4-5-6 pick up sticks

it took a while to continue the previous post, but here we are.  We have been blessed beyond measure, but our greatest blessings remain our family.  We have watched our children grow and learn, and accept the responsibilities for their own lives.

The places we visit, mean more becuase of the ones we share the experience with.

The short span of a lifetime shows us the marvels and miracles of life,

Birth

Death

and creation. 

Each of our experiences brings great appreciation for God's goodness, his Plan of Happiness, and his love towards each one of His children.

Easy as 1 - 2 - 3

From time to time, I receive comments about our travels.  Sometimes folks are envious of our vacations.  I think I need to explain a few things. Although we do indeed get around, and across the waters frequently, we live by a few rules and guidelines.  I will try to share the background and the guidelines. 

#1  We did not really travel until our 25th anniversary.  We did take a few vacations to Disneyland during the 1990s, but we usually stayed with family and were able to travel cheaply.  Mostly, tried to follow the counsel of the Apostles, and to get out of debt.  Once we were able to pay off all debts, we felt more free to use our resources to see the world.

#2 One night, as we approached our 25th anniversary, I could not sleep.  I was searching the Internet for ideas for places to go.  We did not go on a honeymoon when we were sealed, and it seemed appropriate that we find a place to celebrate 25 years of faithful marriage.
The next morning, I told Kayleen we were going to Kauai for 5 days.  She said OKAY. We stayed at the Sheraton on the southern tip of Kauai, we saw whales, kayaked the rivers, and snorkeled in the ocean for the first time. 

We have and will see places around the world.  But far more important than experiencing new cultures and far-flung places, are our children and grandchildren.  We try to walk a fine line of being involved, without intruding.  We are proud of each one of our children.  We love all our grandchildren.  Each is different, each has unique talents and gifts.  Each carries the divine spark as an Deity's offspring, with the capacity for exaltation and eternal life.

Much of our travel effort and budget is focused on ways to build memories for our children and grandchildren.

 The trap is to make sure that the travel is not the focus, but to keep the memories as the focus.

At times we have had to bypass seeing things we wanted to see or experience, because the needs of the family took precedence.  Oftentimes, we have been fortunate to go back and have the experience, but we have also given up many for good.

 #3 The travel takes planning.   We are usually looking out 1-2 years for opportunities.  For example, the cruise we experienced in April 2012, we had planned for over 18 months.  Because of scheduling and promptings, we changed the dates twice, but the plans did come to fruition.

 We once had a trip planned to the Bahamas.  We had been working towards this for almost a year, when the spirit prompted that we cancel.  I felt bad, but followed the prompting.  We canceled the trip.  During the time we would have been at Atlantis, my mother passed away.  We plan, but we always try to keep options open and to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

  (To be Continued)

June 9th

Big day for us.  We started out by attending Peter and Ben's T-ball Game. Peter started off with an infield single.

 Ben followed by a swinging bunt single.

 After the game, we waited for team photos.

 That night we attended my 40th High School reunion. I saw a lot of old faces, emphasis on the old.

 Sunday morning, we went to church with Tim, Tiffany, and their family.  Tim welcomed Sierra into mortality by giving her the Name and Blessing ordinance

 I did catch Hunter sneeking into the team snacks for the t-ball game.

Three Day weekend

What do I do on a three day weekend? I don't usually do a whole lot.  This weekend I:

Worked on a painting (no, its not done yet)

Went for a walk with my sweetheart.  I delight in watching her take pictures of each little flower along the way.  On this walk, there weren/t too many, but in Hawaii ...

On the walk we saw a tough looking guy, at least until we looked at his dog...

The lush river of re-claimed water

We also skyped with our new granddaughter Sierra. She mostly slept.  I also registered for my 40th Highschool Reunion, and made some preliminary vacations plans for 2013. 

I also spoke at a single adult fire-side on the Miracles of the Savior.

Not much - but it was very relaxing.

