Gina's Jewels

My home office....

After our morning worship, Phillip, Suzette, Amber and Riley came over to join us for the Sunday morning breakfast buffet. It gave us just a little bit more time to visit plus Suzette had a piece of jewelry she was interested in. It’s always a downer when a fun weekend comes to an end and responsible employed individuals have to return to their jobs.

Later, while I was working on my jewelry and website, two ladies from the park came by and purchased several necklaces and bracelets from me.  Here's a picture of me in my office...

 

After I finished working, Stephan grilled chicken breasts which I served with rice and fresh green beans. After lunch, I returned to my website work and the guys to their games. It was another relaxing day.

We snacked on cantaloupe all afternoon and really weren’t hungry in the evening. Regardless, I needed something to go with my wine, so I tossed a salad for our dinner. ;0)    Later, we watched a few Andy Griffith shows before going to bed.

Deep-down belly laughs...

On Saturday, we stayed around our park, reclined in the lawn chairs, read, played games and Stephan grilled some filet mignons for lunch. Elvis enjoyed getting a shampoo in the sunshine, eating bacon and going bike riding with Wagner.

After lunch, I managed to finally get some new jewelry photos taken so that I could update my online store. The guys battled on X-box and watched Planet Earth. It was a decadently lazy day.

  Phillip called in the evening to insist that we join them at their park for dinner. After devouring Chef Andy’s dinner last night, it was impossible to resist even though we weren’t really hungry. Cocktails and dinner with the group was a blast. The kids visited around a campfire while the adults shared their own stories.

Georgie, a spirited Cuban fellow, had us laughing out loud with his stories and gestures. One of his stories was about how he met his wife, Beth, a criminal lawyer. I’ll boil down his animated entertaining version. He was driving through a parking lot in his corvette and saw this “knock-out” walking along with her mother and some guy. He started to drive away but just couldn’t resist. He had to meet her so he cruised over , presented himself and gave her his business card along with the request that “she call sometime so they could enjoy dinner together”. About 2 weeks later, she telephoned and asked him if “he always put his card in strange women’s purses”. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to go out with him but did agree to drive by and check him out. She questioned how he’d handle it if she came by to look him over and then just drove off IF she decided he wasn’t cute. Being the quick-witted guy that he is, he replied with “what if you DO think I’m cute and then I just drive away?” Of course, he embellished the story with comments like “she would have missed out on the Grand Prize”, etc. At that point, she was hooked and they have been married for several years.

Gourmet camping....

Stephan’s “natural alarm clock” woke us up before the automatic coffee pot started. He had fishing on his mind. We drank a cup of coffee and were out the door at 5:40. My understanding was that I was only going to drop him off, so I didn’t even bother getting dressed. I got in the truck in my nightgown and robe only to find out later that on our way to drop him off, we were stopping to purchase ice, squid, and minnows. O.K.

So we get to the bait shop and it’s not open yet; opens at 6 am. This gave Wagner and Stephan just enough time to load up the cooler at the ice machine. Phillip greeted us and helped Stephan transfer all his fishing stuff onto the boat.

We returned home and after reading to Wagner for a bit, I dozed off for a morning nap. Afterwards, we ate breakfast and then went to do some shopping in PC. Wagner wanted to take advantage of the model sale at Hobby Lobby. He was very happy with the deal he got on two airplane models.

When we got back home, we ate some sandwiches and then headed out to the beach to meet Suzette. After visiting for a bit we noticed that her friends were located just a short distance from us. Amy was there with her 13 year old daughter, Tiffany and another friend, Beth was lying out while her daughter played in the waves with one of her school friends. We relocated our towels, etc. so that we could visit with them knowing the young girls would persuade Wagner to join them in the water. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before he was bobbing in the waves with them and having a great time.

We spent a few hours on the beach and then drove back to the campsites to see what the fishermen had brought home. Stephan hooked the biggest fish of the day BUT it broke his 125 lb. test line. They all caught several large red snappers but had to release them as they are not in season. The spoils included some large grouper and mangrove snapper.

