Rain, Rain Go Away!!

 We got up about 6:30 on Thursday morning, had breakfast, loaded all the food into Harvey, and were out the door on our way to Gettysburg Farms by 8:00!  The address for the CG is actually Dover, so it only took us about 1 hr and 10 minutes to get there.  At 9:15 we were scouting the CG for a spot.  We tried to get one that wasn't too low because the weatherman was calling for some pretty heavy rain on Sat.  John pulled Harvey in like a pro and we were all set up by 11:00. 

 

This site was great before the rain.

 

 

Isn't our new Froggie flag nice

 

John went for a walk to check out the CG while I did some reading.  I think I fell asleep for a few minutes, too.  When John got back we had some lunch and decided to go grocery shopping because he needed half and half for his coffee.  We also wanted to get a birthday cake for Heather whose birthday was 6/23.  She's bringing our grandson, Cooper to the CG tomorrow
evening while she spends the weekend with some of her HS friends.  We'll have him 2 nights.  The grocery store, which was a Shurfine, was so nice.  They even had local home grown corn, so we picked out a half dozen ears we'll eat for supper.  When we returned to Harvey, about 2:15 we decided to head to the pool.  The neighbor behind us has a pot belly pig that travels with them and she had her out for a walk.  Then we stopped to visit with some pygmy goats that roam the CG.  They are so small they can get out of the fence of the petting zoo that also has turkeys, pigs, chickens, a cow, and a peacock.

How would you like to travel with this all the time...

...now wait... we kind of do :)

The little pygmy goats were so cute!

Turkeys sure are ugly

This little piggy went to market.....

We also visited with a couple that had a pug.  Theirs wasn't nearly as cute as Kylie (or as large) but she had some spunk.  Of course she was only 2 yrs old.  Her name was Sadie.  We chatted for a while and got to the pool about 2:30.  We stayed until 5:00 and then went back to Harvey for some supper.  John grilled some boneless pork spareribs.  They were yummy!  He used his new secret ingredient... beer.  The corn was absolutely delicious, too!!  We didn't eat it all, so I cut it off the cob and froze it for another night.  But we'll probably go back to the store for more before our trip is over.  It was too hot to sit outside, so we played some Hand and Foot inside.  I won... yea!!  We watched some TV and then went to bed about 11:00.

Friday morning we got up about 7:00 and John went for a walk.  I down loaded some pictures and did some reading.  When John got back we decided to go back to the grocery store for more corn and to Dollar General for umbrellas because of tomorrow's forecast.  Arlena called and said that they would spend the day with us tomorrow.  They are bringing 7 yr old, Evelyn with them to play with Cooper.  She is the daughter of a friend of theirs that she frequently babysits.  Bennett, their son, is in Wisconsin for 3 weeks with his other grandma. When we got back we had cold meat loaf sandwiches for lunch and then went to the pool again.  Heather called to let us know she and Cooper would be here about 6:30.   When they arrived John started grilling hot dogs while I got the corn and Mac and Cheese ready to go.  After supper John and Cooper and I walked up to the petting zoo.  Heather drove because of her broken foot that is in a walking cast.  Cooper was a little hesitant at first but after a few minutes he had the animals eating out of his hand... literally.  We all had a good time. 

That tickles, Grandma!

 

 

Heather with her "roll-a-bout" for her foot and
me with the friendly goat

 

 

John got into the action with the calf

  

There were a lot of goats!!

 

 

Heather eating her birthday cake.
  I can't believe my "baby" is 42!

 

Cooper enjoyed the cake, too!!

 

Heather left to go home to our house and Cooper came back to Harvey with us.  The separation went well, but we assured him several times that Mommy would be back the day after tomorrow.  We all got ready for bed, I read Cooper a book and then I put him to bed.  John and I watched TV in our bedroom.  Cooper didn't fall asleep for a while, but  he never made a "peep".


