Lady Lake and The Villages, Florida

We took our time driving to Lady Lake, Florida, where we hope to spend two months during the winter to avoid the snow and ice that is so prevalent farther north.  One stop on the way was to visit in Phenix City, Alabama, where we lived so many years ago.  Seeing our townhouse apartment, the first house we ever bought, Jason's Early Bird Nursery and the church we belonged to brought back a flood of memories.... some great and some sad.  We lost a baby while living there and were in such shock that we never gave him a name, and we decided to correct that and named him Preston Daniel while we were there in Phenix City.   The new grave marker will replace the sweet bronze heart that said "1979  Baby Boy Craddock ".  

Our townhouse apartment in Carriage Hills Apartments

The first house we ever bought still looks nice after all these years.  We used
the garage for our car, but the present owners enclosed it.

Jason stayed here at Early Bird Nursery while we worked.

We sat on the third pew on the right side almost every Sunday.

Preston Daniel's Grave

Baby Land in Lake View Memory Gardens in Phenix City, Alabama

On a much brighter note, we so enjoyed having dinner in Don and Anne Webb's home while visiting Phenix City, AL and Columbus, GA. They are cousins of mine on the Brantley side of the family. The salmon they served was delicious, and the fellowship was even better!  One of the best things about traveling about is being able to reconnect with family and friends!

Finally we made it to Lady Lake.  We weren't sure exactly what to expect since we have never been to this area.  Lady Lake is adjacent to The Villages which is a "Snow Bird" Community.  It is amazing to see so many senior citizens all striving to stay active and youthful!  The number of activities available to do is overwhelming - golf, tennis, pickle ball, swimming, hot tub, billiards, horse shoes, bocce ball, shuffle board, card games, archery, volley ball, ping pong, Bingo, dancing, and the list goes on and on. I think each household has at least one golf cart and some have two.  We've been told that there are at least 40,000 + golf carts in The Villages.  That doesn't count all the ones in Lady Lake! These carts have their own cart paths and parking spaces in the multitude of shopping areas!  These little carts dart about and remind me of gnats or honey bees!  One must really keep an eye for them while driving.  Truly an amazing place!  

This is what we saw on our first shopping trip in The Villages.

Separate parking areas are provided for all the golf carts.

We easily found Recreation Plantation where we had reservations and registered for our stay in this RV Resort of 800+ sites.  Most of the sites are occupied with "Park Models" which means they are permanent mobile homes with attached carports and many storage sheds.  It is a very nice park, and we've enjoyed being there even though we feel a little out of place since we are planning to stay only a couple of months instead of the 6 or more months so many of the residents stay. We, too, have all the activities that The Villages do except for a golf course.  We even have our own post office.

Main Recreation Club House at Recreation Plantation.  This place has a stage, large
multipurpose room for dances, shows, meals and Bingo.  It also has a game room, a library
and a card room.  Behind it is a very nice pool and hot tub, shuffle board courts, horse
shoes pits, bocce ball courts and tennis courts.  Nearby is the post office and the work
out room.

We spend a lot of time in this building which houses the laundry.  We also have fun
shooting pool on one of the six tables in the billiard room.  There is a craft room next
to the billiard room and a bath house on this end. 

 

Our fifth wheel is next door to one of the many park models, but there are several
other fifth wheels, class A's and bumper pulls near us.

November and Thanksgiving in Mississippi

It is hard to believe that we've been RVing for six months!  But that is the reality!  I have enjoyed our

 time living in 321 sq. ft very much.  We left Gulf Shores on November 12^th to go to Madison, Mississippi.  Al, my brother, and Marilyn prepared a hookup site for our fifth wheel in their driveway.  How great is that?!!  We were excited to be able to help them complete some of the detail work on their new house that they've been in the process of building for the past couple of years. Danny installed two window frames and attached many, many drawer and cabinet pulls while I painted an upstairs bathroom including the cabinets, walls and ceiling.  Together we painted one of the upstairs bedroom, the front porch railing and stained the porch floor.  After two weeks of work, we stepped back and admired our work! Wow! It looked really nice!!

Sunrise over the nearby pond next to Al and Marilyn's home.

The Bath where I painted the cabinets, walls and ceiling.

Danny installed the window framing and we painted it as well as the walls.

We painted the railing and columns of the porch and stained the porch floor.

Squeezed into these two weeks, we drove to Memphis to help celebrate Maggie Lynn’s 3^rd birthday.  Courtney had really worked hard to prepare the “Breakfast – Come in Your PJ’s” party.  She and Keith prepared pancakes, bacon, sausage, fruits, juices, doughnuts and five types of cereal for the guests.  The kids had a blast riding trikes and bikes all around the church's gym where the party was held.  Maggie Lynn had so much fun opening her gifts, and she got a big girl bike as her gift from her parents.

