US Thanksgiving & Friday Nite Dance

Jenn spent U.S. Thanksgiving with us at Fun ‘N Sun. We joined about 400 other park residents for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner served between 1:00 and 3:00 pm. That gave us ample time to study the ads so that we could be out shopping at 6:00 pm. Yes, Black Friday started very early in the Rio Grande Valley. Our trip to Kohl’s was successful despite the 2 hour line-up for the cash.
Friday morning we headed out early so Jenn could enjoy a Mexican breakfast. She found the cowboy boots she wanted at the first store we went to but we tried a few others just to make sure we didn’t miss any other Black Friday deals.

       

 

Friday night, Jenn accompanied us to the Country Western dance where she met even more of our friends. Saturday morning we headed to the Don-Wes Flea market so that she and Jane could buy bathing suits – are they even glad that Diane from Quebec is back in business.
Sunday morning the sun finally came out so Jenn took the opportunity to enjoy it for a few hours. Sunday noon, Jane took Paul and Jenn to the Harlingen airport for their flights to Newark and Ottawa. Since it was the end of Thanksgiving weekend, the flights were over booked so Jenn took an offer to fly out of Brownsville on a later flight. Jane stayed at Fun N Sun for a few more days enjoyed the last bit of heat before heading home to the frozen north.




         

2013-11-24 Grey Cup Party

Who would have thought that we would have been wearing our winter jackets in Texas to watch the 2013 Grey Cup game . . . but it was the only way to keep warm on November 24. Dave and Myrna along with their relatives Diane and Curtis, all ardent Saskatchewan Rough Rider fans, hosted 12 us for a fun party. We had a TV outside for the true Canucks and one inside for those who wanted a break from the cold. The food was delicious as were the Jello shooters (green, yellow and chocolate).

                 

Early November 2013 events

As soon as November started, the park activities resumed and we were back at Aqua stretch class, Computer club, Golf, Toys for Tots, Dance class, the Friday night Country dances, and Jane’s volunteer work at the Fred Booth elementary school. She worked at the Scholastic book fair running the cash register.

We also went on “field trips” to the Don Wes Flea Market (Jane needed new bathing suits), to Costco and to Market Days in both Harlingen & San Benito. It was fun to explore these areas before too many Winter Texans arrive and the venues get crowded.

This year we were here early enough to go to the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival and their free session – what we called Introduction to Birding for Dummies. The exhibits were interesting especially to see the price of the binoculars they were selling!!

Doug & Sue arrived on November 10 and parked their new Redwood on a site just two streets away from us. Later that week Myrna & Dave hosted us along with Doug & Sue and Sandra and Dave to an early Thanksgiving dinner. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and the warmth of the propane campfire.

           


The next night was the Canadian club pot luck where we visited with friends we hadn’t seen since April. Saturday night’s 60’s and 70’s dance with DJ Noe had the theme of Opening Day at Deer camp – there was certainly a lot of camouflage clothing being worn that night.


         


Jane loves the flowers here in the RGV – especially when the sun is shining. But what a difference a few hours can make. On Friday the 22nd, we headed out in shorts and sandals to a Margarita party hosted by one of the local Rehab / Skilled nursing centers. The rain started coming really hard shortly after we arrived so Doug, Sue, Paul and Jane were the only 4 Winter Texans at the party with enough food and margaritas for 60 people. We sang some Karoke, had some snacks, met some of the staff and had a great time. We went home with all the door prizes and promised that we would help publicize their next event here at Fun N Sun so that there would be a better turnout.



   


By the time we returned to the park, many of the streets were flooded and they decided to cancel the Friday night dance – only the second time in a number of years. We had over 5 inches of rain in the next several days in San Benito and Harlingen but that was not enough to completely end the drought. How amazing!! We quickly went from shorts and sandals to heavy shoes and sweat shirts under our rain jackets!!



 

2013-10-29 Fun N Sun - first week!

It was a good thing we were able to get set up quickly because there were lots of activities during our first week at Fun N Sun. Wednesday October 30, we went to a park-sponsored Halloween party complete with prizes for the best costumes (we didn’t dress-up), hot dogs and chips, and a local DJ with music for dancing.

On Halloween morning we had to buy candy so that we could attend the annual Halloween party for the children from Sunny Glen Children’s home which was held in our Dance Hall. The children, teen moms and all the house parents came dressed in costume and got to trick-or-treat throughout the hall. We could see how generous all the Fun N Sun residents are because most of the children were dragging their bags back to their tables. One resident even made balloon animals for each child.

     

November 1st was the flag raising ceremony to open the park and also the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Stanley Boulevard. The Stanley’s were the original park developers and owners.

     


After church on Sunday we headed to Port Isabel for their annual Shrimp Festival – a new event for us since we have never arrived here so early. The Port Isabel and South Padre Island restaurants sell sample size portions of the best dishes all made with Gulf shrimp. We joined friends Denny, Mary, Tim and Joan for an afternoon of fun eating and listening to the Agency band.


Late in the afternoon, we headed back to St. Joseph’s church for their annual fall festival and a meal of Mexican food. Paul even won a cake at the cake walk so Monday evening we celebrated a belated birthday for him with our K street friends.

Since the weather was so beautiful when we arrived, Jane started aquacise right away on October 29 and we went to the first Texas Country Dance on November 1. Paul’s computer club and Jane’s Toys for Tots also started during the week November 4 and we got to meet the new park manager at the Tuesday morning Koffee Klatch. Jane even made a trip to Fred Booth elementary school to shelve books for a while.

Friday November 8th saw us head to Harlingen to attend a session about birding and binoculars for dummies at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. We then perused the trade show booths but soon realized that we were a long way from buying $2000 binoculars or registering for a birding trip in Belize or Panama. Maybe in about 10 years we will be ready – not.