So, we have been enjoying Family time after Thanksgiving, yea, just going with the flow.
Black Friday meant staying away from the stores for us. We are really not shopping people so the antics of Black Friday were something we really didn’t want to be involved in. Patty and I did use the day to get another couple of walking miles in. The walking helped with the fish fry we went to with Tom and Shirley, Patty’s parents.
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| Mister Dee's. Very good Fish Fry! |
Saturday the 30th and the last day of November we went to Patty’s sister's, Sandy and her husband Mike, house for some socializing. Patty’s other sister, Cheryl and her husband Joe, went also. We all had ideas that we would play some games. Well, we all started talking with a few drinks and before we knew it, it was close to midnight. We said our goodbyes and headed back to Cheryl and Joe's house where are staying.
Sunday, the first day of December, Joe’s daughter Sara and her boyfriend Eric, came over with his 5 year old son Judah. We soon found out that Joe and Cheryl have collected a large amount of Lincoln Logs over the years. That soon meant that a large Lincoln Log fort village was to be built. After about 2 hours of serious building and even more fun, it was done. However there was a big secret known only by Joe and his daughter Sara; there was going to be an Indian invasion and the village/fort was going to be destroyed. Sides were picked to be either Indians or Soldiers and the small Lincoln logs were gathered as ammunition. Then the real fun began as each side started throwing the logs at the village and the plastic Indian and soldier figurines. After about 5 minutes the village was back to a pile of Lincoln log rubble. This was really a lot fun!
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| Joe and Judah ready to start building. |
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| Cheryl supervising the process. |
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| Sara taking care of a runny nose issue. |
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| Full scale building happening now. |
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| Fort village built and ready for destruction. |
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| Sides are picked and the ammunition assembled. |
Monday the 2nd Patty was feeling like she was getting a cold so I went for a 4 mile walk. This was an omen for me in the future. I got back from the walk and I started to feel like I was getting a cold also. Oh no! Well, Patty’s cold never really got very bad.
By Tuesday I had a full blown cold including joint pain. Most of Tuesday I stayed in bed and tried to sleep off the cold. We had made plans with Patty’s parents to go out to eat at one of their favorite restaurants for dinner. By mid-afternoon I decided I was well enough to go out for dinner.
The main reason to go this restaurant, Hersh’s, is that it has a 1.5 pound crab dinner special on Tuesdays. We never eat all of the crab so we also have a meal for another day. Due to the cold I couldn’t even taste the crab. By the end of the night I was a real mess. I was having trouble even talking.
Wednesday I started to get better. Actually after Tuesday’s night out I had nowhere to go but to get better. Most of the day I just rested.
Thursday the 5th I felt well enough to take a 3 mile walk.
Not sure that was a good idea but I did it anyway. Patty and I then went out to the Jewelry store, Jared’s, where Cheryl works to look at watches for Patty. We saw a watch in Texas she liked and I decided to get it for her Christmas present. I didn’t buy the watch in Texas because it wasn’t in the budget for November. After seeing what is available in Buffalo, I think I should have just bought the watch there.
We are going to see if it is still available at the jeweler in Texas when we get back on the 27th.
In the afternoon Patty and Cheryl went to check out a couple of nursing homes for their father. Her father has dementia and has been handled at home with Patty's mom and some family help. The problem is that he is just about too much to handle at home. It looks like he will need to be in a home early next year. This is a very traumatic event for everyone. Patty and I are discussing our future plans and if we can be of more help here. We will continue our RV lifestyle but may park in one place for a bit. More on that after Patty has discussed with the family.
While we were out, we got a call from the rental car company telling us that we needed to take the car in for a replacement. They told us that the Camry we were in was being recalled due to a safety issue and we could go to the closest Budget rental agency and get another car. We headed over to the Buffalo airport and got a real nice Ford Edge. It is much larger and feels more like our truck which we like. We can now see over stuff again. It is really hard to drive a regular car after having a large truck.
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| Patty waiting while I got the new car. |
Thursday night we cooked dinner using the chicken breasts Cheryl left out to thaw. We looked up a Chicken Cordon Blue recipe on the internet that turned out very good. We even got Cheryl’s son Brian to eat the chicken. He usually doesn't want his food with anything on it.
Friday the 6th we left Buffalo for a 350 mile drive to Vernon NJ.
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| We are now close to NJ as we can see the high point monument. The monument is the highest point in NJ. It is the pencil point in the background |
We went to a party of former Schering-Plough employees. This is the company Patty worked for until she was downsized in 2009. Six months after she was downsized, the company was bought by Merck and the downsizing continues to this day. The story is a very common one for people that went through the 2008 economic downturn. We had a few drinks so we stayed the night at a Quality Inn a couple of miles away.
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| Patty joined in with the singing at the party at the Lamp Post in Vernon NJ. |
Tomorrow we head 90 miles south to our friends Cindy and Rob’s house in Keyport NJ. This is the same place we stay at with our RV in the summer.
Next blog will be after we leave NJ and head for the final leg of our holiday express to Indiana for Christmas. We will be in NJ until next Sunday the 15th of December.
Stay tuned!
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