The Newby

Because little Miss Ariana

did not keep her "newborn" look very long

I wanted to post these as a reminder 

(to me) ha!

how small, teeny and cute she was in her skinny stage!

I love babies little feet!

(I always take off their socks)

(too bad they weren't off here!)

and LEGS, so cute!

Mom Halley.

Great grandma Cecilia.

Grandma Tina

It was so wonderful having my niece and her baby 

over to visit. 

They are very close in age.

Why oh, why didn't I get a clear picture?

One of Ariana's baths.

Uncle McKay and Ariana.

Going for a walk!

Such a big yawn!

Sleepy, sleepy girl!

I love how she is positioned!

Lovely mommy and baby.

Ahhhhh!  Melts my heart . . . . . 

Baby Ariana

Grand-parenthood has been so wonderful.

Halley wanted me to stay a month with her and Ryan.

I thought a month would be too long.

But OHHHHH! the time flew by.

Ariana was three weeks early and was tiny-tiny

when she was born.

5 lbs 10 oz.

and got smaller in the next few days!

These pictures are of Ariana at 8 days old.

So soooooooo, precious!

Ariana sure loved to sleep!

I think she was only awake 3 hours a day at first.

I didn't remember my babies sleeping quite so much.

She was a cute sleeper though,

stretching and making baby noises every once and a while!

A cruise tale

McKay had a fun experience while on our

Bahamian cruise.

Lincoln, Claudette and I decided 

to go to a function where the cruise staff were 

giving away gifts.

You had to be present to win.

We all put our names into the drawing

and then went and sat down. 

Claudette asked if we entered McKay's name.

I kind-of internally rolled my eyes,

because McKay wasn't with us and couldn't win anything
if he wasn't with us . . . . . .

Knowing Claudette's history though,

and knowing that usually her suggestions come to fruition!!!!!.......

Lincoln went over and entered McKay's name into the drawing.

Several gifts were given away,

And then IT happened,
they pulled McKay's name out of the bowl!

He had won a spa and facial treatment!

We sat there dumbfounded wondering what to do.

It seemed like an eternity,

and they called McKay's name again . . .
with a comment about
"Why would a person enter the drawing and then leave?"
Then the announcer said . . . .

"YES, the young man

in the balcony in the back........"

And McKay came forward to get his prize.

We had NO IDEA that he was there.

and he had NO IDEA how his name got in to the drawing.
TOTAL surprise for all of us.

The guy who gave McKay his prize asked him,

"Young man, have you ever had a facial before?"

Ha, ha!

We wondered what McKay would do with his prize.

Would he give it to me?

Would he give it to grandma?

No.
 He called the spa and scheduled himself 

 for the treatment!

The only time spot they had left

was 8 AM the next morning.

That is the earliest McKay ever woke up on the trip.

It was so funny to hear him tell about his facial.

He said he thought he didn't have any pimples.

He had just looked in the mirror and felt pretty confident......

But they found hundreds of little spots to squeeze on his nose 

and the surrounding area. 

He said it hurt!

And those of you who have had a facial know it does.

People kept coming up to him because they

Recognized him as the young man who had won the facial!

It was a
FUN EXPERIENCE!

Fieldtrip Saturdays

Fairly recently our youngest son McKay

started a new job.

He has worked the last several Saturdays,

leaving Lincoln and I free to choose what we would like to do.

A couple of weeks ago,

I came up with a plan for our Saturday

which was a trip down to the Fine Art Smithsonian
in DC

where there is a temporary 

Degas and Cassatt exhibit.

French impressionists.

This is something McKay would never do,

That is why I mentioned above that Lincoln and I

were free to do what we wanted!

We weren't leaving him home alone,
and we weren't having to force him to come along.
NICE.

I was so looking forward to seeing all of Degas' 

Ballerinas, but no, only one ballerina painting was in this exhibit.

The rest of the paintings in this exhibit that Degas' painted
are kind-of dark when compared with Mary Cassatt's paintings.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED,

Mary Cassatts work though.

It is so lively and bright.

Wonderful!

I really love living here where life can be so rich and full.

Yesterday,  Lincoln had an outing planned for us!

I hope this becomes a tradition.

We went and visited a historical home

called the Surratt house.

My kids went to Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Elementary school.
We've been to the Mudd home also.

The Surratt family played strongly in the plot

To assassinate Abraham Lincoln.
(Abraham Lincoln was not very well liked in the slave-state of Maryland.)

They were among several people who helped John Wilkes Booth plan
the assassination and then provided an escape route for Booth.

History becomes so alive when you are on the spot.

After the tour, Lincoln took me to a

Sandwich place that we will have to go back to.

It is like a New York City Deli shop,

And it felt like we were in New York City!

Just a small place, that is very busy,
that is hiding in plain sight.
I've driven by it hundreds of times and never noticed it.

I had a New York Yankees' sandwich,

You could have a John Gotti or an Al Capone,

Or a Statue of Liberty, and many others.

My sandwich was a Panini and the bread tasted homemade.

So Yummy.  We will definitely eat there again.

I need to start planning our next fieldtrip!