One of the fishermen, Andy, is a chef who is in the process of opening a new restaurant just outside of Tallahassee. Andy took up a collection and while he went to the grocery store to get the items we still needed for dinner, we went back home to take showers. We returned to the group for an incredible dinner. Andy blackened some of the fish and had all the extras to make fish tacos. He also prepared fettuccini Alfredo, spring rolls and a casserole which included the grouper and some crab meat. I took along some homemade balsamic vinaigrette to complement an extraordinary tossed salad. The spread also included loaves of French bread, watermelon, beer, wine, and soft drinks.

 

In our dictionary, "tips" = "seafood"...

Wednesday was another day of school work in the morning while Stephan put in his volunteer hours here at the resort. His body is really sore as he has been washing and waxing rigs for 3 days now. He received his first “tip” for a job well done on the rig he worked on today!  He worked on Monday this week so that he could have Thursday off.  Well, someone else really wanted their rig waxed and he, of course, IS the BEST man for the job. After some consideration, he agreed to work on Thursday anyway. 

My sister, Dorrie called and we finally had a chance to visit. They have been really busy with their new jobs plus they also just moved into an apartment in San Antonio. They sold their house last year and had been sharing a home with Perry’s mother and sister. Regardless of how much you love your family, we all have to admit that it is always nice to have your own space.

Wagner and I spent some time out in the pool during the afternoon. After Stephan came home from work, we all spent the rest of the day just relaxing.

Stephan waxed the “extra” rig on Thursday morning. It ended up not interfering with any plans as Phillip and Suzette were not arriving in town until late afternoon. The tip money from this job came in handy for the seafood dinner we all enjoyed at Hunt’s in the evening. Our growing boy put away a pound of Cajun steamed shrimp, one oyster, two chunks of garlic toast, a large Sprite and Key Lime pie. We all chuckled about his extended tummy afterwards!

 

 

I think I have a handsome brother and a beautiful, fun sister-in-law!  

After dinner, we returned to St. Andrews State Park to meet some of Phillip’s fishing buddies. Mayo, his wife, Amy, and her daughter, Tiffany were getting settled in to the site right next to Phillips’. We visited with them a bit but left early as the plan was to meet EARLY the next morning for the guys to head off shore for some serious fishing.

Grouting tile or washing rigs....

Usually Stephan is off on Monday but he decided to work today instead of Thursday this week. Phillip and Suzette are returning on Thursday and he wants to be free to spend as much time with them as possible.

He wasn’t really looking forward to going in to work. Last week he put in a new sink and retiled a bathroom. Seems he did such a fine job, they wanted him to do a few more. This would usually be a project he’d enjoy but there are some issues with the way the first part of the project was completed. Well, his prayers were answered. During his morning break, he informed us that he was not doing grout work but instead was washing and waxing other RVs today. Seems there are others that want their rigs to sparkle like ours. Poor guy, his arms are still aching from the weekend.  This is one of the lil' rigs he spit shined....

As for Wagner, the thrill of the 3-wheeler hasn’t worn off. He is enjoying running Elvis around the park then plopping him in the basket for another round. This week the Legos are pushed into the corner of our living room again and he is focused on a F-16 model.

School went quickly on Tuesday and Wagner and I left the park before lunch to run some errands. Stephan left our broken closet door at Panama City Glass for repairs and it was ready for us to pick up. The mirror in the door cracked last summer. Replacement doors were shipped to us on two separate occasions but they each arrived damaged. After that, our manufacturer disappeared. Anyway….out of fear that we’d crack the new door, we made it our last stop for the day before heading home. The door slid in the back resting on the back seat which meant that Wagner had to sit up front. Within 3 minutes, he had touched every button, lever, switch and knob on the dashboard. Fortunately, we were only 8 miles from home.

Cleanest rig in the park.....

