July 23rd 2018
 We are back from our Canadian vacation with our favorite Canadian friends John and Laurie Tamas. They were such wonderful hosts and we all had such a good time. Laurie made sure to order the best weather possible and it proved delightful! The lake water was a perfect temp and I sure enjoyed the water! The trip up and back was uneventful (which I have come to really appreciate!) the drive was very scenic and overall the best Canadian trip I have had. Todd and Beth Ehlenfeldt joined us and we had so much fun together. Laughter is the best medicine after all!!
 The garden is starting to produce well and I love going out and picking our supper. The campground survived without us being worker bees. Phil had plenty of volunteers to pick up our slack. It was a nice break for us. Mom has been over a few times for supper. So glad she can still drive. It makes things so much more convenient for all of us. Kevin and the girls came for a few days over the 4th of July. We swam, went to Irvine park, lite off fireworks, went for icecream for lunch and just hung out. sooo fun!

Garden goodness!!!

Cool drizzly day over lake michigan

tom and I, Beth, Todd, John and Laurie

 Our lovely hosts John and Laurie

Todd and Beth. Todd's almost smiling for the picture

Drinks are expensive but worth it!

 Baysville Ontario

Cast Iron Pub. Delicious food

 John and Lauries Lake Dickie. so peaceful

Picnic spot on Blind River.

 Kendall and my largest tomato plant just prior to it falling over.

 Kendall is such a ham. They got hold of my phone again.

Payton and Kendall at Irvine park

 Payton at Irvine park in Chippewa

June 26 2018
Again, another month has flown by. We have been very busy helping Phil keep the park in order. So far it is going ok. Putting in quite a few hours but Phil is easy to work with. Tom has been putting in more hours than I but doesn't seem to mind too much. It is my birthday month so we went to Hinckley and spent the night at the casino but the machines didn't like me so we didn't stay there long, then off to Danbury and Turtle Lake. Came home a loser....My friend Val called and wanted to have a girls night at the cabin so we spent my birthday night there along with friends Gail and Karri. What fun! Going to have to do that again. My garden is growing but slowly. The rabbits can get thru the fence so have eaten the lettuce,spinach and peas. My green beans and potatoes look great. Friends Deb and Doug Ellis came and spent a week at the campground. Deb and I met up with high school friends Denise, Barb and Diane at Dianes house for lunch. A great time catching up with friends. We pick up right where we left off years ago. Good friends! Karen and I have been out kayaking and I have been on the bike a bit, but feeling very out of shape. It has been quite hot and humid this month and tolerating the humidity is becoming an issue for me. I power washed and painted the deck last week and it turned out nice. We are off to Canada to visit friends John and Laurie at their cabin on the 12th, meeting up with Beth and Todd too.

post paint project

Deb and I at the Blue Angel airshow. Volunteered for 10 hours

garden progress

May 31st 2018
Another month flown by! It has been a pretty warm month overall. Memorial day weekend it was in the 90's and humid all weekend. The campground was full. Tom and I are workamping  at the campground which pays for camping and electric. So far we have put in quite a few hours. I am basically in charge of the bathrooms and helping with flowers. Tom has been doing general maintenance and mowing. I was able to put in a garden in Pats old spot. It is doing ok.  The green beans look esp. nice. We are starting to meet some of the neighbors on this end of the park. Having a
"job" helps to meet and talk with people.  I have been bike riding, walking and kayaking a bit in my spare time. I sent in a 3 page letter to Keystone with their survey. we will see if we get any feedback from them. I doubt it.

campground rainbow

gardens planted!

