December 30, 2008 - Christmas Past -

Another Christmas has come and gone, but I must say this was one of the best that I can recall. It was hectic, but relaxing too at times. Christmas Eve was spent with Travis and his family. We enjoyed a great dinner that Rosa prepared and a Christmas Celebration around the tree before Travis left for work. It is always so much fun watching kids open gifts and the looks on their faces is priceless. Later that evening we took the whole crew to Arabian Nights for the dinner show (where Travis was working). Christmas morning found us on the road by 8:15 a.m. to Venice, Florida for Christmas with Mom & Don. Again, we enjoyed a delicious dinner after Travis and family arrived and then another round of opening gifts. It was gorgeous in at the Beach House. Couldn't have asked for better weather with temps in the low 80's, sunny blue skies and a slight breeze.

Rudy, Elani and I stayed with Mom & Don for the rest of the weekend, with trips to a couple different Beaches in the area, the Jetty, the ice cream store, a little after-Christmas shopping and then some just plain relaxing.

Sunday, we left fairly early so that we could get back to Apopka to catch the bus with the Church Choir to sing at Epcot for the Candlelight Processional. It was a late night, but definitely worth the trip and time as we heard the story of Jesus' birth and sang the songs to minister to the 3,000 guests at each Show at Epcot.

Back to work this week for a short 3-day work week and before you know it 2009 will be upon us and we will be off and running again with all kinds of activities (already planned and scheduled).

We will be in Daytona for the "Roar Before the Rolex" in a few days and then to the Daytona Pre-Race Thunder FanFest later in the month. That should keep us tied over until NASCAR race season starts in February.

See ya on the Road!!!

November Pictures

November Recap

November was a fun-filled month and it just flew by. We were in Homestead-Miami for the last NASCAR race of the season for a nice long weekend with friends, camping out at the track and attending the races. Rudy and I arrived with the Coach on Wednesday night around midnight and after getting all set up we hit the bed. Thursday, we had all day to ourselves to wander and just relax. Cully & Janine arrived late on Thursday night. Friday we attending Practice and Qualifying, Bob & Charlene (from CA) arrived too. Friday night, Janine and I had a very relaxing quiet evening to ourselves. Saturday morning we all went on a Garage Tour courtesy of Jeff Gordon Network and the Speedway. It was one of the best tours we've ever been on. We saw lots of drivers and was even right down on Pit Road when the Nationwide drivers were Qualifying. Sunday, Race Day was perfect with lots of sun and just the right temps for attending a Race. After the Race, I was with the Official Nascar Members Club and was a part of the 3-Time Championship Celebration of Jimmie Johnson and his Team. Got lots of great pictures and even got to have my picture with Jimmie on the Stage with his trophy. While waiting we were able to see Carl Edwards also in Victory Lane as he won the race. Definitely worth the long wait before our actual picture time. Being a member of ONMC has its perks. We had a great weekend and I've got far too many pictures now to try to scrapbook.

Nov. 21, Friday: This day we were on the road early heading to Disney Boardwalk to try and catch a glimpse of the Top 10 Nationwide Series Drivers, including Champ, Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards. We arrived just as they were giving out wristbands for an autograph session at the ESPN Club. We hung around chatting with others, taking pictures and watching as the Drivers came out of the club to do interviews with NASCAR.com. While waiting in line friendly Mike Wallace came out and said hello to the crowd before doing his interview. He made a special point to talk to Elani, picked her up and took her to tease Jason Leffler about his hair and joked with her before doing his interview. Carl Edwards came out of the Club and when he did, Elani ducked under the ropes to tell him Hi. Carl picked her up and hugged her and chatted with her too. He then set her on his lap and did his interview. He made special point of mentioning her and calling her by name during his interview (which aired on NASCAR.com) for a couple of weeks under Video highlights and was also on Roush-Fenway.com. She has become a little star and loved hamming it up with Carl during his interview. And Carl was so gracious and looked like he was enjoying himself as well. As we proceeded down the line to get autographs each of the 10 drivers personalized a Hero Card to Elani. She then sat with Clint Bowyer for pictures. I won't forgot this day for a long time and it will be fun to show it to Elani when she gets older and realizes what really happened.

