Mom and Dad came to see us and we were able to participate in the Oakland 4th of July parade. Britt headed south to hang out with family, while Ash and family went to San Diego to see Alex’s family. Jim re-vamped the Puddle Jumper’s (truck camper) very uncomfortable kitchenette after our first weekend out. We floated the James River outside of Branson and Michelle came up to float with us! Then, Jim won the OAIA greater area’s very prestigious honor of “Rib King” for the 2022 year before we took a trip a couple hours south to the Wilderness Riding Buffalo Area to camp and ride the SxS around a bunch of trails and a bison herd. There were some incredible overlooks, we accidentally found ourselves navigating several black diamond courses, and saw a beautiful sunrise. Britt received the official patch of Senior Airman and the G-kids are growing up quickly. Mathilda finally tried finger painting and Enolah is happily trying new foods.

We got back in time to enjoy the dogwoods and redbuds blooming, it was beautiful. We were invited to the “Blessing of the Fleet”, where a priest blesses boats from the Pontiac marina at the beginning of boating season. We did some trash pick up, we bought a side by side that we didn’t like, sold it, and bought one we do like. We FINALLY got kayaks and also a truck camper (puddle jumper), for short trips so that we can pull the side by side with us. Oh – and we got two kittens, who will eventually become outdoor cats to save us from the mice hoard that is threatening to take over our property. Mom and Dad and Chayse came to visit, too! Britt was nominated to go before a review board and then was selected to be promoted 6 months early, she is now a Senior Airman. Tilly turned THREE and got to see her first in-theater movie, Lightyear!

We were able to go to Fever, a string quartet who played rock music from the 70s and 80’s. It was an amazing, small concert, in a beautiful venue. We were lucky that the Cards were in town, Waino was pitching, Yadi catching, and Puljos was hitting – it was a great game and we had awesome seats. We spent more time with the kids, got to hear about Britt and Dalton’s anniversary sky dive, then headed back. On the way we stayed at a Ga Harvest Host, Lane’s peaches and pecans, which was a huge farm with gorgeous trees and a very country feel. We got back in time to see the Dogwoods bloom and start some projects around the place.

This was a pretty chill couple of weeks. We moved from Markham Park to TY, so that we could help the kids move. Tilly stayed with us quite a bit and enjoyed looking for ‘guanas in the trees’ and playing in the lake. We were thrilled that Puljos came back to the Cards, went to an indoor mini golf place, to the beach a couple of times, and helped the kids get out of their apartment and into an AirBNB until their new place was ready. Moving was a bit stressful on the kids, with no good way to explain what’s happening.

Ash and the kids came to visit us for a week in Tampa. We had some chill time, went to Clearwater a bit and then went to Dinosaur World. Tilly loved it, with her favorites being the mammoths. We moved closer to Miami to stay in Markham park for a week and a half and were close enough to Jupiter to go to a Cards game. Tilly was amazing, we were able to stay for the whole game (Cards won 5-4) and a co-worker, Graig, was able to come out to meet us. After the game we met his wife and kids, and Tilly decided she likes soccer. Of course, I’m also including pics of the other g-kid and of Ash and Britt (since I received no pics of Chayse).

We’ve been able to go to Honeymoon Island, to a Tampa Bay Lightening game, and a 20 mile bike ride. We found a couple more parks, went mini-golfing, then walked around Tampa when Ash and the g-kids came to see us. We were also reminded of the positives of being mobile as cold and snow hit the home base.

We got a good day and went to Hilton Head, we finally found the lighthouse, went to the top, and rode bikes on the beach for a couple miles. We had dinner at a seafood place with live music, it was a gorgeous freaking day. We headed out and found our next stop in Port Richey, where we are staying in an RV Park/retirement community in time to see the “Big Game”. Most of the State Parks in this area are too marshy to have real walking trails, but they don’t tell you that on the website. We headed to Hudson Beach for the sunset one night. Britt’s flight was Flight of the year and she was asked to receive the honor and there are some pics of the G-Kids.

We finally got to Hilton Head on a foggy, rainy day. Nickel didn’t care because the beach is dog friendly and off-leash. We took a very long bike ride in circles looking for the wrong lighthouse (I was incorrectly trying to get to one on a private golf course) and we went to the most disappointing fort ever (a 6 foot dirt wall with weeds and trees growing out of it), then rain and a pig in a truck on the way home. Not to be deterred, we headed to Charleston on a chilly, beautiful cloudless day. We walked along the river, got to see the Circular Congressional Church which was built in1681. A couple more rain days later, upon the advice of Dalton, we went to Jekyll Island and saw the Turtle Rehab, the ruins of a home built in 1936, and driftwood beach. We had a really good lunch at a very questionable food truck. Then we stopped at Old Fort King George on the way back – it’s completely rebuilt based on historical records and is a recreation of the fort and town from 1721 (Nickel was put in the stocks).

We spent a day in Savannah, walking through neighborhoods, a park with beautiful live oaks and the river walk. We saw The Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, built in 1876 for a congregation established in the late 1700s. We also were able to go up Georgia’s oldest and tallest lighthouse, the current version was built in 1916, on the site of the original lighthouse from 1732. We were in sunny and 60 degrees while the property was around 5 degrees with almost a foot of snow. We are happy with our decision to not go back to the property until April. 🙂

I messed up and we ended up with 2 nights between leaving Hollywood and when we were due in Georgia. I found something called HipCamp – an app where people who have land (and usually hookups) rent you an RV spot. Since Jim’s brother would be in Orlando, and there were no Harvest Hosts, we rented a spot on a horse farm for two nights. It was beautiful and peaceful, we got to see Craig and the girls before heading out to Tybee Island. We walked to the beach and then were able to see Wormsloe, the remains of a homestead built in the early 1700, using sand, oyster shells, water, and lyme. In the mid 1800’s a descendent planted 400 Live Oaks on the driveway – it was stunning. We were also able to see Fort Pulaski, a Confederate fort that surrendered to Union forces in April 1862. Fort Pulaski has drawbridges, a 7 foot deep 36-48 foot wide moat around it. Cannonballs were still imbedded in the exterior brick – it was an incredible building that housed thousands of people. Britt did some winter camping in tents ( -5 degrees at night) in Yellowstone and went cross-country skiing.