Family Time

Gas for 2200 mile round trip.....................308.00

Boarding for 2 cats for 15 days................360.00

Hotel room for 14 days...........................1105.00

Hugging your 2 year old grandson...................Priceless!

Coen in a racing helmet from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

This was their Christmas card with the statement

"We are all revved up for Santa"

Coen's 2nd birthday party was December 18th.

He got lots of toys.

In the above photo he's playing with paper plates and plastic cutlery.

Christmas eve he decided to whet his appetite with a chocolate bonbon
followed by artichoke dip. Quite the gourmand.

My son Bob with his dad. John and Bob resemble each other more every day.

They share so many mannerisms.

My daughter Amber on the left and Bob's girlfriend Dawn on the right.

Amber, Bob and John with Coen in the front,

now interested in the salsa held by Dawn.

I'm not sure why Dawn didn't want to be in the photo,

but you can see she is flexible and very graceful even with her left arm in a sling

We drove in town from Texas to celebrate Coen's birthday and Christmas. When we left Mercedes TX it was 70 degrees and sunny. It was 10 degrees when we woke up this morning in Kansas City, and spitting snow.

We hope the kids come to Texas next year!

Ooooh-----Festive!!!!!!!

On December 5th at 5:30 the Christmas lights were officially turned on. In addition a golf cart parade took place. The residents decorate their carts with all manner of lights, tinsel and plastic reindeer. Many of us living on Cordoba met in my neighbors' Linda and Larry's driveway to cheer on the drivers. My other neighbor Candy baked cookies to give them. We were in a high state of excitement and really full of the holiday spirit. We caught sight of them three blocks behind us and my goodness they looked grand. We all got our cameras ready, and then they drove away! We were Scrooged over! Bah Humbug!

The above photo is a palm tree about ten feet tall.

A lot of the residents return here every winter. They own their lots and put pre-fab homes on them instead of R Vs. Some of the displays are so detailed I wonder where they store all the decorations.

Every neighborhood needs a little "Chevy Chase" themed yard.

This cowboy roping Rudolph actually rocks back and forth.

Another one of the pre-fab homes.

And now for the most festive tradition in the park.

The water aerobics class must wear Santa hats in the pool.

We have a workout choreographed to "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

After class we get in the hot tub for a while.

That's me in the middle and the instructor Diane to my right wearing reindeer antlers.

The woman second from the right in the picture is from Kearney Mo.

It's all about Bella

This is our dog, Bella. She is quite sure she's the world's best dog, and until lately had little patience for common canines. Her list of doggie friends was short and very selective.

The two cats who also live with us are tolerated so long as they understand their place in Bella's world, and that place is to entertain Bella.

She is blissfully unaware of her shortcomings intellectually.

Bella is a Yorkie, a breed not known for high intelligence, but Hey!--she's cute!

Here's Bella at the dog park inside our R V park. It's a wonderful area for the dogs, and some of the residents tell me they return here just because of it. When we arrived Bella was very shy. She loved going to the park but the other dogs scared her. She'd hide behind my legs and peek around, feeling like the new kid in school. I wouldn't let her off leash because she was so nervous. I wasn't sure she'd come back to me. Two and a half weeks have passed, and Bella is now struttin' her stuff. She knows and recognizes many of the dogs, now friends, that terrified her not long ago. She absolutely will not drink the lake water, no matter how many of the other dogs do, and is spell-bound when one of the dogs dives in for a swim. She stares in utter disbelief that any dog would get wet on purpose.

We make three trips a day to the dog park. I have told her it's Disney World and she believes me.