Day 1 St Augustine

It was a beautiful day in SA. The sky was sunny and the temperatures were breezy and perfect.

We checked in to the campground on Wednesday and had a good night of rest. The Retreat didn't start until 4PM so we had the morning to relax and do whatever before heading to Jacksonville.

I wanted to look for a new pair of summer shoes, so we headed to the outlet mall to check it out. I did find 2 pair of cute shoes. 

 Afterwards, we headed for a lunch place. I had noticed on one of the RV forums that a great place to eat was O Steens on Anastasia Island, so we decided to check it out for lunch. This restaurant is cash only and no reservations accepted. It was a little hole in the wall and you walk up to the outside window and give your name. We had to wait about 30 minutes before our name was called which wasn't too long a wait.

 The food was fantastic. I had the fried shrimp, with 2 side vegetables and David had the scallops. Everything was delicious and we would definitely recommend this place.

When we got home and unboxed my shoes, Bentley staked his claim on the shoe box. It doesn't fit him, but it didn't matter--in he went anyway. He looks like he's saying, "What's wrong, MOM?" "Didn't you get this box for me?"

The Tea and Stitches retreat is held at the Herbert Center on the University of North Florida campus. I attended last Spring and had such a great time, I wanted to come back again. Most of the people are from Jacksonville, so many know each other, but they are all so nice and it's easy to meet new friends here. The project this retreat is centered around  Jan's new quilt Romantic Baskets. Her pattern hasn't been releashed yet, so we were the first to see it. It has 2 versions, one in red and one in blue, both with beautiful hand embroidery stitches adorning the baskets.

The workmanship is incredible. You just can't stop looking at it. As usual Jan, her sister Jo, Kathy and Natalie out did themselves on putting together this retreat which is full of prizes and surprises.

When we arrived there was a pretty personal name tag complete with silk flower and ribbon, a free pattern of Jan's Romancing Baskets, a bud vase with silk yellow flowers and a  paper yellow flowered vase with chocolate candy. Even our items list for anything we might want to purchase was adorned with red ribbon flowers.

Let the fun begin,

                                         

                At 5:00 we had dinner. A buffet of delicious pork, green beans almondine, potatoes, spinach salad and coconut cake. Yum!!! When we returned to the classroom there was a beautiful red box with a lacy ribbon and flowers at each of our places.

In opening the box we found a kit for making  a 6" pincushion that will be our practice work for the Romancing Baskets quilt. In the box was the basket template, several types of hand dyed  silk threads and floss in various colors, a book of embroidery stitches, batting, and belt canvas to finish the pin cushion.

We worked until 8:00 appliqueing our basket on one side of our pin cushion. and doing reverse applique on the other side.

It was so much fun, but a long day.

We were hoping to see Ryan and family tonight, but the kids both had fevers, so we decided to wait until tomorrow when they were feeling better.

Headed to Florida

We are headed to Florida so that I can attend the Tea and Stitches Retreat http://www.grahamcrackercollection.com/classes/tea-stitches-retreat/
  at UNF in Jacksonville. The Bonus is that we will be staying in St Augustine and will be able to see Ryan, Najla and the kids while we are there.So looking forward to this.

Before our trip, the kitties are all due for a nice nail trim. Our process is to trim all their nails and after they are ALL trimmed, they each get a little pile of catnip, I did Finny, followed by Bentley and then Nickie. As each of them finished one by one they go over to the spot in the kitchen where I give them their catnip and wait for their treat. I really think they enjoy their nail trimming time.

To get ready for the trip, we headed to Petsmart to load up on kitty food. As I was putting it away in the pantry I turned around to throw out the empty cat food box and there was Bentley sitting in the empty box with Nicky looking on. (Look between Bentley's ears). Ha ha, Very cat-like.

We drove down to Forsyth, Ga  for an over night stop and the kitties just settled right in. They love their bunk and having their own beds on the top bunk (with their own window) and their bathroom below in the the lower bunk.

The next morning Bentley had a great time watching the big gooses walk around the campground.

I did have the bed made, but while riding, Bentley likes to get under the covers and ride. In the old motor home he would get under the pillows and we could look back and watch all the pillows flying up in the air as he crawled under them. Crazy Kitty.

Next post, I should have some Retreat pictures.

Delayed Post

Well, I have not been very good about posting pictures after Christmas. It was a lot of fun in St Augustine over Christmas.  After that I became very lax with the blog posting and even taking pictures. I so have one last post, however.

 While we there I took Bentley for a nice walk along the trails at the campground and along the river. He was a bit nervous with all that water around him so we moved on.

 He did enjoy meeting his first chicken or chickens. They were just clucking and pecking along the road and under the bushes as we came by and he just had to get a good look at them.

 Back at the MH he was hamming it up for the camera. I think he wants to be a model.

We had a recall on the MH, so after St Augustine we had to drive to the dealer in Lakeland to get that done. They were very fast and in a matter of  half  an hour or so we were on our way the Crystal River where we were staying for a few more days. We stayed at Rocker Crusher RV Resort which was actually very nice. It was very large, but there was lots of space in between campsites, making it very enjoyable.

 The kitties were enjoying it also as you can see.

The next morning we went for breakfast at Mama Sally's and it was very good except for the biscuits. They were square and rather dry & tasteless, but everything else was good.

 When we arrived back at the MH the ALL 3 kitties were enjoying the dashboard and watching everyone walking their dogs, riding their bikes and just walking by.

