Invalid Passports??? What??? A Rainy Drive

We left home all hitched up at 8:30 this morning...had a rainy ride to the maine border...crossed customs without too much trouble --- Until he scanned our passports and said neither of these are valid..my heart literally skipped a few beats..(more than it normally does when Rick enters the room)...after about 1/2 a minute he said its because you didn't sign them. All I truly heard was "Not Valid" and " No Good"....we had just renewed them in August..and yes we did forget to sign them..he instructed us to have a good winter, and to sign those passports at the next rest stop. Whew!!! He was a nice guy, a jokester...
We arrived Bangor at around 3pm..headed to the verizon store. We had decided that instead of activating the air stick this year we would pay the $ for the mifi jet pack then we could both be online at the same time and the ipad could log on also. If you remember our blog about verizon last year you will remember it took them 3 hrs to activate our air stick which we purchased there in 2010. So I anticipated trouble - I mean come on we are buying a new piece of equipment..theres no way no how they will get it right...right? Right!!!....of course we have to park a mile away with the rig...we questioned ok this will work right? I even took the ipad in with us..no problem we're told...so after two trips from the coach to the store and about 4 people working on this thing, and over 2 hrs later..I'm online. Why do they sell items they don't know anything about...grrr...poor Rick he was busy trying to keep me calmed down. So theres no getting further tonight...we don't want to drive in the dark..and I of course hadn't eaten all day so my sugars were getting low and I was no longer smiling..so we will hold up here for the night....

Here we are parked up for the night...nice grassy area for the fur kids...I made sandwiches for supper because our casserole was still frozen...but they filled the void...
Stay safe out there everyone!!!!


Home is where you park it!!!

The Wheels Are Rolling!!!

We are loaded and ready to roll...We are heading out today as soon as the sun comes up....heading to the sunny south...the dogs are bouncing around here in their seat belts as they know they are going travelling...the were some anxious while we loaded the last few things yesterday...thinking we were leaving without them..

Be safe everyone...will update when I have my US internet stick activated....


Home is where you park it....

Holding up Because of Sandy!!!

We are ready to roll out of here for the winter, our departure date was Saturday past -and circumstances made us sit a bit longer, which is a good thing considering we would be in the thick of "Sandy" right now...
Yesterday we picked up our grand tots and took them to brunch, then shopping for groceries with us for our trip. And of course we let them have free rein at the dollar store for halloween decorations.

They spent the afternoon with us and we arrived back at our daughter's house, around 3:30 pm with lots of halloween decorations and christmas presents. We celebrated our christmas festivities with all the local kids at Tracey and Todd's house. Thanks kids for the great family dinner. They opened their gifts from us and the girlies were pretty excited.
We are anticipating and hoping to get out of here by early Wednesday morning this week...
We have been following along with you all and are praying you all stay safe and sound.
Today is cooking for the 'road' day..have a roast in the crock pot, two chilli casseroles made-shepherds pie-and macaroni casseroles...that should take care of the travel days.
Hopefully our next post will be while rolling down the road. Till then remember:

"Home is where you park it"

UPDATE:So Long Friends-Till We Meet Again-

We had a great last day with our friends yesterday. Upon their return from Hopewell Rocks, and Magnetic Hill, we strolled down thru our backyard to the river edge to await the arrival of the "Tidal Bore"...and what a view we had...Mother Nature is phenomenal -the beauty she presents to us. The water flows from left to right then all of a sudden the bore moves in and changes everything to flow from right to left. Here is a shot of that.

The Tidal Bore-the brown is the mud-I swipped this shot from Larry as I forgot my camera at the house.

After that we came back to the house to get "happy hour" on the go. We started on the deck, moved into the gazebo, and eventually into the house.

CeeCee provided delicious appetizers chinese dumplings..and they were good. I opted to have mine with sour cream versus hot/spicy sauce..yumm...of course we had a few drinks what would be happy hour without them...and we girls got into the antique hat collection..where there are no fools theres no fun I always say.

CeeCe, Me, Marilyn, and Colette

We finally did settle down and have supper, jigs dinner (boiled ham dinner in orange crush with turnips carrots onion cabbage)..Marilyn had made delicious homemade bread, and the ladies provided home made apple pie.