 

Sweet Maggie Lynn on her third birthday!

Daddy helped Maggie Lynn with her new bike.

Breakfast time with special friends.

Mamma made everything look special with cereals, pancakes, doughnuts, and fruit.

Maggie Lynn wore her PJ's to the party and had lots of fun opening gifts.

There were lots of highlights of our time in Madison: Having dinner at Joe and Betty Sue Adams, friends from my high school graduating class; Eating at Mama Hamil’s with Wayne and Camille Humphreys, the college friend who introduced us; and going to church and eating out with Danny’s cousin, Barbara.  We were even able to entertain Joe and Betty Sue in our RV home.  Love these special friends and family!

Our Thanksgiving was spent in Madison with Al, Marilyn and our extended family. All 4 of my siblings and their spouses were able to come. And our own children were able to come, too!  There were 30 people all together and the love flowed freely.  There were lots of laughing and memories from the past retold. God has blessed us far above all I could ever have imagined.  Of course, the food was plentiful and rich…. Just a few more pounds added!

There were 30 wonderful family and friends together for Thanksgiving Dinner.

The kids enjoyed playing together and climbing the fence.

My siblings with me from front left are Rancie, Al, Jimmie and Louise.

Time for fun outside.

It was wonderful that our children were able to join us!  I get really sad when I think about how far our children are geographically from us, and missed not being with them this Christmas.  This year they enjoyed being with their other family during the holiday.  I am thankful they have loving in-laws who support and encourage them.  Anyway, our immediate family celebrated our Christmas together on Friday night following Thanksgiving!  Kaila, Alexa, Maggie Lynn and Brantley made our time together really special!  Love those precious Grands!! We ate our Christmas Eve meal together in the RV and then moved over to the neighbors’ bonus room to open our gifts.  It was a crazy time, but full of love and fun as well as crying babies!  We also received the wonderful news that our fifth grandchild will be born on June 12^th!  Jason and Karla are having another baby!  It is amazing that our love is never divided, but multiplied!

Our sweet family - Danny, Maggie, Karla, Alexa, Jason, Kaila, Maggie Lynn, Courtney, Keith and Brantley.

Jason with Kaila and Alexa on the four wheeler.

Courtney and Keith with Maggie Lynn and Brantley.

Fabulous GRANDS - Maggie Lynn, Brantley, Kaila and Alexa - in their matching PJ's

Nana with the Granddaughters in our Fifth Wheel.

"Christmas Eve" supper in the fifth wheel was muffalatas, chip and dip and candy.

Brantley adores Kaila.

Time to open Christmas gifts.

The girls loved the gift time.

On the Saturday following Thanksgiving, we drove to Springdale, Arkansas where we were guest of Jeannie Gillmore.  She is such a precious and gracious Christian friend!  We were able visit with several families in our old neighborhood and see their sweet children and new houses.  I feel the tug of missing neighbors and friends. On Sunday, we worshipped with our loved ones at Robinson Avenue church.  Their outpouring of  hugs and good wishes were wonderful.  On Sunday night, many of our friends gathered at Schlotzsky’s to celebrate Danny’s 67^th birthday.  Great memory!  Love those folks!

Danny's Birthday Cake from our wonderful friends in Springdale.

Danny with Kent Dobbs, Harry Fitzgerald and Tom Kilpatrick

Marilyn, Linda, Sherrie, Judy on left.  Connie, Shannon, Jeannie, Joyce and Denice on right.

New football from me on his 67th birthday.

Danny received two good checkups from his physicians on Monday.  Five years since his prostate cancer surgery, and he is doing great!  During his cardiologist checkup, his EKG, blood pressure and stress tests all were normal!  YAY! 

Following the doctors’ appointments, we traveled to a Branson condo to spend the rest of the week with Les and Carolyn. We sat on the front row at Pierce Arrow Christmas Show and laughed so hard at the crazy funny comedian!  Wednesday morning we attended an excellent show starring the world traveled tenor, George Dyer.  Our time in Branson was cut short because of the winter storm that was coming on Thursday morning.  So sad that we weren’t able to complete our time with Carolyn and Les and get to go to Silver Dollar City.

My treasured friend, Carolyn, and me in Branson.

Here we are at the George Dyer's Show just before we left Branson.

We drove to Memphis and spent a few days at our little apartment and visited Courtney, Keith, Maggie Lynn and Brantley before returning to Madison to pick up our fifth wheel and head toward Florida for the winter.