 We decided they might like a little go out time in their play pen. The weather was so nice. Nicky is telling us all about it.

 After their go out time we put on Nicky's favorite mouse and lizard video on our TV in the bedroom. He just couldn't take his eyes off those mouses and even Bentley decided to join him.

The next day Maryann came over and we went to lunch at Crackers. Nice views and the food was plentiful. We ate outside on the deck and then went for a walk There were a few tour boats leaving for Manatee viewing.

 Back at the MH Finnegan is in his favorite spot and Nicky has found a new spot--David's sock drawer.

After we left Crystal River we drove to Montgomery to spend a couple of days with Becky and Mike before they moved to Seattle. It was a last minute decision and we had trouble finding a campground and Mike insisted that we park in their driveway. It was very convenient and we had a wonderful visit. On Sunday we went down to Andalusia to visit my Aunt Charlotte. We had such a nice time. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, but Becky did so I'll just refer you to her blog. She has been so good about posting recently and I have not. 

http://keepingitgoinginalabama.blogspot.com/2016/01/new-year-2016.html

http://keepingitgoinginalabama.blogspot.com/2016/01/final-good-byes-and-caramel-cake.html

http://keepingitgoinginalabama.blogspot.com/2016/01/insomnia.html

More Christmas Fun

We had such a great time with the family in St Augustine.I'm going t try to post some of the videos we took. Many are too large to post here so I'll have to post on my Tails From Tennessee Youtube page.

https://youtu.be/Ma1pwhmyIN0

Maryann sent Emma a new baby doll and she loved it.
https://youtu.be/X5Bw6GNEhXQ

We gave Trevor a Thomas the Train and they both had a great time with it,
https://youtu.be/bQGjBUCpPNE

More Thomas
https://youtu.be/paJPyBi1Wd4

David Meyer gave the kids an electric car and they had great fun with it.
https://youtu.be/9wv6VeuXBrE

https://youtu.be/XmmAjEXK-4I


I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow.

A Wonderful Christmas

We arrived in St Augustine on Christmas Eve Day. After picking up our rental car we headed for North Beach campground. As you can see Finnegan and Bentley enjoyed the ride.

We love this campground. It is woodsy and close to restaurants and both the river and the beach. We could only get 3 days here, so will will have to move to another CG on out last day. All the CGs are full due to the holidays and the snowbirds. We had reserved a Toyota Corolla at Enterprise, but when we got there they said they were out of smaller cars and would we mind taking a Lincoln SUV. I told them they might have to twist my arm, but OK. Nice ride.

We walked over the Aunt Katie's for lunch after checking in the CG. The food and the views are always good here.

We were anxious to see Najla and Ryan's new house. It is so nice, lots of room with a separate playroom off the family room for the kids. Fully fenced back yard for the kids and pets. Four bedrooms, and lots of space.

Christmas Eve was very nice. Najla's parents live in JAX and came down to spend the holidays. It was so nice to see them again. Christmas morning all the presents were there from Santa and everyone opened their gifts. What fun.

 We gave Emma a Princess nightgown which she wore all day. This is one of many Princess dresses she has and wears to a frazzle..

                                     
                                                     GiGi sent her a new baby doll which she loved.

Trevor is taking a break from opening his gifts. That's really hard work.

Santa brought them a dollhouse and they can both play at the same time. I love Ryan's Indian head dress feather.

                                            Emma got a new bicycle with training wheels.

 
    Trevor, after his diaper change went streaking thru the house and outside.

 More pictures later.

GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS IN ST. AUGUSTINE

We will be headed for St Augustine for the Christmas holiday. You can see how much Nickie is anticipating the trip.

In preparation, we are making a batch of our traditional Crock Pot Christmas Crack. Lots of it to share with friends and family.

Bentley and Nickie waiting for us to pack up and get started. Finnegan is no where to be found.

It took us most of Tuesday to get everything loaded into the motor home. Multiple trips to the store for items we needed to take, groceries and kitty food. We decided to load up in the storage facility, spend the night there and get an early start on Wednesday morning. We thought this might help Finnegan to get all settled in before we hit the road. We were wrong. Getting him into the kitty carrier and to the motor home without throwing up was unsuccessful. He threw up on the way and again the next morning. Poor kitty. He's just so nervous, but once he settles in he is just fine.

We drove until we reached the campground in Lake Park, Ga at about 3 PM. This was a new campground for us and very, very nice. It is at Grassy Pond which is the Moody Air force Base recreational facility. It is open to the public and has lots of amenities. The prices was about half of what we normally pay and was a very quiet relaxing campground. Due to all of the rain everything was very wet so we couldn't take Bentley for a walk. It is definitely one we would stay at again.

Lots of space between camp sites, large mossy oak trees. There was a 3.1 mile walking trail through the woods. The sign below says to watch for snakes, alligators and poisonous plants. YEP now we are almost in Florida--just 5 miles from the State line.

Next door there was someone in a trailer that lives there full time based on the number of plants and outside patio items. Also, their little black and white kitty came out to see Bentley and Nickie sitting in our bedroom window. The little black kitty kept blinking "hello" to our 2. He must have been happy to make some new friends.

Finnegan was all stretched out on the back of the couch in his favorite spot.

For dinner our first night out we had homemade chili and cornbread. Great camping meal for a rainy night.

Thursday we are headed to St Augustine.