Alaskan Cruise Day 5

But first ... our local quilt store is having a paper-piecing BOM.  It's so easy for us, Thanks Country Keepsakes!!  We bought the book - Seascapes by Cheryl Peck. Then just show up at the appointed time!  She has reproduced the blocks that we will work on that day.  She even brought in tubs of "left-over fabric" from the store!!!  Oh, my!!!  There were some real goodies in there!!

Our first meeting/class was yesterday and we made the Sea Stars. This book is filled with treasures!  I hemmed and hawed for a few times before I bought it.  I knew I liked it, but would I really make something out of it??  This group is perfect for getting me to work on the blocks!

Now on with the "Cruise along"

We had a beautiful day to enjoy cruising Glacier Bay.   The crew was just as excited as we were!  They said it was the first nice day they've had in Glacier Bay all season!!  

The petite older female ranger said to us this am, "we had a controlled collision with you and I climbed up a rope ladder to get here!" They offered a thumb drive of Alaskan pictures and U and I shared the cost.  - I had glass reflection on most of my whale watching pictures - darn-it!

We walked back and forth on  the ship all day.   Going between the 10th deck Crow's Nest to hear rangers and sit inside and 4th deck bow being out in the beautiful weather and closer to the glaciers.

We woke to finding the deck doors were all open and it was cold onboard.  But the sun came out this afternoon and it was pleasant. 

The water was so still.  It really reminded me of Crater Lake.  The vegetation was stunted like at Crater Lake too.  But not because of the elevation, because it was relatively recent that it came out of the bay.  It was hard to believe we were still at sea level!

On deck in the morning - we were still wearing our sweatshirts!

We're at Marjorie Glacier.  One of the few glaciers that are still growing!  This is where we saw the calving and heard the white thunder.

Considering that we are 4 decks up - it's bigger than it seems!!

This picture was taken by Greg Streveler.  It was included in the Glacier Natl Park Thumbdrive.

Rivers of snow is what they call a glacier - they look like roadways curling down between the peaks and sometimes they look like ATVs have been driving on them.  That's because they can scrape the rocks along the sides and the debris looks like tire tracks!  We were assured, no, ATVs are not allowed to drive on the glaciers.

We sat quite a while at Marjorie and saw several small calvings - they looked more like little avalanches. But they were bigger than they seemed, we heard the white thunder as it tumbled into the bay. I was expecting more blue color in the ice, but there was too much sun, and it's hard to complain about that!  In Alaska or on the Oregon Coast!

We had breakfast and dinner in dining room.  We lunched up at Lido.

For breakfast I had the parfait (ok, but not enough granola) Ah, but dinner was wonderful: a gourmet greens salad and crab cakes both very good.  Then snickers cake which  was yummy but a little dry.  We ordered an extra dessert for the table and passed it - chocolate of course.  We had a good group.  T&J from Wyoming and S&J from Utah. 

T&J were wildlife enthusiasts and have Swarovski crystal 10/75 binoculars that cost $2000! But they used them all day in Glacier Bay and they saw a whole lot more than we did!!!  We didn't bring Binoculars, the tours both furnished them.  Next time I'll bring some.

 But T&J knew Brookings by our description.  (We're from a small town on the Oregon coast right by the California border.) They had actually been there!!!  They stayed at Driftwood RV and were there for a kite festival!!

S&J were readers and we discussed our favorite books, both new and as children!  Fun group. We convinced J to read Harry Potter and heard about the new addition to the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" series.

U and I went to the Broadway Songs show tonight and met two sisters, I&P; we later played "group Majority" trivia game with them.  The correct answer was determined by the crowd.  And it was fun - maybe because we had a dirty minded crowd!?  Sample question:  Name another Holland America ship.  Two of the answers were "Titanic" and "Idon'tgiveadam"!! (Holland ship names always end in "dam"!

The 4 of us often came up with the right answer, but didn't always write it down!  Our Cruise Director was pretty funny! After one really raunchy majority answer he said he was never touching the handrails again during this cruise!!!

Quick early day tomorrow for Sitka.  We arrive at 7 and we leave for the Raptor Recovery Center at 7:20!!  We meet onboard so that should help.  Hope the weather holds.

Alaskan Cruise Day 4

Thank goodness the sea was calm today!  Everyone was relieved.  We sailed into the Inner Passage - never to go back into open water again!!  I think!!

