Time with family...creating memories

North Carolina and New York – We arrived in the Statesville area of North Carolina on the 27^th of October 2011.  Our first campsite was in Hiddenite - a bit rural and rustic.  The campsites are on dirt, no gravel, and no concrete.  Just an old farm converted to a campground.  The campground itself offered full hook-ups, showers and laundry and a seasonal swimming pool.  Cleanliness is not high on the owners list of priorities.  We managed to stay for one full month before relocating to a beautiful RV Resort on Lake Norman.  Bill and I worked at Lake Norman RV Resort - a total of 20 hours (combined) per week for our site over looking the lake.  We cleaned restrooms, worked in the office making reservations and checking customers in and out.  We enjoyed the experience and look forward to doing something along those lines perhaps next winter.

While in North Carolina we spent most of our time visiting with our daughter Lori and her family.  Bill loves teasing his grand daughters, as they were a bit gullible until they got to know him better.  The girls and I prepared several evening meals…Kayla seems to enjoy cooking and she loved making biscuits.  Katie also cooked with me but she is still a bit young to get very enthused about preparing the meal.  Kayla, Lori and I had a “girls” day out for manicures and pedicures the day of Kayla’s Winter Formal dance.  This year she wore a full-length gown and was absolutely stunning…growing up too fast!

Our daughter Terri and her family drove up from Raleigh NC on three occasions for a weekend visit.  We had a pontoon boat available for use at Lake Norman and we took the families out on the lake.  Some of the children were dragging their feet when it came time to load up in the boat.  However, attitudes did a quick turn around once cruising out on the lake.  Since we had/have no set schedule we were able to drive East to Raleigh NC to visit with Terri and her family in December.  Scott had an acting part in the second grade play at his school.  Great memories.

During our extended stay in North Carolina we did manage a couple of side trips North to New York.  We visited with Bill’s father on his 87^th birthday.  The old man is still as ornery as ever and that’s just the way we like him.  Our second trip to upstate NY was for a memorial service for Bill’s uncle.  The cousins had a wonderful time visiting and reminiscing old times and family vacations.

More photos available with this link: https://picasaweb.google.com/102523964098984601768/NorthCarolinaAndNewYork?authkey=Gv1sRgCJrDx_DPkaupLg