Thanksgiving Week

Internet connections have been sketchy here at the Groves RV Resort, and it's starting to get on my nerves!  And the pool heater had to be replaced, so we've been without a pool for a week now, and that's not making me too happy either.  But we've managed to stay busy and are getting to know some of our neighbors here, so all is well.

One afternoon we went into downtown Ft Myers for a free Calusa Indian art exhibit.  It showed art works depicting various scenes of Florida's history.  We enjoyed it, and had a nice lunch afterward and walked the shops of downtown.

 

 

 

We found a BEAD shop!

 

And a cute art co-op market!

 

 

The campground had a Thanksgiving dinner where they provided the turkey, and the residents provided various side dishes. The food was great, and we really enjoyed it.  We sat with out neighbors and we laughed and laughed and talked well into the late afternoon.  I had volunteered to help decorate the hall, so I got to meet a few of the ladies, and then Noel and I both helped to clean up.  Today there was a "Buck a Dog" lunch with $1 hot dogs.  Someone asked Noel if his daughter wanted ice cream!  HAHAHAHAHAHA - I told you, I'm the youngest in the place!

 

 

 







One day my new friend Eileen and I went over to Sanibel.  I was excited to see a whole flock of Frigate birds riding the breeze, and after shelling, we took a drive through Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge and saw more birds, and a great big alligator.

Itchy pelican....

When this mangrove crab fell out of the tree and scampered across my foot, I squealed like a girl!
It startled me!  They move fast!

The Sanibel lighthouse is all decked out for Christmas!

 

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to Miami to see Jason.  He took us down to South Beach to show us where he works at his new job at The James Royal Palm.  It's a beautiful, fancy hotel right on the beach.  He seems to like his job, although for the amount of responsibility he has, and for the price of those rooms (cha-ching!), he gets paid peanuts!  He's frustrated, but I know he is destined for greatness!

 

One of the restaurants, called The Florida Cookery, inside the James Royal Palm

 

 

 One of the bedrooms of a two bedroom suite:

 

 That is one fancy mini-bar!

The James Royal Palm Hotel:

 





Afterward he fixed us an amazing dinner - I sure wish he could cook like that back in high school!

 

 

Over the weekend I was having a really hard time with pain, but I was determined to make it to the National Sand Sculpting Competition before it was over, so I drugged up and we went out to Ft Myers Beach to see the amazing sculptures.  I came home, threw my guts up, and fell asleep in the chair.  Our very uncomfortable chair I might add.  We are going to check some of the many thrift stores down here for a better chair!

 

My favorite! There was as work in progress of the Island of Mis-Fit Toys!

 

A party bus took us from the parking lot to the beach!

 

 

I never knew how much of my dad's frowny-face I have when I sleep!

 



 

Today we are just hanging around the campground, cleaning house, decorating for Christmas, doing laundry, etc.  Hopefully my pain level comes back down to its usual 5, because there are a lot of upcoming Christmas activities I want to participate in!

 

I managed to decorate the RV for Christmas for less than $10! (although the lights and tree we brought with us).  The garland and ornaments are from a garage sale, and the ribbon from Target!  'Tis the Season!



 

 

 

Stay in touch everyone!!

 

Life at The Groves RV Resort

Its been another fun and relaxing week for the Traveling Lemons. The Groves RV Resort in Ft Myers is feeling like “home” now. Here is where we are parked - you can see the picnic table has become a shell cleaning station!

 

 

The street where we are parked, and the main entrance

The shuffle board court (we haven’t played yet) -

The pool -

And our mail box - and a HUGE thank you to Rite Aid in Brookville for sending us our prescriptions - the only mail we get. But if you want to drop us a line or a Christmas card - our mailing address until the end of December is:

The Lemons c/o

Groves RV Resort - Site #62

16175 John Morris Rd

Ft Myers, FL   33908

　

We went down the street one morning to see what was uncovered during low tide, and saw lots of live shell critters, hermit crabs, fishies and birds.

 

 The little snails were feasting on this dead crab:

One afternoon we went over to a Bingo hall. It was a fun afternoon, but we didn’t win any money. L

Another afternoon we went to the Flamingo Flea market. Like any other flea market, there was a lot of new crap, but we managed to pick up a few Christmas stocking stuffers. We also stopped at Sun Harvest Citrus, loaded with fresh oranges and related goodies, like honeybell marmalade.

The snowbirds are arriving in droves and the activities here at the campground are beginning to take place. There was a welcome back ice cream social - we sat with our neighbors that are all here from Quebec, Canada. They are so nice, and their laughter is contagious. Those Canadians sure like to have fun!

 

 

Yesterday we went to the beach and the shelling was pretty abysmal until I started digging about 6 inches under the sand at the water line! Bingo! I found some great shells, and then stopped along the causeway to pick up some worm shells for my friend Linda. She is collecting them in order to make a mirror like this one:

Isn’t that pretty??? I can’t keep all these shells, so a box is going to Jean, to Linda and a box is going to my sweet little Alayna, who keeps the shells I gave her by her bed.

I get to skype or facetime with the kids about once a week. The little one, Layla, (2) is really starting to talk up a storm, and she loves kissing the screen to give me kisses and she gives me high fives. The smile on her face when she sees its me just melts my heart.

Alayna, 4, about fell out of her car seat when they drove by our old house and Addy reminded her we don’t live there any more! “WHAT???” she said! She wants to know when I’m coming back and always asks to talk to Noel when we have her on Skype.

Braden, 6, likes to take the computer into another room so he can talk un-interrupted by his sisters and tells me all about school and his friends and his latest video game high scores. I miss them so much!

My sweet honorary grand-babies

We met a local couple, Elaine and Rich, and they invited us over for dinner. They have a beautiful home in Cape Coral and the more I get to know Elaine, the more I’m convinced we are kindred spirits! I loved all her shells and her palm tree Christmas tree! She and I have plans to get together to go to the beach again next week, and there are lots of Christmas activities coming up I’m sure Noel will be glad to get out of - including Aurias on the beach at sunset on Captiva!

During our down time, Noel watches football while I read, read by the pool, or work on a counted cross stitch project I started, oh, about 5 years ago! We will be having our Thanksgiving dinner here at the campground, and plan to see Jason on Friday.

We have a busy month planned - lots of free Christmas programs going on, tree lightings, boat parades, golf cart parades, bingo, shopping, the national sand sculpting competition, beautiful sunsets and more sunning, shelling and football are awaiting us!

Happy Thanksgiving!