Sea World experience!

The animal exhibits at Sea World were a treat to see. Anders wanted to see the Penguins, so we went to Sea World for the day. Besides the penguins we saw otters, sea-lions, walruses, sharks, dolphins!

The penguins were all lined up to see the "show" of people parading past them!

Flamingos too!

We enjoyed the walrus and seal show, too. Made me think of Alice in Wonderland.

It was a challenge to catch these guys in the air, but I did it!

FEED ME! Big guys! They were fun to watch!

Another one up in the air!

Nursing new baby seal pup... awwww!

At the end of the day, I finally remembered to get a photo with ME in it...red face and all!

Between shows we rode two of the roller coasters. YES, I did ride them too! I was kind of backing off from the one that hangs from above and does several flips and loops, but in the end, I went on board with Jon and Anders, after all. It was an experience I will remember and not likely repeat! I am glad my vertigo did not reactivate while there!

After walking for five hours and only sitting one hour in that daylong trip, we were ready to drop Anders off at the base and head for the hot tub to refresh our feet. We still had to pack and be ready to check out in the morning, so off we go to bed! Thanks for looking!

San Antonio- Anders, Amanda and sore feet.

 It was a wonderful experience to see Anders graduate boot camp. We are so proud of this young man! He has been thoroughly "formatted, and reprogrammed" in 8 weeks!  I hope I can get a photo of his ID before and after! Incredible changes!

We saw the 865 graduating men and women in formal parade. Then Anders' dad went down to tag him to leave the ceremony. That was a nice emotional reunion. The family posed for a few photos before we headed over to Ander's lodging where he has been living for the past 8 weeks.

Jon, Ethan, Anders and Aaron after the parade.

 

 We WALKED to Ander's dorm area. We are talking LONG walk, here, up and over foot bridges on the base to his housing unit, where the BULLDOGS lived.

 We saw his neat and tidy closet and living area, as he prepared to spend the day with us. Believe me, this closet and drawer shows an incredible "change" in this man!

 We stopped to eat lunch after the housing trek, and Anders and the other "men" sat at one table, while Joy and I ate across the aisle. We went to a mall afterward, so Anders could mingle in the civilian world for a bit. Then headed back to our hotel room to just rest and fellowship with each other.
    Joy and I snuck in a short nap, knowing we still had more walking ahead for the evening in downtown San Antonio, where we were meeting our long time friend, Amanda Coale Ruiz and her sister, Stephanie Coale. I had not seen Amanda since we were in China, and we weren't sure if it was 2003 or so... a very long time! Hope to see her in our area some day!

We saw the "Tower of the Americas" downtown, and headed up to meet the ladies.

At the top, a passing lady took our picture as the sun set on San Antonio.

After MORE walking we found a restaurant "Mi Tierra" that was recommended to us earlier in the day. We sort of blended into the background, don't you think? Maybe that is why it took so long to be served? Maybe they lost us for a bit!

Heading back, it was too late to actually VISIT the river walk, but we SAW it as we passed by. I was disappointed, but its just a place, right? We managed to find the Alamo, at least, after several wrong turns. There it was! Happy me, but not so happy FEET. We needed to get our poor feet to bed.

Tomorrow is another day, but first, we are sleeping in! (what is that?)

Flapper FUN- Old Fashion Day

Joy found a flapper costume for Old Fashion Day at Bible Baptist Church. It was too cute!
Posted online HERE

Bailey found a lily

While at the lake on Saturday, baby Bailey discovered a sweet lily and hung on tightly to it. After awhile she began to nibble on it. When we prevented that she began to push it to our faces for our approval. After we smelled the sweet fragrance, she cuddled it close to herself again.

This is such a sweet memory of this darling little girl! Thanks for looking...

Date nite at the BALL GAME

Brandy Murray's Zoomba ZIP page was a perfect complement to our ballgame memory page. When walking into the stadium we remarked how we had our first date at a major league ballgame in Detroit MI. Thankfully the Mariners WON 5-3 that night. Great date!

