Fun and Games

Not expecting a very nice day weather wise we were all surprised by the beautiful sunrise and warm 72 degree temperatures. Diane took this picture off her balcony this morning.

Most all of us ended up on the beach walking, fishing or just visiting and this was all before breakfast. After breakfast the weather took a quick change dropping quickly into the low 60s and rain. Of course this doesn't stop the fun and games around here they just migrate inside.

Anni found a dead sea turtle on the beach last night and took these pictures. We hiked down to see it but by this time the officials had the area blocked off and wouldn't let anyone near it.

 

Kari and Brett had their baby boy born back at home. Rhonda and Spark can't wait to meet their newest grandson.

 

Greg and Fedi brought out the fishing poles this afternoon but only caught 2 fish. 

The young adults decided to go to the rec center to play walleyball this evening.  Mom, Spark, Rhonda, Greg, Beth, Mark, Nolan, Sarah and I went to Steamers for supper. If you like shrimp and seafood I highly recommend this place. They serve nothing fried, just grilled, steamed or blackened but all was good. The picture below is just a sampler. Each plate is suppose to feed 2 people.

Speaking of supper, the pictures below are of our big fish dinner from all those fish everyone caught yesterday.

 We also had other foods such as fajitas, salads, beans, chips, and lots of desserts to stretch the fish and by the end of the evening there wasn't much left of anything.

After our meal at Steamers us old folks ended up at mom's to play more games. We had a scrabble game going on on one side of the table and Mexican train on the other side.

 It got so late neither game was able to be finished. The Scrabble game is now on top of the fridge and we just decided to quit on Mexican train. We were all the way down to the double 4s but it was well after 10:00 and we old folks really need our sleep so good night all.

Gulf Shores Dec 29th, 2015

The storm moved out during the wee hours of the morning and when it was time for us to get up we awoke to a beautiful sunny warm day and even better the fish were biting right off the beach. The man below is from Wisconsin and spent about 15 minutes pulling a huge fish in, which once it was on land and unhooked he carried back to the water and let go.

 Well we only let small ones go, those too small to be legal and we still ended with enough fish for dinner tonight to feed this group of people down here.

 Joan got Nancy all set up with a pole then went to get her own pole going.

 Mark was helping Nancy reel in the pole when they discovered there was a big fish hooked to the line.

 Joan caught a fish at the same time. Below is Nancy showing off her big fish while Joan shows off her little fish.

 When Spark arrived Nancy had to go tell him about the big fish too.

 Below are the cheering section for the fishers.

Volley ball was next on the fun schedule. I think it about killed Nolan to leave the fishing for volley ball.

After volley ball came the boogie boarding. The waves today were big and strong and not for the faint at heart.

After a lunch break came the foot ball games. 

After the foot ball games came more boogie boarding, to cool off and get the sand off.

The rest of today's pictures were placed on Mark's facebook page. If you would like to see them click HERE.

Fedi and Greg cleaned the fish, Beth cooked the fish and we all met over at Beth and Greg's condo for potluck. We had a wonderful meal. Unfortunatley the camera decided to break about that time. I took it apart but was not able to fix it so this may be the last of the pictures. 

Rhoda sent a couple pictures from home. She was dog watching today as Emily was in Forrest, IL.

 Left to right is Darcy, Studly, Zero, Ebbie, Emma and Rubie. Below she is walking them plus Kristin's dog toward Spark and Rhonda's house. Lots of trees down.

 The picture below is looking from mom's house toward the dumpster. There are trees down all over.

Looks like there is quite a mess to clean up when we get home.

Goliath

We awoke to threatening storm clouds. Our beautiful sunny hot weather may be over for the year. The picture below was taken around 7:00 am, that tiny bit of blue sky was pretty much the only time the sun shine shone through the clouds today.

 

Ruth and Nancy came over with quite a story. The ferocious winds from this storm named Goliath picked up their balcony table and slammed it down breaking it, then picked up a chair and threw that over the railing down 3 flights and blew it all the way to the road. Nancy joined us for breakfast while Ruth and Fedi went for a walk on the beach before the rain started. When Ruth got back she and I walked over to see the progress on Diane and Mike's condo. Below are a few pictures of her condo.

 Above is John Honegger in what he calls the study. Diane decided to put up a curtian rod and curtains that can be used as a privacy curtain so this room can be used for sleeping too.

 Looking the other way is the dining area and the kitchen behind that. The next two pictures are of the kitchen.

 The picture below is looking off one of her balconies toward the pool.

 In the picture below Diane is standing on the balcony the last picture was taken and this time I am looking out at the Gulf of Mexico.

 Ruth, John Honegger and I left there and came back to our condo to play scrabble with mom. During the game we heard some yelling. The kids all came running in to tell us there was a water spout out on the Gulf. The camera was grabbed out of the bedroom and I went running to the balcony but it was too late the spout had dissipated.  Below is a bunch of the group out on mom's balcony talking about the water spout.

 The waves today were huge, crashing into each other and as the wave would come up to peak and start rolling in, the wind would blow a froth off the top of each wave. This almost looked like thousands of horse manes blowing in the wind as the steeds galloped toward shore.

 

The waves were so impressive I took a short video clip.

When the Scrabble game was over (Ruth won but mom came in a close second) We were looking for umbrella's for John and Diane to get back to their condo. Diane pulled out the umbrella below but found out it was broken. These beach umbrellas don't last long down here. That one was thrown away and another pulled out.

The wind and rain stopped. At least the wind died down enough for Mark and I to take a walk on the beach. We quit when the rain started back up but by that time were almost back to the condo. The kids all headed over to Joan and Tim's condo for games. Mom and Mark worked on painting the ceiling where a water stain had marked it up. When Mark finished his black shirt had turned gray and his gray hair had turned quite white. The paint spray even got on his glasses. He had quite a time cleaning up. Mom, Mark and I walked over to Ruth's condo to go hot tubbing when the air conditioner man showed up to replace mom's outdoor unit. Mark went back to help while mom and I stayed at Ruth's and had a nice visit with some people while enjoying the hot tub. Nancy got tired of sitting in the tub and just wanted to stay inside and write. She is having a blast on this vacation. 

For dinner Mom, Beth, Spark, John, Mark and I went to DeSoto's for their early bird special. While there we started hearing of the horrible weather happening at home. Rhoda sent the picture below of her back yard. She said the ice is bringing down huge trees. Her trees were losing big limbs.

Her yard was filling up with icy tree limbs. There are power lines down everywhere. Emily called to report there is a big tree down over mom's drive. She drove to Middle Grove to check on the horses there which were all fine but back at the Hanna City farm Evan, Hadassah, Rosaleigh and Roxanne were not. Those horses were shivering and were all moved inside. They all have shelters but the wind was blowing too hard through them to keep them comfortable. The wind, rain, sleet and ice is making things miserable. She also reported the lakes are full to over flowing. She was thankful the electricity was still on although it was flickering a lot. 

After dinner we went to Joan and Tim's for games. We walked in to a rousing game of electricity. That was a ball to watch and nerve racking when we were asked to join in.

 More players arrived as that game finished so the next games were charades. The young adults played very loud active games on one side of the room while the adults played a loud game of Mexican Train.

We had another great day!