Christmas in Michigan

Randy has Devyn the week before Christmas and she's with her mother this year for the holidays so we went up early to be with Devyn.

Devyn still loves to play cards,  lots of Kipf blood in the girl!

                                                                       Concentration!

Cookie making time, Judy did much of the work while devyn was in school as we only saw her after school.

                                        I even got to help making the chocolate coconut balls.

Here's Randy and his girlfriend, Jesse.  Looks like a ruff life huh?  Nap time.

  We celebrated Christmas on Thursday, here's Devyn with Jesse's daughter Shay.

Devyn is 15 now and can drive with her permit and an adult.  She is impatiently waiting for April and her 16th birthday to get her drivers license.  She's in the 10th grade and is already thinking ahead to taking college entrance exams next year.

She is still very serious about soccer, this last year she lost 4 balls to the underbrush near the fields they played on so she got several new ones (some un-inflated) for Christmas.

The five and a half days in Onsted went fast.  Devyn continues to beat me playing rummy.  We played a lot of Pegs and Jokers.  The weather was typical MI.....overcast, damp, and chilly.  At least we had to trouble with snow and ice.

Road trip!!!!!

We have decided at the spur of the moment to  made a Christmas trip up to MI see Randy and Devyn them down to GA to see Jody & Renato AND FAMILY!

Huntsville, AL visitor center.  It's the home of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Therefore the rocket.

It's a full 2 day trip, we took the truck for comfort and it looks like Patches is into comfort.  How nice of Judy to make such a nice nest so see can see out the windows.

This is not a sight you see now days!  We were on US12 in MI between Coldwater and Quincy and had to stop at a railroad crossing.  We fist spotted the smoke and thought there was a fire behind a commercial building until the locomotive popped into sight.

It was the Christmas train!  Judy checked and there was only one more trip which was sold out.  We beat the train into Quincy where it uncoupled to pull the cars back to Coldwater.

I was very pleased with 18.3 mpg on the 977 mile trip to MI.  This was the first long haul without the trailer.  I kidded a friend about this compared to his new Ram until he showed me his 19 mpg on a trip back to Maine.

Back to Gulf Shores

Another Friday lunch at  Mikee's.

At our favorite breakfast joint.....Krystals!

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Thanksgiving & instant family!!!!

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with Jody & Renato and an instant family.  Just add a home, love and diapers and look what you get!  They have been trying for some time to have a child, then tried adaption while in Biloxi and went through the Forster Care/Adaption program in GA.  After jumping through all the hoops and training and paperwork and background checks they had a call and less than a week later two great little ones.  They have no idea yet if they will get to adapt them or this will be short term if the parents or family want them back.  Dustin is almost 2 and Brianna is 6.  I had some reservations going over for Thanksgiving with them just getting the kids and me being an old fart enjoying peace and quiet.  The dogs are enough for me!  I was VERY impressed!  Dustin and Brianna were a joy and very well behaved.  Of course we were there for only 4 or 6 days and kids will be kids.  Jody & Renato are making wonderful parents.  I can't imaging how much of a sudden life changing situation this must be for them but they are 200% into it with these two beautiful children.

"Little man" Dustin.

Brianna

Game time for granny and Brianna.

Fun time for mom and Dustin.

Renato made pizza for me one night and the kids definitely have an appetite, boy do they eat good. They eat so well they keep Renato busy cooking,  no picky eaters in this house!

Thanksgiving day dinner.  Truly blessed!

Gulf Shores

Got to have the annual picture of Judy hugging a palm tree, her favorite is behind McDonalds.

Want to join this fellow feeding the sea gulls?

We always gather at Mikee's at 11am Friday for an early lunch.  Anywhere from 4 to 10 attend.

Happy hour

Here we are one evening with our HitchHiker friends after dinner at King Neptunes.  Mike & Debra, Craig & Jenny, Judy & I, & a new couple passing through we haven't met before.....forgot their name.

                                                                      Just relaxing.

 

                                       A selfie I took in the truck when I was texting with Devyn.

Birthday girl

It's Judy's birthday so that means cake.  She also got some flowers, 8 bottles or Cotton Blossom lotion and a Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD.  Of course we went to DeSotos for dinner too.