Catching Up! Aug. 27th - Sept. 9th {Before Hurricane Irma}

We have been cooking, golfing, cleaning, playing, etc. Life is good!
AA is participating in the OPUMC 456 Club on Sunday evenings (4:30 - 7:30 pm) which seems to be going well. When we dropped her off on Sunday, August 27th, they stated the kids were having hamburgers. Sounded good for us too! Ford cooked us each one at home and we enjoyed a quiet dinner (after cleaning the living room!). Cheese, Terri's pickles and one glass of wine. Time went by so fast, next thing we knew, we were driving back to OPUMC (light misty rain, so didn't walk).

Monday morning, Ford made homemade bread for our dinner of Bruschetta tonight. We love our meatless meal. We also go to the church for Wednesday dinners and have started attending a Bible class, while AA goes to the 456 Club.

August 30th, we read where River Bend Golf Course was having a BBQ food truck, so we checked it out. Good food and Ginger enjoyed the ride!

Cara and Travis Smith welcomed daughter Pearl Joanne Smith into this world! Marsha and Carl flew up to see their new grand-baby (#5).

Ford attended AA's 5th Grade Parents Open House meeting (while I held a WPOA Rules review team meeting at the pool) and was handed a bio that AA wrote in her class. It was wonderful to read, proud of our girl! Received many nice comments on Facebook. 

We drove to Okeechobee on September 1st, Friday to visit with Joy. Nice weather, lots of good food, swam and biked and GINGER! We took Ginger and she rode well in the truck (we took our bikes) and was pretty good inside Joy's home. There is a smallish dog park but Ginger never seemed to understand that she could run around. She sniffed everything constantly. While we were there, Ford's Dad's birthday was noted, plus Terri and George's 35th Wedding Anniversary, plus Nicole and Jordan's anniversary. Lots of birthdays coming up in September too! In the truck with Ginger:

We drove back on Sunday so that AA would go to her OPUMC 456 Club. They went to DQ for Blizzards afterwards. Monday, we spent at the pool and grilled hamburgers and went to the River House.
School and golfing routine was in full swing while we watched the news about Hurricane Irma. School was cancelled for Friday, September 8th, then Monday and Tuesday. With school out, AA has missed the first Robotics Team meeting and the first PGA Jr. Elite Team practices. Cooked lots of bacon for AA's breakfasts, plus BLT's for lunch if we lost power.

Nana Joy drove here on Wednesday, September 6th as South Florida was going to take a direct hit, then the prediction was it was moving to the East; then it was predicted coming up the middle of the State, now it has gone further west, hitting Key West and soon Tampa area. Our home before Hurricane Irma:

River House on Thursday with Joy:

No school on Friday: AA golfed on Friday morning, then we went to Chamblin Bookmine store and lunch at Moon River (leftover pizza for dinner). Pool on Friday afternoon:

After bath, AA loves to read!

We made lots of preparations, buying water (many frozen water bottles), carbonated canned water, Gatorade, Vitamin water, etc. I cooked bacon for BLTs, bought pimento cheese, plus we always have Peanut Butter and Jelly! Ford made meatballs and spaghetti sauce. We had the FI meat market stuffed chicken. The wait was really hard. We did laundry, dishes, taped the garage door shut with duct tape! We haven't posted too many photos of our fun on Facebook, don't want anyone to think we aren't taking the storm seriously. We have plans to fill the bath tub later tonight plus the kiddy pool is full. The kitchen sink will be full of water just as a washing hands station. Our little room under the stairs has been ready for two days, comfy with chairs and quilts and a cooler. Hoping to cook hotdogs on the grill Monday. Tons of other food, bread, fruit, leftovers, canned goods.Cars are full of gas, plus one 5 gallon gas jug. We did go to the River House on Thursday and Saturday. A Northeaster was drawn in from the coast, so many clouds and occasional rain; having all the rain before a hurricane probably won't help!
Saturday, we swam in the pool with Isabel; Laureen was willing to use a little gasoline to drive here. We enjoyed their company.

Saturday at the River House:

Jack Wagner (Mary-Jo) took this photo for us, my arm wasn't long enough to take a selfie!

Sunday, we still have power so made bruschetta for lunch. Hoping to reheat our homemade spaghetti for dinner tonight. Sunday morning weather:

Now to see how close this HUGE hurricane gets to us. Hoping for less than 75 mph winds.