Big day :)

This beautiful Friday morning, we were greeted by a phone call from Dave &
Diane, inviting us to take a walk on the Seven Mile Bridge.  Since we have
been here over two weeks already, and have yet to do that, we jumped at the
chance...boat projects can wait a few more hours :) 

Okay, kids, there are two species of waterfowl in this picture- can
you identify what they are?!  I'll be checking your answers!

Paps joined us, too-  he's all smiles here as we're just getting started, lol!

Pelican, just chillin' under the bridge.

Okay, kids,  here's another one....what are these guys?  I'll give you a hint-
they don't have oil in their feathers like ducks do, so often times you
will see them perched on a post or piling with their wings spread wide
trying to dry them in the breeze.

These were two very nice Mennonite or German Baptist couples
 from  Indiana and Kansas.  They are on a two week vacation.
The woman from Indiana (in green) explained that they took
their friends on this trip as the gentleman from Kansas has
 Lou Gehrig's disease.  I was suprised to see him walking so well...
it's likely to be his last trip as his speech is now very effected. 
It's good to have good friends like that- God bless them.

After our 2.5 mile walk (I was stepping on the curb and
sprinted a bit- I'm in New Year's training :) we headed
back to the boat to grab our canvas to take to the shop.
Zippers need replaced on the mainsail cover and wheel
cover.  I love seeing our mast sticking up in the air-
makes me smile everytime  ;P

We grabbed lunch on the run as at 1:00pm, it was Dave and Jean's BIG DAY!
We bought Jean a helicopter ride for her 80th birthday, and Diane got
Dave a ride, too, for Christmas.  Jacob was the pilot- such a cutie pie...

Mamaw is hugging up to Jacob so she can ride shotgun!

Whatever you do, don't pull the yellow tab unless
we hit the water!

Now how am I supposed to climb up in this thing?
Oh Lordy, you mean to tell me he took off the doors?!

Dave graciously took a seat in back...she looks pretty excited, don't you think?!

SAFETY CHECK!

Get your headset on, so we can talk about what we see...

We have lift off!

There they go!!!

Do you think we should have told them its Friday the 13th?!

Safely back on land :)

I'm pretty certain they had a good time!

We dropped in on Danny at work on our way back to the boat.  Half the
day is gone...its good to see somebody's working :P

First project was to tear up the sea berth to get at the
wiring for the wind generator.  I fed the wires down
to Cap'n from the cockpit. One job done.

Willis just tried to stay out of the way in all of the
mess...he didn't need any more trouble with Mom & Dad.

 In the end...it was not the most productive of days.  Donnie managed to sort through all of the dive gear, and got a bag of unused stuff stored in the 'garage' (our car top carrier).  I got the sea berth cushions covered, and all of our gear, life vests, Willis' carrier, and such stowed away all nice and neat, and ready for passage when the time comes.  I continued to clean down below, did laundry, took care of correspondence, etc.  Donnie got a little sidelined by Danny when he got home from work.  Max and Mandy joined in, and soon they were all spinning yarns and telling tall tales.  We ordered pizzas, then called it a night :)  After the hard work of the last two days, Cap'n deserved an easier day- he is retired, afterall.

It was 78 and beautiful here today...hard to believe it is cold, blowing snow, and down around zero with the wind chill at home.  The wind turned out of the north late this afternoon, though.  We are expected to only reach the upper 60's over the weekend.  I know....WE SUCK!