Day 2 in Aruba: Monday, June 22nd

We slept in, much later than we expected. Although we intended on keeping our early to bed, early to rise routine, I turned my 7:30a alarm off and suddenly it was 11:30a! We spent the early afternoon exploring a bit of the island, went down several dirt roads along the coast and drove along the water's edge for quite a while.

In spots the coast was rocky and wild, big surf and carved weathered beach. In one place the beach was ALL coral pieces instead of sand, bleached white by the sun. It was very musical stepping down closer to the water it sounded like chimes as DearHusband walked down ahead of me. Footing was tricky as the fingers of coral tended to roll and shift as we stepped on them. It was very charming, almost a magical sound.

We went to the famed California lighthouse, nice view from there. There was an expensive restaurant up there, along with a vendor selling shaved ice. Much welcome shaved ice. It was hot!

The scenery wasn't what we were expecting. Not much vegetation other than cactus, some of which were pretty impressive! I guess we were expecting a tropical island but found ourselves instead on a desert island. It seemed incongruous to us to be loooking at a beautiful coastline and a great blue ocean, in the same lines as we saw in Hawaii, to turn 180 degrees and see nothing but sand and cactus in the lines of Arizona. Took us awhile to get used to it. That and the wind, not a breeze, but a hot wind that blew constantly. I can see why they warn you about not getting sunburned as you don't realize how hot the sun is with the constant wind blowing to cool you off. It was refreshing--would be unbearable without it!

Today I saw my first pelican in the wild. Maybe it was a small one, but I thought they were bigger. We watched it feed, diving all the way into the water then paddling around for a bit before taking off to fly for a short time before diving again. It was impressive. We also saw lots of lizards with blue spots. Wild and very skittish, very hard to get close enough to take a good picture. The ones I did get were too grainy when cropped to show any detail of their spots.

Then we made a trip to the grocery store to pick up some breakfast, lunch and snack foods. After last night's dinner, we knew we'd need to economize on breakfasts and lunches. We were starving, not having had breakfast before we started out exploring so we stopped at a Wendy's before going to the store. The cost was very close to the same price as at home, only priced in Dutch Guilders. We also saw alot of other American restaurants: Pizza Hut, Tony Roma's Benihana, Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts, and Subway, the last two being on the premises of this resort, along with a Baskin Robbins.

Dinner was more than a bit of a disapoinment. We went to the much touted, Driftwood Restaurant, which the chef himself is said to catch the special of the day. The service was terrible, the food overpriced and overcooked and worst of all, after spending more than $25 USD roundtrip on a taxi, so we could both enjoy rum cocktails, the drinks were lacking much rum and horribly overpriced. Unfortunately for them, Texas de Brazil is a lot to live up to in both first class wait staff and five star cuisine!

Impressive cactus! See the ocean at the left of the picture? This was just yards from the coast.

Day 1 in Aruba: Sunday, June 21st, Father's Day

After leaving at 4p Saturday for SeaTac, we arrived in Aruba shortly after 1p on Sunday (20 hours of travel and waiting in airports), rented a car and found our way to Playa Linda in Orenjestad. It is a cute little condo. 1 bedroom with a single daybed/couch and a double sized sleeper sofa in the kitchen/dining room.

Inside views:

Outside views:

We quickly unpacked and went for a long walk on the beach. It felt good to wade into the warm ocean water, it is a beautiful turquoise blue. Even the sand is different. It is white and powdery soft.

Look SisterA, Mrs Toes in the white sands of Aruba!

This is a view of the condo from down the beach a ways. It's shaped like the pyramids in Mexico, each balcony has a full view without being blocked by a balcony above your head.

Although we were really tired after our overnight flight across country to New York, then another flight down to the Caribbean , We didn’t want to waste a moment of sunshine, as our trips to Hawaii has taught us that it gets dark much, much earlier than our 11pm at this time of year! Upstairs to the 3rd floor to change, then back to lounge poolside. Nineteen months after our last swim (Maui), we enjoyed a little bit of swimming before our lack of regular meals began to register. Mostly because it was close by and we were starving, and the fact that there was a line, which told us it was probably worth a bit of a wait, we went across the street for dinner at Texas deBrazil. An excellent decision! I will tell more later…

A couple shots of the pool area:

Here we go...

