First real estate closing of the year!

Yipee!! I just closed on a short sale and it only took 5 months! Got it just before the bank was foreclosing on it too. Real estate just isn't what it use to be. When I show property now, nine out of ten are bank owned already or short sales!! They are usually stripped of appliances and in poor condition. The banks sell them "as is" which means no repairs.....but you can get some realllllllllllllllllly good deals. It is a great time to buy!! Call me if you want to scoop up a deal!!

Maine for Christmas

We were going to stay home because tickets for Utah and Maine were outrageously priced. Then two days before Christmas we found some really great priced tickets to Maine soooooooooo off we went! It was five degrees out when we landed at noon!!!! and snow on the ground. I only went outside when I had to except one day the sun was shining and Pat said why dont we drive to camp and go snow shoeing??? Well I fell three times in an hour. We climbed up this incline and the three of them shot rounds at some cans. I rested.

Christmas was fun with all the family. We pick up Scott from his new rooming house in Bangor. Bridgett, Gary,Nora and baby Ginny came over. Then the Brad Rands came, Brad,Betsy,Liv and little Gwen.

It was fun watching everyone open their gifts. Bob and I decided not to exchange gifts. The trip was our gift. I sure missed our Dad. I cant believe he is really gone.

We had skit night at Brad's house. The Saunders take the award!! I never laughed sooooooooo hard. Gary played Grandma got run over by a reindeer and Bridgette and Brittany held Nora and baby Ginny up like puppets. Ya had to be there!! Pat and Craig did reindeer games.....throw rings around the antlers. Bob and I did the spelling game with letters hung around peoples necks. Brad and Betsy had a set of chimes and we all had ring ours when she pointed to the number on the songs. The kids all dressed up and did the the nativity of the birth of the Christ Child. It was great fun. Then Craig read "The night before Christmas story?

We had a great visit with family. .

The kids nativity skit

Reindeer Games

Ring toss on the antlers

"

Here is Grandma before she

got runover by the reindeer

Texas for Thanksgiving

On our way to Houston, we stopped to visit Paula and Steve and little Kenny in Lafette,La. It was so good go see them; it had been a long, long time. They have a cute place. We got to see their horses & the fixed up old barn. Stayed the nite and left in the morning. Steve the gumbo was excellent and Paula I loved the brownies!!

We finally got to Texas. 14 1/2 hours!! I had not seen their new house. It is really nice. Izzie is a little doll. Susan and Rob are great parents. They have lots of patience with her. She has been a bit of a challenge.

We went to the Houston Zoo. It is quite a large zoo. Izzie's favorite thing to do is RUN. So they are forever chasing after her. She was determined she was not riding on the merry go round!!

We also went to a Renaissance Fair. The three of them have costumes. They looked really great. It was really fun. A little difficult to describe. Most people were dressed for the event. They had music, rides and food.

Susan cooked for three days so we could have a gourmet Thanksgiving. We shopped at a really exclusive market where she had ordered a free range turkey. She made mint peas, glazed carrots, special stuffing and gravy BUT the best part was the chocolate lava cakes!! Those were really yummie.

We had a really great visit with them. We had a nightmare trip home. We decided to drive straight thru. When we got to I 75 there were so many accidents you could not count them. We were tied up with stop and go traffic for two hours. We got home at one o clock AM

Breakfast at the Sugar Mill

Why would anyone pay to go to a restaurant and have to cook their own food"??? Thats just what we did. We ordered pancake batter, blueberries and bacon and lots more and cooked our own breakfast on the grill at our tables! and it was soooooooooo HOT But we had a blast.There was Me, Judi, Patrice, Lolita, Lenore and her sister Liz

McCulleys

Every year a few of us Happy Hoofers go camping for about five days with our horses. This year we chose McCulley's Farm up in Jasper FL. I went up with Trice and Judi. We had a fabulous time. Carol and Nicole came up late Friday. Judi's granddaughter, Amanda visited (she lives nearby) We celebrated Judi's birthday while we were there. I had brought brownies but I ate so many, Patrice bought a cheesecake!! We must have played 100 games!! We watched the movie "RV" with Robin Williams and ate popcorn and laughed so hard it hurt.

Baxter State Park & Campobello Island

We had lunch at Schoodic Pt.on the rocks on the way down east.. It is reallybeautiful there. We drove to Lubec and sawEast & West QuoddyLighthouse. It was quite foggy.We stayed over night and the next day we went to Campobello Island and toured FDR's summer home. It is gorgeous. We rode bikes and took a hike thru the bog. We had to go thru customs to get on the island as it belongs to Canada. Ask Bob about FIRE ARMS!! We could of all ended up in the brink!!!

We tented at Baxter State Park at Mt Kahtakin so I could see a Moose. After we set the tent up, one walked right thru the next camp site to ours! Bridgette told us to get up at 6am and take the trail to Sandy Pond so we did. We saw three more! Mother and baby and Auntie??? We slept on these boy scout cots that were about 4inches off the ground. I just could not get comfortable. At five oclock I finally went to the car! Bob had no problems. We opted not to stay another night!

Pat and I spend some time together

First we did lunch and shopping at Stonington at a restaurant over looking the ocean!!The lobster and crab rolls were yummie!



Then we did the horse carriage rides at Acadia Nat. park. Of course We had tea at the Jordan House on the lawn overlooking the lake. We had really yummy homemade popovers and jam. We stopped and took scenery pics along the way. I just love the little coves with the boats tied out.
















Maine Coast is so beautiful. You grow up with it and never appreciate it. This is me with a bunch of lobster traps..