The weather was beautiful on Saturday. We started the day with the breakfast buffet and visiting at the clubhouse. Afterwards, we each had our own plans for the day. As my little Spendide washed several loads of laundry, I reclined in the sunshine reading and relaxing. Wagner rode his bike, played games and went go-cart riding with Andrew, our current neighbor who is visiting from GA. The only ambitious one in our group, Stephan, spent his entire day washing and waxing the rig, only taking a break at lunch to grill up some cheeseburgers. You can be sure he did an awesome job and the rig looks great. He was exhausted in the evening, feeling like his arms weighed about 100 lbs. each.

After we all cleaned up and changed into our jammies, we ate dinner and watched a few new Mythbusters episodes. Sunday morning began as usual, worshipping with Ed Young and Joel Osteen followed by the breakfast buffet at the clubhouse. Afterward, Stephan went right to work cleaning the awning. It looks better now than when we first purchased the rig!

It was a cloudy day with a 40% chance of thunderstorms so I spent my time indoors organizing my inventory of unread school books. While labeling and organizing them in date order might sound a bit obsessive, it saves time in the long run so that I can read them as we move through that time period in our history lessons. Almost all of our read alouds are “living history” books or biographies.

I made some pasta and the last of our fish for dinner and also baked a fresh pan of Peach Crisp which the guys enjoyed with ice cream as we watched the first half of the “The 10 Commandments”.

A dog and his chauffer.......

The snowbirds are preparing to head north for the summer, including new friends we have made at this resort. One of the couples generously offered to leave their bicycles for us to use during their absence. They thought their 3-wheeler would be ideal for me to cruise around on. Well, I haven’t had an opportunity to ride it yet, but Wagner has already covered many miles cycling around the park. It didn’t take long before he started chauffeuring Elvis all around. It’s really adorable seeing these two coasting around carefree with the breeze in their hair.

The weather has been fabulous and we are enjoying spending time outside. After it started to cool down in the evening, I made some corn tortillas and pico de gallo for our taco dinner, and then we ended the evening watching an episode of “Planet Earth.

Grilling days....

It hasn’t taken us long to settle back into the Florida lifestyle. We are appreciating the warm days and cool nights knowing that much warmer weather is on its way.

We spend a lot of our time reading and I realized I hadn’t mentioned what we’ve been reading in a while. So, for those interested, our recent reading list includes Adam of the Road (Gray), Archimedes and the Door of Science (Bendick), Beowulf (Nye), The Door in the Wall (De Angeli), The Bronze Bow (Speare), and Herod the Great (Green). This week our real aloud is The Ides of April (Ray) and, for his personal reading, Wagner is still plugging along in Brisingr (Paolini). You can see how important library access is to us!

We’d all rather be at the beach than doing schoolwork but remain committed to our 5th grade coursework. Recently, Wagner has not looked forward to Grammar or specifically writing book reports. He does a good job with the outline and draft but absolutely loathes having to rewrite his paper. I know this stems from his type “B” personality. I wonder how much he really needs to rewrite his papers versus using the computer and making edits. It may be easier on all of us if he masters “Typing 101” soon!

Stephan’s work has included updating one of the resort’s bathrooms. He installed a new sink, tile and is now completing the grouting work.  We all enjoyed some BBQ ribs during his hour lunchbreak and chicken fajitas for dinner.   The weather is absolutely perfect for grilling!

 

Easter weekend......

We started our Easter morning with an excellent service from Ed Young (a Pastor in the Dallas area) and then met Phillip & Suzette at the clubhouse around 8 am.  Everyone selected their preferences from the eggs, sausage, ham, hash browns, grits, biscuits, gravy, toast, etc. On weekends, the resort offers a breakfast buffet to all guests for $5 per person. We get to eat free as a part of Stephan’s compensation.

The guys were still eager to catch some fish, so we all drove back to the beach for a few hours. It was still windy but the water wasn’t as rough and was clearing up. Stephan and Phillip brought in the catch (pictured below) while fishing from the jetties. Unfortunately, our party had to end. Phillip & Suzette are working on Monday which meant that they had to return to Tallahassee.

 

After saying our goodbyes, Stephan cleaned and grilled some of the fish, which we ate with a salad. I baked a pan of peach crisp to enjoy while we watched “The Greatest Story Ever Told”. It’s a perfect movie for Easter but is over 3 hours long, so we only watched the first half.

