Three Trips in Two Weeks!!!!! (Nov. 25 - Dec. 6, 2013)

George's son, Robert and family

Since I have been away from Blogging for two weeks,  I must admit that George and I have been VERY busy!!!   We took THREE trips during this time...

First,  we took a trip to Palm Harbor, Florida,  where we enjoyed Thanksgiving with George's son Robert and family..  Secondly,  we drove to Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  and got to spend some time with two of my three sons and a couple of grandchildren... And thirdly,  we drove to Ocean Isle Beach,  North Carolina  (by way of the Smoky Mountain backroads and Biltmore)...WOW--what a fantastic couple of weeks!!!!

Today,  I'll give you a short glance into these trips (with the exception of the Smokies and Biltmore which will come later).  Hope all of you are doing fine and had a fantastic Thanksgiving like we did!!!

Above is a picture of George's son,  Robert,  with Melissa,  Zack and Sean.  We had taken a hike on a very windy day near the Courtney Campbell Causeway at Clearwater,  Florida,  trying to walk off some of that delicious food they prepared for us!!!!

View from the Robert Adams' home in Palm Harbor, FL

Here is a great view from Robert and Melissa's living room. That is a beautiful area of Florida!

Fried Turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner

Robert is quite a great chef ---and he cooked MANY wonderful things for us while we were there.. His Dad loves to cook also ---so those two had fun discussing all of the things one should and should not do when cooking!!!!  I had never had fried turkey before --and this one was TREMENDOUS....  Rob uses all of the best seasonings ---so this was truly one of my favorite turkey dinners EVER.

Thanksgiving Dinner

YUM.   I put two photos together to show you what I ate on Thanksgiving day... Not only is Robert a good cook, but Melissa is also... Most everything they make is 'from scratch' ---and it was absolutely fantastic.

Robert makes cheesecakes from scratch ---and we had two different ones while there.  This is a Pumpkin Cheesecake with caramel topping...  SO---other than the turkey,  the cheesecakes were my favorites!!!   Oh My Heart---can you say "DELICIOUS".... Wow!

George and me with son, Mark, from Texas

After getting home from that trip,  we headed to Chattanooga to see more family.   My middle son,  Mark,  drove up from Texas for a couple of days with his beautiful daughters,  Bay Lee and Brooke.  We hadn't seen them in awhile ---so as you can imagine,  we had a fantastic time!!!

Top: Sons Mark and Jeff;  Bottom:  Jeff and beautiful wife, Dawn

Not only did I get to see Mark and the girls,  but it was great seeing son Jeff and his wife, Dawn, also.  They drove up from Georgia so that all of us could be together.   Mark and Jeff are only 16 months apart in age --but don't get to spend enough time together these days...We loved seeing all of them.

Top:  Me with Mark and his daughters,  Bay Lee (with her teeny little dog) and Brooke;  Bottom: Mark and a very happy, proud Mama/Grammy

As I said,  Mark and the girls live in Texas.  Bay Lee is 20 now and in college at Texas State University.  Brooke is 16 and is a Junior in high school.  They have grown up much too fast for this Grammy!!!

Mark and daughters,  Bay Lee and Brooke

Finally,  this is my favorite photo of Mark and his daughters.  It was such joy to see them and get to spend some time with them.  I miss them all so very much!

Me at Ocean Isle Beach

After going back home,  washing clothes and re-packing,  we headed to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, for a few days.    We did take a couple of side trips (Smoky Mountain backroads and Biltmore)--but will report on them later.   Today,  I'll share some photos from our beach trip.

One thing we love is walking on the beach (and getting lots of exercise--which we needed after all of the good food).  George took this picture of me with some of my shore bird friends!!!!  It was much much warmer (in the 70's) this year --when compared to last December when we about froze!!!!  We love walking on the beach when there are so few people around!!!  We have it all to ourselves.. I did manage to find a sand dollar this time.

George enjoying dinner at Dockside in Calabash, NC

Another reason (besides walking on the beach) we love to go to that area is to go to Calabash, NC to our favorite restaurant (DOCKSIDE).  We have never found the seafood as good ANYWHERE we go... That night we both had Shrimp and Scallops... Our favorite though by far are those huge Scallops... They are fantastic.. YUM...

SUNSET at Ocean Isle on Dec. 5, 2013

Another reason we love to go to Ocean Isle (Islander Inn) in December is to see the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets  (which we cannot see when we go in May).  And as you can see,  we saw some 'beauties'....

What is significant about this sunset is that I took this photo about the time that my sweet father-in-law (John Adams) passed away in Tennessee.  I look at that photo now --and know that God was smiling down (see the Sunbeams?) saying that another of his angels was safely home.  Rest in peace,  John Emery Adams.

Us at Ocean Isle Beach, 12/5/13

We took this photo from the Gazebo at Islander Inn.  You can tell by the smiles on our faces how much we love being at the beach in December!

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On another note,  thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments on my last blog post talking about the death of George's sweet Daddy.  Many of you feel as if you knew "Dad" since I had blogged about him so much.  Dad's health had been getting worse --and our prayers were that he die peacefully--which he did.  He was one amazing and inspirational man --who lived for 101 years,  and whom I adored with all of my heart.

If you want to read what George wrote yesterday on his blog about his Dad,  click HERE.

Be sure to check out all of my new quotes on my sidebar!!!!!  After that--jump over to my Photo Blog (click HERE) for a photo I took on December 2 on our visit to see the lights of Biltmore at NIGHT.

Hugs,

Emoticons