A WEDDING IN THE PARK

                   

Once upon a time there was a wedding in the park....  Our son, Stephen, was married in the beautiful park overlooking Mobile Bay in Fairhope, Alabama on May 8, 2014.  His bride, Raegan Smith became his forever friend and wife in this sweet, private wedding ceremony.

                   

The wedding was originally planned to be held on the beach in Gulf Shores.  Upon arriving we discovered that the wind was wild and holding a veil on might become a problem along with crowds of people.  They planned to stay in Fairhope, Alabama following the wedding so we suggested that they take a look at the Fairhope park at the municipal pier.  The minute they saw it they fell in love.  Beautiful green grass, tall beautiful trees overlooking the gorgeous Mobile Bay complete with a fountain and blooming roses. 

                    

                    

Since this was a small family wedding, changing the venue was no problem.  A phone call to the minister and everything was set. 

We couldn't have been happier since Mike and I fell in love with Fairhope during the winter of 2010 when we stayed at Rainbow Plantation.  Fairhope was named the second best small town in the south by Southern Living magazine.  It certainly isn't hard to see why!!  It was founded in 1894 as a single tax colony.  The municipal pier was also opened in 1894 and played a vital role in the development of the area!!

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

               

The weather was perfect and the wedding sweet and personal. We are so happy to see Stephen begin his family with Raegan and welcome her with open arms to our family!!

 

Wedding Bells…Staying Busy

                   

               

Our little Casita has sat in the driveway looking rather lonely and forlorn for the last few weeks since our return from the Green Eggs and Ham Rally.  There is a good reason....no there is a fantastic reason!!!  Our son, Stephen, is getting married May 8th on the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  His bride-to-be, Raegan Smith, is a wonderful young lady and we couldn't be more excited about having her join our family. Even though we are the parents of the groom we have been very active in the planning and organizing for this exciting event, along with the bride and groom of course!!  There will be more about this in a later blog.

                               

We have also been very busy helping them move into their new apartment in Auburn.  This is a beautiful apartment complex on a lovely golf course.  They have a nice apartment and are having lots of fun decorating it and putting their unique stamp on it.

                                

When we "purged" our "stuff" to full-time we made sure to save many furniture items for Stephen.  These went into storage during our full-time stint and then in our basement until now.  Their apartment is full!!!

On top of all this excitement we discovered that our house was in great need of painting.  Our last several homes have all been brick until now....what were we thinking????  When we bought the house, 3 years ago, the gentleman that owned it had it painted.  We felt really good about that but little did we know that he took the easy route...not much scraping and priming so this job didn't last.  It's a big job but Mike is doing a great with it.  We decided since we had to paint, now was a good time to change the color, slightly. 

                  

We went from what I call blue, technically it is a blue/gray, but it looked blue to me, to a deeper gray color.  In my humble opinion, it looks so much better.

                   

This coming week we will be cleaning and getting the Casita ready for a road trip to Gulf Shores State Park.  We will stay there for the wedding festivities and then a couple days after to enjoy our favorite spots in this area.  We plan to meander our way back home after that.  We will be posting where we land along the way.  We may not be full-timers any longer but we are crazy passionate about RVing/camping and whenever we get ready to "go" we get soooo excited.  Hitch itch still strikes...quite often. 

Green Eggs and Ham Rally

              

Gerri and I are attending our first Casita rally. It is being held at Gunter Hill COE outside of Montgomery, Al. There are “eggs, eggs” everywhere, the most we have ever seen. We were able to meet a few people that we have got to know through blogging. We met Jerry and Wanda of http://eggrollings.blogspot.com/ and Lynn and David of http://casitandesert.blogspot.com/. It is really neat to meet folks whose blog you have been reading; it puts the people with their stories.

            

Last night we went down to the pavilion and enjoyed some music being played by some very talented members of the rally. Jerry had built a really good fire and all was going well until the rains came.

              

Those rains lasted all during the night, but sounded relaxing as it fell on our egg. This morning the rains were gone, but we know the cold front was pushing them out. The winds have been strong today as it is bringing in the colder temps.

 

             

We walked around the campgrounds and stopped by to see some friends we met last year. John and Ellen just happened to be in the area and decided to stay at this campground the same time we are here. We picked up right where we left off last time we saw them. A good time with good friends!

              

             

We are looking forward to Thursday as it is suppose to be sunny with the high in the mid 50’s!

A Life Well Lived…and Loved

 

                      

Fourteen and a half years ago Cody came into our lives and boy did he ever make his way into our hearts.  We remember our 4 hour drive to Dublin, Georgia to pick him up as an 8 week old puppy.  We had recently traveled to Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado and Montana and decided to name him after the town of Cody Wyoming.  As he grew, all he wanted to do is to sit on the sofa with us or even work his way into our lap.  Needless to say, as he got much bigger, the lap didn’t work.

