This morning it's beginning to rain as I write this. I'm not sure what that will do to our plans for today. We are now in Williamsburg, VA. I like Virginia. Our ride along I-95 through S and N Carolina and Virginia was pleasant and pretty. Lots of pine and deciduous trees along the interstate. N Carolina adds gardens of yellow day lilies and some type of red and/or white bush. These gardens are mostly at the exits and entrances to the interstate. Virginia does a great job of providing communication and rest areas for travelers. Not all states do that. Gas in S Carolina was around $2.31 while here it's closer to $2.60 or more.

We spent all day at Busch Gardens yesterday. The blisters on my feet and the patch of sunburn on my leg will attest to it. Busch Gardens is another huge area for tourists and roller coaster lovers. This roller coaster is the "meanest" one here and is called The Mad Dog. You could not PAY me to go on it. See the riders dangling at the top? That is a verticle drop - straight down. The ride teases the riders for a few seconds at the brink of that drop and then wham! Drops them right down and then on to a bunch of turns and twists, upside down and inside out. I'm sure my family will go on it today. There is one roller coaster John is itching to try but since he had eye surgery a couple months ago he's not really sure it would be wise.

This is my speed of rides - a Sesame Street one for kiddies. John went with me - sorry I couldn't get a better photo of it.

We also took two 4-D virtual rides that were cool. One at this castle and another one called Corkscrew Hill. These theme parks are smart about creating snaking lines for waiting to go on the rides. The photo of the fan is how they kept us cooled off while waiting in line - spraying water out the fan. As John says, there's the lines outside, inside and inner inside. And they were long, yesterday. The parked looked packed to me.

We ate dinner in this German building. After dinner an oompa band came in and entertained us. They were really fun to watch. Very interactive with the audience.

We took a ride on the train - saves footsteps and is fun to see the park from that
perspective. We also took several airtram rides. I loved those rides. Long lines to get on, however.

People are friendly, here, and every time we sat down I asked people nearby where they were from and chatted with them.

We also went to an Irish Dancers show - excellent show. On the order of the Riverdance group. There are still a few things I'd like to see. John says he thinks he's seen all he wants. We'll hopefully be able to spend a few hours there today with my family and then John wants to go to the Waterpark.

Tomorrow my family will be with my son-in-law's family in Petersburg so John and I will explore Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown. On Tuesday my son-in-law flies back to Seattle and my daughter and grandson will join John and I in our journey back home.

Thanks again for joining us on our travels today.

A Fudgesicle and Moving' On

This morning we leave for Williamsburg, VA. We've enjoyed our stay in Myrtle Beach except for the ant population that has decided to take up residency in our motorhome. Yesterday I had a real battle with them. John wasn't too bothered by them until they discovered his box of chocolates.

This entire area is somewhat overwhelming because it is so huge and so full of every kind of thing a person may want to do. Business Highway 17 is mile after mile of eateries, putt-putt golf opportunities (many of them almost palatial), tee shirt and beach shops and any other thing that will gladly take a few bucks from the sun-baked tourist. I've never been to any other place like this before. We visited two "boardwalks" that were massive. Both were built around a body of water with wooden boardwalks across the water. Each boardwalk along the shores of the water had large, fancy resturaunts, tons of shops and many forms of entertainment - from movie theaters to bungie jumping and many things in-between.

It's been very hot here every day. Too hot for John and I to be outside for an extended time. We spent one day at the beach in front of my family's hotel. Most people have a large beach umbrella if they're going to be there all day. We had 3 of them to cover all of us when we weren't in the water. My camera was dead that day so no photos to share.

The next day Keri Sereika and her family visited us at the campground. We went for lunch and then came back to the campground's pool so the little kids and John could play for a couple hours. Talk about a sweet family! Keri and her husband were so enjoyable to be with and the kids were very well-behaved and ADORABLE. The baby is beautiful as is her sister. It was wonderful being able to hold the baby. The visit was much too short and if we ever have another opportunity to visit them, we will.

