Another beautiful week in Miami, FL

The time is just flying by here at Larry & Penny Thompson's RV park in Miami, FL, I can't believe we have already been here one month....and just one more month to go.

Tuesday, 12/13/11 - We experienced bingo Miami style.....played in the afternoon 2 to 4 pm for a fee of $4.00 for 3 cards and 2 hours of bingo. Best part was, Will finally won a bingo game....his first ever for a huge jackpot of $4.00. At least he got his money back that was more than I got, but we had fun and I'm sure we will be back there next week.

Thursday, 12/15/11 - Now this was a big day, my second Arts & Crafts project of which I made a Christmas Wreath. Actually, it turned out really well and I was so proud the teacher took a picture of me with the wreath and emailed to me. I sent it out to friends but they mostly commented on MY TAN, which is fine with me. Actually, those 2 great projects will be sent UPS to daughter Nancy as she really doesn't believe her mother did anything like that.

The other big thing today was our friends Ron & Dixie.....Driving Ms Dixie.... arrived for a 2 week stay at our RV park. Will and I were both excited to see them again and we even made up a bright neon green sign that said: WELCOME - Driving Ms Dixie - oh an Ron.....Texas. We attached to our lawn chair and were going to put it right in the middle of the RV space but it was so windy we had to keep it home and they didn't see it until after they arrived and came over to see us. It was fun and so good to see them and we visited for a very long time and are looking forward to doing things with them while they are here.

Friday, 12/16/11 - More visiting today with our friends Ron & Dixie plus other friends in the park. At 12 noon we all headed to the clubhouse for a pizza (the works) lunch. Later that day our friend Mary, who with her husband Harold, are hot air balloon people. Late that afternoon she came over and asked Will and I if one of us wanted to go up in the balloon early 5:30 am Saturday morning. I couldn't believe when Will said he wanted to go......First off, did he not hear 5:30 am and second, HELLO you have a rod in your back & it doesn't seem like a good thing to do. But he was excited and wanted to go. After Mary left I reminded him about his back and what if it was a hard landing, or a lot of wind or even if he had to jump out when the balloon came down. Of course, he then realized he couldn't go and went over to Mary & Harold's to tell them. I hated to be such a spoiler but really......Hot Air Ballooning, I don't think so and Kim would kill me if I let him go.

Saturday, 12/17/11 - A very fun day, at 9 am this morning in the club house they had a Flea Market for the campers. I went but what I decided I didn't need anyone else junk to add to my junk so was just a looker. However, the best part of the day was to come, my friend Sonia and I had made plans to go to Bayside on Miami's public transportation today.

Sonia is a friend I made the last time we were here in 2004/05 and they have been coming to this park for 13 years. Sonia is originally from Columbia but now lives with her husband James in North Carolina....wintering in Miami. She had purchased our round trip ticket, $5.00 ea for our days outing and Will took us to the bus stop this morning about 10 am for our "first leg" of the trip. Our first public ride was a bus to a huge shopping center, Dadeland where we then waited for the Metro Rail, our "second part" of the trip. We got off at Government Center, which seems to be the main spot and then boarded a "people mover." The people movers are small cars that run on a track, elevated above the streets, which are standing room only. They go in a circle around the So Miami area and you can just keep getting off and on at different stops, this part is always free. It was a great way to see the Miami area.

Our destination was Bayside, which was a great double decker open air mall, that had lots of kiosk, shops, arts & craft booths, many restaurants and a food court all located on the water. It was a fabulous place to walk and people watch. We were able to see lots of private yachts and even several cruise ships. We spent the entire day there, had a wonderful fish lunch and even sat and listened to an outdoor concert......Spanish music that is. Somewhere after 4pm we headed back to the RV park and this time, Sonia's husband picked us up at the bus stop. It was a wonderful day and we had a great time together. It was also very nice to have my private Spanish interpreter as few people speak English here. We have made plans to take another outing to the Art Deco area in South Beach on the public transportation. I can't wait. Much love to all our family and friends.