May 6 2018
We are now back in Chippewa Falls. We got to Pine Harbor on May 2nd. We had a bit of trouble backing into our new spot d/t the ground being wet, and after the first try in we had big ruts to fight with. It took us 5 hours to get set up. UGH! Camper may not move again until oct.
We got the issues we had had with the camper fixed at CW. They had advised us that it may take 3-4 wks to get the parts but they arrived and we were fixed in 2 wks. Yeah! We had a good trip back to Wi with mostly light traffic and good weather. We stopped at Kevin's for 4 days and had a nice visit. I also was able to use their dishwasher  to wash all the dishes/pots/pans/silverware and Tupperware in the camper. Oh, what a luxury!!! So nice to have everything washed well. I had the opportunity to do all the bedding also and hung outside. Again, so nice.
We are going to be workkampers here at Pine Harbor this summer for free rent. I have a feeling that we will earning our keep. Phil is not real specific on his expectations. The campground is sold but he is going to run it for the season.
We are now having issues with the hot water heater not working on gas mode. Geez! Also finding little things like the face boards on the slides becoming detached and the edging on the carpet coming off. They couldn't possibly have made this camper any cheaper. Poor workmanship! I have a list with pictures that I am sending in to Keystone with their survey they sent us.

Pine Harbor. Our new site for the year. #22 Love it!!!

My tomato crop from the plant I started in FL.

Kendall. Our gymnast!

Payton. Always the camera ham.

Walmart "campground" Cheifland Fl

April 18th 2017
 We are now at Central Park Rv resort in Haines City. After initially trying to put us in a pretty crappy spot (115#) they changed us to #82 on the LAKE! It is an awesome site, esp since we are using Passport America ($21/night). This is actually a nice rv resort, a lot of park type models. Many for sale. Our parts for the camper have all been approved and we should be able to get repairs completed by april 25th. Now the living room slide is acting up. :(. the motor acts like it has to work really hard when first pulling in. GEEZ!

Central Park Rv Resort #82 $21/nightly

Tampa East C-4, $23/nightly

April 8th
We leave Belle Parc today. Heading to Camping world tomorrow for warrenty repairs. I have quite the list for them to work on. All company has come and gone. Brad and family left yesterday. They had great weather while they were here. Brett and I did a lot of biking around the campground and swimming in the pool. We finally went to the Freezer for shrimp. It was delicious! We also went to the Homosassa Wildlife park and went kayaking on the Weeki Wachee and got lucky enough to see a manatee. We said goodbye to John and Laurie yesterday. It has been a great winter spent with great friends. Word has it that winter still is hanging on tightly in Wi., so we will make the trip slowly back to Chippewa once the camper is finished. Hoping to stop in Nashville for a few days on the way back.

brett made a bird house to hang on their new deck. 

Hot game of Giant Jenga at John and Laurie's

Last campfire in Brooksville. Great winter!

Beth and Todd

Brooksville Camp site #23

April 17 2017
 Well, we should be back in Wi. by now, but when we took our camper into Camping World for 2 days, we were told after they took the slide apart that indeed we would need to now order parts which could take 3 weeks to get. Initially, we were going to go back to Wi. and get it all repaired there, but when we called Northpoint Rv in Chippewa they told us that due to the late spring they were soooo busy that they would not be able to fix the issues until late OCT.!!! We also called Keystone in Goshen Indiana to see if they would repair it on our way back home. We were told no...We initially left Tampa and headed north but when we got to Brooksville we stopped for the night at Hidden Valley campground (a PA campground) ($15)  (bad campground)and discussed the issue further and decided to head back to Tampa and have CW order the parts and just get it done. Whew! A decision made! The weather in Wi. took a nasty turn anyway and they have gotten up to 2 feet of snow over the weekend. Glad to not be driving or camping in that. Kevin said there is no way we could get in the driveway at this point with all the snow they got. We are now at Tampa East campground ($23) (good campground) close to CW but it is also a PA park and can only stay 6 nights. So tomorrow we head to Haines city for 7 nights. Kevin's inlaws Fred and Vera bought a condo there and will be there for a week getting the place cleaned up and set up. We volunteered to help with manual labor. Gives us something to do while we wait around FL. We have met some of the neighbors around us here at Tampa East and as always at campgrounds people are mostly friendly. Pine Harbor in Chippewa has advised us that they will not be opening until May 4th which also contributed to our decision to stay in Fl and wait for repairs.

Tampa East Campground. C4

Better that sitting in Wi. Blizzard there!

Hidden Valley campground Brooksville Fl. the view from our kitchen table. :(

Yuck! one night and we were gone!

New bike rack.