Sunday - February 11

A fun day with long-time boating friends in Punta Gorda.    It was our annual mini Mid Illini gathering and what a fun day it was!    Bill and Charmaine rode up with us and we all met at the Laishley Crab House for lunch and visit.    We girls sat together and yakkety yak and the guys did the same at their end of the table.    There were 20 of us!

 

After lunch we all went to Roger and Carol's beautiful condo on the Peace River for dessert and more visiting!   

 

Back:  Pat, Paula, Pat, Carol, Charmaine, Jeanne, Viv

Front:   Carolyn, Barb, Kathy

 

Back:   Paul, Cy, Mark, Mike, Glen, Bill, Roger, Fred

Front:  Roger, Ron

 

We missed Marcia who was back in IL for her son's open-heart surgery.

 

Back to the park around 4:15, sat on the patio for our little happy hour with Bill and Charmaine till a little shower chased us inside to their RV.   At 6:30 we all walked to the club house for the Sunday Night Ice Cream (homemade) Social.    Tonight's flavors were vanilla, chocolate, black cherry and salted caramel w + all the toppings.

Very good!    Then they had the old-fashioned pop corn popper going, so we had popcorn!

And that's the way it is - ice cream and popcorn for supper after a big lunch!

 

Tomorrow is the big day - we'll be leaving in the morning for Tampa RV Center and meeting our new Airstream, learning all the ins and outs, spending the night, + my brothers and wives are coming to visit!    They are just a short jaunt away in Lakeland!

 

Till tomorrow....nighty night from 2 excited nomads!

 

 

 

 

Saturday - Februay 10

It was 89 today......Mark had a "lying low" kind of day as he recovers from the shingles.     Neither of us did too much - he's tired so good day to have nothing planned.   I went for a short bike ride.

 

Bill and Charmaine went to 4:00 Mass at St. Francis Xavier with me - left Mark home to rest.

 

Had a Southwestern salad for dinner.

 

 

Friday - February 9

What a fun day with friends celebrating my upcoming birthday.    Mark and I started the day with him driving Daisy and me in Toad and off to get new tires for Daisy.     We then drove Toad to The Sweet Bean Café (a favorite) for breakfast (their grilled cinnamon bread is WONDERFUL)!

 

Mark took me to Starbucks downtown and off he went.   I had my skinny vanilla latte, read my kindle and chatted with Patty while waiting for Kathy and Claire to arrive.     They each got their drinks, we sat a bit and visited and then off to hit the shops.     We all had good luck and then to Cabo Cantina for a glass of wine before we headed to the Wisteria Tea Room for fabulous lunch and tea.   

 

Kathy, Pat, Claire

celebrating with dear friends!

 

The girls dropped me off at Preppy in Paradise and they went on home to Fort Myers Beach.     Mark picked me up and back to Daisy and happy hour with Bill and Charmaine.

 

Too many leftover boxes in fridge, so time to tackle those for supper (only 1).....there's always tomorrow....

 

Mark took Toad back late morning to pick up Daisy with her new tires.    He has had some soreness in his mid section (thinking he bruised ribs?)    But then a rash developed 2 days ago?    This was just one side.    I was telling the girls about it and they both immediately said "shingles"!    Whoaaaa....

 

Mark went to Urgent Care and sure enough, he has shingles.   He's on pills 3x a day for 1 week.   He's really not bothered by the rash and just occasional discomfort with the soreness, so....hopefully caught it in time!    Great diagnosis girls and sure thankful they had this figured out immediately! 

 

   According to the doctor we all have this shingle virus that lies dormant (from chicken pox) and stress or other factors can cause it to come out?

 

Not sure how long he would've waited before going to doctor?   He had the shingles shot when he turned 60 and thought it was for life.....next year they are coming out with another vaccine that is supposed to be more effective!

Liam's 7th grade basketball team placed 2nd in the class 2A state tournament last night!
Way to go Corpus Christi Saints!

Yesterday he went for his 13-year check-up and cheered on his classmates last night at the game.    But today he came home from school with a sore throat and went to bed!    Arghhh

 

Enjoy your weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday - February 8

The flowers and palm trees are so lush and pretty here at Cypress Trail

 

Mark helped me get the laundry over to club house (awesome laundromat) and I did 3 loads around 8ish before the crowds came.    He took Toad in to have some sort of cable installed and then rode his bike back,

 

We met Mark and Denise in May, 2015 shortly after we sold our house and were on Catrina in Annapolis for the air show.   They are from FL and currently cruising the month of February.     They had checked in with us (seeing from the blog that we would be in Fort Myers now).    And so we picked them up at the Legacy Marina and drove downtown for great lunch at The Lodge (BBQ).

It was so fun to catch up with them and hear about their adventures (we follow their blog, too).

 

Denise and Mark

 

It is such a pretty day.....especially knowing that yet another storm is heading to the Midwest (actually from Montana to Maine) - could be a doozy!

 

Beautiful sunset from Daisy tonight

Breathtaking

 

So sad to hear the news that Monsignor Greg Ketchum from Bloomington died early this morning after a 20-month battle with brain cancer (glioblastoma).    He was only 50 but what a tremendous inspiration he was to all.

 

So happy to see this big smile on Luke that he's feelin' good again!

A simple nose swab showed that Luke did not have the flu...

Fever, ear infection, etc.

Miss Maeve is now sitting in her booster chair

 

Wednesday - February 7

Another beautiful sunny 80ish day in south Florida!    We went to breakfast at The European Bakery Café with Bill and Charmaine after they took their Ty to doggie day care to play and be groomed!

 

Great breakfast and on back home for a bit till time to leave for Punta Gorda and meet friends, Lee and Tamara (Bloomington and winter on Anna Maria Island).    We sat and visited (almost 3 hours) over another great lunch at River City Grill and got caught up on what's been going on since last May 17th when we went to lunch in Bloomington!  

 

Tamara and Lee

 

Said our good byes and then stopped at Target for a few things and on home.    By now, it's happy hour time so sat with Bill and Charmaine - they toured the Edison Ford winter homes and museum today.     So we all yakked about what had happened since we went to breakfast.    Bill made some wonderful pork fajitas with his specialty beans (I added potato salad and cole slaw).    Tasty dinner and now back home and settled in.

 

 

Brady's 6th grade basketball team placed 2nd in their tournament last weekend!    Drew was head coach assisted by GrandBob (Brooke's Dad). 

 Brady (3rd from left holding trophy), Drew back row middle and GrandBob far right!

 

Way to go Concordia!