December 2019 - Lots of Friends & Family

Coloma, CA
Thousand Trails Resort

(Dec 2019) 

Once back at the trailer we put our little tree up and decorated.  It was a busy month as usual with getting all of our doctor, dentist, eye, etc appts in.  

                                       

Turkeys on Parade?

We drove over to Monterey to Ryan & Diana's place where all the kids joined us a couple of days later for our Christmas Eve celebration.

They took us to a nice place where we had a delicious dinner and then this really fun dessert.

It's ice cream on sticks served with a few dipping sauces.  Really yummy!

We decided we'd have a Cajun Christmas Dinner.  So we started making the Jambalaya and the Etoufee. before they all arrived.

Before dinner the kids all bought matching jammies and got some for us too.

Dinner turned out fantastic.  We also had rice, beans, green salad and a fruit salad.

Afterward we played some games and opened presents.  Ryan and Diana were babysitting a friends lab puppy who was fascinated with a game Kaylee and Alex were playing. He kept trying to eat the game pieces.

It was a long night and we enjoyed each others company.  Steve, myself, Ryan & Diana, Shane & Lindsay, Brennan & Alex and Kaylee.  Soon little Jaxson will join us!

Hurley opening his present.

OMG the kids had an idea to make a fun video on the stairway.  We were all shown what to do and Kaylee put the music to it.  We had had a bit to drink by this time so it took several tries and we laughed our heads off.

Ryan's birthday is the 28th so we celebrated that too!

The kids made a huge breakfast of eggs, Linguica, bacon, fried potatoes, biscuits & fresh pineapple.

Then we all went hiking and it felt good to get some fresh air and exercise.

We even geocached along the trail.  Me, Steve, Alex, Brennan, Shane, Ryan, Kaylee, Lindsay & Diana.

What a great time we had over the weekend.  Time to get back to Placerville and have Christmas with the rest of the family.

We end up at my Mom's for our big Italian Christmas feast.  My sister stays with her family in the Bay Area so we always miss them.  All of our sons and Significant Others were out of the country or with their other families so it was a much smaller get together. Our friends, John & Tina, joined us since they could not be with their family due to weather conditions.  It was bittersweet as my brother and his family will be moving to Florida next year so this was our last big get together.

Mom & Dad

The last week of the year before we head out to Arizona is always busy as well, buttoning things up for our exit.  We had John & Tina staying at the same resort so we had more good times!  Tina put on a nice RV Get Together with several couples for a great potluck.

Rene joined us but we missed Ron as he was home with a cold. Sadly I didn't get pictures of the rest of the gang.

We did some final hiking around the nearby trails.

Some of our other great friends, Rick & Angie bought their first 5th wheel and they joined us as well for their shakedown trip.  Steve has known Rick since their time in the Air Force. They bought a really nice Grand Design Solitude.  They will be part timers and we hope to spend more time exploring with them.

Another couple included in this gang, Mike & Rose and Rose's visiting sister, Mary, came down and we went out to dinner at Bricks in Placerville. 

The next night Angie made a fabulous Rack of Lamb for all of us.  It was AMAZING!  She is a great cook!

                                       

And to add to our fun, long time friends that now live in Hawaii, Ron & Kathleen, joined us too!  Steve, Rick, Ron & Mike all worked at Kodak after the military.  We've been friends since the early 80s!

                                                    

Our evening and year come to a close and it's almost time to head back to warm Arizona!

We enjoyed sunsets and sunrises and time with families and friends.  We're very thankful!!

Goodbye 2019!