On Monday, while Stephan worked with Wagner on school stuff, I drove to the Panama City library. It’s worth the few extra miles as this is a fantastic library. I paid $15 for a library card and am absolutely delighted about their book collection. They even have a chess club that meets on Monday afternoons!

I continued on to the community mall for some unhurried browsing before returning home. While I was out, a thunderstorm blew in and the sky got very dark. The rain started pouring down just as I was crossing Hathaway Bridge back to Panama City Beach. The rain lasted the rest of the day which was actually a good thing as our skin needed time to heal from the weekend sun. We watched the rest of our movie and enjoyed a spaghetti dinner with lots of garlic bread.

Another great day....

St. Andrews State Park was full, so Phillip came by in the morning to reserve a space at our park for tonight. We met them at the beach, to soak up some sunshine, watch the surfers and provide for some fishing time. The double red flags were still out, the wind was blowing and the water was rough. While the surfers appreciated it, it caused a bit of fishing gear to be sacrificed to the jetties. Even so, the guys had a good time and brought in one fish – just enough for an appetizer.

   

 

We nibbled on fish, artichokes, sundried tomatoes and crackers while Stephan grilled hamburgers and sausage for a late lunch. Lunch also included a delicious green salad topped with red peppers, hearts of palm, and avocado tossed in balsamic vinaigrette.

After lunch, the guys looked after their fishing gear and talked “fish” while Suzette browsed through my jewelry inventory. She is about the same age and very much like my sister, Dorrie. We’re hoping that they’ll get the opportunity to meet soon.

 

 

In the evening, Phillip and Suzette went to visit some of their local friends and enjoy a cocktail. The three of us, tired from another great day in the sun, relaxed and watched a few episodes of Gomer Pyle before going to bed.

It was a very "Good Friday"...

On Friday morning, Stephan washed his truck while Wagner and I took care of some schoolwork. By mid-morning we were on our way to hook up with Phillip and Suzette at St. Andrews State Park. They were done setting up their rig and ready to spend some time on the beach before lunch.

The wind was blowing and two red flags were raised warning everyone of the hazardous conditions. Surfers crowded around taking full advantage of the waves. After we spent about an hour visiting and enjoying the beach, we set off for lunch at Hunt's Oyster Bar (http://www.huntsoysterbar.com/).

 

Lunch started with 3 dozen oysters, two raw and one order of 3-cheese. Although Wagner was initially disgusted at the sight of them, he was eventually persuaded into trying his first raw oyster, served with a bit of Tabasco sauce on a saltine cracker. After keeping us in suspense and uncertain if he was going to spit it back out or worse, he finally got it all down and said, “It was good but it sloshed around too much in my mouth. I don’t want anymore.” Suzette also ate a well-designed salad while the rest of us stuffed ourselves with fried shrimp, grouper, okra, French fries, key lime pie, and turtle pie.

Afterward, we returned to our resort and took our overfed, bloated bodies out for some pool time. Suzette and I chatted poolside while the guys visited and played inside the pool.

Later, we enjoyed a glass of wine on the patio before Stephan drove Phillip and Suzette back to their rig. It was a great day – we love spending time with them.

Working for the weekend....

Stephan started work at 8 am and will work until 4:30 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. When he left, Wagner and I got an early start on our school work, finished at lunch and took a ride to the local library. It turns out this librarian doesn’t go the extra mile to keep kids reading. She would not issue us a temporary card and will only issue a permanent card when I can show a local utility bill with my name on it. This is not good news for a homeschool family. I’ll have to work on a way around her system.

 

On Wednesday, Wagner and I ventured out again as I just couldn’t wait any longer to walk on the beach. We found a beach entrance with plenty of parking available close to St. Andrews State Park. The soft, white sand felt absolutely wonderful as we ran and played for a bit. The wind was blowing, the red beach warning flags were out and I was covered with goose bumps, so it wasn’t an ideal day to hang out.

 

After stopping to replenish our milk and bread supply, we spent the better part of the day engrossed in our book of the week. I read aloud while Wagner listened and constructed with Legos. His Lego building had been on hold for a few months while he was preoccupied with models.

