Battleship North Carolina

We had a nice trip to Wilmington North Carolina yesterday. They have a battleship there that went into service after the bombing at Pearl Harbor. That's Mert at the top of the gangway. This ship certainly has many sets of steep stairs and narrow passage ways. If you ever go, don't take your purse, cause you need both hands to manage the stairs. There are about 8 floors to this ship. The tour takes you up 2 sets of stairs, and down one set, then up one, then down 2 sets. I'm sure we were up and down 25 sets of stairs. Mert carried my purse just about the whole time. He wasn't the only man doing that :) It was interesting to see where the sailors slept and to see the kitchen. It's hard to believe they served 2000 meals in the 1 hour. The kitchen was made with mostly stainless steel and really thick butcher block. It looks like you could move in and cook today. The big soup terrines, big stainless sinks and stainless counters reminds me of when I used to work in the kitchen at the Oromocto Hospital. This ship was like a community on the water. In addition to all the usual Captains quarters, navigational equipment and crew quarters, there was also dentist office, a post office, a store, a barbershop, a surgery theatre. This ship had it's own plane that took off from the deck. The deck didn't seem that big, so the pilot would have had to be extremely confident, and accurate. The whole ship tour was very interesting. Years ago, we saw a ship in Halifax, but this was about 5 times bigger. Worth the $12 admission to see it.

Shells and more Shells

The kids got their packages in the mail this week and Grampie's job was to collect shells to send to the kids. He made 3 packages for the triplets but miscounted and one bag had more shells in it than the others. So we sent him out to get more shells. He goes out every day. He only gets the very best shells that are not broken too much. This is the catch for the past 3 days. He even got a couple of starfish. There were jelly fish too but they don't dry so well... :). So he'll give Caitlin and Grace a chance to take the amount they were missing from their package that was mailed then he'll let them divide up the rest into 3 bunches and give Mitchell first pick at the remaining bunches. We're getting Caitlin and Mitchell a sand-dollar but we haven't found any yet... so we'll keep looking. Grace can have one of the starfish.

A mystery in the dunes.

So, between our condo and the beach is about 20 feet of dunes. There's a fence and a sign that says keep off the dunes. We spend quite a bit of time looking out over our balcony and Mert spotted this mystery item. It looks like an overturned ardvark, or some creature. We're not allowed on the dunes to see what it is.... What do you think it is? It looks like it has a tail.

Charleston, South Carolina

We made a side trip to Charleston, South Carolina this week. It was about a 3 hour drive there and another 3 hour drive back. It's a very historic city with lots of US history. We went to the visitor center where we took a 90 minute tour of old historic downtown and the city market. It's kind of like the Fredericton market, 3 or 4 times the size, but included in the stalls is alot more touristy/tacky stuff. We ate at a great Crab restaurant where I had the famous Charleston Crab Cake with fries and slaw of course. On the tour we saw some really nice historic homes that now sell for 2 or 3 million (like the one shown here). Our tour guide who know civil war history, but all his facts and details were a bit overwhelming. I was most impressed with the bridge you cross to come into the city. It had 2 huge spans that you could see from miles away as you approached the city.

Dolphins at play

This has become our early morning routine. You can hear Mert in the background making coffee.. and we watch the dolphins frolic from our deck. Isn't this nice... watch.... It's only a minute. They don't do this all day, just for a bit of time in the morning. If you're walking on the beach, I don't think you could see them for the waves.

A close shave

Mert wore out his beard trimmer that the kids got him for fathers day a few years ago. So, we bought him a new one. It's a bit of a close shave wouldn't you say. It should grow in in a couple of days.

Jessica had her 9th birthday. Here are her friends who came over for a sleepover. And there's Emily on the right. She obviously had a better time this year at Jessica's party than last year. Congratulations on your birthday Jess.

I love this picture that Michele sent me. It's a picture of Mitchell Number "7" at an "away" hockey tournament in Doaktown. As you probably suspected, he is one of the smallest on the team. He got a goal the other day so we're all excited for him about that. We get no hockey here on the Time Warner Cable in Myrtle.

Can it really be 15 years.

Can it really be 15 years since we lost Mom. March 8, 1993. I can't believe how the time goes by. It seems like yesterday that we were sewing and shopping for silly craft things. Actually now that I think of it, it seems like history is repeating itself, as I think about how I too, look for silly crafty things.. Look at my sister's blog for a nice picture of mom at her work.

And I wonder what she would have thought of her new little namesake. I bet she would be so proud...

Fun in the warmer weather

Well, I've been offline for a week . We got to our condo in Myrtle Beach and I thought I'd be able to use the wireless. There was lots of wireless hits, but low, low strength and I think the buildings position put too much structrure between the access points and my computer. So this week I ordered Time Warner highspeed through the cable for the month, and it's great to be back online again. So I'll be back to my schedule of uploading every other day.

Here is a picture of our deck on the 3rd floor of our condo. It's the largest deck on our floor. I'm on the other lounger in my Bikini!!!