Day One at Indian River

 7-10-2021

The long-awaited day is finally here.  We have been planning this trip since sometime last year, during the pandemic, and our journey this summer was based on being at John and Bridgette's by July 10 so we could go camping with them.  We all had a few chores to take care of this morning, but we were on the road by 10:05.  It was hot, of course.  For some reason, Catalina chose to wear her pretty party dress for the trip, and she wasn't in the mood for pictures when we stopped for our first break at McDonalds.  That was about 11:15 in Lake Wales.  

The trip over was uneventful.  We did have to fix the top on John's boat, it was ballooning in the wind, apparently one of the straps broke, so when we stopped at McDonalds, the guys took care of that.

We got to the campground right at 2:00, which was check-in time so that worked out perfectly.  We drove 141 miles.  We are at Long Point Park on Indian River Lagoon, just north of Vero Beach.  Sebastian is right across the lagoon from us. We have two great campsites, which John and Bridgette booked some time last year.  This place is usually full in the summer.  Our spaces have lots of room between for the kids to play, and we are right on the water.  In fact, they all got in the water after we got camp set up, but it was too hot for me and Joe, so we stayed inside.

 It was unbearably hot, it took a while for the campers to cool down inside, but they finally did.  And it clouded up enough that we were able to eat outside.  A storm missed us, but we got some thunder and lightning from it.  John grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and we threw a meal together.

We brought some new games for the trip, so Joe is putting together a ladder golf set.  The directions were a bit lacking, but he finally got it figured out.

So then the game was underway.

After Catalina got tired of playing, I took on Andrew.  He says he won, but he kept changing the rules so I'm not so sure of that.  Meanwhile, John put together the other game, a kind of croquet with inflatable balls that you kick through the larger wickets.  But it wasn't made very well, and fell apart almost immediately, so that one was a waste of money.  Hopefully, they will get some use of out the balls.  

Joe had seen a guy go by on some kind of new "segway" type board, with a big wheel in the middle.  They came around again, so I got a quick picture.  We don't know what this is called.

The neighbor walked over with her granddaughter, so the kids played for a while, and we visited with her.  John built a fire, though we certainly were not cold, but it never really took off, so we came inside and played rack-o until it was time to go to bed.  

John didn't put the boat in the water today, but we will go out first thing in the morning.  We are hoping it doesn't get quite as hot and humid today, but the other choice is probably rain, so there's no winning with Florida summer weather.  But at least we have the water, so we an all cool off there. 

Packing Day

 7-9-2021 - Friday

Andrew started his morning with another dentist appointment.  There was a lot to do today, but when they got back, Bridgette took a few minutes to play basketball with the kids.

John had to work all day, but he did take a few minutes this morning to show Joe how he could help.

We all had to go to the grocery store, and they made a trip to Walmart, but by the end of the day, everything was done that could be done today.  It was unbearably hot and humid, I don't think it ever rained but there was some thunder and lightning at one point.  We tried to entertain the kids after dinner with a game of Mexican Train while John and Bridgette worked in the camper and with loading, but Catalina and Andrew were both antsy, getting ready to go on vacation tomorrow.  Everyone is ready to just be there.

We hope to be on the road by 10:00 in the morning, after Bridgette's get her gym workout in, and we finish the final loading.  It's about a 2-hour drive, so sometime shortly after noon, we should be able to start setting up camp.  I'm sure it will be hot and humid over there as well, but we are hoping the ocean breezes will make it more bearable, plus we will be spending time on the boat, and in the water.  Fish, here we come!!!

Thursday at the Froeschkes

 7-8-2021 - Thursday

We had a busy day today, with a break in the middle.  Catalina had a horse riding lesson at 10:00, so she is patiently (hah) waiting for her mom to get ready to go. (Patience is not one of her strong suits.)

Finally, she got to the stables.  Her trainer, Kelsey, makes her brush Jacob before they ride.

The arena is pretty wet, but since its sand, it isn't really muddy.

They have about 110 horses here, that they own, plus about 40 more boarders, so there are lots of horses.  They were getting some tacked up, possibly for a trail ride.

I guess this one had an itch under the saddle.

Catalina leads Jacob to the arena, then gets mounted up and is ready to go.

This is her most favorite thing, and she loves every minute of the hour or so they spend here.

They did a little barrel practice, and an obstacle course.

Andrew had stayed home with his dad, so he was ready to play dominoes when we got back.

Then it was time to head into Tampa for basketball practice.  I got a picture of the Tampa skyline from the freeway.  They are going to have a boat parade on the Hillsborough River on Monday to celebrate the Bolts Stanley Cup win.  We will be over at Indian River then, but it would be cool to watch.  The Hillsborough River goes right past the University of Tampa campus, where Bridgette teaches, so we could probably get a good viewpoint.

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  The basketball coach used to play for the Florida Gators, and John and Bridgette are pretty happy with him.  John warmed them up until practice officially started.

Then they got lined up for practice, which starts with some drills.

They had some shooting drills, then a scrimmage -- boys against girls.

That lasted about an hour and a half, then we stopped on the way home for dinner, then finished our domino game.  We watched the Phoenix Suns until half-time, then it was time to go to bed.  This morning, we were glad to see they won.

I finally remembered to check the Jeep manual for fuel capacity, and learned that we have a 19-gallon tank, so we weren't quite as low as we thought.  Good to know. 

Tomorrow is packing day, getting ready to head over to the east side of Florida.  We hope for good weather (no hurricanes) and good fishing next week.

Wednesday at the Froeschkes

 7-7-2021 - Wednesday

Joe had an appointment for the Jeep this morning, to get the oil changed and the tires rotated, so he was up and gone at 8:00.  It's cloudy, breezy, drizzly, but Elsa has moved on so we are out of the woods on that front.  It threatened rain all day, but held off until the late afternoon, then it poured.  But there was no lightning or thunder with it, so that didn't keep the kids from playing outside.

We did play Mexican Train during the day.  They were waiting for Grandpa to join us, but he was gone first thing, then he worked on the RV during our second round, so we had to play without  him.

After Joe got back with the Jeep, he and I drove back out to LazyDays to get more springs for the leveling jacks.  We had to go three places before we found any, but he finally did get two more sets.  With John's help, he got those installed.  Then the jacks wouldn't go up, but he found a broken wire and fixed that.  I don't think our vehicles like Florida -- they are used to a dry heat!

Bridgette's been going to the gym about every day, so after dinner, she went over there.  Joe and I were in charge of clean-up from dinner.  When she got back, she baked us a cake!  That was a nice treat.

We watched the Lightning Bolts win the Stanley Cup, then went to bed.  Not the most eventful day, but we are getting to spend some quality time with the kids, and that's what we came for.