We saw two whales swimming beside the ship at breakfast! Check!!  It's shaping up to be a great day!!  We shopped the sidewalk sale upstairs; then sewed in our usual spot,   We went and listened to the lecture on Volcanoes and Glaciers.  It was good, but tried to put me to sleep, so I went back to the cabin and took a snooze! 

The bow was open and we went out to watch us come up to the docks in Juneau. It's beautiful here.  We took our time and ate lunch in the dining room before they were ready for us to debark! Our tour here is a late afternoon tour - we won't be back in time for dinner.  So we very casually walked out of the Lido Restaurant with an extra sandwich, some yogurts and fruit to stash in our room for dinner tonight!  Not that anyone would have cared!  We have a mini-fridge in our room!!

 

First thing we did on land was check for cell coverage, yes! 5 bars!!  Then find the quilt store.  We did and it was a good one.  Much bigger than expected AND prices were the same as Oregon?!  

Juneau's Quilt Shop - Changing Tides - had a good Row by Row too!  Win, win!  I found 'word' fabric and it was logos of Alaskan towns!  Perfect!

We went back to the room; dropped our shopping bags, read guide books and found all the parts and pieces we needed to go on our tour.  There was a little time to kill, so we waited in the Pinnacle Bar again, and someone had found my needle and put it on the table!!  Hope finding it didn't hurt!!  

I took a picture of the ship when we got off. Cruise ships are so-o big. Docking them in a little town puts them in perspective.  It's such a nice day - 70s and sunny - although, are you superstitious of saying anything when something is going really well?? Afraid you'll jinx it??  I felt like that today!

Our excursion in Juneau was Whale Watching 

Whale Watching & Wildlife Quest             4:30        4 hours                

This sightseeing cruise features guaranteed whale watching. Following a short motor coach ride to scenic Auke Bay, you'll board a water jet-powered catamaran specially designed for wildlife viewing. Relax in the warm, comfortable cabin surrounded by large windows as you ply the island-studded waters of Stephens Passage. 

This area is world renowned as a favored summer feeding ground for humpback whales. Once whales have been sighted, your captain will gently maneuver the vessel to allow exceptional viewing and photo opportunities as these graceful ocean giants slowly arc their massive tail flukes into the air. The whales are often close enough to hear them breathe. 

An onboard naturalist will explain the behavior and habitat of the humpback whale and other wildlife you may encounter, including killer whales, Steller sea lions, Dall's porpoise, harbor seals, bald eagles and Sitka black-tail deer.

Bring a warm jacket to wear on the topside observation deck. The operators of this tour guarantee that a whale will be sighted on this excursion. If not, you will receive a partial cash refund from the tour operator at the conclusion of the tour. The vessel is restroom-equipped. Binoculars and souvenir route maps are provided along with snacks and beverages.

The excursion was perfect except no Orcas :<   We had a good bus driver, and the tour was run by a great boat company (family owned, since 1970, and very knowledgeable)  And we saw whales - lots of them.  Even got to see a breech!!!  Bubblefishing!!  WOW!  Follow this link to see some amazing professional photos of this!

At one time our guide thought she counted 15!!  One baby calf!  When we came back, all crews already back were on deck of another boat, cleaning the windows!!  Pretty conscientious, even if under protest!!

!

Whales setting up to bubble-fish.

A breech!

The splashdown!!

Let's talk about tours!  My first cruise was to the Caribbean.  I had awesome tours there too.  But there were differences. English was very proper and a second language.  There was alot of messages form the tour guides about 1. They were so glad to see us.  We felt welcome and not at risk.  2. Come back and see us at leisure, you're not really seeing all our charms in 4 hours. 3.  If you like our tour, please tip us, (ok, words to that effect)  several times during our time together. 4.  Give us a good evaluation if you liked today.  There was often trinkets to buy while on the tour.  All was said in a light manner, with some humor, but we knew what was expected of us.

In Alaska, language and manners were normal. Only once was something available on the tour to buy from the tour company. We were "fellow Americans" and they were glad we came, but if we hadn't, life would go on!? 3 tours on this cruise, tips were only asked for once.  Our bus driver was happy but surprised to get one when we got off the bus!!  We were still asked for good reviews, which we gave gladly!

We got back onboard in time to spend time at Elvis Night in the piano bar!  The Piano Man is good, a crowd pleaser and he needed to be in a bigger room.  Seats were hard to find.  Apparently he was a member of the backup band for ELVIS! 

I introduced U to Mojitos!  They were a "good do" and we both liked them. Then we headed back to the room to eat our purloined dinner - yogurt and 1/2 sandwich from the Lido lunch buffet!  Tasted excellent!

