We're Back to Living the Resort Life!

As we drove back into the resort after our family Christmas celebration, Denisa noted that her throat felt scratchy. She immediately started massive doses of Vitamin C in the form of oranges, grapefruits, and tangerines. She usually has a pretty tough immune system, but this bug slowed her down for over a week! We don't have any pictures of her red nose and watery eyes, but we can verify they happened. Mark got an abridged case of the same virus, but he must be tougher because he bounced back quickly.

So our usual activities were slowed some as we finished up our last two weeks in Bentsen Grove Resort. Mark is glad to get to the pickle ball courts, now that he is swinging his new Christmas present.

We could still play card bingo, and Denisa is proud to announce that she was the queen one night. The female who wins the first bingo of the evening is crowned queen. Besides getting to wear the crown all evening, the other perk is a share of the pot of nickels at the end of the games.

We even took a picture of the lucky hand that won that first bingo. Denisa had selected the five Christmas cards--the ace of diamonds (the star), the queen of hearts (Mary), and three kings (representing the three wise men). It was good Christmas karma to win the first bingo!

There are usually 40-50 people playing bingo, so this is a rare honor. Denisa's sister had been the queen when they visited, so Denisa's Mother was lamenting the fact that she had raised two queens but never got to be queen herself. We thought it was interesting that she had been given the following plaque last year:

The park really fills up after Christmas, when more northerners head south after the holidays. There are noticeably longer lines at meals and bigger crowds for activities. The activity office in the park is always busy, hosting a tremendous number of events. Besides the every-day hourly activities, they often host special entertainment in the evening. During the month of January, there are 20 different evening activities to attend in this park! Many of them are musicians that perform at places like Branson in the summer, and swing through the Rio Grande Valley during the winter. For $7-12, one can buy a ticket for a good show. We bought advance tickets for one of the most popular--Mollie B. Mark's parents are fans of this queen of polka music, so we emailed them this picture to prove that we saw her.

Mollie was only in the valley for two nights, so her performance was packed with people from all over the Rio Grande Valley. We got good pictures because we had front row seats! We had seen her on television before, and she is known for being able to play a multitude of instruments--some of them at the same time. She is also a talented vocalist, and you can see some of her instruments on the floor beside her. She changes from singing while she accompanies herself on the keyboard, to playing other instruments. During one song, she sang and played 11 different instruments--keyboard, trumpet, slide trombone, valve trombone, clarinet, button box, miniature trumpet, drums . . .

She even helped her husband play the accordian.

One of the most impressive instruments on the stage was this ten-foot-long alpenhorn. We're not sure how it fits into the van they travel in, but Mollie can play it too.

If there isn't enough entertainment just steps away in this park, there are more options throughout the valley. Within the past year, the city of McAllen just built a new Performing Arts Center. We went to the riveting performance of classical pianist Alina Kiryayeva at the beautiful new concert hall. It made Denisa's feeble attempts on her new keyboard seem like beginner piano.

So even though we have been under the weather for the last week, we are still enjoying our activities at Bentsen Grove. With more ice and snow throughout the rest of the country, we are really enjoying our weather. We have been blessed with temperatures in the 70s and 80s, and lots of fun!