We visited some more, then everyone hit the sack early as it was travel day today for our friends. We are sad to see them leave, and not be leaving with them, but our plan is to meet them down the road in the not too distant future, and travel south with them. I am awaiting blood test results on this end, and can't leave without them in case I need to start medication. Hopefully those results will be there this week and we can get outta dodge. 

So to end a wonderful visit, I just had to document their departure...:(

So Long Larry and Marilyn

So Long Bob and Ceece

So Long John and Colette

Till we meet again down the road..hopefully in the not too distant future.

I am excited to start our journey south, our coach is pretty much packed and loaded, so it shouldn't be long now.

Take care all, be safe out there and remember

"Home is where you park it"
PS: Just got off the phone with doctors office..all blood tests are good and within normal range..ha betcha all thought you'd never see a result of 'normal' for me..woooohoooo hope to be outta here by the end of the week...tucker to vet for shots wednesday, pick up our meds for 6 mo..flue shots for us on friday morning..groceries..wrap christmas gifts for kids, visit kids.....try change my hair appt from next week to this week.etc etc

Having a Blast x 8

Larry and Marilyn, Collette and John, and CeeCe and Bob arrived on Friday and its been nothing but fun ever since. It is so good to see Lar and Mar again...and meet new rving friends CeeCe, Bob, Collette and John...We have lots of laughs for sure...Friday afternoon we toured Hopewell Cape and they got to see the 'tide' in at the Hopewell Rocks  today we checked on the computer and they tide is heading back out..so they are all on their way back down to see it while its out and hopefully get to walk on the ocean floor. Meantime I'm whipping up a jigs dinner for supper this evening..you can't come east and not experience a jigs dinner (especially Cape Breton style)...
Friday evening we stayed home to visit and we had a spaghetti supper with ceasar salad and garlic bread...

Yesterday we visited the Moncton Farmers Market, and the ladies were successful in purchasing some nice new bangle bracelets then we toured Shediac area the wharf, parlee beach and had a great seafood dinner in Cap Pele. Yes I was the only brave soul out of eight to kick off the sneakers, roll up the pant legs and walk in the ocean. For those of you wondering..yes it was well before Happy Hour.

Elaine, Bob, CeeCe, Larry, Marilyn, Rick, Collette, and John

Parked up down in the backyard...

Their View toward the River

When they arrive back, we plan to show them the tidal bore...which we can do right from the river bank in our back yard hopefully...then take them to Magnetic Hill..for the optical illusion of your car going uphill by itself while in neutral...

Tucker and Lilly are thoroughly enjoying their visit with Buster and Angel and everyone is getting along great...We will sure miss them all when they leave :(

Have a great Sunday everyone..and be safe out there...

And remember...

"Home is where you park"

Happy Thanksgiving to All our Friends and Relatives !!!!

I know I'm terribly behind in blogging, but there hasn't been anything too exciting to report from this end, just the ordinary day to day stuff. I have been scanning your blogs so I'm not behind in my reading.
We are preparing the motorhome for our winter journey, and finishing up chores that require attention here at the house, before we take off.
We did get the wasps under control finally, and Rick did manage to replace the few shingles on the roof that were bothering us as they were starting to curl.

This weekend is our Canadian Thanksgiving. We will be taking part in a big turkey dinner on Sunday with upwards of 20 friends and relatives.

I just popped my favourite Thanksgiving dish into the oven. And I will share my recipe here with you all...Let me know if you make it and also how you liked it. Our family looks forward to it every thanksgiving, I serve it as a vegetable

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 C sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed

1 C white sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup evaporate milk

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

1/3 cup butter

Topping:

1/3 C flour

1 C brown sugar

1 C flaked coconut

1 C chopped pecans

1/3 C butter, melted

Combine all ingredients until smooth. Pour into 2 qt casserole dish. Mix all topping ingredients and spread over sweet potato mixture.

Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes

Enjoy!!

 We are excited about the eventual arrival of Larry and Marilyn, and also Angel and Buster. Then we will have something interesting to blog about. It is also possible that other rvers will be travelling with Larry and Mar so we will also maybe make some new friends.

Take care everyone enjoy your weekend..and stay safe out there.....thanks for stopping by...


"Home is where you park it"

New Rving Friends Visit !!!