Leave SeaTac 9:58p on JetBlue. Great airline! I would fly them again in a heartbeat! In fact, when we fly again, they’ll be the first airline I check for! We paid for extra legroom but even those seats available for less money seemed pretty roomy! All you can eat refreshments, after making the usual trip down the aisle offering beverages and snack items, the stewards put a nice display out on the galley counter and encourage you to help yourself! Each seat has it’s own TV, they encourage you to use your own earplugs or headset, no need to buy headsets that only work on a specific airline, oh and did I mention plenty of legroom! Very important for a claustrophobic like myself!

Our first glimpses of Aruba

Surprise! An Early Father's Day Outing

We did it! We surprised him! The kids and I planned an early Father's Day outing at the Woodland Park Zoo and we actualy pulled off the surprise without DearHusband guessing what was up! Until we got off at the zoo exit off of I-5, he thought we were heading to Auburn to spend the day at DaughterS's and then to enjoy a spaghetti dinner!

Here's a couple of photos of our outing:

After weeks of sunshine, this day was cool and cloudy. Even SonMySon gave up and used an old sweatshirt found in the trunk of his sister's car.

Zebra's are my favorite animal at the zoo. I almost wore the sterling silver zebra earrings I got at the Denver Zoo but was afraid it might offer a hint as to our destination!

DaughterS posed on a boulder overlooking the zebra viewing area.

All in all is was a wonderful outing. We wrapped up the day with a delicious spaghetti dinner before our long drive home. Hope you had a Happy Father's Day, Lover. One week early.

Lord, hear our prayer, ease our hearts

I normally try to only post about things that bring me joy or make me laugh. But today I feel I must share a tragic event.

Today, DearHusband, DaughterA and I did something we and close to a hundred other people should never, ever have to do.

We attended the memorial service for a former teammate of my daughters', a bubbly, sparkly and joyful young woman whom my husband enjoyed coaching, and we had the privilege of sharing ten years of our life with when it revolved around tournament softball.

Chrystal Anne Hansen, age 22, engaged to be married and six weeks pregnant was killed in a car accident, only 3 minutes from her home, by a drunk driver who blew through a red light and t-boned her in an intersection with such force that it pushed her car through the intersection and into the roadside ditch. Her fiancee later suffered a brain aneurysm. The drunk who committed double-murder with a ton of moving metal, walked away without a scratch.

If so moved, you can read the newspapers articles here.

The service was a wonderful gathering of friends and family, and I feel we were again privileged to be in the company of those who loved her, to listen as they shared stories of laughter and adventures enjoyed by Chrystal. I thanked her father for having the service and for giving us the opportunity to share in the obvious love that abounded in the room full of people.

It must be true, that God gives you the strength when you need it. I don't know how her parents were able to be there, dry eyed and calm, actually giving comfort to others as well as, hopefully, gaining comfort from those around them.

Her father said something, while we stood near the table that held lovingly made posters and collages of photos taken throughout Chrystal's life, that continues to reduce me to tears each time I think of it. It a quiet voice, he said to my husband, "I was going to be a Grandpa..."

All I can say of the man who killed Chrystal and her unborn child, injured her beloved and forever changed the lives of their families, May God have mercy on his soul. Because, believe me I certainly would not, do not, will not ever. In my humble opinion, I believe we should bring back public floggings for people who deliberately get behind the wheel after drinking and cause the death of another person. It wasn't an accident that he drank and drove, you cannot accidentally get behind the wheel while impaired. It was a conscious choice he made, and now others will continue to suffer for it. The current slap on the wrist these criminals get isn't sufficient. They should be flogged, and perhaps, if they survive the shock and injury of having the flesh stripped from their backs, the memory of the pain and humiliation will keep them from drinking and driving again.

Please forgive me if I sound hateful, if my words injure you, my innocent readers, but justice needs to be served and examples set.

An example DearHusband and I have set for our children, friends and family is a zero tolerance for alcohol consumption in relation to the privilege of driving motor vehicles. Knowing the alcohol impairs judgement, we have removed the danger of inaccurately judging our level of impairment by making it a HARD AND FAST RULE, if we have even so much as a sip of alcohol, we do not get behind the wheel! Is that an inconvenience? You bet it is! It means only one of us can imbibe when we are out to dinner by ourselves, as we live too far out into the county to take a cab. But let me tell you, I and my beloved, will never take the chance of injuring ourselves, or worse yet, someone else by a poor decision that might forever change the lives of those we come in contact with.