And we're off - the ship just started up.  Next stop Glacier Bay!

Alaskan Cruise Day 3

Sunday At Sea Day or as we refer to it - Queasy day!!  This ship has been rocking and rolling since early last night. No pills for me yet, but queasy off and on all day.  Kind of sucks the joy out of it.  

But should be the only day - we're out on the ocean; at 7 am tomorrow we head back into the Inner Passage.  Crossing my fingers for flat waters again, please!

I went up on the Lido deck this morning at 6 am and it was amazing! The pool was wild! Splashing and slopping continuously.  It's not just our imagination - we are moving in odd ways!! 

I finally figured out where the Fitness Center was and joined the early morning stretch - on the floor on mats! Remember I have two artificial knees and a touch of vertigo!!

What was I thinking??  I survived, but would have preferred to do the stretches in bed or a raised platform!  The floor was hard, the "yoga mat" didn't add much comfort to the stretches!  

And trying to hold positions with the ship rocking was problematic!  I apologized to the gal next to me, I almost turned over all the way and joined her on her mat.  We chuckled and she said that she couldn't see the instructor without her glasses and was following me anyway!! It was the blind leading the halt all the way!

Then I staggered around the deck 3 times for a mile walk!  Weirdest feeling! The floor is up, then down and then all of a sudden you're headed left then right!!! There's no time for cadence - each step is a complete surprise to you!!!  Sea legs, where are you!!

I had breakfast with a father and his daughter from NYC.  He was such a typical NYC male! All about who's in charge!  The daughter was 12 and told me she was "getting too old for Club HAL," Nice little gal. Her mom and brother was on the cruise too, Dad and DD were just having a late breakfast.  Ran into them several times later too.

U and I got out our sewing and sat in the 2nd deck Pinnacle Lounge (sorry,bar was closed, but the window seats were open!) and looked out the window while we sewed.  We're both working on our wool applique bouquet of flowers.  Pictured above; U's on the left, mine on the right.  These are pictures from former work-days. Our final project may differ greatly ... 

We attracted another quilter from Illinois.  She's serious about quilting - she's been to Houston several times and just started when she retired!

One thing I missed on the Quilting cruise I went on last year - participating in what's offered on the ship!  We were busy in quilt classes on our "at sea" days.  Well, that's going to be different this cruise!!

Today I went to a Photo Editing class.  Windows/Microsoft provided a computer lab on board. The teacher was good, and I learned alot!  But I got pretty queasy after looking at the computer with all the movement, the deck windows to the side didn't help either, Solution:  back to cabin for 45 minute nap!  There is an advantage to having an interior cabin - you can sleep anytime - it's always dark!

After lunch went to the Dancing with the Stars on board - an official satellite program with Holland America.  Today they were doing the jive.  It's tempting to join the dancers for a slower dance, we'll see. It's fun to see the dancers that are good, but maybe a little more fun to see others flailing about!

We left that early to go hear the presentation on Alaska's wildlife.  It was very good.  There are 5 types of salmon - using fingers as memory helper -  Chum,(rhymes with thumb), sockeye (pointer finger pokes eye 3 stooges style), king (biggest finger), silver (ring finger), pink (pinkie)!!  There are other names for each type - but they didn't drum that into our minds as well!

Later in the afternoon, I attended another Digital photography class, dealing with cameras.  Standing room only! It wasn't as interesting, but I relearned a few things that helped me remember how to use our Nikon!!  Thank you!  I wasn't excited about reading the instruction book on this wild day!

We went to the movie.  Ketchikan: Our Native Legacy - an excellent short, Emmy winning film.  The interviews with Natives were good. As one Native gentleman said, "The people aboard the ships need to know who we are, because, I think, some of them came here to see us!" 

It's a great film and it was perfect timing to see it.  It got me ready to notice and learn!  The link takes you to the film, it's worth watching.  It's only 27 minutes long - give it a try!

But fighting the "queasies" ran me out of steam today -  After the film we went and just sat on the 10th deck looking out the library window.  But I saw a whale spout quite close to the ship!!  Yay!  It is hard to see a whale spout twice while we're moving.  We're going about 25 mph - and they probably are too.  We're usually going the opposite way and by the time they come back up, we're way past them!! Luckily, someone else spotted it too!  So, on the check list - see whales - check!

