Lance Dreams of Fish

Yesterday it was hot and humid, so Gary and I went up to St. Pete to visit our family. When we arrived, Brian was playing Monopoly with Lance and Lauren, and little Graham announced from the top of the stairs that he had a fever, but just a little one. I felt his head, and indeed he did. That didn’t stop us from heading to IKEA, the Swedish furniture store, in Tampa to pick out some furniture for the new nanny arriving on the 17th. First we needed to pick up a truck at Home Depot to transport a queen size bed and mattress home. More on that later. I love IKEA – their designs are simple, functional and smart looking. They have great prices because YOU put the furniture together and YOU carry it home. I still have pieces I bought 25 years ago in Canada because they are made to last.

Anyway, we get there and look for the bed they picked out in the catalog – ugh oh, they are having issues with that bed, so have discontinued it. Choosing another style, they head over to mattresses to choose which one they have to get in the truck. That done, Gary and Brian head down to Pick Up with their tickets, and we head up for some lunch. It was yummy, but the kids wanted to play in Smaland, a resident play area where you drop your kids off, and shop while someone else looks after them. FREE! Even though Graham wasn’t feeling that great, he wanted to play. So Michelle and I hurried to get bedding and a lamp. That done, we picked up the kids and drove back to St. Pete.

The boys had unloaded and returned the truck and were busy moving stuff. It turned out that we didn’t need a truck at all. That mattress was rolled up. It could have fit easily into the other car. Sheesh. We continued moving furniture all around the house to accommodate the new stuff, meanwhile Graham slept. Then we collapsed with pizza, then packed up Lance so that he could spend the night with us and fish tomorrow with Poppy, but not before Lauren and I made cupcakes! She loves baking and decorating as much as making crafts and art work.
Sunday, it was forecasted thunderstorms, but it looked good in the morning. Lance and Gary cooked bacon and pancakes on the grill, then readied the fishing stuff to fish in the creek. Meanwhile I packed a lunch for both of them for the trip to the pier. Lance caught the only fish at the creek, and the only fish at the pier. He had a ball. Gary dropped him off at home while I spent about 30 minutes at the pool before I heard thunder. On the way back, I met Paul, a worker at the CG and he happened to be working at Brown Eagle’s home just as he drove up. Brown Eagle is a Cherokee Indian who makes silver and turquoise jewelry. I need to see some of that! When I told him that Gary and Lance were fishing on Sunshine Pier, he said he had caught the biggest fish recorded there a couple years ago. It was at night, and it took 2 ½ hours to have everyone on the pier try to bring him in. They couldn’t pull him up, but it was estimated that this jewfish weighed about 500 pounds! It’s so cool who you meet in campgrounds!

The exciting thing I did today was sign us up for the 2011 RV-Dreams Rally in Sevierville, Tennesee next April! It will be so cool to see our ‘family’ again. I faithfully read almost all of their blogs and still love hearing about their everyday adventures. Somehow, Howard makes it sound interesting. This will be our jumping off point to our adventures out west next summer.

The wind is whipping up, and this blows the awning, which is tied down, but still shakes the coach a little, especially the monitor. No rain yet, though.
Tomorrow, we will head back up to St. Pete to do some more furniture moving, repairs and sewing curtains for the French doors and dining room. It’s gonna be tight for 9 people to live in that three bedroom house. However, Gary and I live in about 300 square feet, and we do just fine. We continue to love our lifestyle and hopefully, always will.