Garage Sale Success!

I think I mentioned before that all of my leftovers (what I didn't take to Florida, what Leah & Kevin didn't take, and what I didn't sell) went to my sister Karen. She came and picked up everything and took it to the West Noble Day Care garage sale. I think the first time she came it was three truck loads. Then she came back last week and got the rest which had to be at least two more loads. The garage sale was last Saturday. Here's the email I just got from her:

Well, the garage sale is over. Thought you might want to know how they did. When Lana first brought up the idea of having one, her goal was to raise $500. I thought after I seen all the stuff they should raise at least $800 or $900. Well.....can you believe they raised $1200! Needless to say, she was shocked.

Now I'm sure they had lots of other donations. But I'm just so glad that my things helped them out. I think Karen also mentioned that there is a matching grant for the money raised. Isn't this great?

Good Times at Ormond Beach

Leah, Samuel, and I went to Ormond Beach on Sunday afternoon and stayed for two nights. My mom and five friends go every year in June. This year my sisters and I decided we wanted to join them. So we rented a condo in the same complex. All three of my sisters were there as well as my two nieces. So that meant eight of us in a two bedroom condo for two nights. It was cozy!




We played lots of cards and dominos.


Samuel loved to spend time with "the twins". They are not twins. Kari is my sister Karen's daughter and Angie is Kay's daughter. But Samuel called them the twins. Needless to say they doted on him quite a bit.


On Monday night we all went to Ponce Inlet to have dinner at Inlet Harbor Restaurant. That was 14 of us! Samuel was at the end of the table and quite the center of attention.



Continuing with being the center of attention, can you see the blue ring in the middle of the circle of women? That's Samuel.


He loved playing in the sand.




Leah took a scuba lesson in the pool.



My sisters stayed for the rest of the week but Leah and I went back on Tuesday afternoon. I think we should try this again. It was really fun.

Taco Bell

One of our favorite places to eat is Taco Bell. We go at least once a week and sometimes more. We joke that if we don't show up after a few days they will worry about us. You have to understand that part of the reason for Gary liking Taco Bell is free senior drinks. And of course the value menu. So we took the golf cart to Taco Bell when the kids were here. They both seemed to enjoy it. We got a free sample of the Frutista Freeze (looks like Samuel liked it).

Pool Time

We went to the pool every day. In fact, most days we went twice - once in the morning and then again in the afternoon. The boys really enjoyed it, especially Samuel. He would just walk right in the pool up to his neck in water. We would always meet other families and have lots of kids to play with. After the first day we had to go to Wal-Mart to buy some pool toys. Everyone at the pool shared all their toys so the boys had lots of things to play with.

Check out the fun.

Getting Around Town

The golf cart was definitely Samuel's favorite mode of transportation while in The Villages. He even helped me drive around the block.





He wanted to take the golf cart everywhere we went. Even when we left to take them back to the airport he asked if we could go in the golf cart!

Morning Silliness

We had such a great visit with Leah and the boys last week. I'll be posting some pics over the next few days. The boys are early risers so my job was to babysit in the mornings. I always volunteer for this since I'm a morning person also. These boys are full of energy in the mornings. Just check out all their antics.

Jumping on the bed.


Finding everything they can in the closets and pulling them out to play. These are water weights for water aerobics.


Samuel showing me his gymnastics moves.


Joel trying to do everything that his big brother can do.


Samuel loved to pull all the pillows off the couches to play.


And then liked to cover himself in them. I had to put the "roof" (top pillow) on him.


Somedays were just pure silliness as shown in this video.

A Tight Load is a Happy Load

This is Gary's motto when packing anything. Well, today was the day to load the van. We have cleaned everything out of the house. It is completely empty and ready for the closing.

We had a leftover piece of drywall in our basement from when we finished it a couple of years ago. So Gary got the idea yesterday to cut it to fit behind the two front seats of the van. He and Keith worked on it yesterday afternoon. Then today he started packing. We took everything to the garage and then Kevin and I started taking everything to him and let him pack. He used every square inch. Our plan was to pack the van and also my car which we will come back for next month. My sister had even offered to store what wouldn't fit and bring it down sometime this fall. Unbelievably we got everything in the van. The only thing that needs to come in the car next month is the lawn mower because we still need it here so Kevin can mow the grass for another month.

Check out this amazing packing job.






We will take off Monday morning. Now all I have to do is figure out where to put all of this in a two bedroom villa that is already full!