Busy Weekend! May 30-31

Mom and I drove over to Ormond Beach to enjoy time with Miriam, Abby, Debbie, Seth and baby Logan - Deb is celebrating her retirement after teaching for about 40 years.

Then on Sunday morning - the dancers celebrated Pentacost Sunday ....lots of "fire".

And Sunday afternoon Kristin, Kyle and Karington stopped by for a visit....Karington is 5 months old already....wow!

What a great weekend!!

Back from Galapagos and Ecuador

Mom and I had an incredible time on this vacation in Ecuador and Galapagos....won't even try to put everything here - way too much! We did so many things - saw so many things....really 2 vacations in 1 trip. First 4 days at 9,000 feet up in the "highlands" of the Andes.

Perugi Waterfalls

Hacienda Pensaqui

Making Andean flutes with the master flute maker

Making short bread....Ecuadorian style...yummmm.Then the last 4 days on a small ship cruising to various islands in the Galapagos - iguanas, sea lions, turtles, birds....Wow! Only about 80 passengers on board the ship - that's it behind us.

Whale bones - never saw one alive, but they are out there.

Snorkling with the sea lions

Crazy Iguanas ....zillions of them....3 good buddies looking out to sea.

And of course the BIG tortoises! This guy was "speeding" up to greet us.

And the CUTE baby sea lion bugging his parent for food - or maybe just attention.

You know there are about 400 more photos that we will show you later!

Jenna and Ivan's new house

I spoke with Jenna several times this weekend. They are officially moved into their new house! Even though they are a LONG way from being settled. No internet access yet, so doubt we'll see house pictures on her blog anytime soon. But the good news is that they are there and over the next few weeks, they will get it all done. Congrats and best wishes!

Mother's Day

We had a slightly early celebration on Saturday with all of the "mom's" in the family (except Jenna of course - sure wish she could have been here too!!!!)

Karington was quite entertaining. Since she has 2 dogs at home, she was completely at ease with our guys. Blitzen could have cared less, but Dasher was fascinated with the big, pink squeaky toy!

At 4+ months, she is smiling LOTS!

Happy Anniversary - 23 years!

Maris and I were invited to a surprise birthday celebration (50) for our friend Felicia at Victoria and Albert's Chef's Table....so wonderful! Since it was the day before our 23rd anniversary - made it special for us too.
10 courses of the PRETTIEST food....and yummiest. WOW.

Visit to Utah to meet Jake

I had a wonderful time in Utah for a week visiting with Ivan, Jenna, Allison and Jake! He is a beautiful (make that handsome) version of Allison....no denying they are related. He's a month old now and starting to figure out that sleeping is a good thing (at least it is for his parents). Ivan is making excellent progress on their "new" house - with new paint new walls, new floors, new layout in the kitchen, new cabinet finish, new appliances....well, it's practically new! Can't wait for our next visit when they are moved in and it's all finished. Moving day is May 2nd. I loved teaching Allison to say "Granma" and puppy and other words. She's a little sponge at this point. She's also a busy bee....non-stop motion. Even made up a song about it for her! Got to visit where Ivan works (Myriad Genetics) - very lovely up against the mountains. We joined him for lunch outside at a picnic table.

On the final Sunday ... we were all dressed up for church.
Allison loves kissing Jake's head....awwwwww.

Easter Sunday

We had a wonderful Easter this year.....lots of singing - Ilga, Ruth, Kristin, Kyle and Karington all came to the 11am service, so we took a quick picture after the service by the pretty flowers on the altar. Little Karington was apparently quite bored by the sermon.....zzzzzzzzz.

Mom zipped home to start our fabulous lunch so she wasn't around for the picture, but she got to enjoy Karington later when she woke up!

Karinton actually liked the bunny - she sucked on it and hugged it....so the basket was a hit!!!!