On Friday Rving friends, Bob and Marjorie arrived safe and sound to visit with us. We had never met them before, they are friends of our friends Larry and Marilyn's and come to find out also know our blogging friends Colin and Contessa, small world for sure. We had a lovely weekend, getting to know each other, and when they left today it felt like we had been friends for ever. 
They called when they arrived in town on Friday afternoon, and we insisted on running over to meet them where they were calling from to ensure their GPS didn't bring them across the river the hard way. Here they are all parked and hooked up in our backyard in their beautiful Discovery.

On Friday evening they wanted to take us out for supper but that was not necessary as I had prepared a supper of pork loin roast with all the trimmings. While visiting all I had to do was turn on the veggies and make the gravy. Neighbours dropped in to visit and we all had some great laughs and lots of chin wagging went on. And of course some good vino was consumed --supplied by Bob and Marjorie.

Their beautiful babies Shiloh on the left and J on the right were here too. ..They got along very well with Lilly and Tucker and Shloh and J are wonderful well behaved dogs.

Saturday morning, Bob and Rick got busy getting Bob set up with everything he needed to wash his rig and tow vehicle. While they were organizing that; Marjorie got some laundry done, and then Marjorie, myself and my friend Mel went to the Moncton Farmers Market. Talk about a crowd that was out and about at the market as it was a beautiful sunny day. 

Myself and Marjorie at the Moncton farmers Market

We came home and enjoyed a lunch of finger rolls, caesar salad and desert.
Last evening they insisted on taking us out for dinner, so we hopped in our car and took them to Shediac to tour the area, they got to pick up some lobster at the lobster shop to take home with them- and then we ended up at the Belair in Cap Pele area. We had scallop burger platters and they were to die for.

This morning we visited a bit, went over maps, and I had made a list for them of areas and things to see to PEI and NS including Cape Breton. They pulled out around 11am, and we sure do miss them. Safe journeys friends...till we meet again! Had we been able to clear our schedules here on this end we would have travelled off with them but alas that was not possible!

Myself Rick Bob and Marjorie

And away they go :(

We also celebrated two birthdays in our family this week...our oldest son Don turned 43, and our oldest daughter Tracey turned 38..~~~Happy Birthday Kids- was nice to see you both at lunch today~~~
I'm currently thinking wow where has the summer gone..it has sure sped by...we are still battling those wasps in the soffit..which is holding up our plans to exchange a few shingles on the roof...

Heres my handy dandy wasp chaser-hes so brave

And he makes it to the roofline

This week my plan is to start making my lists for my lists for our winter trip. I plan to unload all the clothes from the bus to the house and start fresh. I know there are clothes in that closet that have been there since we left in December and that have 'not' left the hangers. I would like the coach to be totally ready to roll by the end of October. We are excited to announce that Larry and Marilyn will be arriving here to visit  in October! They will be travelling with other friends so feel free Larry to bring them with you there is plenty of room. And hopefully we will be ready to roll back out with you all heading south. I'm getting excited!!!
Take care all, please remember David and Sherry our other blogging friends in your prayers as they are having a medical setback right now! Yall stay safe out there and remember ~~

Home is where you park it

Company, Kids, and Wasps...

Wow is summer over? We are having nice cool evenings and chilly mornings, and you know your busy when 'seasons' change and you missed it. We have been busier than a 'cow calving in a hailstorm'. Seems we have not stopped!!!!

After Donna and Ralph left on Tuesday, we had company arrive on Thursday for the night. I spent Wednesday readying the mobile palace for my cousin Lisa her hubby Andy their daughter and their daughters friend. They were stopping overnight on their way to Bangor for the long weekend. When they left Friday morning I stripped the beds in the MH loaded it up and off Rick and I went to a campground not too far from here for the long weekend. We drove 1/2 back on Saturday to pick up the grand daughters to bring them down camping with us for over night, I'm ashamed to say it was the first time we had them out with us this season..we have not been home long enough. They made trips back and forth to the playground, walked the dogs, watched movies, enjoyed the bonfire, ate smores...and enjoyed themselves while with us. We took them back 1/2  way to town met up with their parents, kissed them goodbye and headed back to the MH for a much needed rest that afternoon. We rolled on back home on Monday.

