December 2014, Apache Junction, AZ



December 2014, Apache Junction, AZ



We both kept busy working and enjoying the nice weather here in Arizona.   Rex participated (not very willingly) in the annual Christmas Eve program.  He was one of the three wise men – or so that is what they called the guys in bath robes showing off their hairy legs!   He is the one hiding in the middle wearing the purple robe.

















At the end of the program Santa and his helpers showed up and handed out candy canes to all the good boys and girls of all ages.  Everyone enjoyed the program and learned that we have some very talented musicians and singers among our neighbors.














We enjoyed a great hike Christmas Day morning with a group from our resort.  We hiked to an old perlite mine where you can collect Apache Tears (obsidian).  The scenery along the way was beautiful.

















Some of our hikers prospecting for Apache Tears on the outskirts of the mine.    



After our hike we enjoyed a great Christmas dinner with all our friends and neighbors.  We had a wonderful time with lots of food and fellowship but did miss Nancy’s parents (the first Christmas in 7 years that we did not spend with them).







The week before Christmas we decided that maybe it was time to start looking for a house here in Arizona.  We have been living in the 5th wheel for almost 7 years and we are thinking it might be time to have a house again.  We looked at a few houses but nothing that we really liked or that met our needs.  Keith, our realtor, told us that he had a house that was going on the market after Christmas that he thought we would like.  So, the day after Christmas we went to look at it after Nancy got off work.   The house is in Meridian Manor – a gated, 55+ community.










We walked in the front door and said “Wow – this is it!”  We loved the open floor plan and the tile floors.



















It was being sold fully furnished – everything that was in it stays.  This was perfect for us as we won’t have to buy furniture, dishes, bedding etc.



















The kitchen was huge compared to the one in our 5th wheel and we loved the breakfast bar.
















The “Dream Until Your Dreams Come True” master bedroom had a king size bed and a great bathroom and best of all – a walk-in closet.  There are two additional bedrooms – one of which we could convert into an office.













It also had a small back yard that would be just the right size for Camille and Cody.  There was also a nice sized covered patio that comes with a table and chair and a huge grill.


We loved the house and it is just what we were looking for so we went back to Keith’s office (in his house just down the street and around the corner) and made an offer.  We settled on a price with the owners and we will close in January.  When we got back to the 5th wheel we were kind of in shock as this all happened rather fast but we are happy with our decision. What a great Christmas Present for us and the dogs!











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

June 4-6, 2009

Image
June 4, 2009 We drove Northwest of Jasper along the Yellowhead Highway to Mount Robson Provincial Park. We saw a moose along the river in the distance but wasn’t close enough to get a picture. We saw Yellowhead Lake and Moose Lake, and had a picnic lunch at the Mt. Robson Visitors Center. The scenery is spectacular – a picture of Mt. Robson. Our site at Whistler campground. June 5 We left Jasper in the sunshine and warm but the further North we got, the colder, rainier and more grey it got. As we turned north on route 40 to Grand Paririe, we started to hit a little snow. Didn’t last long but really woke us up. It stayed rainy and grey until we got to Grand Cache then it started to clear. We also got our first real windshield chip today, but a trip to WalMart and a windshield repair kit later we were fixed. The land here is somewhat hilly, swampy and covered with trees. There are some really big oil and gas complexes and some large lumber mills such as the one we saw in Grand Paririe.
Read more

August 24-26, 2009

Image
We headed towards Flathead Lake Monday morning and stopped in Kalispell to get our air conditioner repaired. It had stopped working a couple of weeks ago and August is not the time to be without an air conditioner. The RV dealer we stopped at gave us the name of the guy who does their air conditioning work. He was able to fix the air conditioner (a switch had burned out) in a couple of hours and we were on our way. We drove to Polson, MT at the south end of Flathead Lake and are going to stay here for a few days. We are staying at Eagle Nest RV, which has a cherry orchard on one side, a golf course on one side and a horse pasture on another side. It is a really nice park with lots of grass and trees. Unfortunately, we are at the end of the cherry season and we might not be able to find any fresh cherries. Tuesday morning we decided to take a drive around Flathead Lake. This is a very scenic area with lots of fruit orchards. We found a fruit stand and bought cherries, peaches, tomatoes
Read more

July 28, 2009

Image
We left Valdez this morning in rain and fog and retraced our route back up the Richardson Highway. We ran out of the fog and rain after we went over Thompson Pass and thought we would be able to see more of the scenery. Not to be, shortly we ran into more smoke. We stopped at the visitor center at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park but it was really smoky so we didn’t stay very long. The ranger there (we think he was a ranger but he looked about 15 years old!) told us that there are currently 60 fires in Alaska and the smoke here is from the fires North of here around Fairbanks. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is the largest national park in the US at 13.2 million acres. There are only 2 short gravel roads in the park so access is limited to backpacking, hiking and flight seeing. The park is mainly wilderness and has 4 major mountain ranges in it and includes 9 of the 16 highest peaks in the US. Unfortunately, because of the smoke we were not able to see any of them. We turned off the R
Read more