3.18.1989

The beginning of our Kain family journey.

Home of the Brave

Just a quick list of when and where we use our Brave recreational vehicle:

10.31 to 11.01.09 Huguenot Memorial Park, FL
11.25 to 11.29.09 Paynes Prairie Preserve State park, FL

Halloween 2009

"Oh It's Halloween"

The last few years saw Kellisa dress up as a Hannah Montana Zombie, a bat and a spider. Naturally, Kellisa wanted to continue her "scary" costume tradition. We took Kellisa to one of those Halloween stores that pop up every October and she immediately wheeled to a skeleton.

Halloween in Jacksonville started on Friday, October 30th. Kellisa's class at school had a Halloween party in the morning, which included a trick or treating trip to the middle school.

The evening of the 30th was spent at The Avenues Mall for trick or treating. The mall hosts a scheduled event where kids wheel (walk) from store to store for two hours. This was our 4th or 5th year at the mall and it works out very well for us. Kids don't trick or treat in our area because it's a small, dark, forested neighborhood.

Family portrait at the mall.

Right: Kellisa hits the jackpot of Hannah Montana stickers.
Below: Kellisa is happy with her candy haul.

Halloween morning was spent getting trained on an RV we purchased two weeks ago. We had outgrown our previous camper which was fine until Kellisa decided to hit a huge growth spurt. It took over two hours to learn the ins and outs of a self contained camper and how to tow a vehicle on a trailer. I drove the camper home while towing the Sienna van. All measured, we were over 45ft. I can't believe you don't need to have a CDL.

We arrived home uneventful and proceeded to look online for a campsite for the night. We secured a site at Huguenot Memorial Park. We had one hour to throw some clothes and food into the camper before we had to take Kellisa to dance class. We returned home after dance to finish loading the RV and headed to Huguenot.

Below, Kellisa enjoying Huguenot Memorial Park, which is an oceanfront park in Jacksonville, about 35 miles from our home. Huguenot Park is designated as a Great Florida Birding Trail site by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission because of its abundance of various kinds of birds, as well as its marvelous habitat. We only had time for one hike, but it included a nice stroll along the ocean. Across the St. Johns River from Huguenot is Naval Station Mayport, the third largest naval fleet concentration area in the United States. It's kinda cool to look in one direction and see hundreds of birds flying over an undisturbed natural area in Florida's largest city and see navy ships in the other direction.