Life This Week

I can't believe it's Thursday night already.  This week has gone by so fast because it's been a busy one.  I'll have to put my Bermuda series on hold for a few days until I get caught up with the present.

Last Friday (wow - almost a week!) my cousin, Brad, his wife, Jane, and their children, Grady and Libby, came up from Harrisburg to spend the weekend with us.  They had a wedding to go to on Saturday close to here.  They arrived here shortly after Hubby got home with our little granddaughter, Leanna.  He had gone to pick her up to spend the weekend with us.  This was the first time we have had her alone without her older brothers.

The weekend went well.  Cousins left about noon on Saturday all dressed up for the wedding.

Don't they look nice?  Grady just had to hold that sword in the picture.  And look at beautiful Libby's gladiator sandals.  She sure has turned into a beauty at only 14 years old!

Leanna was just the best little baby.  She's happy all the time and entertains herself as long as you're in the room with her.  She loves to be in her walker, which is great because she's crawling and standing and I'd be running after her all day otherwise.  We just stayed in the kitchen together with me cleaning and cooking and Leanna motorin' all over opening every cupboard she could reach.

About 7:00 at night it was bath time.  Grandma (me) prefers to give a bath in the kitchen sink while she's still small enough.  Leaning over a bathtub is a killer!  I said she's happy all the time, except when bath time is over  She did not want to get out of that sink!

She goes right to bed with barely a wimper at 9:00 and sleeps sound until 9:00 the next morning.  She's such an easy baby.

I was up early, way before anyone else.  Cousins got in late, so they were all sleeping in.  I made a fresh fruit salad, cinnamon rolls, and coffee.  I decided to use my Homer Laughlin's Virginia Rose dishes.  Most of the set was passed down to me from my and Brad's great-grandmother.  I've added to the set when I find pieces in antique stores or a flea market.

As soon as I had breakfast and the baby taken care of, I started on lunch!  I was having Mom and Dad over for a late lunch for Dad's birthday, which was the next day, Monday.  I was hoping cousins could stay to celebrate with us, but they needed to head back home at noon.
I fixed two pans of lasagna, a salad, and whole grain dinner rolls.  So I cleaned up the dishes and the kitchen from the breakfast crowd and reset the table and had lunch ready for the lunch crowd at 1:00.
Chocolate crunch ice cream cake from  Dairy Queen, with a big "7" candle and a big "4" candle was the co-star, along with Dad!

It was a small party, just me, Bob, Leanna and Mom, but it was nice and the food was good.  Can I say that even if I cooked it all?  And those Dairy Queen ice cream cakes are delicious!

Sooooo, I was exhausted by 3:00!  Hubby and I were going to  drive the 3 hour drive together to take Leanna home, but Hubby was so good in offering to go himself.  I packed up the baby and all that goes with her, along with a pan of lasagna, and then (tired sigh!) I was home alone!  I got the kitchen cleaned up (again!) and sat.  I so much appreciated that right then.

I have to say, I'm still not feeling well.  I just keep coughing, which makes my throat sore and my head is so stuffed up.  I think I have "The Walking Pneumonia and the Boogy Woogy Flu"!  Remember that song?  I think I'm starting to feel a little better, then I do too much, get overly tired, and then I'm down and out again.
But, resting is not much my style.  Monday I spent the day washing sheets, towels, floors and bathrooms.  My normal routine with a little extra.  Monday night I wanted to just sit and cry.  I was so annoyed at not feeling well when I have things to do.

Tuesday still wasn't time to take it easy.  It was voting day and Dad was running for School Board.  Mom, Bob and I were all helping by manning different polling locations and handing out his card as voters walked up to the polling station.  My shift started at 7:00 am.  I woke up at 5:00 to 48 degrees outside and the threat of rain!  At 5:00 a.m., my thoughts were, "Lord, let me die"!  I have to say, though, by 8:00 a.m. I was getting into the whole process and it actually became fun.  I knew a lot of people and got to know the other candidates standing outside with us.  I shared shifts with a friend that was also volunteering for Dad, so I had a few breaks.   When on duty, I was on my feet, in the rain, and talking all day.
Here's the gauntlet line we formed that voters had to walk through to cast their vote.  Most of the day we were all holding umbrellas, but here's a moment of clearing.

Here's Dad, third from the top right with the phone to his ear.

