We are in Ft. Oglethorpe/Rossville/Chickamauga/East Ridge/Chattanooga..............take your pick, they all run together.  Sam took another 6 month position with the National Parks up here at Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Battlefield Park.  We'll be here until the end of September.  I don't know why....the salary barely makes up for the aggravation.  Not my favorite place.  I stay away as much as possible.  

Been in Buford, visiting family for two weeks now while Sam is up there with the camper, working.  His days off are Thursday and Friday so that screws up every weekend.  He's coming down here after work on Wednesday (5/16) and on Thursday he'll take me to my friend's house in Fairburn.  Then he'll go back on Friday morning and I'll stay there to spend time with my friend, Judy, and my daughter, who is about 30 minutes away.   Then the next Wednesday (5/23), he'll come back and I will go up there with him on Friday.  

I did get to see all the grand kids this weekend.  The oldest, Mackenzie, had a recital on Saturday night and she did great.  She's been taking piano lessons just since January and really does a good job.

Mackenzie's piano recital April 12, 2012.

The youngest, Ethan, had his 4th birthday party last Saturday and that was lots of fun.  He had a huge cake and wanted pizza and fruit for dinner! 

Ethan's 4 year birthday party.

It rained off and on Mother's Day but the boys were able to do some fishing off the boat dock.  Brother, Steve and son, Scott cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill .  Everybody brought side dishes and we had tons of food, including two cakes, a pie, and cookies!

Logan with a catfish April 13, 2012.

Lake at full pool.  It's down about 5 feet right now.



Our site at Holiday Travel Park near Chickamauga is very small.  Sam had to removed an old dead tree stump and smooth out the dirt so we could have a little bit of yard.  Now we need some grass seed!

Dirt area is where the stump was.

I don't have a before picture, but here is Sam hauling off part of the stump and roots.

 Not much space between campers in this area of the park.  Our site is not as good as the one we had in 2010.  

Gonna be a long, hot summer.  At least they have a decent swimming pool.

All that "Newfangled" stuff

I guess we are the last people on the face of the earth to get a DVR but I sure do love it.  It seems everything I watch on TV comes on at the same time or at the wrong time for me to watch.  This wonderful little DVR gadget has changed all that. 

Now, if I want to, I can watch Hawaii 5-O in the afternoon instead of 10 pm at night (the same time as Cassill).  I can stop play to get a good look at the Hawaiian scenery.  I can watch the Kardashians any time I want to....when Sam is out.....and not have to listen to his snide remarks.  (And yes, I am interested in Klohe and Lamar's fab lifestyle).

                   In 1996, we stayed at the first building on the left......Outrigger Waikiki On The Beach....

..they film a lot beach shots around that area.

I can hit reverse during a NASCAR race to see the crashes over and over again or to watch that funny interview with Tony or better yet, get another look at his girl friend.  

 Another great new gadget is our Nook.  More on that later........got to go watch General Hospital.  Detective John McBain from the defunct One Life to Live is on GH now as same character! 

We've been back down in Panama City since February 25th at St. Andrews State Park.  We'll be volunteering here until July1.  

I've got to get busy with the camera and I am going to try to blog a little more often.  Life just gets in the way....LOL!

Big Month for       Birthdays!

January is full of birthdays for our family, as well as several anniversaries.  

Birthdays:   

1/8 brother Jim

 1/9 son-in-law Nathan

1/10 hubby Sam

1/11 Nathan's dad

1/16 Jim's wife Helen

1/25 grandson Logan

1/28 son Scott

1/30 brother-in-law Don

Anniversaries:

1/13 brother Steve & Lisa

1/17 Us!

1/31 daughter Samantha & Nathan

I think that is all!!

Logan!

More Nerfs!

Pine Lakes RV Park

Here are some pictures of the rv park. It's very nice and quiet....except for the railroad tracks nearby! Not too bad though....we can overlook the train noise because everything else is good.

We're on the left...site 123B

Another view of our site.

Looking out the back windows toward one of the lakes.

December 31...Moving Day

Today was our last at F.D.Roosevelt State Park. We spent lots of time visiting with friends and family during Thanksgiving and Christmas and our time there (four months) went by fast.

We've changed our plans and won't be going to Gulf State Park this winter. Instead, we moved north about an hour to an area just south of Atlanta. We are at Pine Acres RV Park near Palmetto and between Peachtree City and Newnan. We moved here to be near our friend who will be having surgery soon. Hopefully, everything will go well and we will return to St. Andrews State Park 3/1/12, as planned.

We never knew this park was here. It is just 2 miles off I-85 but there are no signs. We just happened to find it on the GPS. It used to be a mobile home park but the owner has since turned it into an RV park with full hook-ups, nice gravel & level sites, large lights on electric poles for every 2 sites, and three small lakes with ducks (and fish, they say!). There are walking trails around the lake for hiking. The road through the park is paved and level and will make a good place to ride bikes. Not sure how many sites there are.....haven't counted them.....but probably about 25. There were only 6 or 7 vacancies and we picked a site across the road from the lakes, in full sun (great for winter), with easy satellite view.

