Hi again,
When I left off the other day we had gotten through the end of July.  We came back to New Jersey and headed down the shore with Jack's sister Barbara for a week.  We went to Ocean City, NJ.  Had beautiful weather and spent almost every day on the beach.  Been many years since Jack and I spent a week at the shore. We had so much fun we found a camp site on the mainland side across from Sea Isle City and booked two weeks in September.  Then we came home from the shore to prepare for our trip to Ireland.  Yes, we decided to take a vacation from our retirement and spent 12 days on tour in Ireland.  It was all we could wish for and more.  We did a tour that took us around the perimeter of the entire island.  We spent a day in Dublin, two in Northern Ireland (Belfast and Derry (Londonderry)) and then down the western coast and back up the eastern coast to Dublin.  It was great.  We visited Westport, Galway, Dingle, the Cliffs of Mohr, Giants Parkway, Blarney Castle and the Blarney Stone, Bunratty's Castle and saw the 40 shades of green of Ireland.  We had a great tour guide and if anyone is interested CIE Tours is a fantastic all inclusive tour company. I am thinking that I would go back to Ireland again and again.  But not right away.  We came back and then took the camper down the shore for two weeks.  September at the Jersey Shore is quiet during the week but a little busy on the weekend.  We spent a couple of fun days with Bob and Shirley, Jack's cousin and his wife.  One day we went to lunch and then to the Cape May County Zoo.  What a nice zoo.  We walked around for about 3 hours and enjoyed the animals and the beautiful day.  We also went to the Miss America Parade of Shoes in Atlantic City on the night before the Miss America Pageant.  That was a fun night.  The parade went on despite the rain and the contestants all were great sports and the bands played and had a good time.  Jack and I also went to the Hydroplane races in Wildwood.  A good time was had by both of us.  I picked the winners in all but one race so Jack decided I should go to the track. Yeah right I can see the money flying out the window.
Back to Lumberton for two weeks before we head to New Smyrna Beach for the winter.  We will be staying at my cousins house while she goes on a cruise so the puppies don't get lonely during the day.
Stay tuned in a couple of weeks for the next installment.

Catching up the the Shellers Great Adventure

Hi everyone,
I know it has been almost a year since I have blogged and I am apologizing for my laziness.  Jack and I were driving to dinner after the Hydroplane races on Sunset Lake in Wildwood, NJ and he told me he thought I should start blogging again and catch you all up.  I kept thinking all day about sitting down to catch you up and tonight I thought what better time to start. 
We spent last winter in New Smyrna Beach, Florida and loved it so much we are going back this year.  We had a great campground with lots of activities and the town is very active, great beaches and only 15 miles from Daytona Beach so if we want a bigger city we just have to jump on 95 or Route 1.  We spent most of our time there with our friends, Sis and Ken Deshong.  Sis and I have been friends since we were little girls and I won't mention how many years ago we met. 
We had a lovely Christmas with Ken and Sis and her son Scott and his family.  Was so much fun to get to know is wife and family.  Was a really great year for catching up with Sis' family.  We spent 3 days with her daughter Ann and her family in Washington state last August. 
We were going to stay for just under 2 months but we liked the area so much we extended our stay to include February.  We visited the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canavaral, went to see the manatees and watched a satellite launch one night.  We also found some great places to eat and enjoyed a beautiful beach.  Jack will be posting some pictures but that may take a while for him to catch up.
We were going to stay another month but we had to leave in early March so we could get back to NJ to spend some time with our cousin Michael before he passed away.  We are so thankful that we were able to be there with him.  In May Erin and Scott came and spent their vacation with us.  They were able to get a weekend in NYC and two days in Philadelphia also.  We went to Atlantic City over night and showed Scott a bit of the East Coast.  This was his first trip east and hopefully he enjoyed it.  We had a huge party at Dotsie's for all the family and friends that hadn't seen Erin in years and they all got to check Scott out.  I think that went well. 
We really spent all of the rest of spring and most of summer in NJ with family.  Jack did a number on his neck and shoulder and had to have physical therapy so we didn't do our summer trip.  We did do two weeks in Gettysburg.  That was fun.  The town is a pretty little historic town and that area of Pennsylvania is lovely.  We had great weather and spent one day in Hershey visiting Hershey chocolate.
Well that took us through the end of July and you will have to check back in a few days to hear the rest of our story.
Mary and Jack