Tonight we were lucky - we met L&M going into the cafeteria for dinner. So we got to sit together again and had a pleasant conversation.  Someone at the next table pointed out a rainbow!  Perfect day except for the queasiness - it took out a lot of passengers!  There were a few "clean up on Aisle 9" moments.  I finally took a Dramamine after dinner - and dreamed of being on a roller coaster all night! Please let tomorrow be smoother!

Alaskan Cruise - Day 2!!

We had set the alarm for 8!  Ha, dreamers!  Bad night, I slept like my DH!  We got up early for breakfast and then "North to Alaska" for us.  But first, a side trip to Bayside Quilting.  

I've been following them in ads and online for years.  Don't you just love their logo?? I've always been fascinated by "Rosie the Riveter!!  

The store was not as big as I pictured but I loved it. and it lived up to my ideal!  We found lots of goodies there.  After shopping they pointed us toward the farmer's market, 

One of my missions (yes I have more than one!!) was to find a birthday present for Miss P, my granddaughter who turns 9 in September!  Asking directions for the farmer's market headed us the wrong way, so we got sidetracked into a flea market and U found a great jewelry box for P!!  HooRay!  AND I got a sewing tray too!

Here's a preview of how much she liked it!!!  Her hands are showing the 2 necklaces that were in the box. More on her birthday later - I promise.

Time to get on with the cruise. The docks and parking is W*A*A*A*A*Y downtown and guess what - the biggest party yet!  Holey Moley!  I had to stop at a rest area to unclench my hands! But we found it and was still on schedule. We boarded the ship about 1:45 and our room was ready.  HooRay!  The room is small, but we will make it work.  After all, we're ARE ON the ship!!!

Here it is - our home away from home for the next week.  It's big and confusing!!!  U swears we walked over a mile today on the ship - mostly going the wrong way!!  The Westerdam is big but completely different feel than the Independence of the Seas.  (My only other cruise. To the Caribbean via Royal Carribbean.) That 2 deck promenade made a lot of difference.  I'm sure I'll get used to it.

After dropping our stuff in the room, we went to lunch on the Lido deck; I had salad and ice cream (no judging) we joined M (91 today) and L (?) from Australia.  They are a hoot.  Ran into them again at the "Cast Off party"  

It's exciting to start off on our great adventure,  it's windy on deck when we are underway!  We looked back on the beautiful skyline of Seattle but there's smoke from all the fires, so not a good picture.  Next time.

We have the flexible dining plan, and tonight we had a table of 6 for early dinner in the second floor dining room.  We sat with M&L - she's a quilter from Portland and C&R from Texas.  M&L are celebrating their 50th anniversary.  R did his thesis on Climate Change, it was so interesting to talk with him.

Our dinner was awesome. Alaskan seafood chowder; roast chicken and baked Alaska.  I didn't like the Baked Alaska - mostly meringue, tiny brownie, not much chocolate - totally not worth it.  Good to know. Hmmm, the ongoing mission of finding the best chocolate desserts!!!

After dinner, we went to gift shop; I bought a book about Alaska and some postcards to send to the kids.  Then we went to the BB King nightclub.  I bought drinks tonight.  The Strong Island Ice Tea wasn't very good.  Ulli brought her bottled beer back to the room. The jazz group was pretty darn good.  We had dancers from the audience for the last couple of songs.  

Then we went on to the Vista Lounge for the main show.  Really good juggler. Mike Price, the Rock Star Juggler!!! He invented some laser gloves so the audience could see the hand pattern. He was great and funny too! But they added smoke to show off lasers and it got to my eyes.  Oh, well, still liked him.

So far cruise director isn't as funny as IOTS's!! But lets give him a chance. I'm off to bed.  It was a great first day. All that traffic really made getting on the boat feel like the start of vacation!! And it is!!

Come along on a cruise with me!!

At the end of the summer, a quilting friend and I went on an Alaskan cruise!  The timing was perfect and the weather was too!

I was 'dark' while traveling - but kept a journal of each day.  Today we are going to pretend it's all ahead of me!  Let's go to Alaska!!

First of all, let me explain why this is a driving trip to Seattle (where our ship departs from).  Our small Crescent City airport is currently waiting for a new airline contract to start.  So our choices were to drive to another small airport - either 2 1/2 hours OR 3 hours away.  We could also drive to Portland, 6 hours away, but only 3 1/2 hours from Seattle.  There were no cheap rates and a whole lot of quilt shops between us and Seattle ... I think you get my drift!!

