August - December 2019 Palm Creek

We went back to Palm Creek earlier than normal. There were not a lot of activities in the summer so every evening after dinner we would do a three mile "walk about."  There was social tennis in the mornings (I'm in the yellow shirt). I planted a butterfly garden this year with yellow lantana, a gardenia and some basil.  The rest are some of the sites that we encountered on our "walk abouts."

We are generally not in the park in September.  This year we were thrilled when  tennis friend, Will Updyke and his new wife Juliet, invited us over for a Labor Day BBQ at their beautiful home in nearby Mission Royale.  It was just yummy!!

In September, we spent some time in Scottsdale, which is about two hours away from Casa Grande.  Instead of driving back and forth, Mark rented us this beautiful home!  I loved having a private pool.  Mark did this crossword puzzle in one night.  And I just loved the painting of the flower and the cactus.

We really enjoyed this breakfast at First Watch in Scottsdale. It is definitely worthy of a blog photo!  Yes, the one with the smoked salmon was for me!!

There is always a creative happening on our street in Palm Creek RV Resort.  Neighbors, Jim and Cappy Townsend, hosted a "Decade Changing Party."  It's amazing how many ladies on our street and one previous resident turned 70 this year, with just Joanne, to my left, who turned 60!!

We spent Thanksgiving day with Mark's sister Trish and family in California.  Yup, that's what our plates looked like and we ate it all!!  The food was just fabulous and we have never played so many games!

Mark made his famous poviticia, a sweet bread loaded with walnuts, honey, butter and sugar but I forgot to take a photo of the finished product.

Just like at niece Laura's wedding, where Mark danced with most of his nieces, niece Hailey got a real kick out of dancing with Uncle Mark!  Here is a little clip of part of the dance! (click on the link "Hailey and Mark Dancing)

Hailey and Mark Dancing

We enjoyed lunch the next day at Miramar Beach restaurant (right on the Pacific Ocean) with ex-daughter in law Molly and beautiful granddaughter Chase. An added treat was that we got to ride in Molly's new Tesla!!

We finished up the CA visit with a wonderful home grilled steak dinner with son, Nate and Gill.  But this is the only photo I have from this stop.

My cousin David's son was getting married in NJ so I took the opportunity to catch up with my long lost cousins and my NJ family (my 96 year old dad, step mom Marlene, brother Elliot and Jill, and step sister Beth, Greg and Eddie Ray). 

Being as I was already on the East coast I took the opportunity to catch up with daughter Eden and her family.  I don't do cold very well but I made an exception and it was super worth it!!

My grandsons are really getting quite good at snowboarding!!

We finished off the year with some of our typical and some unique events.  The Friday Hopbush tour group is enjoying loads of beautiful courses including this one at The Preserve.  Mark and I made French Cookie gift bags and distributed them to the people who were here for the holidays.  We enjoyed the Phoenix Boys Choir performance at the park.  And, neighbor, Odean scored a perfect score on the happy hour blind taste test of comparing Crown Royal, Gibson's, and Knob Creek.  Who says we retirees just sit around???

That's it for 2019.  It was quite the year.  We are definitely looking forward to 2020!!!