Name That Bird

This will be a really different journey for you all. I am going to go
backwards on my reports. So this is the day before Costa Rica. Hope
you can follow me! This is the bird that followed our boat. We were
out to sea all day, no land in sight. The sea was pretty calm, but
still hot and humid. We managed to stay busy all day, mostly eating,
going from the buffet to the aqua deck, then to the restaurant. Todd
spent half the day photographing the bird. So we have quite a few nice
pictures of the bird. The exciting part of the day was being invited as
special guests of the Captain to come up and visit the bridge. No
cameras were allowed because of security. So Todd had withdrawl
symptoms, walking up there without his camera! It was very interesting,
but the thing that kept me entertained, was watching the beautiful birds
drafting off the bridge, just floating along, catching the drafts. They
would glide right next to the windows, so we got very "up close and
personal" with the birds! Also, I was amazed by the steering wheel of
the ship...it is no larger than a dinner plate! No wonder they don't let
many people up there to see! We still don't know why we got special
invitations... no one else in our group of 7 got invited!! There were
about 20 in the tour, so we felt pretty special!
I hope someone out there can name this bird! Even the first Mate didn't
know.

Costa Rica...heading home

We are now in the Pacific,and we stopped for the day in Costa Rica.
Since we have had zero internet access,
I haven't been able to blog. I'll do the rest when we get home, I guess.
Here is where we went swimming today . The last time we came south on a cruise, I had the time of my life swimming with dolphins. But this time we got the Bargain Excursion to
the nearest beach. There was one problem...well, FIVE big problems!
This is not the best way to lose all that weight we have been packing on
in the dining room this past week.
As you can see, we made it back to post this blog.

The Three Barbaras

Barbara Louise, Barbara Jean and Barbara Elizabeth (my beautiful niece)


Today my Aunt Barbara passed away suddenly. I will really miss her. I didn't see her very often because she lived in Southern California, but it was always comforting just knowing she was there. I loved calling her and saying, "Hi, Barbara, this is Barbara!". Then she'd laugh and say, "I know that is you". Just a little family tradition we had. The last time I talked with her, a few weeks ago, she was happy and healthy, walking daily and playing Bingo at her retirement home.
She will be in Heaven and meeting up with Al, her husband whom she missed so much after he passed away. I'm glad she believed in God. She was my mom's younger sister and our last close blood relative of that generation. We still have our Aunt Ruth, tho', who was married to my mom's "big brother". I'll be sure to keep in contact with her.

The Races

Linda, my godsister, treated me to a weekend at the Breeders' Cup races at Santa Anita.
We had a teriffic time! We got to see history made as Zanyatta, a 5 year old filly, beat a field of very famous colts in the Classic. She will retire now, I think, having won 14 out of 14 races!
Very exciting. She was so beautiful and had such personality. She is really a big girl, in fact, bigger than all the boys in the race. She is 17.25 hands tall. She does a little "dance" before her race, which makes people wonder if something is wrong with her. Then she is the last one out of the gate and most of the time runs dead last before she makes her move. I guess that tactic has worked, as she has never lost a race. Her jockey is Mike Smith.

Three of my favorites at the Breeders' Cup.

You can view some other pictures of a couple of the races on my Flickr site.

An Adorable Ballerina

Here is Kiera. She is a little doll. She is one year old and is as smart as can be. We are almost related to her because we photographed both her parents as Seniors in High School, and then photographed their wedding, so that makes us "almost" family! She was so much fun to chase around the studio. She makes the cutest little squeak when she is excited about something. Bethany and Jason are amazing parents. They are definitely bringing her up the right way.
I think she is going to be an athlete because she is so coordinated already. But right now, she is a perfect little model. It is going to be so much fun to watch her grow.

The Cutest Little Doctor

This is Hunter's second Halloween...well, it is actually his third! He was a tiny baby for Halloween #1. Then last year he was Superman. So, as you can see, there is a new Doogie Howzer in town!
Just look at him in his little scrubs. He is so adorable. He had a wonderful time celebrating by hosting the UCD golf team for a spaghetti dinner on Halloween night.




Kelly sure makes good spaghetti. No one needed medical treatment, so Hunter tossed his stethoscope away.

Danny and Vibeka

We visited Danny and Vibeka last week. We took them their Graphi wedding book. I think it really looked beautiful. We had good subjects! We wanted to deliver it to them because I wanted to meet their new puppy, Harley. She is about 6 months old and is a Bull Mastiff. She is a doll... a very BIG doll! Here are some shots Todd took.

The many faces of Harley.

The beautiful Cali

The whole family.

You can see what Harley thinks about family portrait time!