We all woke up about 8:00 Sat. morning.  Cooper's "pull-up" was actually dry so we got him to the potty right away.  (we're working hard on that right now).  Grandpa made banana pancakes and bacon for breakfast.  They were so yummy!  We all got dressed and Cooper started playing with his matchbox cars.  He loves them and lines them all up.  Arlene called to tell us they were on their way and would be here about 10:30.  It hadn't started to rain yet but it was very overcast... we really couldn't go outside.  The four of us played "up and Down the River" as teams while Evelyn and Cooper watched a movie.  The women won.  John grilled some chicken and hot dogs in the rain while I made the corn and heated up the mac and cheese.  After lunch we drove down to the "carnival" they were having at the rec center.  By now it was pouring outside and, of course, we forgot the umbrella we had just bought!  Evelyn had her face painted but Cooper didn't like it.  He rubbed his off before they were done.  We played a few carnival type games like throwing toilet paper rolls thru toilet seats and then the kids got cotton candy.  I had forgotten how much I dislike that stuff!!  We played a couple of arcade games then ran through the rain back to the car.  When we got back to Harvey the puddles were up over our feet!!  We played "Five Crowns" and the kids played with some toys.  By supper time the rain had slowed way down, but the whole CG was flooded from the downpours earlier.  We decided to go out for pizza and when we stepped off the last step outside Harvey the water was up over our ankles!!!!!!!!!!  At least it was warm out so we could take off our shoes.  We took 2 cars to Jim and Nena's in Dover because TW and Arlena were just going to leave to go home from there.  The pizza was very disappointing, but we had a good time.  We said our good-byes and John and Cooper and I headed back to Harvey.  We watched a little TV, tucked Cooper in, and we went to bed, too.

Cooper loves to hug our "pot bellied piggy dog", Kylie

Told you Cooper likes to line up his cars and trucks.
He lined them all up under Arlena's chin!

Think we got a little rain?

This is the view down the steps from the inside of Harvey.
It was up over our ankles when we stepped on to the mat.

This is the view of the site next door
from out of our driver's seat window.

The whole CG was flooded like this!  I guess it
would be OK if you were a duck!!

  Sunday morning we got up about 7:30.  It had rained again during the night so everything was very wet again.  But after breakfast we all headed down to the petting zoo and played with the pygmy goats.  They are so darn cute!  It was a bit chillier than yesterday... certainly not warm enough to go swimming, so we decided to pack it up a day early and head on home.  We called Heather to let her know not to make the trip to the CG, cleaned everything up inside and out and were on our way home by 1:00.  We were so bummed that we couldn't spend more time outside with Cooper.  He would have had such a good time at the pool.  We really enjoyed having him with us... he was an absolute joy!!!  And he was so good on the way home strapped in on the sofa while John and I were up front.  Every time we checked on him he would wave back and give us one of those big "cheeser" grins.  He especially loved any bumps we went over.  You would have thought I had gotten some pictures, huh, but I didn't :(  We got home about 2:30, unloaded, and chilled the rest of the evening.  Heather and Cooper left for home after supper.  It was a fun weekend except for the rain.

We're headed to Hershey again in 2 weeks.  Watch for the blog!

5 Days at a Local CG

 We picked up Harvey from his "resting" spot in Manheim on Thursday morning, June 11 so we could start the fridge and load him up for our departure Friday morning.  We're headed for Thousand Trails Hershey CG which is actually just off Rte 322 between Lebanon and Hershey.  We got up fairly early Friday to have breakfast and then finish loading Harvey with all the cold food.  Check in is at 12:00 but we decided to arrive about 11:00 so we could get a good spot.  So off we went about 10:00.  Kylie was so excited... not!!  I drove the Rav 4 separately because it's only a short distance from our house to the CG and I am going to have to make 2 trips home while we're here.  We arrived at the CG about 10:45, parked and drove around in the Ravi 4 looking for a shaded spot.  We found a good one and John did a fabulous job backing Harvey in.  We were all level and set up by about 12:30.  We're getting better and better at this :)  We had some cold meatloaf sandwiches for lunch and then walked around the CG a bit to check it out.  The pool and family center have recently been redone as well as the tennis/pickleball courts.  They are all really nice!  We should have taken some pictures, huh?!?  We went back to Harvey to relax and I got ready to go to Manheim for a "Frogette" evening.  John and Kylie just hung out together till I got back about midnight. 

Saturday morning John made pancakes for breakfast and then he went for a walk.  I worked on the blog from our last trip to Cape May.  We had lunch later and then went to the pool.  The water wasn't heated, but it was surprisingly pretty warm.  We left the pool about 5:30 and then John grilled for supper.  We played some Hand and Foot...I won.  I'm going to go home tonight because The Praise Team is singing in church tomorrow morning and I have to be there by 7:30am.  We figured it would be much easier for me to already be at home to get ready because of how early I had to be there.  So I said my good-byes to John and the dog and left about 10:00.

