Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Recent Projects

We have been busy recently with small projects. Here are a few of the things we are working on.
John is putting a new deck on the raft trailer. He is also going to repaint it.
While he has been out int he garage working on the trailer, I have been inside making a fort for Odin. A few weeks ago his 2nd hand ikea bed broke for the last time. Sadly we were not able (or willing in John's case) to revive it, again. So we looked around for a new bed, and craigslist was smiling upon us because we found a great deal on a loft bed. Now Odin has a bed nearly on the ceiling, and a cool fort underneath. He still falls asleep on the floor, but most nights he climbs into bed after John and I go to sleep. He likes to wake up "upstairs".

Odin helped me design, pick out fabrics, measure, cut and a tiny bit of sewing. I would like to put windows on the green panel to let in more light, as per the plan, but for now this is it. He calls the color scheme ketchup, mustard and relish.

I also spent a few hours taking my printer apart ( I had to remove 12 screws) cleaning the waste ink absorbers and putting it all back together. It would have stopped working had I not cleaned the pads and reset the counter. Thankfully the internet is full of people that like to figure things out and post videos on how to do it. I found a video addressing my specific need for my printer model. I watched it three times.

And yes the printer does still work, thank you for asking.



Monday, April 23, 2012

Breaking the mold

The past few years for Easter we have been making our own egg dyes. This year Odin spotted a kit at the store and wanted to check it out.



John had fun taking silly eggs to work all week. He even took one skiing.

Monday, April 9, 2012

It's the little things

One of the most amazing and unexpected parts of our trip was how excited the crew on the yacht was to see, help, entertain and play around with Odin. It was spectacular. He made friends with the entire dining room staff and had most of them making chicken wings when they saw him. One of the guys at the bar made some of the most outrageous drinks for him every day. One day he used three cherries and three straws!
Our cabin steward on the second night made a pig out of towels. Then each night we had a new animal waiting for us. Somehow we missed taking a picture of the manta ray.

Pig
elephant
dragonfly
gorilla
The small touches made a great experience even more memorable.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Shore time


Our daily activities on the cruise were varied and we all chose our own directions. My dad and I went scuba diving in St. Luica, and had a great time. I decided to go again in Dominica even thought it meant I was going without him (he had other plans).
John and Odin went on a snorkeling adventure in Dominica.


 
 
The three of us went on a zipline tour in Antigua with Louise! It was a blast. Smiles all around.





There was also lots of exploring on our own going to the beach, hiking around, there was no lack of things to do.  One day when we went to the beach and did a bit of snorkeling I saw some reef squid! So exciting!
On the way into port. We took anchored at port and took a tender to the dock.
This is where John and I saw the reef squid!
Aptly named Shell Beach, it was also great for beach glass.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Details




The lovely thing about going on a cruise with a group of people is that people can easily pursue their own interests while everyone still spends time together. Early on we fell into a very nice routine. Our day looked like this: we'd meet for breakfast then we would all go off and do, such as ship sponsored shore excursions or just swimming off the platform at the stern. At breakfast we would discuss lunch times, or there was a sandwich counter for a less formal lunch. This is the option I chose most days. Afternoon was free time again. Around four or five in the evening we would shower and change and go up to the aft deck for a before dinner drink, to watch the sunset, and also watch departure to the next port.  Then on to dinner immediately followed by bedtime for Odin and sometimes others!

Odin was a champ through all of this. A couple of nights he stayed in the room watching a movie and just resting. But mostly he was with us, enjoying outrageous beverages (one night he had three cherries and three straws!).

Our hangout spot was just above the pool deck.


 


Swimming / watersports platform.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Vacation!

Night spent on two planes
We scarcely slept at all
When will we be there?

My dad retired in style last week, we all celebrated with him on a cruise!
 
Hours spent in the sea
Swimming, Diving, looking at fish
When do we get to come back?