This page can be seen online with comments at my gallery in Scrap Girls on this LINK. 

Thanks for looking...

Not the little girl I was...

Challenged to scrap a page about myself related to a "song" I scrapped about how Al & I met. We have been married 43 years, but have known each other since he started first grade.

The journaling reads:

“Little Allan” moved to the neighborhood in the summer
of 1954, just two blocks from Barb’s family.

Barb’s dad worked with Ernie Leasure, who lived across
the street from the Hughes’ new house. Thus, they met
soon after Allan moved to their house on Winifred Street.

After his parents passed away, Al moved to the north end
of Detroit. When he called to meet up with Barb in 1968,
she was not the little girl he once knew,
and he asked her to marry him that summer.

Posted online in my gallery at Scrap Girls  HERE

Back in the saddle again...

Barb with her 43rd Anniversary gift: a 24" girls Schwinn.

For our anniversary this year we decided to stay home and have a cook-out instead of going out on the roads on a Friday night. We also stopped and picked out a 24" bike for me, since I can't reach the ground well on the 26" bikes. After falling while biking on vacation, we felt it safer to be short sized. It fits just right!

Our current vehicles sneaked into the photo too. Notice the Mazda with her perpetual "smile". Such a sweet car to drive! 2011 has been a good year! :D

Watercolor moods...

Bluebird on a branch

3 Cherries under construction on vacation

3 Cherries - completed July 2011

I have been enjoying my watercolors again... Restful times! 

Thanks for looking! 

Thank the Lord for PEAS...

I tried to ride the bike for my exercise this morning. I logged in five minutes before I attempted to stop at the cabin to say goodbye to Al, leaving for his walk in town on the Rails to Trails in Kila Montana.

As I slowed to stop, my feet missed the ground on the "too tall" bike and I kept going toward the ground. Skinned my knee and hand, but nothing amiss. The bag of frozen peas made a nice "ice bag" for the knee to prevent it from swelling.

Oh, well. Guess I will try walking later today for my half hour of exercise!

All Star 2011 Little League games...

The All Star Games 2011 were held in Belfair WA this year and it was wonderful to watch grandson, David, play third base again. Seeing him field the balls was exciting, as well as hitting the ball, running the bases and having a great time with his team mates.

They played well together, and we are happy he was able to play them again this year, his third year on the All Star Team for South Kitsap Southern Little League Team.

Good job, David!

SCRAP GIRLS GALLERY VIEW

12 Grandkids in a Picture...

Charity asked for a new photo of her 12 kids this past week. What fun to get some of the non-smilers to smile for me! :D

Scrap Girls High Noon Challenge this week was "white space", meaning more paper than pics, usually. With 12 faces to see, I left the photo larger intentionally.

This is posted at Scrap Girls in my gallery HERE, if you wish to see the comments of other viewers.

SISTERS...

full 2 page view

Left page - SEEN IN GALLERY HERE

Right Page -SEEN IN GALLERY HERE

One of the best treats on our recent trip to Colorado was spending time with my sister, Jan, and her husband, Chuck. Al and Chuck became more acquainted while Jan and I had some good bonding time again. What a blessing to have "like minded" family we can fellowship with!

Staying in their home was a special blessing for us. Sweet memories!

Cliff Dwellers

2 page Layout of Cliff Dwellers

While in Manitou Springs CO we had time to see the Cliff Dwellings and the red rock Garden of the Gods. The Scrap Girl kit Zoomba by Brandy Murray was perfect for this layout! Thanks for looking.

The comments read: 

When we visited Colorado Springs in June 2011, we were excited to learn there were Cliff Dwellings in the area that we could visit. We expected to SEE them, but did not know we would be able to actually go INTO the dwellings and see them ourselves!

The lower left photos are the interior and exterior views of the common kitchen cooking area.You can see the path Al is standing on, where the traffic flowed around the work area.The middle left photo shows Al in the trash room where they also kept some fowl just outside the kitchen area. There are rooms above most of the structure, except above this room.