McKay's graduation trip

 We decided to give McKay a trip for his graduation from high school.

This really has been a tradition. 

Justin's graduation was our first cruise.

We went with Halley to NYC.

Chancy got to combine his trip with his

dad's return from Afghanistan,

which was a week in Cocoa Beach Florida,

followed by a cruise.

The numbers dwindle,

this time only Me, Lincoln, McKay and Lincoln's mother went. 

This trip was carefully planned, 

carefully timed as to get us home

in time to drive to Utah where Halley's baby would arrive

at about the same time we did!

Carefully laid plans sometimes do not work out :)

Halley needed to have her baby three weeks early,

and new baby Ariana arrived THE DAY

we got on the ship to the Bahamas.

This is the first cruise that I wanted to be somewhere else!

We facetimed Halley and Ryan and the baby on that day,

and then tried to have fun on the trip.

It was so hard to know that the things I wanted to be doing with Halley,

were being done without me there.

SO HARD!

We love to be at the front of the ship as we are leaving port.  

It was so windy that we sat down and got out of the wind for a bit.

Pictures is McKay, Lincoln and Claudette.

Lincoln and McKay

Lincoln's mom hadn't been to Fort McHenry before.

The fort is very close to the cruise terminal.

We were on that Island, just hours before the cruise started.

For McHenry is where the Star-Spangled Banner

(Our national anthem) was written.

A very important battle for our freedom from England.

 This may seem silly, 

but one of the most exciting things about the cruise

was cruising under The Chespeake Bay Bridge.

Such a beautiful bridge.

We have driven OVER it many times.

Just have not cruised UNDER it!

See the bridge getting closer?

and closer . . . . . .

Almost under!

COOL!

It really was neat! McKay pictured.

The wind really was whipping around.

Dinner is always a highlight of the day.

Lincoln and McKay.

Claudette and Myself.

Lobster night!

On the beach in Cocoa Beach Florida.

We weren't on the beach long before it started to pour down rain.

We took the opportunity to find a McDonalds (free Wifi)

and facetime with Halley, Ryan and the Ariana!

I wanted to bolt, and find an airplane and fly to Utah.

I love the colorful buildings.

Nassau, Bahamas

Our second stop.

I'm always interested in the workings of the ship.

The rope is so BIG! 

and so are the moorings that they hook it to.

I always wonder what the workers think about ships like this.

They service them, but do they ever get to get on board?

Probably not.

One of our waiter's dream was to be able to take

a cruise and be a passenger,

not as a crew member.

He'd been on over 90 cruises,

and wants to do it with his girlfriend and not work it.

Can you blame him?

Lincoln and McKay bought the excursion for the Atlantis Water Park.

They got rained out :(

Too bad, soooooo sad.

(seriously)

Claudette and I were able to go on our excursion

which was a tour around the Island.

The cruise welcome center and shops.

The ship.  Pretty Impressive.

I really liked this ship,

other than the many nude statues and paintings!!!!

Hard to have an 18 year old boy along with you!

The rain was sheeting off of the roof here.

We waited for it to subside somewhat

before venturing out into it.

This was one of our stops.

An old fort.  

Most of it was carved right out of the mountainside.

The bus driver extended our 3 hour tour into almost a 5 hour tour.

He even made an unplanned stop to a little restaurant

that took our orders for "conch fritters."

We continued our tour and then went back to get our food.

I must say they weren't very good.

We stopped at this little beach and we dipped our feet into the warm water.

The ship was in sight from the beach.

Lincoln and I walked around and around

one of the top sun decks each morning.

My feet on Bohemian sand.

Some of the plant life.

Our tour went on to the Atlantis Property.

Our tour guide told us that Atlantis has changed ownership.

The old owners kept all the brass shining brilliantly.

Now they just let the weather change the patina of the brass.

The hotel is as pristine as it used to be.

It is so fun to see what creature is waiting for you when you get back to your room.

We are in Freeport Bahamas here.

I thought this was cute.

Mother and Son.

McKay is getting some sun.

We went "on our own"

for this excursion.

We hired a taxi to take us to this snorkeling spot.

We swam clear out to those rocks and swam the length of them.

They had some floating rafts set up for us to rest on out

by the good snorkeling areas.

There wasn't any coral in close, or many fish.

You needed to swim all the way out.

My claim to fame and excitement for the day

was that I saw a little shark while out there.

Neither McKay nor Lincoln saw it,

but I saw it twice.

Pretty freaky.

McKay started holding my hand after that.

When we got back to shore I was teasing him that

he got scared and needed to hold my hand.

He said, "No, I was holding your hand because you were scared!"

What a nice son!

(Just for the record, I was more excited than scared)

(The guy that briefed us told us there was NOTHING in the

water that would bite us.  He did NOT mention the sharks.  HA!)

Believe me, he wouldn't hold my hand for ANY reason on dry ground!

Our snorkeling gear. . . . . we brought our own.

Trying on a hat!

As you get on board, sometimes,

they give you cold water and a cool wet towel to freshen up with.

They both feel sooooo good!

This is the end of my cruise pictures.  

They ended abruptly for some reason.

Our last day was at sea.

I love the sea days!