I picked up U at 7 am and off we went.  Our first break was at Coos Bay, McDonald's for smoothies and the bank for the rest of my "mad money".  We are enjoying the blue skies and light traffic this am.

We stopped for a stretch at the Elkton Butterfly greenhouse, part of Fort Umpqua grounds.  Oh my, there were hundreds of Monarchs flying around; a few Painted Ladies and all of them big and beautiful. I'd been there a few weeks earlier with the grandkids.  More butterflies were active now.

Sent the grands this photo-text - "Hey kids, can you guess where we are???" They got it in one!

The the first stop on our Quilt Shop Hop - Fabric Farm in Drain Oregon. We got their Row by Row pattern and saw a good selection of Modern fabrics!  Then we had lunch at the Albany Burgerville.  U's first time and the Walla Walla onion rings were awesome!

I had a camera dilemma this trip - I love taking pictures with my Ipad.  But it's really awkward and easy to drop. Would hate to lose it after getting that perfect shot over the guardrail on board!  AND the memory isn't that big.  

We have a good Nikon D50 (the last camera made without the viewfinder on the screen!!!) But it's card only holds 350 pictures. I was unsuccessful finding any bigger memory cards that worked in our local stores.  So we must stop in a Beaverton camera shop. They say D50s don't work well with large memory cards, but they have a 2gig one that might work.

BUT what if it doesn't work?? I will take more than 320 pictures (the first day!!) and without WIFI that would be it!  So I packed the(heavy) laptop so I could download each day's shots.  

We stopped at the Beaverton store, tried the memory card and it works!  Wahoo!!  And realized that I was really going to miss that Ipad!  Suck it up, Buttercup!!  We're going to Alaska!!

Trying to get back easily to I5, I saw how close we were to Acorns and Threads needle work store. We made a quick stop and picked up the Prairie Schooler 2015 Santa - their last one. I'm going to miss this (these) designers.  They did the best faces without 1/2 or 1/4 stitches!! Thanks for all the years of great yet do-able designs!

 I'm sorry to say, we then joined a HUGE traffic jam (it was only 2:30!  Good Grief!)  We'll be referring to this situation as "The Party" from now on!  But we persevered and made it to Fabric Depot.  Found some goodies on the outside patio sale area.  Yea, sale!!

I'm on a mission - as always!  I'm looking for fabrics with words on them.  OR simple very graphic designs.  I've been collecting for a year (or so) I have plenty, but it's addicting!! (Help me!  I'm collecting fabrics and I can't stop!!!) Or as the t-shirt by Zazzle says!!

I'm still trying to decide on what pattern to make with these prize fabrics ...  If you've seen some dynamite patterns using these fabrics - let me know!!  I'll put them on the list to think about!!

Back to the giant party on 205, it was now approaching Rush Hour (?) but easily found our first Top 10 Quilt store in Vancouver Washington. Fiddlesticks. And after finding 2 text fabrics on sale (score)... they gave us directions to Olive Garden.  We had soup and breadsticks for dinner. Perfect.

We drove for another hour to the Kelso Red Lion - it was huge and we got it cheap.  Yea!

That was not bad for our first travel day!!  12-ish hours, 350 miles, 3 quilt stores, 2 yummy meals and a great hotel to stay at!!  Good night 

May she rest in peace

Mom died in her sleep, as she hoped to.  My niece was with her and it was very peaceful. 

We know mom will live through our memories. It's hard, but we know she is in a better place where she no longer is "uncomfortable".  Mom would never admit she had pain.

McGrew, Helen M, 97 Lincoln, died August 5, 2015. Born April 11, 1918 to William H and Irene Grant. Married Gayle E McGrew January 11, 1946. Member of East Lincoln Christian Church since 1952. Past CWF President, Deaconess and CYF leader. Past Pink Lady at Lincoln General Hospital. Associated with WICS (Women In Community Service)

Survived by daughters and son in laws Gary and Marilyn Nielsen, Lincoln, Gene and Nancy Phillips, Waverly, and Rick and Doni Boyd, Oregon.

Grandchildren, Guy Nielsen, Gary S Nielsen, Elizabeth Lindahl, Tammi Buel, Jodi Ledell, Adam Boyd, Lindsay Rector.

