Tuesday, December 30, 2008

NOTICE CONCERNING PICASA ALBUMS

BECAUSE PICASA 3 ISN'T WORKING CORRECTLY, I'VE HAD PROBLEMS POSTING PICTURES TO MY OLD URL OF SCHULTZ TRAVEL PHOTOS. I'VE TRIED TO GET HELP AND CORRECT THE PROBLEMS TO NO AVAIL. THEREFORE, ALL PICTURES BEGINNING WITH THE CHRISTMAS PICTURES FROM THIS YEAR WILL BE POSTED AT THE FOLLOWING URL.....

WWW.PICASAWEB.GOOGLE.COM/SCHULTZTRAVELPHOTOS2009

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR FAVORITES IF YOU HAVE THE LIKE SAVED. THANKS FOR COMING HERE TO READ MY BLOG AND FOR VIEWING OUR PICTURES.

SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS BUT I WANTED TO MAKE SURE THIS WAS SEEN AND READ.

At The Beach

Dean and I had appointments today to pick up our new eye glasses in Fairhope, AL. Dean also had a appointment for a field vision test and a follow-up appointment at the doctors - also in Fairhope today. This morning Suze, David, Dean and I piled into the Jeep and headed south from Montgomery. We picked up our new glasses (at the eye doctors), Dean had his eye test and passed, got the OK from the regular doctor and by 2:30 we were free - yea!!!

Lulu's here we come....For those of you who don't know about Lulu's - it's a restaurant on the intercoastal waterway in Gulf Shores, AL and is owned by Lulu Buffet - Jimmy Buffet's sister - yes, that Jimmy Buffet. You know the one - "Cheeseburger in Paradise"! It's one of the few places that can legally sell them by that name.

After making a couple of stops along the way, we got to Lulu's around 4 pm. It turned out to be a great time as it was not crowded yet and we got a water front table. Dean had his usual hamburger and onion rings and actually enjoyed them this time - long story there - lol. Suze, David and I ordered a large order of boiled shrimp, fried crab claws and got the french fries that came with Dean's burger. The three of us devoured the shrimp and crab claws and decided that we were still just a little bit hungry so we ordered another order of onion rings and a small order of crab claws. Ate every bit and it was soooo good. At least until the bill came - it's not cheap at Lulu's, I can tell you that. Including a couple of beers and one margarita the bill was $96.00 + tip : - ( Oh well, it was still worth it as we enjoyed the view, the company and most of all the food. Fortunately Dean had gone to the restroom when the bill came but he came back when the waitress brought the receipt back for me to sign and he saw it. His comment was we won't be coming back here for five years!! We all looked at him and said ha! It's a once a year thing, it's fun and we're coming back. I just don't know when it will be as we are seriously considering looking for doctors in Montgomery since we spend the holidays up there. That way we wouldn't have to drive back and forth from Baldwin Co. Of course we can always make a day trip down
: - )

I had reserved two gulf front rooms at the Perdido Beach Resort for the night and that's where we are now. Really nice rooms, connecting. The guys are in one and Suze and I are in the other. We have balconies overlooking the beach and Perdido Pass and are anxious to see the sun rise in the morning - it should be really beautiful as it's supposed to be clear. I sure hope the weather man is correct!

So we are having a night's get-a-way with my two kids and it's really kinda nice. We just don't get to do this very often. The only thing that would have made it better is if Morgan would have been with us, but she is still with her Mom.

If the weather cooperates and I get a good picture of the sunrise, I'll come back here and post it.

Sunrise at Perdido Bay, Orange Beach, AL
View of the beach, early morning..
Us, windblown hair and all..
David and Suze on the balcony..

Tomorrow we return to Montgomery from our "beach fix".

See ya later.....

Friday, December 26, 2008

Another Christmas Past

OK, another Christmas has come and gone. I really do enjoy the season, but am also glad when it's over. I think it's the increased commercialism of the season along with the "you must be politically correct" stuff that makes really gets my goat. A employee at Lowe's was fired because she wore a pin that said "It's Christmas for Christ's sake". Well it is Christmas for me and a lot of other Christians and I for one am tired of atheists and other groups trying to take Christ out of Christmas. If you don't like it, or don't celebrate it, just leave the rest of us that do alone and keep your mouth shut! I don't complain when you celebrate your "holidays".