November 27th - Thanksgiving: 22 of us gathered at Aunt Judy and Uncle Don's for our potluck Thanksgiving Dinner with the family. It was a great day with lots of great food and wonderful fellowship and time to talk and play. I took family pictures of individual families as well as a group picture of all 22 of us. (more for me to scrapbook).

November 28th - Black Friday: Rudy and I were on the road and heading to the stores at 5:30 a.m. We found the bargains we were looking for, plus more. We were totally exhausted and eating lunch at 11:30 before picking up Elani and heading home for the rest of the weekend.

Myrtle Beach, SC Weekend

We left around 7 p.m. on Thursday evening on our way to Myrtle Beach, SC. We have Elani with us this weekend, too. She is a good little traveler and we always have a great time with her along. We stopped in Brunswick, GA for our first night on the road and got a good night of rest and was on the road again by 8:00 a.m. on Friday. We arrived at our destination (Comfort Inn on Myrtle Beach at 1:30 p.m. and decided to take a stroll along the beach to stretch our weary, cramped up legs. Elani was happy to get out of the car too and had so much fun chasing the seagulls and playing in the sand even if the temperatures were only in the 60's. We had jackets on, but could feel the warmth of the sun on our backs. We found lots of different shells and even a couple shark's teeth, as they were in the final stages of pumping sand in from the ocean after the storms took it away. We talked to people from Canada and other places that told us about finding the Shark's teeth there.

Our reason for being in Myrtle Beach is for a weekend-long, 3-Concert Gaither Homecoming Fest. The first concert was at 7 p.m. Friday night, so after finding an Olive Garden for dinner we headed to the Convention Center and enjoyed four hours of the greatest music and many blessings. Needless to say, we all were exhausted when we finally got back to our room and got ready for bed at 11:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 1: Morning came fast and we had another concert to attend at 10:00 a.m., so after getting breakfast in the hotel lobby we set out again for more blessings and exceptional music to soothe our weary souls.

In the afternoon after lunch we spend some time in the heated indoor pool and then more beach-walking time. It was warmed this afternoon and Elani was playing in the water and sand and ended up pretty wet (clothes and all). We had a great time though filling the bucket with sand and water and looking for more beautiful shells. Before we knew it, we had to make our way to the get showers and cleaned up for our final concert of the weekend at 6 p.m.

Again, we were blessed and filled to the brim with joy and a peace from the music. We all slept very well until the alarm went off at 7:15 a.m. to get us up and on the road to home.

We arrived back home around 4:30, tired, but refreshed and ready for another week!

I am so glad that we took Elani - she had so much fun and we always enjoy taking her to experience new and exciting things and places with us.

This coming weekend we are spending Sabbath with our friends from the Florida Outdoor Club in a quiet setting in the woods of Mascot, FL. The following weekend (beginning Thursday, the 13th, we will be on the road again in the RV heading South to Homestead-Miami for the final NASCAR Race of the 2008 Season.

See ya on the Road!!

Atlanta NASCAR Race Weekend

Last week at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon Rudy and I were on the road to Atlanta, arriving at 8:30 p.m., getting all set up and settled in our camping spot at the Atlanta Motor Speedway and then "HOT-LANTA" became "WET-LANTA". It started raining and the wind was blowing so hard that at 2:30 a.m. we got up and took the awning down. We were RV-bound until around 1 p.m. on Friday (it was very relaxing) - So glad I brought a good book to read!! After the rain stopped we walked over to the Vendor area to see if there was any action, stopped at the SPEED Stage for a while, got a few souvenirs and then was heading up the hill to see if they were going to have CUP Practice and/or Qualifying and on our way we were approached by two cute blonde girls and GIVEN tickets to the Office Depot Infield Hospitality Tent for lunch, drawing and to see Carl Edwards. Also included was two free tickets to Qualifying. :-)

We made our way into the infield, wandered around and then headed to the Hospitality area which was on the backstretch of the Track and found the Office Depot Tent where they had a Simulator and a 99 Show Car, great food, and door prizes. I won an autographed 1/24 Scale # 99 Office Depot Car in the drawing. Before it all ended, Rudy left and shared his pass with GJ who joined me indulging in some food and gifts and then we walked around and took some pictures of the 8 minutes of Practice until the Rains came again! :-(

On our way back to the Coach we heard that Carl was going to be on the SPEED Stage, so we hung around in the misty rain until he got there so I could get some pictures.

