Dolphins

On Saturday we took a boat ride with Sally, Mike, and Michelle.


The ocean was calm and dolphins were cavorting everywhere.


Gary slowed the boat down when we spied some and they swam over and frolicked in our wake.


They were close enough to touch!


Such a thrill!

The Last Six.....For Now

Another page Kylie helped me with. We were going for an earth-tone theme.


As you can see by her signature, Kylie did the background for this page.


A beautiful design by Michelle. On the top right are my two favorite teenagers: Tori and Michelle. And on the bottom right is my favorite kiddo's second grade picture. When she brought them home, Erin said, "That's not the kid I sent to school that morning. She had hair fixed all cute!" But, Kylie took it out before the pictures were taken.


Michelle did the left and Kylie did the right.


This time Kylie did the left and Michelle did the right. That's the cake I made for my sister, Sally's, birthday. She's a Slotomania nut like me!


This is the last page done in Maine. We left on October 23rd for Florida.

Moving On...

Kylie did the left background and Michelle did the right one. I love the little design Ky drew on the upper left side. And, she's been practicing writing her name in cursive.

When Michelle got back to Florida to begin her junior year of high school, she decided on a new look: a dark dye and bangs. I love how current it makes her look.


Another left and right designed page by my two favorite girls. The poem Michelle wrote is from the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. I always showed that movie to my World Literature students when we were studying Shakespeare's sonnets since part of #141 is rapped by the main character's English teacher. The kids loved it and it helped make Shakespeare approachable for them.


I did the left side and Kylie did the right side on this one. I found the little tools and the circular thingies in my husband's grandmother's button tin. That Coast Guard 3-cent stamp is from 1945.


Just using up some stamps Anne sent me. Kylie helped and thought the little purse with the necklace coming out of it broke up the monotony of the evenly placed stamps. She signed her name on the bottom left.


When I was going through some old things, I found the 45 of The Beatles "Let It Be"

and that "We still like Ike" pin

and that weird shaped thing in the upper left.

Kylie begged me to take her to Monkey Trunks. It was expensive! $50 each! And, so hard! But, we had fun even though we both got stuck at the end of the zip line and hung there until they rescued us. Afterwards, Ky said, "I'll never do that, again!" Yay!

More

Kylie did quite a bit of this page. The paint we used was shimmery and not easy to write on.











Not much to say about these pages. They are pretty self-explanatory. It was summer. We were having a good time...'nough said!

Halfway

This one was designed by Michelle and her friend, Alyssa. The bookmark was made by my friend, Anne. I'm so lucky to have all these talented designers in my life!


This beautiful background is a Michelle design. The pics are from a boat ride to the beach when Erin and Kylie were here last spring. And the house on the left is a wine label. I should add more pictures but I hate to cover up the pretty background.


And, then, I didn't journal for a couple months while we were leaving Florida and heading to Maine for the summer. Finally, Kylie got hold of this page and did the whole thing herself. She even made up the alien story as if I was the narrator. The pictures on the left were a postcard of the inn in Snowville, NH where my niece, Alissa, had her wedding reception. Michelle's surfing photo came from when they were in Hawaii last Christmas.


This is a catch-up page.


The Kennedy stamp on the left was postmarked May 29, 1964 which was his birthday and also my dad's! My aunt sent it to my parents.

The sun rays are little cards my sister, Sally, gave me. They were in a matchbox covered with the paper on the left near the Kennedy stamp.

The other stamp on the left is from Kenya and came off a postcard my cousin, Dale, sent my parents years ago when she and her husband visited Africa.

The Bermuda stamps on the right were on a postcard, too, to my folks, but I can't remember who sent it.

And there's my beautiful Tuts on her 35th birthday this summer.

The Next Five

I messed the dates all up on the left. That's what happens when you're retired; one day blends into the next.


I can't believe Michelle is old enough to drive! This is the first page if my sixth journal.


Michelle did the design on the right. She was copying her iPhone cover.


Another Michelle design. The picture on the left is one she liked. On the right are pics of my cousin Donna's visit. It was so nice to see her and her family. It had been way too long.


Oh, yuck! I don't like this page at all!

Journal Catch-up Time

I took pictures of thirty pages today! I had to go way back to March to find the last time I'd blogged any. Here are the first five.



All the way back to January. A couple Christmas cards to symbolize our "cold" weather. LOL!


And, then, back to warmth!


Michelle and her friend, Alyssa, designed this spread then I added the words and the hearts.


Little snippets from my birthday cards and other stuff that matched the background. The bride and groom are my nephew, Dustin, and his wife, Amanda. He calls her Panda. And they're expecting their first child in the spring. I must have intuited the sex with this pink background because they are having a girl!


The picture is from Kylie's seventh birthday and, here it is, almost time for her eighth next month.

Home Sweet Home

Made It!



This is the back of our house. The front faces the canal.

We got here about supper time on Monday. Gary spent Tuesday working on his baby and I unpacked, did laundry, and restocked the fridge and cupboards....and took a couple pics with my iPhone. Time to get my big girl camera out and take it for a walk.

Saturday

We left Athens, GA in time to see the sun rise.



The road was smooth and the traffic was light. I spent the time playing Words With Friends,



and taking pictures.



The interior.


A field of cotton.


I love seeing the Red, White, and Blue along the side of the highway.


I had the sun visor down and Gary said he hoped I was enjoying the mirror since it was a $2 option back in '69!



And then, oh no! Something didn't sound right. We pulled over, Gary investigated, and found the water pump had let go. It's not a major breakdown and he could fix it himself but finding a water pump is the problem. We called AAA and they towed it to a Chevy dealership. Their service department was closed, though, so we knew we were going to be stuck here for a bit.



Since we were planning on buying a car for me when we got to Florida, we looked at the used ones they had and I found one I liked so I bought it....Thanks, Mom! I had a little money from her estate and decided to put it to good use. It's a 2011 Toyota Camry. 26,000 miles. The color is metallic aloe.

There was a Best Western right next to the dealership so we booked a room.

Gary spent the evening online looking for a water pump and located one in Ocala, Florida. So, we drove down there today and picked it up. Hopefully, the service guys at the dealership will have time to replace it tomorrow and we'll be able to continue on our way.



Can't tell you how much I'm missing this little apple-picking monkey!

Update

We made it to Athens, GA today. we decided to diverge from our GPS's recommended route and take 26 instead of I85. On the map it looked nice and straight. Haha. It was quite rural but very scenic with luxurious motels,



beautiful homes,



and thriving businesses!




It was nice to get off the turnpike, though!

One more day of travel should do it!