Happy Birthday Dot!!

We celebrated Dot's birthday today! She's such a delight.
Here she is with her four brothers:
New popover pans from G&G K & us. We are all looking forward to her trying them out!Her special cake. She had a dream, and I helped it become reality. It has alot of her on the cake. The blue dragon is Saphria from "Eragon", there is a red book with an "I" on it - stands for Inkheart and imagination, the winged horse Flinn - from a fantasy she is writing (not made from Fondant), her special chain from her trip to Mexico, a mermaid - she is writing a book that has mermaids in it, a red scarf from Padme and Rahab, a small dragon charm on the top of the cake, a golden ring from the ring in "Lord of the Rings", Lucy's vial from "Narnia", a kitty which stands for Aslan, a mouse which is Reepicheep from "Narnia", the candle is for the beacon of Gondor, her Chinese ring (on the back of the cake) a brown book that is one of her many journals, a sword for Peter, and flowers which stand for each member of her friends and family who are beautiful apart and beautiful together. If she explained it, it would be a whole lot more complicated, and have more meaning to the symbols - but ya get the drift. :-)
It was a project! But, she was worth it! :-) Love ya, Sugar, Mom :-)

September Karaoke

Last night the crew went to Karaoke at church. They had a blast. I went for a little while, just enough to take a few pictures. :-)
We sure appreciate all the work they do to put on such a fun time!!

Darling's First Ponytail

She's so sweet!! :-)

Sailing with Uncle John!!

This past Thursday, we headed up North for a fun visit with my brother, John. We got a chance to view his workplace. This is John's corner of the busy office. Here he designs and works on projects.

The center of the busy office: They were resurfacing the front deck (out the windows) so the furniture and prototypes they've made were set inside. They chairs are made from recycled milk cartons. Very cool.
Enjoying the view from the front deck:


Then we headed down to the docks to go sailing! First we ate lunch under the trees in the parking lot. Then, refortified, we headed walked over to the marina.
This was parked next to all the sailboats: The kids were in awe of its size.

Unloading the spinnert sail:
Here are all the sailboats lined up in the marina:

Pardon the order, this is John's workplace. I couldn't get it in the right place.Directions before boarding:
Helping unstrap the mail sail:

Checking out the cabin below deck:The last rope to untie:And we are off!

Going under the lift bridge for the marina:
A great ship heads out to the Great Lake before we do:

Sailing, sailing!!
The lakeshore view:


The great lake awaits:

Life on deck:

Colorful sail!

Dime cools his feet:

Drum is feeling the water off the front deck.

Our climber finds something new to explore:

Moving about aboard the sailboat:

Something else to climb - the mast!

Mastering the feel of the ropes:

So pretty and blue:

A still lake. The breeze died down.

Having to bring in the sail, because of the lack of breeze:

Dime takes a dip! Brrrrr! Of course, he said the water was just fine.

So beautiful!

Pointing out sights along the shore:

Yep, I was on there too.

Thumbs up for a great ride!

Trolling for ?

A big Barge entered the area. They beat us back to harbor.

Mighty Dot hold the ship in her hand:

Checking out the wind arrow at the top of the mast:

Fine homes along the shore:
The barge travels under the lift:

A great day!!
Hosing down the deck:
Goodbye, Straw Man!! Hope we get to ride you again!!
We finished the day with pizza, and then headed on our trip home.
Thanks again, John, for the fantastic day!!