and as I was putting things away I noticed how “messy” the pantry and cabinets were. So, I emptied all the places she keeps food and reorganized and cleaned things up while everyone else cooked outside. (Obviously you could tell mom hadn't been here for a few weeks) The cabinets were not that bad, but Dad had recently moved (without Mom) and things had shifted and a shelf had fallen so things were disheveled. And being the neat freak that I am, I just couldn’t help myself. I come by my perfectionist tendencies honestly (Mom). Ashley and Haley and I cleaned the kitchen and washed dishes so Mom could relax. The guys cleaned up outside and we all sat down to watch a movie – "Taken". This is a really good movie (it was mine and Shane's third time to see it) that plays on every instinctive emotion a father or parent has concerning their child. Definitely rent this movie! Dad fell asleep in the recliner – nothing new there. So we sent him to bed to Mom who had turned in earlier. Shane and I only lasted another hour before we started nodding off, so we retired to the Volvo around 11. Ashley and Parker and Thomas and Haley finished the movie and Ashley and Parker came to bed, but I never heard them tired as I was. Earlier this morning we had made promises to plan Sunday’s activities before going to bed, but that didn’t happen. So, we will see what happens. I know we want to go crabbing, but I don’t know that we'll catch enough for dinner because Thomas has had traps out since he arrived on Thursday night and only caught three crabs. We might end up grilling. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s activities – you never know who might hi-jack tomorrow’s blog entry : )

Dad, Haley, Thomas, Shane, Ashley, Parker and Mom - we are finishing up dinner and getting ready to watch a movie. Look how much room and how pretty their home is! Mom and Dad have a really nice setup - We are so proud of them. They have worked very hard and gone without for our sakes for a number of years and are finally getting to relax and enjoy life and partake of some lifelong dreams. We couldn't be happier or prouder to call them MOM & DAD!

Until tomorrow, God willing, blessings and peace in the name of our Savior.

The Thurston's, Young's, and Jenkin's