It was kind of funny.....Sam got the dish out and set it at the back of the camper, facing the lakes.........I turned on the TV and BOOM.....the numbers were 80's & 90's! He never had to adjust the dish....just secure the tripod in the ground and he was done! That has never happened before.

Tomorrow we're going to explore the area. We are about 15 minutes from both Newnan and Peachtree City. I love Peachtree City, so I will do most shopping in that area. As a bonus (for me, anyway) we're only about 20 minutes from downtown Atlanta. Other than driving through on the interstate, we haven't actually been in Atlanta since the '96 Olympics and I'd like to do some sight-seeing of my 'hometown.' Too bad football season ends tomorrow...I would go to a Falcons game! (Can't afford playoffs.....lol).

I'll take pictures and post some soon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

There is really nothing new to write about at this time.....we are still at F.D. Roosevelt State Park and just taking it easy, enjoying the fall colors. We've stayed pretty busy just visiting with family and friends who live in the Atlanta area, as well as planning for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Our friends from Navarre, Florida, are coming for Thanksgiving week in their motor home. We're going to have fun cooking Thanksgiving dinner in our RV's and sharing recipes with each other.

Looking forward to the 2 of the grand kids coming Friday for a few days before Thanksgiving since they are out of school all next week. Logan and Tyler are coming but Kyle has a part in the church Christmas play which is on Sunday, so he will come another weekend.

Time is just flying by....can't believe Christmas is so close. I'm getting a lot of Christmas shoppng done this week (I'm at my daughter's house in Douglasville).

The leaves here in central Georgia are going to be at their peak colors in another week or so. Some of them are gorgeous already....the sweet gums and sugar maples.
Last Thursday, my BFF Judy, came down to visit for the day. We took a ride up to Dowdell's Knob where FDR would go to picnic and take in the awesome views. The colors will be much better the next time we go.

Bronze of FDR

FDR's view from Dowdell's Knob

We also drove over to the Group Camp that was destroyed by the tornado in April of this year. That place looks like a war zone....I can see it will be many, many years before it returns to the beautiful forested area it was before the tornado (25-30 years?). The State hired a logging company to come in and take away all the downed timber. Now they are bull dozing and burning one small area at a time. It will be a long time before this area is cleaned up and replanted. It's a real shame, too. The lake and boat docks seem untouched. There are still boats resting on the grass beside the lake. Most of the cabins and the two 'mess halls' are damaged beyond repair. They will have to be torn down and rebuilt. This area around the lake reminded me of the resort in the movie Dirty Dancing.

Tornado damage

Damaged mess hall

Looking across the lake at the docks and boats lying on the grass

Damaged cabins

Looks like this little guy is the last Hummingbird of the season


And of course, the necessary pic of Buddy.....

and some grand kids!

Just a note to keep ya'll updated....

Saturday, Kyle had his birthday party (8!). We didn't go because it was a sleep over for about 16 boys and wayyyyyyy to crowded! They played some carnival games in the yard, had a bonfire, roasted marshmallows, ate pizza, watched movies and spread their sleeping bags out all over the living room to sleep. Kyle said it was a big hit and they all had a blast!

Then on Sunday, Samantha brought the boys over to spend the night....they were out of school on Monday for Columbus Day. It was cool, windy and rainy but they brought their bikes and were able to ride quite a lot.

Their favorite thing is for PawPa to take them for a ride all over the campground in the Mule, which he did 3 or 4 times during the two days they were here. We had a nice fire going when they arrived on Sunday and kept it burning until after dark, to roast marshmallows.

On Monday, it rained a few showers off and on but they were able to ride bikes between the showers. We took the home about 5:30 Monday afternoon and stopped in Newnan at McDonald's for dinner.

We stayed over at their house Monday night and Sam took them to school Tuesday morning since he had to go into Douglasville to get a new battery for the truck. We had been having trouble with it not starting a few times this past week so needed to fix that problem!

We left Samantha's house about noon Tuesday and headed toward Newnan to meet BFF, Judy, for late lunch. On the way, we drove through the newest Georgia State Park, Chattahoochee Bend SP, off Highway 27 near Whitesburg. It's very remote.....11 miles and about 20 minutes from the main highway. Add another 30 minutes to Newnan and that's about 50 minutes to an hour to the nearest "stores". That's a little too far for us as far as hosting goes.....not too bad just to camp for a weekend or so. Being new, it's very nice and the sites are large and clear. There was only one camper there on Tuesday, with two hosts.....one in each loop. The visitor center is beautiful and the playground in Loop #1 is huge.

Visitor Center

I didn't take any pictures so check out their website for more. And I can't believe I didn't take any pictures while the boys were here.......I totally forgot!

We met Judy at Applebee's in Newnan, near I-85, about 2:00 and had a nice visit. We didn't leave the restaurant until 5:30! Buddy was able to get a nice nap in the truck. He needed to rest up from playing with Samantha's dogs! He got some leftover chicken for being such a good dog...lol!

We got back home to FDR and the camper about 6:30 and everything was fine....only 2 campers in our loop after being full over the weekend.

Pictures from F.D. Roosevelt SP

Here's a few pictures of our Host Site in Loop 5. The site is huge and nicely landscaped too!

We managed to bring a palm tree with us from Florida!

Our huge site at Loop 5


Another view