Great Grandchildren, Cory Nielsen, Jamie Nielsen, Jennifer Permele, Scott Lindahl, Alyssa Lindahl, Jessica Beisner, Nicole Smith, Joshua Smith, Cody Smith, Madison Ledell, Andrew Ledell, Paetyn Rector, Maddux Rector, Draysen Boyd, Koby Boyd

Great Great Grandchildren, Hudson Nielsen, MacKinzie Nielsen, Audrey Nielsen, Madison Richardson, Cameron Lindahl, Landon Beisner, Brayden Beisner, Quentin Lindahl,

Preceded in death by parents, brother Stanley Grant, husband Gayle and two infants.

Memorial service 2:00PM Saturday, August 8, 2015 at Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home 6800 S. 14th St. Lincoln, NE.

Memorials in lieu of flowers to East Lincoln Christian, Matt Talbot Kitchen or City Mission.

Summer - never quite what you expected???

This summer has taken it's own path.  No matter how much I wanted to direct it to no avail, it's been crazy.

Finished a year long series of dental appointments; then had one of those 'usual' procedures for my age done ... I was already to dig into that pile of "must be finished at once" quilt projects when a family emergency came up in Nebraska.

My dear mom, 97 years old; 87 pounds and still feisty as ever, was admitted to Hospice in Lincoln NE.  It seemed quite dire and suddenly family was advised to visit. So off we trekked across the country via Interstate 80.  It's such a long ways, in these days of instant access thru the phone or the computer, it's easy to forget that distance is there!  Two and one half days - and these days were not for sissies!! 13-ish hours between hotel and hotel.  And into hot, humid July weather we went!

Let me just say I am so a "coastal girl" now.  I don't know how I survived living in Lincoln most of my life!  I don't know how my family survives it today!! A temperature of 84 seems quite reasonable until you check the Heat Index - 110!!!  Oh dear, is that air even breathable?? It doesn't seem to be, trust me! Morning, noon or night!

I'm happy to report that we arrived and spent quality time with Mom while we settled her into her new routine.  Our son, A, was able to fly out and visit for five days.  He's one year short of becoming a RN and was great to have around.  He, with mom's permission, read her chart and translated for the rest of us.  He gave mom foot rubs, and interpreted what mom was really asking for.  He was missed after he left.  I stayed 10 days and spent lots of time with mom every day.  I loved the time I spent with all my family there, as we all took in what this means.  I was glad I had the opportunity to see mom one more time where we could talk.

 Mom is still with us. I call her every other day when someone is in the room to answer and handle the phone.  She too weak to deal with phones, etc., now. But she knows she is loved.  Family takes turns visiting and caring for her.  We have a cross-word puzzle book to read the cues from and fill in the answers she gives us, or agrees with.  And we read to her from "Heidi", the old classic that she loved.  She also has her books on CD that can be played, but reading to her is so satisfying.

It was hard to come back home to Oregon 'in the middle' of this struggle.  But amazingly enough, a message came thru a computer weekly column when I needed it the most ...

Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you had in mind.

All of sudden, I wasn't so overwhelmingly tired and stressed.  Ok, I'm not in charge.  I get it!  Thanks for the reminder, "Ripples" (the column providing the quote)  And home I came.

Even if at times I felt like curling up in a ball under a quilt when I got home, we decided to keep our promise to the Portland Littles and bring them back to the beach with us. And it's been fun and so busy that my mind has relaxed a little. 8 and 6 yrs old can be so entertaining!!Something that I needed very much.

The first night we headed down to the beach for low tide, even though it was foggy.  Racing the waves is always a hoot!  I loved this photo with the reflections in the sand.  I have to tell you, Miss P looks so much like her mom did at that age ... well, sometimes we call Mr M my son's name!! Confusing 2 (3?) generations at once!!

Friday morning was the bribe that got them to come with us!  A swimming lesson in our community pool!  That's them in the middle lanes with their teachers guiding them. They did great, and we went back for open swim in the afternoon too!

Someone built a few forts down at the beach, and like hermit crabs, we moved right into them!!

Today it was pancakes for breakfast, then off to town.  M absolutely loves "American Ninja Warriors" and we tried out moves in the "Kid-Town" playground at Azalea Park.  Good moves, although both developed some blisters on their hands using the bars and rings to move across the space.

Then there was sidewalk chalk drawing at our local state park.  We thought we were just stopping by to see what everyone was making - but there were still squares unclaimed so the kids each drew. The beachy scene with the crab is Miss P's. The forest also on the retaining wall is Mr M's.  He was very seriously interpreting the landscape in front of him!!

And Prehistoric Gardens remains a favorite to stop by on our way to the beach. There's something about dinosaurs ... and the maps we get to follow, it's mesmerizing!!

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  We appreciate them.  Thank you.