We left on January 4th (Monday) for Hilton Head, taking Mom and Dad with us. We set up an airbnb near Coligny Park Beach so they could stay the week and enjoy some of the things they used to do when they lived here. The trip went pretty well – we packed lunches and tried to stop very infrequently. When we arrived I felt we should clean everything before we unpacked and got settled. That was a little overwhelming after our long drive from Florida…Continue Reading “Mom and Dad visit Hilton Head”
We headed over to Lakeland to visit my brother Matthew’s family. He has 4 daughters: Eve (19 years old and lives in Gainesville where she goes to college), Kylie (12 years old), Kendall (11 years old), and Kenzie (8 years old). New years eve Alyssa was set to fly home. She was a little worried because the flight kept getting pushed and pushed. She was sure it would be cancelled. With some extra time on our hands we drove to Clearwater to check out the…Continue Reading “New Years Family Visits”
One of the fun things we did while Alyssa was with us was to visit Myakka River State Park. A few years ago Kim (my youngest daughter) and I did a “backpacking biking” trip and biked from Venice to Myakka and camped in the park. We had such a great time and found the park so exceptionally beautiful I thought it would be a nice day trip. Of course we did not count on all the other people in Florida thinking the same thing! The…Continue Reading “Exploring Myakka River State Park”
One of the reasons I decided to retire early was to spend more time with my parents. My father has Alzheimer’s dementia and my mother is his sole caregiver. We moved them in the spring and early summer (it took several months from start to finish with the pandemic) from their house in Sun City Hilton Head in South Carolina to Aston Gardens in Sun City Center Florida. Their new community provides more services such as meals, rides, day trips, cleaning etc. It is also…Continue Reading “Christmas in Florida”