These are a few photos I took of the second boardwalk we explored, called Barefoot Landing. Had the best, absolute best ice cream we'd ever had. Maggie Moo's - highly recommend it if you're ever in this area. John sat and waited for us while we poked around the shops and he missed out on the ice cream. I would have brought him a cone but in this heat it would never have made it. There were some beautiful tigers - real, live ones. The cubs were adorable.

One night we attended a Magician's show. We were well-entertained and enjoyed it. It was in a place called the Palace Theater - another large, palatial building. 2 other venues play there as well.

Yesterday we paid bills and prepared dinner for my family. John did an outstanding job of grilling a pork loin. The kids will follow us to Williamsburg tomorrow. We have several outings planned and I'm going to make sure the battery on my camera is charged.

Finally, I thought the popsicle in the newly released set from CSS called "Summer" would make a good fudgesicle for this card. Isnt' that wide ribbon yummy? It's from Sharon Johnson's ribbon store. Have you made a Treat Pack yet? If you go to the CSS blog you'll be able to see several samples with all sorts of great variations of it. Be sure to scroll down quite a ways to see all of them. Thanks for traveling along with us.

A Summer Thanks A Melon

I'm very excited to share several photos with you today. As I said in yesterday's post, I just love this new set from Clear and Simple Stamps called Summer. You can see it here. The watermelon is particularly fun to color and I thought it would make a great image for a place setting at a summer barbecue. When my son graduated from high school (I was single at the time) I had a thank you dinner for his teachers. So, with that in mind, the following photos are of a thank you dinner you may want to consider having for some special people in your life. The items I created for the place setting are: a thank you gift card holder, a place card for their name, a napkin ring, an invitation to the dinner (or breakfast or luncheon), and my favorite piece - a little cookie cart to hold the dessert (mine is holding brownies). The cookie cart is made exactly like the other little carts I've shown you, it's just an inch larger all around and scored at 2" instead of 1". So here are some photos of the pieces: The first photo is of the entire place setting. Next is a close up of the invitation. The invitation part was done in MS Word and printed off. Then we have the place card. Then there's the napkin ring - a piece of grosgrain ribbon tied in a bow with the melon attached.Next is the cookie cart. And finally, the gift card holder. Tomorrow I will share some photos of our day with the Sereika family and some from the things we've done here in Myrtle Beach. Be sure to head on over to the Clear and Simple DT Blog and link us up to your Summer Treat Pack creation for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to Clear and Simple Stamps!!

A Summer Stamp of the Month

Being released today from Clear and Simple Stamps is the Stamp of the Month called Summer. I just love this set and have had fun making samples to share with you this week. Nicki did a fabulous job in creating the popsicles for two-step stamping. Stamp the outline image and either color with a coloring tool, or stamp over it with the solid image, which is an exact fit. The melon image is really cute and since I love anything watermelon, I fell in love with it at once. The pair of flip flops is super fun. I can just see adding little flowers and sparkly things to them. The sentiments reflect thoughts you may want to send someone in the summer - "relax, enjoy, chill out, thanks a melon".

CSS is offering another great bundle for you, too.

$1 off using DTBlog709

SOTM Copic Bundle - $26

Summer Stamp set and Copic Trio - Yellow 1

Head on over to the Clear and Simple DT Blog and link us up to your Summer Treat Pack creation for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to Clear and Simple Stamps!!
Treat Bag Tutorial

From Myrtle Beach

This will be just a quick note as I need to run to the grocery store. Yesterday my camera needed charging so I missed lots of photo ops! We spent most of the day by the beach with my family and after dinner we walked around a "boardwalk" - oh, goodness, a shopper's paradise. I resisted, however!

This morning I actually needed to make a couple cards. The baby card is for a little gift for a sweet little girl that we get to meet today. You may know Keri Sereika - you can see her blog here, and her splitcoaststampers gallery here. Keri and her family are driving here to spend a few hours with John and I and I'm so excited to meet her IRL. Keri and I got to know each other about 4 years ago on splitcoast. She has four adorable kids - the newest one is just a couple weeks old! I'll have lots of photos to share with you tomorrow.