The Fire Guy

I have told a few of you that the boat caught on fire, but that we were okay.  I suppose that I should fill you in on the whole story, at least as much as I know, and from my perspective. 
We signed up for dinner with different peoples and different times so that we could meet new people from around the world. After the second couple, we took a couple of nights off and just ate at a table by ourselves. 

I digress

Friday evening we were sanding in line for dinner.  Suddenly, the ship started to shudder and shake. About 8-10 seconds later, the engines started again and off we went.  Then the emergency signals started to go off, asking for certain crews to report to certain emergency areas.  We found out later that the cooks immediately wiped their hands, and marched out of the kitchen.  The emergency signal was sounded three times, about two minutes apart.

We then got an announcement from Captain Jonny - the Norwegian guy who drove the boat.  He said that there had been a report of a fire in engine room # 1, so they had shut down engine room # 1 and had switched all the controls to Engine room # 2.  All engines were functioning properly but there was an investigation going on in the engine room.  Over the next 20 minutes, the fire doors were all closed and the ship started going backwards.  We got a few more announcements from the Captain and some other officers, explaining that we there had in fact been a fire, but that it was now out.  The crew were all asked to avoid deck 2  so that the appropriate people could finish their investigation. 

During all this time, Kayleen and I were most impressed by the professional behavior of all the crew and officers.  The people who didn't need to be on deck 2 were level headed and trained in what do do, what to say, and how to act.  Some of the passengers did freak out, but Kayleen and I knew that there was nothing we could do to change the situation.  As we were eating, the cooks all came marching back into the dining room to rounds of applause. 

Seriously, the food was awesome, but I digress again.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful.  We talked about the peace that comes in knowing that should this be the end, we are unafraid to meet our Savior.  It was a profound experience in several ways.  We were thankful that it wasn't worse.  We were fully on the sidelines - no control or influence in any fashion - except to negatively impact the attitudes of the other passengers.  It was good for us to recognize and talk about a time - in the future - when we really will go Home.  It strengthens my resolve to try to do better, but to remain unafraid of what the next life will bring.

Days 4, 5, 6, and 7

A few Postcard quality pictures from St. Thomas

Rocky Coast of the Caribbean Islands

Harbour on the Dutch side of St. Maarten

This just reminded me of a beer commercial.  Still, the sun was hot, the water was amazing and many of the people, including me, looked like beached whales.

This is a kind of weird barrel cactus on St. Maarten.  This was on the French side of the island.  Each barrel looks like it has a small saquaro cactus on type.

The smart natives and tourists were in a sail boat.

Caribbean sunset

The pool on the ship on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  It was hard to find a place to sit, stand or layout.

This is the park in the middle of the ship.  The video below shows Kayleen coming overtowards me on the zip line.  This is just about the take-off perspective for the zip line.

And this is Kayleen on a Zip Line.  I did follow, but its hard to run the video while holding on for dear life.

Day 2 / Day 3

Tuesday we sailed from Bahamas to St. Thomas.  We were at sea all day.  We sat by the pool, relaxed, napped, ate, relaxed, sat by the pool, and ate, not necessarilly in that order. The cruise line has the Dreamworks Characters appear from time to time on the boat, so we got some pictures with the folks from Madagascar.

I couldn't get this guy, whatever his name, to turn around so that I could get his face.

On Wednesday, we were in beautiful St. Thomas.  On the way in, we saw some seabirds that were flying by the ship, and then would suddenly dive down 10 or 15 feet into the ocean, and come up with a fish. 

We boarded a "Pirate Ship" and sailed out to Turtle Cove.  The snorkeling was completely different than snorkeling in Hawaii. 

The crew were a little crazy.  On the way back, they tried real hard to give as much rum as possible to the passengers.  Kayleen and I declined.

The water was warmer and clearer, the coral was different, and the fish were smaller. We got some pictures of a Manta-ray, some small turtles, and some different kind of fishes. 

 St Thomas was a very friendly island.  Of the three we visited, this would be the one I would like to go back to to see more of the sights.