Aruba all Park Party

We went to the Aruba all park party yesterday. That is a party they have here at Aruba RV Resort. That is where we are staying. It had a carnival theme this year.

I think all down here is going thru their second childhood. Everybody looks to be old enough to be retired but, they go to something like this and they act like kids. Ooooh yeah I fit right in. I like acting like a kid.

We had food, games and prizes. They had the grill fired up and all the food you could eat coming off of it. There was funnel cakes, deep fried Oreos and popcorn. Don't forget the pies. They had a pie baking contest. 27 pies entered and judged. After the judging we had to get rid of the pies so we put them out and everybody helped them selves to all they wanted. Will power went away and I had to try a lot of them. After all I wouldn't want to hurt anybodies feelings by not trying theirs.

We had a water balloon tossing contest and Denise and I were in it. ( I know, I know she wasn't thinking right when she decided to be my partner. I think to much pie affected her judgement.) Any ways we came tied for first. Would have won but I lost my head for a second and thought I was pitching in the major league's and let one fly. She did good. Had it in her hands. Just squeezed to tight and popped the balloon.Water all over her. She has to be more careful of how tight to squeeze a water balloon. ( That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!! )

I entered the egg throwing contest and won. We all stood in a circle and tossed the egg around at random. Last one in with out breaking the egg when you caught it or dropped it was the winner.

Lots of other games Like throwing whip cream covered sponges at some poor sap that was standing behind a board with a hole cut in it for their face to go thru. ( I don't know how they talked me into being that SAP.) We had ring toss. dart throwing, jump rope, bean bag toss and a duck race. Now that duck race was cute. They put all the plastic ducks on the ground and had a dog go and retrieve them one at a time. who ever had the number on the duck won a prize. That dog must have liked Denise cause she won twice.

Don't forget the clowns. As you can see in the pictures we had clowns painting faces. That was a big hit. I wanted to have my whole head painted as a pumpkin but, I was working in the sponge throw and whip cream covered sponges and make up doesn't mix well. (THANK GOD)

All in all it was a good time. Now I know what they mean when it is said in a second childhood.

Fishing on Okeechobee

Well, the weather finally warmed up enough to warm the waters so the blue gills would start biting. These Florida fish act like the people down here; if the weather gets below 70 degrees they hibernate. The last few days we have been able to get into some nice blue gills.

I went out one day and wasted a lot of gas looking for them, I put in at the launch in our park and went right across from the launch and caught dinner for me, Denise, Mom, Dad, Denny and Vicci. Now, that was a long trip to find them. About 50ft. Might have to go to town and refill the boat after that trip. LOL. Mom cooked them up for us; boy were they good, fresh from the lake into the skillet.

Dad, Denny and I went out yesterday and caught 30 nice gills. Then something told us it was time to go in. I think it might have been the rain that we didn't notice coming at us. Well we noticed it when it was hitting us on the head. We looked up and saw a wall of rain heading our way. Of course we had to go in the direction that it was coming from to get back to the truck. Yep we got wet but, we didn't have to deice our poles or line at any time like I do up there in them northern rivers this time of the year.

I included a couple of pics so maybe you can enjoy like we did.

A Day In The Everglades

Yesterday Mom, Dad, Vicci, Denise and I laoded up in dads truck and spent the day going to Everglades City, Florida. we also drove down to Chokoloskee, Florida which is an island just south of Everglades City.

While in Chokoloskee we stopped at a store/museum. Decided no to tour the museum. It was real small and you could see from the door it didn't have much in it. Took a couple of pics there and went on. Chokoloskee is small and not a lot to do or see so we went back to Everglades City.

At Everglades City we stopped Miller's World Famous Oyster House. It was a nice place with good service. Dad had Oyster Rockefeller's and I had Raw Oysters on the half shell for an appetizer. The Oyster Rockefeller's were the best part of the meal. My raw Oysters were great too. Freshest I have ever had.

For the meals I had spicy alligator tail. It was good but not enough of it. Mom had fried alligator which, we all decided she made better. Dad and Vicci had the Blue Crab and we all decided that Blue Crab is OK but there is better on the menu. Oh ya don't forget Denise she had CHICKEN STRIPS. I know, I know we were at a sea food place but she is not real daring and the ole faithful chicken strips are a safe bet.

After we left the restaurant we went to Everglades City National Park to look around.Took a few pics and down the road we went.

Made it about a half mile when the girls all started yelling. Dad and I finally figured out what all the commotion was. There was an Ice Cream Stand and we almost drove past it. Glad we didn't I had an Key Lime sundae and it was good.

When we got back to Immokalee, Florida dad took us to a place where they sold fruit. It was like a fruit flee market. Vendor's every where. We got some oranges and strawberry's.

It was a fun day with good company.

Space shuttle launch

This morning I got up early because the space shuttle was launching at 4:14am. We are only about 100 miles from Cape Canaveral so at 4:10am I went out side and was watching the northeastern skies. Sure enough at 4:17 I could see it. Watched it till it went out of sight below the horizon. Something I always wanted to see. Now I have. Didn't need to be any closer and fight the crowds. It was neat to see it from here. Dad and a couple of other neighbors were out there too.

Sorry no pics cause at 4:00am it is to dark.

Babcock Ranch Tour

We went to Babcock Ranch on Friday the 28th and took a tour of it. It is a sod ranch and they raise cattle too.

They called it a swamp buggy ride but it was far from a swamp buggy. It was a school bus with all the windows out and a camo paint job.

It was interesting as we did learn the history of the ranch and area. They have a lot of wild life to see. I use the term wild life loose too as all the animals are trained to come running when they hear the bus coming. It's like kids when they hear the ice cream truck coming. We stopped and fed them at certain points.

We walked across a small swampy area on a raised platform. This took us back to the cougars they advertised in their brochure. They were the surprise at the end of our swamp walk. That is where they were pinned up.

A lot of creative advertising went into their brochure but all in all it was a fun day with Mom & Dad and the group from the camp.