It was worth it, thank goodness.  We knew by 11:00 that night that Dad won the Republican nomination by quite a large margin.  In fact, he only lost the Democratic nomination also by about 6 votes!  Now he'll have to run again in November.  If he had won both ballots he'd be in and would run uncontested in November.   We're all so proud of him.  Now this means we do it all over again in the late fall.  Oh my, it could actually be snowing then!
Right now I just look forward to the day when I feel healthy again!

Linking to Alison's Fridays Unfolded

We Made It To Bermuda!

Wednesday, May 4

We were rockin’ and rollin’ the whole night through!  Very rough waters all night.  I felt OK, it was just a lot of movement and very loud.  I think maybe there was a storm.  All I could think about in the middle of this stormy rocking night was the Bermuda Triangle.  I was thinking we must be getting close to it and I hope we make it.  
We did!  We woke up anchored in the bay of  St. George where those of us that wanted to go ashore were ferried in to the island where we had booked a tour. 

View of our ship from St. George

St. George is the original Bermuda settlement.  In 1609, the English ship, “Sea Venture” was on it’s way to the new American settlement of Jamestown.

 A hurricane grounded the “Sea Venture” just off St. George and the survivors became the first residents.

We toured old Fort St. Catherine,

Dad guarding the Fort

 visited St. Peters Church,

 saw the “Unfinished church”

which was left unfinished due to financial difficulties,  and remains standing that way to this day.

We visited the Towne Hall,

 walked up the narrow winding staircase of the old lighthouse,

Me and Bob with Don and Kay standing at the top of the lighthouse

 and stopped for a rum and coke at an outdoor pub along the beach.

Bob and I with Gomby the pig outside the pub

There are old cemeteries and beautiful flowers everywhere.

 The buildings and houses are built from concrete block and limestone so that they can withstand hurricane force winds.  The limestone roofs are all painted white and the houses themselves are painted  pastel colors.

 I can imagine that this would look terrible in Northeast PA, but it looks so pretty here next to the beautiful bright aqua water!

We did a little bit of shopping before we had to get back to the ship.  As in normal man fashion, Dad and Don sat on a bench in front of Town Hall and ate ice cream.

For the first time on the trip we ate dinner in the Rotterdam Dining Room on the ship.  The food was delicious.  The other evenings we had just been grabbing food at the buffet or the pizza bar outside.  The dining room is beautiful, with a semi circle wall of windows overlooking the Harbor. While eating a first class sit down dinner an orchestra plays soft classical dinner music on the balcony.  It almost reminds you of a scene from The Titanic.

For some reason, The Bermuda Triangle and The Titanic are always on my mind!

After dinner the ship had sailed to the other end of the island in Hamilton.  Hubby and I got off the boat to tour a little bit of Hamilton in the early evening.

Back on the ship, the movie, “The Accidental Husband” was playing in the theatre.  It was just O.K.  I’m still not feeling real well, so it was hard for me to stay awake.  I really needed to just get back to our room and lay down for the evening.  We found this towel sculpture of a turkey waiting on our bed for us!

I was exhausted!  My throat is really bothering me and I’m getting very annoyed about it.  You plan and wait for a vacation like this, and then not to feel well when you finally get there is a little frustrating.

Overall, it was a very good day.  It's so pretty and sunny in Bermuda, even though it rained for a few minutes, it clears right up and the sun keeps shining.

Read about Day 1 of our vacation here
Read about Day 2 of our vacation here

Blogger Interrupted My Bermuda Trip

I posted Day 3 of our Bermuda Trip yesterday, but now it's gone.  It was filled with pictures from St. George and took me a lot of time to write it up.  Gone!  This is so frustrating.  I understand that Blogger is still working on restoring lost posts so I'm hoping it's back up soon.  I hate to take the time to re-write the post, get it all done again, and then they put my original one back up!
So, I worked outside today to get away from this darn computer.  Sometimes you just have to do that!  I have so much to do outside that a little bit each day makes a difference pretty quick.
I'm still dealing with a little bit of a sore throat.  This is going on the second week now.  I would be concerned, but it is actually much better.  Just a lingering annoyance now.
Hubby is picking up our granddaughter, Leanna, to spend the weekend with us.