Cully showed up around 10:30 p.m. and after chatting awhile, we all hit the beds.

Saturday:

I was registered to Walk on Sunday morning around the Track for the NASCAR Foundation Fund Raiser and was the top fund-raiser so I was given passes for a Garage Tour and Suite Tickets in the Champion Suite high above the track, which just happened to be right next to the SPEED's broadcast booth. We saw Larry McReynolds, Jeff Hammond and Steve Byrnes and later when the Truck Race started, Mikey Waltrip and his crew. They all waived and posed for pictures for us through the glass walls. It was amazing up there overlooking the Track and the food was excellent. What a privilege and experience. (While on the Garage Tour, I chased down Jeff Burton and got his autograph) The Cup guys were getting ready for Practice and the Trucks were on and off the Track, too!

Sunday:

Janine and I got up early and took our personal photographer (Rudy) with us to the Track Walk. It was perfect walking weather and we got autographs from several drivers and even walked and talked with Travis Kvapil as we walked beside him. It was all for a good cause!

The Race was amazing, too! That Carl Edwards pulled off a good Win over Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin in the last few laps. I got great pictures of Carl doing his signature flip off the car for his Victory celebration on the Start-Finish Line before picking up the Checkered Flag and heading to Victory Circle. Jeff finished 9th, which moved him up to 6th in Chase. He really had a good run all day, staying in the top 5 most of the day, until that last pit stop....... can't talk about it anymore....... :-( He drove a Nicorette Car with primary colors of blue and yellow.

Monday:

We left the Track around 7:30 a.m. and headed south to home, arriving around 4:30 p.m.

Today (Thursday- October 30) we are leaving for Mrytle Beach, SC for a Gaither Fest of three concerts in two days. Staying on the beach this weekend - We'll be on the road - maybe we will see you - Travel Safe

More coming soon......

See ya on the Road!

Elani's Train Ride

October 21, 2008

Last weekend we took Elani to Mt. Dora for a REAL train ride. The Inland Express departs Mt. Dora for a 1 1/2 hour round-trip rail excursion to Tavares and back to Mt. Dora. The windows are all open on in the passenger cars so you get a full view of the surroundings and the landscape. When we reached Tavares, we did a three-point turn and made the return trip back to Mt. Dora. The first part of the trip we are traveling between 5 and 10 miles per hour between Lake Dora and old 441. Elani has wanted to ride on a real train for a long time and we finally decided it was time to take her. We had a great time and it was quite relaxing too!

We are hoping to go back and do the Christmas Express from Eustis to go see Santa Claus.

Thursday we depart with the RV for Atlanta for another NASCAR race. With only 4 races to go before Homestead (the final race of the season), I think that # 48 Jimmie Johnson has the Championship in the bag, so to speak. But then again, anything can happen in the last 4 races and we could see a major mix-up.

See ya on the Road!

Another Fall Tradition

October 10, 2008

Each year since Elani was born we've take her to our favorite photographer at JC Penney's and had her pictures taken in Halloween garb! This year is no exception. These pictures show you how much she has grown over the past 4 years, 3 months. She is quite the little "ham-bone".

October Weekend - Fall in Florida

Friday, October 10, 2008

It has become a tradition for us to take our grand-daughter Elani to Celebration, FL for their Fall Festival/OctoberFest and to the Pumpkin Patch, so we headed that way this afternoon for the fourth year. He attitude to the Pumpkin Patch, Scarecrows and the falling leaves was so different from last year. She loved it all. She had so much fun running around through the pumpkins and picking out her very own. She definitely had her own idea of what kind of pumpkin she wanted, too. After some pictures there we walked to the Main Street and got a piece of pizza from a sidewalk vendor and listened to some german music. Elani played in the straw that was in the streets while we waited for the first "falling leaves". When they started to fall, she had a blast chasing them and collecting as many as she could in her bag. She laughed and giggled and was having such a great time.