I know this is, what some may think, an extreme attitude, but once again, a drunk driver has taken a life, two lives actually this time, and I hope my children will remember this event and our family rule when they are out for the evening and choose to have a drink. Honor the memories they have of Chrystal, remember the terrible impact on the lives of all who knew her, step up and be responsible for their own decisions, and put the car keys away when the alcoholic beverages come out.

I pray God give comfort and strength to the families and friends of Chrystal, may they find comfort in shared memories, may time ease the pain of separation, and the promise of seeing her again, restored and in heaven give us peace.

We didn't get a picture...

Yesterday, we continued to work on the pond along the front walkway and decided we needed some more rocks to set on the ledge that runs along the inside of the pond. So off to the stone landscaping place. In search of the perfect size and just the right color to match the small boulders that create the small waterfall.

After turning off of our street, we head out on a little wooded roaded that winds to the state highway. We come upon a van stopped in our lane. Before we get too close, we can see under the van that something brown was in the middle of the lane, in front of the van. We thought, oh no, he's hit something. But no, they didn't. A doe and her very young fawn had jumped out onto the road and when the fawn saw the approaching van, instinct took over and he dropped down as flat as he could, thinking he was hiding. Unfortunately, there's not alot of cover in the middle of an asphalt road. The man driving the van didn't know what to do, he didn't want to just drive around and away fearing that it was injured or that someone else might come along and hit it.

Having raised an orphaned fawn when I was a child and living on a ranch in the middle of 40 acres, I knew that he wasn't injured, only doing as Mother Nature dictated and was "hiding from predators" by not moving and letting the spots on his coat serve as a camoflague so he would blend into the underbrush. I knew it could be a long time before he moved, and might not until his mama came back to nudge him. I decided to pick him up and move him to the edge of the ditch in hopes that he would bound off, but he didn't, he just continued to stay frozen. While I backed off, the two young teen girls from the van decided they wanted to hold him, too and get pictures on their phones. DearHusband let them finish, urging them to do it quickly, then he took the fawn away from the girls and waded across the ditch and put the fawn on the woods side of the ditch and this time, he bounded away and in a flash, we couldn't see him anymore. I am sure his mama was close by, as he had bleated for her when I first picked him up. I've watched deer before, they cross this road frequently, and I've seen the does wait in the edge of the foliage and call to the fawns to encourage them to jump the ditch.

I was a nice brush with our local wildlife that ended with an experience those girls will never forget. I won't either, as spotting our local deer is one of the things we enjoy about living out in the county!

We are going to finish the pond area today. I want to finish the rockery and get the plants back into the ground, add the new ones we purchased and get some mulch down in hopes of choking out some of the pernicious weeds. I will post pictures of the project, as soon as I have the final product ready to photograph!

It's a beautiful Sunday morning, I have enjoyed a cup of coffee while perched on a huge pile of pillows in the corner of the couch so I can can see the pond and the bird feeders. I have been enjoying the song of the goldfinches at the thistle feeder and have been thoroughly entertained by the hummingbirds chasing each other away from the feeder on the front porch next to the hanging baskets of red petunias. Time to get outside myself and get busy!

Happy Mother's Day

The biggest joys in my life have been the blessing of our three children.

To our children I say Thank You. You gave my life purpose and direction, and brought us both laughter and tears!

My life has truly been blessed with all I wished for.

I have experienced the deep contentment of holding my newborn babes at my breast while falling ever more deeply in love with each of you while gazing into your bright and wondering new eyes. I have experienced the wonderful ups and downs of everyday life, the exhaustion of having three kids under age 5, of seeming to never again have an unbroken night of sleep.

Then to the hustle and bustle of preschool and gymnastics, ballet, kindergarden and elementry school, choir and music concerts, grade school and middle school, plays and talent shows, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, and from tball to baseball and tournament softball , and tae kwon do, high school with all it's dramas of teenage life, now college and higher education, summer jobs to full time jobs.

Now, we step back as you all step forward into life.

These past twenty two years have gone by so quickly, each phase quietly sliding into the next almost without me realizing it was happening.

Now I marvel at the responsible young adults you have each become and we continue to be blessed by witnessing your steps into adulthood, to see your lives open with possibilities before you and watch you each forge your seperate paths into life. It is an exciting time for all of you.

Again, today, I say a hearfelt prayer of thanks. I have thanked God for each of you everyday of the past and will continue to throughout the future.

To all my sisters, both those born into my life and those whose threads of life have become part of the tapestry of mine, I wish for you all the joys of motherhood and wish you all a very Happy Mother's Day!