Playing Catch Up

Here are a few more photos of our recent cruise. We really enjoyed this cruise through the Panama Canal. We found we like the cruises catering to the older clients rather than the party/binge type of cruises often catered to the younger crowds. I was able to attend educational lectures almost every day on topics from history to geography and astronomy. The port visits and excursions were also less crowded, as many of the cruisers were less inclined to the venture far from the cruise ship. We were the 2nd youngest couple on the cruise and really enjoyed actually carrying on conversations at meal times and with people we met. The "older" cruisers are much easier to talk to, and have the best stories to tell. The only down-side: You gotta wake up REALLY EARLY to beat the hard core walkers on the track deck. 

  

This is Panama City at sunrise as we enter the canal.

The Panama LDS Temple as seen from the canal.

 Literally 6 inches on each side to spare. They call the maximum boat size "Pana-Max", anything larger must go around Cape Horn, a 7,872 mile trip.

 This year marks 100 years the canal has been in operation. It truly is a remarkable piece of history and human engineering.    

 Since being back I have been working on a few building projects of my own. This is the Girl's room. We call them Wardrobe walls in lieu of typical closets. I am trying to teach this kids about organization and cleanliness. Unfortunately Mommy is the real force behind keeping their rooms clean.   

 Here is the Boy's room.

 Mommy wanted a wall to wall, floor to ceiling book shelf/case. Here is what I pieced together. Stills needs crown molding.... We thought we had more books until we pulled them out of the boxes in the basement and put them on the shelves.  

 Funny Cruise Photo.

 Update on the chickens.... We are drowning in eggs. We lost one chicken to a prolapse egg. 18 hens left now. Today we got 17 eggs, averaging about 16 eggs a day. I personally eat about 6 eggs every morning (I know I will need to get my cholesterol checked soon) and we still can't keep up. We have been giving away a bunch of eggs. Our scheme is to get some friends and family addicted to fresh eggs, so we can sell our excess to pay for some of the feed. :)    

L. recently had her birthday. She wanted a "Mini Mouse" birthday. So I spoiled her with a hand-tied fleece Mini Mouse Blanket, fingers are still sore from all those knots. She loves to sing and read, often putting herself to sleep pretending to read books.

 

That's all I have for now. I promise to try and update more frequently. Mommy recently lucked out with Daddy getting a new work schedule that might just turn Daddy into a normal daytime person again. It will be quite an adjustment since Daddy has grown to fear the daylight. This will be the first time in over 8 years Daddy will also have certain days of the week off. No more sleeping through church or sneaking into Church in the back row wearing funny clothes and getting dirty looks by those I have met outside of church while wearing those funny clothes.

If you can't tell, we are excited for the change.