What a Glorious Weekend!!

The weather has been so incredible for the month of May.  It feels more like July.   Not so good for those that can't take the heat, the forest fires and the grass but great for those that want to be outside after a long winter in Ontario.

We arrived at the park on Saturday to find that the park management had laid new sod in front of the rv.  The previous tenants had a deck so the area right in front of Tara was just dirt and pretty messy.  It was nice to see the green grass and spent a lot of time over the weekend pouring the water to it.   They had not tilled up the ground or rolled the sod. We hope it catches but we will have to wait and see.

Dave and Helen McAllister came for dinner and brought a beautiful new wind chime for us to hang in our yard.  They had seen Tara previously but only with the slides in.  They were quite impressed with the living space and the comfort.  Dave is still shaking his head about how we are going to be able to pull this big beast (so are we).   Helen is a retired nurse and Dave is finally retiring from his accounting job on June 1st.  They also have a 5th wheel and are heading out in June for a couple of months of traveling.  Helen has been waiting for a long time to get this retirement program underway and we are happy to see them finally on the road of adventures.

We got home late Sunday afternoon with time to spare for Tom to give Big Mo his first bath.  

This will be the first of many baths for this truck.  Tom loves to spend a sunny afternoon washing his vehicles, summer or winter!!

We hope you all had a great weekend and looking forward to the week ahead.  Until next time........safe travels.

Welcome Hollinger's

Tom and I headed up to the park on Saturday am after running around to our favorite store, Canadian Tire, to pick up some requirements for the 5th.  What a fabulous May 24 long weekend we are having here in Southern Ontario.  

John and Judy Hollinger (RVLife on Wheels) arrived Saturday afternoon on your motorcycles.  This is the first that we have had a chance to get together with them since they returned from their winter in California.  We had a great visit, shared some laughs and refreshments.  Judy and I beat the pants off Tom and John at crib!!!  "Girl Power".  No it wasn't strip crib........just plain old crib.   We managed to locate the air bed (in the couch) for the first time, got it inflated and it was proclaimed a comfy sleep.  

They headed off back to Woodstock this morning to beat the rain that was predicted.  Fortunately the rain did not happen and Tom was able to get most of the outside of Tara washed.  She had two years of storage dirt and grime on her.  She looks pretty awesome now.  I am my usual crappy picture taker.  I took the camera to the park and brought it home.  I will try harder next time to get a picture for the blog.  

Hope you all had a great weekend.  Until next time --- safe journeys.  

More Wedding Pictures

Here are more of the wedding pictures.  As you can tell these were taken by me so they are not that great but they work.  Joe and Twyla have been together for around twelve or thirteen years.  They have two children together, Karmen 11 and Jacob 9.  They have talked about getting married for many years but there always seemed to be a home for the cash.  They decided a few months ago that they would tie the knot finally.  Originally they thought they would have the wedding on their farm in Alberta but a destination wedding seemed to be much less stressful.  So the plans were made and here we are finally after all these years.  Joe's daughter Christine (from his previous marriage) and her husband Duncan were there for the celebrations.  Joe's stepdaughter and Twyla's daughter, Taylor (19) and her boyfriend Cam were also there.    Several other friends and relatives  made the trip to be with them on their special day.  Twyla asked Tom and I to walk her down the aisle and we were honored to do so.   Karmen was the flower girl and Jacob the ring bearer.  Joe's brother Dave Ricard was best man and Twyla's friend Tawnya Dupper was maid of honor.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.

With Dave and Tawyna

You bet I do!!

The signing.

Granddaughter Karmen

Granddaughter Taylor and her boyfriend Cam

Grandson Jake

Tom and Twyla

Myself and Taylor

The family

Twyla and Taylor

With Joe's parents Leonce and Norma Ricard

The family including Christine (nee Ricard).  

The First Dance

We did it!!

St. Lucia Wedding

May 9, 2012 at Coconut Bay Resort in St. Lucia.  We are at the spa where our daughter, Twyla and her bridesmaid, Tawnya Dooper, have just had their hair and make up done and got into the fancy dudes.   I love Twyla's gown.  She looks so beautiful and she is such a beautiful person with a huge heart.

We are almost ready to head to the hotel lobby where a car that will take us to the beach for the ceremony.  It has been raining, off and on, every day since we arrived.  So far today the sun is shining and the rain is holding off.

The rest of the wedding party has already gone by minivan to the private beach. Tom is right behind us snapping pictures and carrying Twyla's bouquet for her.   Off to the lobby we go in our flip flops following the wedding planner.

Here I am with Twyla and Tawnya ready to leave for the beach.

Twenty one people traveled to St. Lucia for the wedding.  Most came last week on Thursday.  Twyla and Joe had to be in St. Lucia for three business days prior to the wedding as per their country laws.  So they have been here for almost a week already.  Tawnya and her family came on Saturday.  Tom and I arrived on Sunday.  Everyone except Tom and I came from Alberta.  It was a long flight for them.  They left at midnight last Wednesday, 4 1/2 hours from Calgary or Edmonton, stop over in Toronto and then another 5 hours to St. Lucia.  It is worse for them on the way back as they have an overnight stop in Toronto.  

I have a ton more pictures that I am sorting out and editing.  I will post more soon.  Thought I would just give you a wee taste.   Stay tuned for more.

Tara

I gave up yesterday on the trailer and came home. Called the storage place and talked to them about the water and the lights.  They have another 50 amp cord that we can buy to extend the existing one.  He also explained about the low drain valves for the water.  Tom and I went back up to the park last night and got the water going and flushed the lines.  So all is good there.   He will pick up the new cord today so we will have power.  For some reason we couldn't get anything inside the trailer to work on the batteries though.  The batteries are good as the slides worked but no power inside for lights.  There is a switch at the batteries that reads battery disconnect on/off.  We tried that both ways also and no luck.  So we will keep playing around.  Thanks to Rick and John for their advice on my post last night.  You guys with all the experience and knowledge are a godsend to us newbies.  Thanks!!!

Meet Big Mo

Meet Big Mo.  This is our 2011 GMC Sierra Denali HD.  He is a big brute but what we need to tow Tara around North America.  We picked it up on May 5th, drove it home and parked it in the drive way.  We left for St. Lucia the next day for our daughter's wedding and Big Mo has not moved since.

We need to get him out on the road to see what he can do.  We still need to get a hitch installed, mud flaps, etc. but we have lots of time for that.

I need to get caught up on my blog.  I have wedding pictures to download.  I should be like John and do this on a daily basis and then I would never be behind.............right there Hollinger???

We had Tara towed to our summer park spot today.  I met the fellow there for the drop off.  Then I leveled her, dropped the back legs,  set up the tripod, put out the slides, hooked up the hoses, etc.  all by myself....WOW!!!!  I am impressed.

Only two problems.  Our power cord is not long enough.  The plug as at the back end and the electrical hook up is out by the street.  I am about 20 feet short.  They hooked up our batteries yesterday at the storage place but I did not have any battery power today either.  Couldn't figure out how to get the lights to come on, etc.  Problem number two I hooked the white hose to the city power supply and to the tap.  Turned it on and the water just ran out the little hoses that are underneath.  Nothing went to the taps.  They must have turned off something when the winterized.  Oh well.  I brought the manuals back to town so I can try to figure it out.  Tom had appointments today so I was on my own.  It was fun.

Now I must get to those wedding pictures.

Until next time - - safe travels.