We've all seen the iconic 1945 pictures of the group of brave marines, struggling to raise the American flag on the tiny island of Iwo Jima during World War II. The bronze statue is in the Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC. Who knew that the original plaster working model that was used to make the mold for the bronze casting was on display in Harlingen, Texas? It is the same in size and detail as the famous bronze statue. These marines are larger than life, standing 32 feet tall as they push the flag pole into place.
We also took advantage of our location to visit one of the best birding parks in south Texas. It was nice to get some exercise as we walked around the trails, but we didn't get any good pictures of birds here.
We spotted this guy later on one of the palm trees in Harlingen.
This colorful woodpecker was checking in the cracks and crevices for palm tree bugs for lunch.
We had to take a close up of the beautiful pattern on his wings. That God would design that kind of detail for a simple little woodpecker, is yet another wonder to us.
We asked our 25-year-old son what he wanted to do while he was staying with us. He is easy to entertain, as he "just wanted to pretend he was retired." One of our favorite activities when Blake is visiting is playing piano duets on Denisa's new keyboard. She has enjoyed having a keyboard on board, and it fits nicely on the top of the dresser in our bedroom.
Our audience for this "performance" were our other visitors--Denisa's sister Debra, and Dave. They were sitting in our motor home living room with Denisa's Mother. They had never been in our motor home with the slides out, and were surprised with how spacious it is. This area is around 14 feet across with those opposing slides, and we certainly don't feel cramped inside.
We took in some of the resort amenities with our visitors. Since Blake wanted to act retired, we had some pretty serious shuffle board matches between the five of us.
We also had lots of pickleball games while they were here. We definitely noticed that Blake's speed and agility on the court could beat his older relatives to the ball.
As a child, one of Blake's favorite thing to do when visiting Grandma here was riding bikes up and down the streets of the resort. We did that again on this visit. That's when he discovered this citrus tree loaded with huge fruit. One had fallen off the tree, and Blake picked it up to show it was about the size of his head.
Another resort activity that guests can participate in is the weekly card bingo game. Everyone starts each game with five cards of their choice. A caller announces cards from a shuffled deck until one of the players shouts "Bingo!" because their five chosen cards have been called. We had around 40 players participating that evening.
Debra doesn't usually wear a crown, but she was the bingo queen. That is the first female that wins a bingo. That entitled her to the crown for the evening, plus an extra pot of coins in honor of her royal status.
As we got news about a record-breaking cold-front in the midwest, our visitors were glad to be south of that icy storm front. Our oldest son texted us about the ice storm in Kansas City. We texted this picture of our car's dash, complete with the 82 degree reading that we were enjoying instead.
Our visitors seemed to enjoy the laid-back fun at the resort. But we're also planning some other tourist activities while they are here. Stay tuned for more fun in south Texas!
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