This is her mother's Air Force Reserve weekend and we thought it would help her daddy out if he only had her two older brothers for the weekend.  So they are having a "boys only" weekend and I get some alone time with my little sweetie pie!
My cousin and his family are also coming over from Harrisburg this evening to spend the weekend with us.  They have a wedding to go to tomorrow and we love having them at our "Lake Château", as they have come to call my home.
Now I can't end the day without commenting on American Idol last night!  I'm addicted to this show and am always amazed at undiscovered young talent and how they progress through the months.  But last night was a total disappointment.  My favorite, James Durbin, was voted off.  How could this happen?  He has so much talent and I couldn't help but be drawn to his back story.  He has turrets syndrome and mild autism, he's married with a young son, and you can tell he just  worked so hard for this and wanted this so bad.  It just broke my heart!  I know he'll still do very well from his exposure on this show and I hope all the best for him. Remember his name, even if you're not an American Idol fan, because I know we'll all be hearing more about him.
Since I have a few more hours to myself before the welcome onslaught of relatives, I think I'll get a much needed shower, get something to eat, and maybe bake some chocolate chip cookies!  I might have to check with Blogger off and on (even though I told myself to now turn off the computer for the night)  to look for my missing post!  My OCD (Obsessive, Compulsive Disorder) is struggling with me again!

Rough Ride

Tuesday, May 3
The best part of the day was this beautiful sunrise that I could see from our stateroom window at about 5:30 in the morning. 

A little fuzzy since it was through the window.  It was really beautiful!

It sort of went downhill from there.  There was so much turbulence all day.  Like Hubby said, on an airplane you may have turbulence for a few hours at the most, but when you have it on a boat and you’re on that boat with no way off for about 36 hours, then it becomes a real problem. 
I tried to walk around the ship today, looking in the shops, etc., but the boat was swaying and rocking so much that I was becoming very nauseated.  I had on my Sea Bands that are supposed to somehow avoid this by pressing on some pressure point on your wrist.

 I guess you could say they were maybe working because I never threw up, but I sure felt like I could.  I ate some ginger snap cookies and drank Ginger Ale.  It just wasn't working.  Mom had some nausea pills so I took one of those and then thought if I would just lay in the sun for a while.

Dad looks nice and relaxed, but I look like I'm in pain, don't I?  Really I wasn't, the sun was just bright!

 The sun was shining and it was becoming warmer.  I was feeling much better so I went with the rest of my gang to play bingo.  Before bingo even started, our friend Don now became so sick he had to go back to his room.  After bingo I just couldn’t keep my eyes open.   A side affect of the nausea pill is drowsiness.  Mom had taken a pill earlier and was in her room sleeping by now.  I thought I would just go back to the room and close my eyes for a few minutes.  Well ---I slept for hours!  I missed dinner, a movie and the entertainment in the Showroom.

Today was just not a good cruise experience day!

This was Day 2 of our vacation.  Read about Day 1 in the previous post.

Bermuda Here We Come!

Monday, May 2
Here we go!  Our Bermuda cruise vacation started yesterday.  We had to get up at 4:15 in the morning to leave the house no later than 5:30.  I had everything ready the night before to load into the car except the bathroom things. 
Mom and Dad are on the trip with us, along with another couple that we know from being very good clients of Hubby’s, as well as becoming friends of ours.  They are the ones that told us about this cruise they were going on and invited us to join them.  Don and Kay are about the same age as my parents - mid 70’s. 
Mom and Dad picked us up at exactly 5:30 and we headed out for the 3-1/2 hour drive to Allentown, PA, where we caught up with Don and Kay. We then transferred to a bus that took us directly to the Holland Cruise ship at the New York pier.

Mom checking the schedule at the bus station

We were already delayed by one day.  We were supposed to leave Sunday, but we got notice that the ship was delayed by a day because it wasn’t ready.  Then embarking was slightly delayed on Monday because the ship’s computers weren’t set up. 

l-r - Kay, Don, Mom and Dad - waiting some more at the cruise ship terminal in New York

A lot of "hurry up and wait".

Finally, we embark and set sail at about 6:00 pm.

 We’ll have two nights and one day at sea and land in Bermuda on Wednesday morning. We sailed past Ground Zero,  Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty in the New York harbor, which just seemed so appropriate and a little moving on this day after Osama Bin Laden was finally captured and killed 10 years after the terror he brought to this nation and to this very city.

The sun was setting quickly as we sailed out of the harbor, and this is the last picture I was able to get.  I don't know what New York City bridge this is.

We enjoyed the evening listening to live music being played in many locations around the ship, browsing the shops, playing a little bingo (didn’t win!), and watching a live show in the beautiful showroom. 

By then it was 10:00 at night and the long day had taken it’s toll on me.  First of all, I was freezing cold all day.  I need to get to some warm weather!  And they keep this boat too cold for my liking!  I was also overly tired from the days of preparing for the trip and the early and long day yesterday.  I now have laryngitis.  I think I just need to get some sleep.