                    

Cody wasn’t a Golden that liked to go fetch or retrieve items, but he did like to play in the yard and roll around on his back.  When he was full-grown, we put him in our fenced in backyard so he could be out and about safely.  He truly loved outdoors when we were at work, and loved spending time with us when would get home.

                   

When Gerri and I went fulltime, Cody made such a great transition from being in the yard to living in our motorhome with us.  Even though the bedroom was small, he would always sleep at the base of the bed on my side or Gerri’s…or even share both bedsides with us.  He was such a grand “fulltime” Golden rv’er.  When we spent the winter at an Escapees park in Summerdale, Alabama, Cody had the time of his life there.  We stayed in a friends backyard and Cody make himself at home with the birdbath…thinking the water was for him.

                  

When we came off the road, Cody stayed in the house with us from then on.  He would be with us wherever we found ourselves in the house.  He loved to walk with us and each night we would go on a walk through the neighborhood and he was so happy.

Wednesday night, Cody had a seizure that lasted 2 hours, and I think he may have also had a stroke.  We gave him Phenobarbital to end the seizure, but Cody never really recuperated. Our vet recommended giving him a few days to see if he would improve, so Gerri and I kept food in him and got water into his system.  This morning we went to talk to our vet about Cody.  When we explained his condition 5 days after his problem, he suggested it was time.  Even though we knew it, it still hurt.  Cody was a part of our family!!!

Our vet came to our home and helped us take that step for Cody and we said our Good-byes to our friend and family member.  Cody epitomized everything about a Golden, he was our friend, family member and a grand companion.  He gave us as much love as we gave him!

Rest In Peace my friend, you so well deserve it!  We Love You!

                

Winter Weather Confusion

 

This winter we have seen some crazy swings in the temperatures.  This past Monday the temps were in the 60’s and then Tuesday we got about 2” of combined ice and snow with the temps dropping into the mid 20’s Tuesday night.

             

             

When we woke up and started our day Wednesday, the highs got up to around 34 with the temps plummeting down to 6 degrees Wednesday night.  Obviously, nothing thaws at 6 degrees.

             

             

With all this snow Gerri and I made sure our birds had plenty of food and they enjoyed their snacks.

                   

This woodpecker was enjoying his fill of shelled peanuts.  Of course we had plenty cardinals around to partake.

                  

                  

                  

Today the temps are climbing into the mid 50’s and will be almost 70 on Sunday.  What a transition.

A Little of this and Little of that…and A Merry Christmas

It has been a few weeks since our last outing which says there hasn’t been a lot going on in the camping part of our lives lately…but that is soon to be changing as we have a road trip planned after the first of the year.

We have kind of been tweaking our egg a bit since our last outing.  We have added a Paha Que screen room with the rain fly for more outdoor room which we are anxious to use.  It is the 10x10 size and it will add so much more protected room.

                 

On a funnier note, we have gone from a full bed to twin bed and back and forth, but, for now, have decided on the full bed sleeping arrangement.  So many choices, I don’t know what to do.  When we purchased the egg from the previous owner, they had modified it to accommodate a wider twin bed and had the foam/memory foam to go with it.  Since then, we bought the Spa Sensations full size mattress and now have the ability to have either sleeping arrangement.  As Casita owners know, you can even have king bed sleeping arrangements.  We have 2 Shihtzus that travel with us and one is 16 years old and feels she has to sleep with us….

On another good note, our son is engaged and has set the wedding for a spring time date…actual day coming later.  We are excited for him and happy for her.  Raegan is a really nice young lady and blends so well in our family.

                     

We are all ready for Christmas and have enjoyed getting the house decorated and seeing all the colors of Christmas.

                    

                    

                    

                    

Gerri and I want to wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas.  May we always remember the true purpose of the season.

For the Beauty of the Earth…

 

                  

Gerri and I decided the time was right, the weather was good and the leaves were at their peak in the north Georgia mountains, so…off we went.  Destination, Cloudland Canyon State Park, journey…the view and serenity of the trip!  When we got there the first of the week, there were not many campers but was told they were full for the weekend.  Being that we enjoy less of a crowd, we left before the weekend arrived and enjoyed a very quiet and beautiful week at Cloudland. 

We drove on the road so lined with beautiful trees to the lookout area, hiked some of the trail and just enjoyed the beauty of the trees at this season of the year.

    

                                     

   

                                     

   

                                   

    

                                     

We just kind of hung out in the park and enjoyed being… with the exception of the strong winds and rain Thursday night.   We meandered back home Sunday only to discover our backyard full of the same beautiful colors that we had left in the mountains…God’s beauty is everywhere!

   

                                      

It has been a great week!