Waiting for Poppa to light the campfire

We are here to

Bacon and Pancakes for Breakfast

Last week consisted of mowing-yard work and flower beds-house cleaning and cooking for company which arrived on Friday and left yesterday. Rick has been trying to exchange some shingles on the house roof..but the minute he put the ladder against the house the wasps started chasing him. We have a nest somewhere in the soffit :(....he has been up there spraying a couple of times a day and at dusk. This evening our son came for supper (thankfully someone is holding the ladder ~scares me to death)..and Rick drilled some holes in the soffit and injected the spray directly in there. He at first thought the soffit would just pop out but that was not the case of course. So tomorrow we will see if there are any comings and goings in that area, and hopefully we can get those shingles changed out.
We have company arriving sometime this week. Not sure which day tho. They are in a 39' discovery with a toad. We have never met them-they are friends of RV friends. They do like wine tho so we should be good to go :)....the next thing we know it will be time to start organizing for our winter south...Well I've rambled on long enough I'm sure there must be something I should be doing-and I do need to get the laundry in off the clothesline. Take care all~ have a super good week and remember:

Home is where you park it.....

Wedding, Gibson BC to Truro NS to Cape Breton Island

Who forgot to mention to us that retirement is busier than a career? This is hard work!!! After our week in PEI with our US friends we headed off to Vancouver for our son's wedding. He married his soul mate and partner of many years on Saturday Aug. 4th. We flew out on Friday Aug 3rd and back on Monday Aug 6th. It was a great weekend...the weather was gorgeous and the wedding was beautiful, casual and just perfect~held right in their gorgeous back yard, in Gibsons BC. Welcome to our wild and wacky (but loving) family Rob!!! We are honoured to have you and your family join ours! The food was plentiful, the beer and wine and champagne flowed like water..and the family and friends were a pleasure to celebrate with.

Rick and our new son Rob

Craig, Officiant and Rob

In case you forgot to wear flops to this casual wedding-There was a great supply of Old Navy flops for you to choose from!!!

Craig and Rob

Rob Madonna Craig Myself and Rick

shot from the upper deck

Betty, Rob, Craig Marilyn and Madonna

table shot

gorgeous view from my seat

Craig myself and Rick on the ferry from Van to Gibsons

Our oldest daughter Tracey and oldest son Don

Of course we visited here and had some breakfasts here

We were home for one day then loaded up the MH and headed to Truro NS to meet up with Donna and Ralph. Then it was onto Cape Breton, for a couple of weeks. We toured the Island and did the cabot trail. We were invited to wonderful dinners with my relatives..I'm sure we all gained a significant amount of weight. We enjoyed all the areas of the Island and even took in quite a few Ceilidhs. The talent in Cape Breton is amazing. Mind you I already knew that because I grew up there. We did Louisbourg, Miners Museum, Alexander Bell Museum~visited many lighthouses, Marconi Tower ~ we sailed on the Ameoba Sail boat in Baddeck..just to name a few.
We stayed at "Arm of Gold" Campground on the Bras D'or Lakes in Cape Breton.

Parked up on big 50 amp lots for 2 weeks in Cape Breton

view out our windshields

 We did get in a pickle one day, Ralph and Rick thought we should take some back roads..the 'road closed' signs should have been their first clue that the road was bad. But those boys like to be adventurous. 

yup we ran out of road...

We were on the run daily. Ate some great food, and enjoyed lots of fiddle music and step dancers. Some of my cousins joined us on our excursions~ya just gotta love the folks in Cape Breton.

Ralph Donna myself and Rick in Sydney NS

Baddeck NS

Cabot Trail

 I have hundreds of pictures but I think this blog is going to be massive if I add many more..but you get the picture I'm sure :)
Upon our return to NB last Thursday, we four toured Hillsborough Alma and Fundy park area, Crooked Creek and Cape Enrage.

Cape Enrage

Donna and Ralph at Crooked Creek

We drove up to Kent County and toured that area, stopping at our camp for lunch, then onto Cape Lumiere, to show Donna and Ralph another light house. That girl loves Light Houses.

Cape Lumiere

We cooked scallops, and we ate: Lobster!!!!!

We toured Shediac, had a fabulous clam dinner in Cap Pele on the wharf.We played cards, visited, ran the roads and so enjoyed our time with Donna and Ralph. They headed for the US yesterday and are in Bangor safe and sound. And we are sure missing them and their darling little dog Tiffy. We have company arriving tomorrow for the night, then on Friday we are off camping for the long weekend with the grands. It has been a busy busy August..but an enjoyable one.
Take care all~ thanks for stopping by, sorry for rambling (Its hard to remember it all) and be thankful I only gave you all the highlights :) lol...most of all remember

"Home is where you park it"