 

We’re really looking forward to spending time with my brother and his wife this weekend. Phillip and Suzette are bringing their RV down and staying at St. Andrews State Park which is located only a few miles from us.

Roaring lion....

Monday was a beautiful, sunny day. We enjoyed having our windows open letting the fresh air breeze through. Unfortunately, before long, we got a bit chilled and had to close all the windows. It seems that some cold weather followed us to Florida. Warm enough for some people to swim yet cool enough for others to wear jackets.

We visited the front office to introduce ourselves, browse through the facilities and check for mail. While we were there, we met Jerry and his wife, Lorrie, who welcomed us to the resort and conducted our orientation.

Afterwards, we stopped by the rig to pick up Elvis and went for a walk. This park is right next to Zoo World. The picture below is from the street corner. I can’t wait to see all the animals inside.

 

When we returned home, Stephan grilled thick, juicy cheeseburgers for our lunch. They were seasoned just right and we devoured them in a very short time.

We walked Elvis around the resort later in the evening and crossed paths with a cute little yorkie named Presley. While Elvis did his best to impress Presley, we visited with her owners. Their site, which backs up to the zoo, was filled with the sound of a lion roaring! It must have been feeding time because the roaring was very loud -- making it very hard for Elvis to focus on appearing masculine.

Panama City Beach or Cancun?

Our last few days in Potosi were spent finishing up our individual projects before leaving town.    Stephan completed building the log cabin pictured above which will be added to the 18-hole miniature golf course.   Wagner completed the wood model pirate ship he purchased from the Crafts center and I helped the Country Store staff complete their semi-annual inventory.  

Since our projects were completed and we were not scheduled to work any additional hours, we adjusted our travel plans to avoid the next predicted cold front.   We telephoned our destination and were given the go ahead to arrive early so our new plans were to depart Potosi on Saturday afternoon and arrive in Panama City on Monday morning.

The guys went up to enjoy one last breakfast at the lodge before our departure which blessed them with the opportunity for some additional last goodbyes.   Somehow, even though we seemed to take our time, visit, etc. we still managed to get on the road by 9:30.   We ended up driving 9 hours as we just couldn’t find a good place (Walmart) to park for the night.   Finally, we stopped in a truck stop which offered a huge parking lot in the back for truckers.   We secured our spot way in the back and settled in for the night.   We all slept hard enough to not be disturbed by the traffic around us (this was evident by the fact we were surrounded by trucks in the morning).    We enjoyed some coffee and breakfast and continued on our journey.  

The weather on Saturday was beautiful and sunny.   We weren’t as fortunate on Sunday.   Although we drove in the rain most of the day, we still arrived in Panama City before dinner.   Panama City Beach was PACKED with spring break crowds.   SCARY.   Even with high gas prices, the teenagers continue to load up in the cars and cruise the strip flirting with each other.   It was really sad to see such a large percentage of young people smoking, wearing sagging pants (or next to nothing to show off their tattoos) and so hungry for attention.   These were not just college students, there were many kids about Wagner’s size hanging out looking for action.   Although we all looked, we only spotted 3 families together.   I’m sure it is just because families don’t cruise the strip.  You can be sure we were beginning to question our decision to relocate.

We got settled in our space at the Emerald Coast RV Resort, took a walk around the resort, ate dinner and then I left to get a few groceries.    Walmart is only 1 mile away.   The parking lot wasn’t full and I figured it was a good time to go since everyone was cruising the strip.  I could hear the cars honking and people calling each other as I walked in the Walmart parking lot.   Boy, was I wrong.  The parking lot wasn’t full but the store certainly was.   It was like the last minute rush on Christmas Eve or, if possible, worse.   Many of the shelves were bare as if people were stocking up on groceries to weather a storm.   A store clerk told me that this was normal for this store and that it was just as crowded at 6:30 in the morning!  The cashier agreed but added that it would be quieter next week when Spring Break is over.  I couldn’t help but laugh at how this is exactly like Cancun’s hotel zone.