The rooms were built with mud and rocks that were chips off the larger stones. The walls were built very level and with great precision. There was a separate section on the far left end of the dwelling where it appears to be bunk rooms up and downstairs, with smaller openings. 

One room with a rounded wall was labeled as possibly the chief's quarters in the middle section. 

Al stands in the door of a small adobe home.The rounded outdoor oven nearby appears to have a pizza paddle!

The plants were all labeled with explanations of what the tribe used them for.KINNIKINNICK was one of the trees / bushes there.  I did't know that was a real word!


Larger individual pages here:  LEFT    RIGHT

IRL- In Real Life Meet Up

3 for tea in Monument Colorado at the Wisdom Tea Room

While in Colorado, I had tea with two other Scrap Girls that live nearby.

Fun! Meeting IRL (in real life) all over the states is a great experience!

Here is the page online:  3 together

Sisters are GOLDEN...

Jan and Chuck

A REAL bike rack!

Kayakers were riding the waves on the ice-pack swollen river!

Table Mountain with Castle Rock in the foreground

After a good nap, we headed out again for a stroll on the river walk in Golden, Colorado. The weather was lovely: warm and breezy. We walked close to three miles after our great dinner in the historic district of Golden, which was the capital of the Colorado Territory.

Table Mountain and Castle Rock overlook this quaint town. Afterwards we tried to see the Bison, but they were still hiding. At least we saw prairie dogs, more elk and NO rattlesnakes!

(more blog posts follow with more pictures)

Denver delights...

Barb in front of the Rocky Mountain National Park
and Continental Divide

Off on an early adventure today, we were seeking to see a herd of bison maintained by the City of Denver. They played hide and seek with us, and we only saw them at a distance. Meanwhile, we found a herd of elk grazing in the woods on one of our attempts to see bison.

A herd of elk lazing and grazing. Only 2 in this pic.

Al at Dinosaur Ridge

Five thousand years ago, a herd of dinosaurs were playing on the hillside when a flood took them to their deaths. Their path was preserved on this hillside and discovered in 1937.

God repented that he had made man and destroyed all living things with a flood. He began again with Noah's family. Yes, the account is absolutely true. The worldwide movement of mountains, rivers, land formations were shifted by the force of the one of a kind water force. The sediments of the rivers and newly formed fossil remains can be totally explained by the force of the water during God's flood.

The dark area is dinosaur fossil remains.

Good days can lead to Cold Stone Ice Cream treats! Yum!

After our drive we stopped for ice cream at Cold Stone. All's well that ends well, yes? Yummy!

Adventures in Colorado Springs...

The conference at Focus on the Family is what took us to Colorado Springs.
What a blessing it was!

Al with the Cog Train on Pike's Peak

We have never been this high elevation without an airplane!

The Garden of the Gods was donated to the city so everyone could enjoy them.

Al at the Balancing Rock

Al pushing the rock over! YIKES!

Condos in the rock! Interesting historical stop.

The common kitchen in the center of the units.

 Al visited Colorado Springs and Pike's Peak when he was a boy and his dad was stationed at Fort Carson in the early 50's. He remembered going up the mountain with his folks and always wanted to go back.

We have never been to Colorado in all our travels, so when we learned of the Pastors and Spouses conference there, we decided we would definitely visit the mountain again.

We rode the COG train to the top after the conference was over. The train traveled at a top speed of 8.5 mph and took an hour each way. The air is so thin we were getting dizzy. We took many pics from the ride and learned so much history of that mountain! What a delightful outing!

The Garden of the Gods was filled with interesting rock formations. Beautiful handiwork of God on display there!

The cliff dwellings are something I have always wanted to visit, so we stopped in for an hour and explored in the homes of the rock. We saw a common kitchen with shelves, loft bedrooms and brick and mortar walls that were perfectly level, per the people who studied these homes. It, too, was exciting to see. I'm so glad we went.

Al climbed into the "cleft of the ROCK"

As we explored the rock garden, Al discovered a cleft in a rock and climbed in it. Safe to the Rock that is higher... a safe place to be!