I got back to the CG on Sunday morning about 11:00am.  I don't know about John, but Kylie was sure glad to see me!!  Alexandra called to see what we were doing and decided to join us at the CG for a day of laying by the pool.  Her boyfriend, Todd was going to come along, but couldn't at the last minute.  We left the pool about 4:00, got showers, and decided to go to the Quentin Tavern for supper.  We sat out on the deck and just after we got our drinks it started to look very threatening for rain.  Luckily, we got in under the covered area just as it started to pour.  We still got a bit wet from the rain coming down off the roof so we moved the table in toward the center of the patio.  All was well and we enjoyed a delicious meal.  It is one of our favorite places to eat!  It was still raining when we left, so we dropped Alex off at her car (she had parked it in the Rail Trail parking lot just a small distance from the CG) and she left for home in Centerville.  We played some Racko which I won, watched some TV and then went to bed.

Alexandra getting ready to order at the Quentin Tavern

 

Grandma's girl!

 

The rain was just pouring down off the awning!!

 



We got up Monday about 7:30 and I made some "hunky" eggs (potatoes, ham, onions, and eggs all mixed together).  The weather forecast was lousy looking, so we decided we would go to the movies later to see "Jurassic World" at the Cocoa Plex theater in Hershey.  In the meantime we fooled around a little (you can take that any way you want to) and then decided to check out a restaurant in Palmyra called The Filling Station.  It had been recommended to us by a gal I used to work with.  On Mondays they serve "all you can eat" homemade chicken pot pie, so I was in all my glory!  It wasn't as good as it looked and John's cheesesteak was only average.  But it was fun to try out something new.  We then headed to the movies and that was a disappointment, too!  Oh, well, there were better things about to happen!!!  On the way home from the movies I got a call from my sister, Bonnie.  She and her husband, Ken have been making their way home from a 2 month trip out West that they cut short because of the seriousness of our Father's illness.  She asked if I had any recent news about Dad (who, by the way, is now back at Masonic Homes and doing so much better) and I told her that, no, I hadn't talked to Mom yet today.  I asked her if they were home yet and she told me that they were getting close.  Then she told me that she would check in with Mom and give me a report.  I asked her where they were and she didn't really answer my question.  But she did ask what we were doing the rest of the day.  I told her we were probably going to hang out at the pool since the sun had come out.  After we hung up I told John how weird Bonnie was acting and I said that I bet they were really home but didn't want anybody to know, so they can just take a day or two to relax.  We pulled into the CG a few minutes later and guess who was checking in at the entrance booth.  You guessed it... Bonnie and Ken.  What a wonderful surprise!!!  They had gotten there a few hours earlier while we were at the movies and had already parked their RV, Waldo.  Then they went to visit with Mom and Dad.  When they got back she called me from the CG to help set up the surprise then we kinda ruined it.  They thought we would already be at the pool when they got back.  They had parked in the site just across from ours and they planned on sitting outside and waiting to see how long it would take us to realize they were there.  It was so good to see them and we looked forward to spending a few days with them again.  We visited a while and then parted for supper.  We got together later to play some cards.  They taught us a new way to play "Up and Down the River" as teams and bidding with dice.  It was fun, but the men won.  Bonnie and Ken were pretty tired from all their travelling, so we said goodnight about 10:30.  We watched some TV and then went to bed.

We got up Tuesday morning and had breakfast.  Bonnie and Ken had decided to play some pickleball, so we went down to watch.  John even decided to get in on the action.  Even though he had never played he did well.  I had pics, but I can't seem to find them :(  Then John decided to drive over to the Rail Trail and go for a walk.  I worked on the blog.  He wasn't gone to long, though, because the bugs were too bad.  He watched some TV outside.  After lunch we decided to go to the pool.  Bonnie joined us but Ken stayed back at Waldo to read and take a nap.  We all got together at our site for supper then went over to Waldo to visit with Bonnie and Ken and their friends, Neil and Nancy who were also camping here.  When Nancy and Neil left we played Skip-O the rest of the evening.  We left about 10:30 to go to bed.

We set the alarm Wednesday morning because we were all planning on leaving by 9:00.  We had breakfast and started packing up.  We were actually ready to go by 8:45 and so were Bonnie and Ken.  We said our goodbyes and followed each other out.  We had a real nice time here!!  I called Mom on the way home and Dad just keeps getting better and stronger.  It is nothing short of a miracle!!  Praise God!!!  Thank you to everyone who was praying for him! 

Our next trip is to Gettysburg Farms RV Resort at the end of next week.  Stay tuned.