We painted our pumpkins this year instead of carving (a lot less mess) the next day. What fun! She is quite the little artist.

It was a great weekend and I hated for it to end when we had to take her home on Sunday.

(Can't wait to scrapbook the pictures I took).

Until next time...... be safe and always keep smiling!

Talladega Race Day -Weekend

What a Race! What else can you say? It was a typical Talladega Super Speedway Race with mini-"big-ones" and the "Big One", wreck that is.... Of the twelve Chase Drivers, only three were in the final laps. The Standings got shook up a little, but Jimmie Johnson is still the # 1 leader after 4 of the last 10 races. This week they head to Charlotte. It should be interesting as well.

We had a great time! We camped in Family Camp D - spot # 46, (new to us) under a little shade tree. Our seats were in the Tri-Oval Tower, Row 60. Yep, it was a hike up there! But what a view!! We could see the whole track and all of the Pit Road action. We were straight across from Gatorade Victory Circle, too.

Rudy and I went to Practice on Friday at Noon and Cully arrived Friday night. We had a great time and have pictures to prove it.

The drive home was long. Road construction on I-75 was awful and there were several wrecks that had us stopping and slowing down a couple of times. Then it rained just as we crossed over the Florida state line so hard that you couldn't see the road in front of you. We arrived home around 7:30 p.m., set up, took showers and was in bed by 9:30 prepared for another work week.

We've got lots of stuff going on this month. Something every weekend with Falling Leaves at Celebration and the Pumpkin patch this weekend, BiketOberfest in Daytona next, Atlanta Race the third weekend and then we head to Myrtle Beach, SC for the Gaither FanFest at the end of the month.

We will see you on the road, I am sure! Have fun! More later.

Friday, October 3, 2008

We arrived at the Track at 7:30 CT after spending the night in the Alabama Welcome Center rest area.  It is a beautiful day with blue skies and temps to be in the low 80's and cool breeze.  Just right for a day at the track.

We set up our campsite and headed over to the track to look around at the exhibits and watch Cup Practice.  We decided not to stay for the Speed Stage or for final practice.  As I look back, I wish we would have stayed now, as Jr. crashed his car big time when a right rear tire blew up and he has to go to a backup car along with a couple of other guys.  Not a good day for the 88 team.

Oh well........

Got some great shots of the # 24 and others while they practiced and ran in the draft pack.  And we got a couple pictures of us doing some fun stuff too.

We are back at the Campsite waiting on Cully to arrive and Rudy is starting to fix dinner.

I'm hungry and ready to relax.

Tomorrow is another day of fun and exciting times.

More to follow from Talladega Super Speedway.

Thursday, October 2, 2008 - 8:24 p.m.

We are on the Road Again - YES!!!  

We left this afternoon at 3:30 pm heading north to Talladega, Alabama for the 3rd NASCAR RACE of the CHASE!!  The last time we were on the road to a NASCAR race was in May - Far too long of a stretch between actually being at the track.  I am definitely looking forward to being there in person, smelling the gas fumes as they start their engines and run this 2.66 mile super speedway.  We crossed into Georgia at 6:30 p.m., stopped at the Welcome Center for a pit stop and a quick sandwich and then we were back on the road.  There is a lot of road construction on I-75 with barricades and bumping roads, narrow lanes, and it is really dark too!

One good thing about going in this direction is that we gain an hour when we cross over the Alabama state line and move into Central Time Zone, so we will stop somewhere once we get on the north side of Atlanta and get few hours of shut-eye.  I am sure I will be awake bright and early and we will be on the road again so that we can get to our specific camp spot and get all settled in before heading to the Track for Practice.  We can sit anywhere we want to for Practice so I like to be at the starting point of Pit Road to watch and get pictures of the Cars coming on the Track.

Cully will be coming to meet and stay with us too.  He will arrive sometime Friday evening, flying in from Oklahoma City into Birmingham and then driving to the Track.

It is a great day/evening for traveling.  We can feel a cool breeze, the skies are clear and the promise of sunshine for the entire weekend is just what we wanted to here.

I'll have pictures to post after we arrive and get set up.

Have a great evening - More tomorrow.

Pictures from Hawaii

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