Sorry, but just had to get that off my chest. I'll get off my soap box now.

This year we celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. This was a first for us as we usually do the meal and gift exchange on Christmas Day. The reason for the change this year is due to a divorce between my son and his now ex-wife. Unfortunately, the one who suffers the most is my sweet granddaughter! It's really hard for a child to be away from either parent during the holidays. Anyway, David had her for Christmas Eve till 11am Christmas Day, so we decided to do it all Christmas Eve at my daughters house. We had a very nice evening, having dinner, opening gifts and then watching a movie, Fred Claus. Of course, Morgan, was ready to open her gifts early on, but we waited until after we ate dinner. She is growing up so fast it seems surreal. We were recently looking at pictures of her as a baby surrounded by her collection of Beanie Babies and it seems like it was only yesterday that it was taken, but then that is another time and story - back to now!

Dean and I started collecting charms from a lot of the places we have visited and had them put on a bracelet for Morgan. When she opened it, and saw all the charms, she squealed, like most pre-teens would do. I told her that no one else would ever have a bracelet like it since it was made special for her. We had collected about 20 charms and seeing the bracelet on her wrist, we decided that we are going to take her to the jeweler next weekend and have half of them put on another bracelet. It was just to heavy for her little wrist! That way she can wear one or both of them, her choice. Her comment was getting another bracelet would be good because it would leave more room for more charms - funny girl!!!
Morgan opening her charm braclet..

I attempted several times to post a few pictures here, but as usual, blogger was running slow and I couldn't get them to post so you'll have to go to picasa to view the pictures. I discovered that both my camera batteries were almost dead when I got my camera out to take pictures so therefore, I didn't get many this year. NOTE: Having a hard time getting picasa to upload also - sorry, I'll keep trying.

Christmas morning we went over to David's where Morgan was waiting to open her "Santa" gifts. Santa was really good to her and brought her a Digital Camera. Gosh was she happy! I know she took many pictures in the first 10-15 minutes after opening it. After opening gifts there, David fixed us all a great breakfast. Suze, Dean and I left about 10am to give David a little more one on one time with his daughter before he had to take her to her mom's.

The rest of the day was a lazy one - it felt like the day after Christmas instead of Christmas day. That was OK though as I didn't sleep well the night before so really didn't feel like doing much. We munched on leftovers and sweets during the day and had hamburgers in the evening. Really a different Christmas!

Today we went to Lazy Boy Recliner store and found two recliners for the motorhome. We will pick them up tomorrow. We did a little looking at a few stores for some other items, but came home empty handed. We did stop by Suze's for lunch and helped her get some of the Christmas decorations down. She will be storing the sofa out of the motorhome for us. When we decide it's time to go back to stick and brick, the sofa will go back in the motorhome and the recliners will go with us, where ever that may be. We may look for a storage building before we head for Texas, as we do have a lot stored at Suze's house and I hate taking up all that space with our stuff! We'll see.

I think our New Year's Eve will be a quiet one this year, as most years. New Year's day dinner will be at Suze's along with whatever football game is on that day - lol. The following week we will working at getting some things done that we have to do here in Montgomery so we can head to South Texas. I'm ready for some warmer weather.

I'll post our progress in 2009, so until then ----


HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

Saturday, December 13, 2008

It's A Wonderful Life

It is a Wonderful Life that we live, isn't it?

It's also a great Christmas movie from which I decided to use the title for this entry.

This time of year makes us look at the blessings we have been given and be thankful for them. I myself am most grateful that I've been given the opportunity to travel the United States of American and meet so many wonderful people. I'm grateful for each and everyone one of them including my blog readers that I've never met. Of course there is so much more that I'm grateful for including family, heath, freedom etc.

We are back in Montgomery, AL where we will be for at least a month. If you travel through this area, a great park is Capital City RV Park. It's out of the city but very easy to get to for sightseeing. Our friends and 2005 Graduating Classmates, Jean and Paul (AFChap) are parked just two spots down from us.

