April 2015

Little Manatee River State Park

Wimauma, FL

On the 1^st of the month Monte helped out at the weekly coffee klotch held at the campground. 

 That afternoon he drove down to Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park in Punta Gorda with the volunteer coordinator to pick up a dump truck with a 40 foot trailer Little Manatee River State Park acquired.

That evening we rode our bikes over to the campground to meet a couple that contacted us through RVillage.  We enjoyed chatting with Chester and Sally until the mosquitoes got to be too much to ignore.   

The first weekend of the month was quite busy for us beginning with an impromptu campfire at the volunteer compound.

  It was a beautiful evening sharing stories and drinking a delicious wine slushy but unfortunately the mosquitoes cut short the amount of time I stayed. 

 

The next night we attended a pot luck dinner at the park manager’s residence. 

Monte was the designated driver- 

My contributions 

On the Saturday before Easter we visited with Monte’s daughter Melissa. 

 We colored and decorated eggs before having a delicious dinner.

Monte played a couple of games of chess with our grandson Timmy.

Easter Sunday we discovered the Easter Bunny left us a treat-actually it was left by John and Darlene, fellow volunteers.

Easter Sunday was spent at my brother’s house.

 

Monte installed odor eliminator vent covers.

Manatee Viewing Center-unfortunately there were no manatees to be seen. 

 

 

 TOO HOT

We sampled chicken wings at Sam’s Club and they were so good we bought a bag and invited the other volunteers to share them at an impromptu pot luck dinner.

My brother and sister-in-law invited us join them in Orlando for a few days. 

 They have a time share at the Westgate Resort.

We spent the first day just hanging out at the pool and paddling around in the swan boats.

 

Fortunately we still had two days left on Disney passes we had purchased many years ago so we spent one day at Epcot.

We got to the park before it opened and were first in line.  We rushed to our favorite ride-Soarin.  As soon as the ride ended we went around to the entrance and rode the ride again. No wait.  We knew from past visits that later in the day there would be at least an hour wait for this ride.

 

 

This was my new hairdo after our ride on Fast Track

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second day we opted to spend at Hollywood Studios.

 

 

 

The Frozen show was excellent! 

Raiders of the Lost Ark stunt show 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't do roller coasters so I just waited at the exit while Monte, my brother and sister-in-law rode as "single" riders.  No wait. Sweet.

One of my favorite rides is the Tower of Terror.  I have been on it many times but am still thrilled with the first DROP. 

 

 

The Beauty and the Beast show was great. 

 

 

 

Joe, one of the volunteers, treated everyone to a pizza party.

 

 

The end of the month had us attending a Blueberry Festival.  

Rather than eat at the festival we opted to go to a Mexican restaurant we had eaten at once before. 

The food was plentiful and delicious.