The second card is for my daughter, Jennifer, that we just left on Sunday. When she and I went to the local stamping store I spied this stamp and knew I just had to get it so that I could make her a card. Love the sentiment.

That's all for now. Oh, one more thing. Be sure to visit tomorrow to get my new template and see this month's releases from Clear and Simple Stamps - I know you'll love them.

Leaving St. Augustine

This morning we sadly left St. Augustine. I did not like leaving my daughter. We sure enjoyed our visit, though. We went to the beach nearly every day, even the late afternoon that it rained. Yesterday we went into town and I helped out the economy at the local stamping store. We also looked through some antique shops and then went back to the campground and picked up John to go to a restaurant for dinner and then down to the beach.

John got this squirrel to eat out of his. Cute little guy.

Yesterday Jennifer and I had the joy (I'm serious, it was really cool) of watching a Dung Beetle roll his treasure down one one of the dirt roads at the campground. He was really very beautiful - and talk about a hard worker! Neither Jennifer nor I realized that these beetles lived in the US - but I Googled info about them and found out that they are on every continent but Antarctica. In the US, farmers actually WANT these beetles to help maintain control of animal feces.

Today we drove 377 miles from the campground in St. Augustine to the campground we are in in Myrtle Beach, SC. Tonight we hooked up with my other daughter, son-in-law, and grandson. They flew to Virginia and rented a car to drive here and are staying in a gorgeous beach-front hotel. This is the first time I've been to S. Carolina. The coast is beautiful - white sand and warm water like St. Augustine.

Be sure to come back on July first as I will have a new template for you - something small and sweet! I will also share another release of new stamp sets from Clear and Simple Stamps - I just love the set I have. Thanks for the visit.

More of Florida

We've been busy while staying here. Our campsite is 16 miles from my daughter's home and yesterday, before going there we went to a grocery store to get ingredients for making dinner. I cooked last night - Shrimp Scampi (recipe below), baked potato, fresh fruit salad, blueberry pie for dessert. I got all of the things prepared to cook and then at 5pm, when my daughter was through with work, she, John and I went to the beach. It was so pleasant there again. We stayed and played in the water until after 7p.m. and then went home to finish preparing and eating dinner.

Jennifer went boogie boarding again and John took a little float toy out to see if he could ride the waves with it but found it was too flimsy. I just played in the water, much of the time with my daughter. The water is so unbelievably warm.

This is our campsite and the photo on the right is what it looks like out our side window. There are very few campers here. So far I've only seen a Cardinal and the hugest red-headed Woodpecker that I've ever seen. There are lots of squirrels and they are unafraid of campers. One hangs around John when he is outside - I mean really close by - and I'm sure he's waiting for a hand-out.

The weather has been gorgeous. It's much too hot to go to the beach (for us) until after 3 -4 in the afternoon. My daughter saw a pod of sting rays last night when she was out on her boogieboard. Little guys, she said.

I'm sad that tomorrow will be the last day I can spend with Jennifer - but so glad we had this time together. It's been a great.

John is feeling better, now that his little "bug" passed. He really enjoyed the water last night.

That's all for now. Thank you for the visit. Below is my recipe for Shrimp Scampi - you really ought to try it.

Shrimp Scampi
1/4 cup butter (only use real butter)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
Dash of cayenne pepper (I like a little more)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice (I like to use fresh)
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 - 2 pounds fresh shrimp, de-veined, shelled and washed

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Put butter and olive oil in a glass 9 x 13" baking dish and place in oven to melt. Watch closely so you don't burn the butter.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, except the shrimp, and add to melted butter and oil and mix well. Place shrimp in baking dish in one layer. Turn over to coat. Place in oven and bake 8 - 10 minutes. Enjoy!