For those who were aware, their son was shot in the line of duty here in Montgomery about a month ago. Yes, he is a police officer. Paul told me yesterday that they have removed the bullet from his back and he is doing good. They are talking about letting him return to half days of duty very soon. Very good news for his family!

I have shared with a few of you the news about our great-grandson, Zander. He is a cute little boy who will turn 3 on January 1st, God willing. About a month ago, he was injured in a freak accident involving a utility trailer. At first there were very minimal brain waves, but subsequent tests revealed no brain activity. He has been on life support in a hospital in Jackson, MS. Last Sunday, the doctors removed the life support and the immediate family gathered to say their goodbye's. Well, God had other plans and as of today, he is still breathing on his own. They are moving him into a long term care facility, then shortly, he will return home with his mother until.....

Your prayers were truly appreciated and if you feel so led, please continue for him and his Mom. It will be a very difficult time for her, seeing her only child lying helpless. She is learning how to care for him medically, as a mother she already knows!

The next week and a half will be spent getting ready for Christmas with Suze, David and Morgan. We will be having a special Christmas Eve dinner together and after opening presents will watch a new Christmas movie. I just haven't been able to tear myself away from family during the holidays. I know that a lot of you do and are now enjoying the warm weather of South Texas. I do envy you for that but I still need the family around me during this time of year. I can't say that I haven't thought about heading for someplace warmer though, especially when the temperatures drop below freezing.

We will visit the other kids, Krystal, Terry and Tim and my aunt when we are heading for Texas, sometime in January.

After Christmas, Dean has a dentist appointment to see what his options are about getting his front missing tooth replaced. A year of calling him snaggle tooth is enough. We also have some legal matters to take care of while in Montgomery. We are hoping we can leave here sometime in January and head to Texas and warmer weather.

I'll probably not post until after the holidays so to all our family and friends, have a

Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Monday, December 01, 2008

December 1st - Time to Catch Up

I've heard from several readers that they were concerned something was wrong since I hadn't updated in awhile. Rest easy - all is well.

Dean and I have been busy the last couple of weeks getting from one doctor to another for the yearly check-ups. Gosh, I wish I could bill the doctors for the time we spent waiting in their waiting rooms (guess that's why they are called that) past our appointment time. We could retire again - LOL.

We are still in S. Alabama and expect to be here for two more weeks finishing up the doctor stuff and finishing up the distribution on my Dad's estate. From here we will head to Montgomery for a month or so to spend the holidays with Suze and David and take care of some legal matters.

We did drive the Jeep to Montgomery last week to spend Thanksgiving with Suze, David & Morgan. We had a great dinner - see picture, and of course ate more than we should have.



Friday morning I did something I always said I would never do. Suze and I got up at 5 am to be in line at Office Depot to buy new laptop computers. Morgan went along with us. We told her that she could sleep in, that we would be back around 7 am, but she said she had never done the Black Friday shopping thing and really, really wanted to go along. So we also had on sleepy girl with us. When we arrived at Office Depot there were already about a dozen in line so we weren't sure that we would get our computers. After a few minutes we discovered that employees from the store were going down the line giving out vouchers for the advertised items, which is a great way to handle the sales and other stores could take notice of this way of handling Black Friday sales. Maybe it would have saved the young man's life in Long Island, NY who got trambled to death at Wal-Mart had they done the same thing! Anyway, when the employee got to us, Suze said what she wanted and he pulled her a voucher and then I said the same and got the last one! Lucky us. We are now both owners of a Toshiba Satellite Laptop. I already love the difference in weight between it and my HP Pavilion. When we go back to Montgomery, David will transfer all my data from the HP to the Toshiba.

One other thing we did was go to Radio Shack and get a 19" HD TV for the bedroom. On our way there, we stopped so Morgan could change her shirt. It seems she made a bet with her Uncle Tim almost a year ago and lost and the bet was that she had to wear a LSU shirt and have her picture taken in it. Well, I guess her Daddy just couldn't stand the thought of seeing her in that shirt and it was never done. I promised Tim on Thursday that I would make sure that the picture was taken and it was. Of course I had to take it with AUBURN stuff in the background. Kinda balanced it all out. Picture is below:



I think this kinda brings me up to date for now. I'll post more after we move to Montgomery.

See ya soon,