What I read in August 2016

I might be back on track...or not...

1.  The Shadow of the Moon (Susan Beth Pfeffer)--The 4th book in the series about the moon being knocked out of orbit.  This one follows another "secondary" character.  The main characters from books 1 and 2 (who were the main characters together in 3) are in the story, but are on the edges.  We find out what happens, but the story loses some of its momentum because the reader almost has to start over.  I've heard a rumor there will be a 5th book, I'll read it if there is, but this one won't make my top 10...
2. The Fifth Wave (Rick Yancy)--There are 3 books in this series and I read all three this month.  I really enjoyed the first, the 2nd was ok...I hoped the third would be awesome...it was ok.  A good post-apocalyptic read...but not top 10 material..
3.  The Infinite Sea (Rick Yancy)
4.  Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (JK Rowling and all)--Meh.  Glad I read it, but didn't hold up to the "real" HP books.  The characters don't behave as I expected they would.  Harry constantly doubts his parenting skills (and perhaps he should).  Oh, and there is time travel.  Meh.
5.  The Last Star (Rick Yancy)
6.  The Fold (Peter Clines)--Same author as "14"--good book, ending was almost the same..which I can't tell you about without spoiling both books.  Interesting read, definitely science fiction. If you love science fiction, you'll probably love it...
7. The Love Letters (Beverly Lewis)--Typical Beverly Lewis.  Entertaining, quick read...Amish girl has problem, problems get worked out, she gets married...its all good.
8.  The Last American Vampire (Seth Grahame Smith)--A sequel to Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer..enough said...if you enjoyed the first book, this is a good sequel.  If you thought it was dumb, don't bother.  What I like about both books is the author's (successful) efforts to imagine what someone from another point in history would think of American events.  The vampires and vampire hunters are a bit over the top at times, but the writing is good--entertaining and funny at times, horrifying at others.
9. The Forgotten Room (Whie, Wiliams, and Willig)--I kept expecting it to be science fiction (maybe because of all the sci fi I read earlier?) and it wasn't--it was a classic "three generations" story---stories of the mom, grandma, and "current" young woman tied together by their (not sci fi) connection to a house.  Good read.

So maybe no top ten this month.  Hmm.  I need to find another good series...

Day 11 Seattle to Denver to HOME

My folks left very early, so we didn't see them Sunday morning.  We had a good breakfast at the hotel restaurant--

Then headed to the airport and  back to Denver.  After a day of absolutely no adventures outside of the ordinary (Our car was right where we left it, the dogs were waiting for us patiently...)

We were HOME...
This, by the way, is what a week's worth of vacation laundry looks like on the laundry room floor!



It was a great trip--we are thankful we had the chance to go and to celebrate my folks 50th anniversary with them.  It is nice to be home though!

Time Flies

Today is the fifteenth anniversary of The Girls baptism.  It has always been a day of mixed emotions - while I remember Sept 9, 2001 fondly, I will always tie it  to September 11, 2001.
I will be forever thankful that our family who came for the baptism flew home on September 9 or (were scheduled for) September 12, no one was in the air on September 11.  I remember my new mom expectations, that we would light her baptismal candle every year  (we've done it maybe once).

Sept 9, 2001 was a beautiful, sunny day--very much like September 11--the beauty of September days just can't be matched. We took a lot of pictures on Mr. IM's uncle's deck.  We stuffed The Girl into a hundred year old baptismal gown and her great grandparents, her grandma, Mr. IM's aunt and uncle, and my brother held her for many photo opportunities.  Those are still some of my favorite photos-even though the quality isn't fantastic-but because the looks on the great grandparents faces are so wonderful (The Girl was the first great-grandchild). I have absolutely no memory of September 10--I assume I did new mom things--picked up the house a little, napped, took care of The Girl....

September 11 is tied up in a mixture of horror and hope.  I've told the story before, but I was home, still on maternity leave, planning to have lunch with Mr. IM and his grandparents, when the horror started.  My reaction, as a new mom, and I guess as a human, was to grab my child and want to hunker down at home.  I called Mr. IM's grandma and expressed that wish and was  told something like, "I went out to lunch on December 7, 1941 and we're going out to lunch today...get dressed, lets go".  I will always have that idea of "we will get through this" tied to September 11 as well--and I am always thankful to Grandma M for "making" me go out to lunch. (That was also the day she taught me about which bathroom stalls to use, but that is a story for another day)

So on this, another September 9, I choose to remember the beauty and the hope.

Day 10 Seattle, again

Saturday morning dawned with us already docked, but not allowed to leave the boat yet.  We had some breakfast and finished packing up.

There were lots of hugs and then we headed off to the hotel with my parents while my brother's family headed for the airport.

About this time I tried to post "Back in Seattle" to Facebook.  I must not have had very good service, because it has "retried" about every 24 hours since I first attempted....And it shows up as a new post, as if I am currently in Seattle.  Grr. 

Back at the hotel--our view this time was of the "forest" near the lake.

We all couldn't get over how big our hotel room felt!  My folks headed off for the afternoon, and even though we hadn't planned on it, we called Mr IM's family to see if they were free.  They were, and came over for a couple hours to try out the pool and hang out.

After a swim and a couple stories, they headed off

Mr. Ranch had a short nap...we met my folks for dinner and then all fell asleep for one last travel day!

Day 9 Victoria

Ok, I'll apologize now--this is a long, photo heavy post--but Victoria was so lovely!  I also won't promise that the photos are in order, but at this point I'm not sure I can successfully re-order them, so I'll just do the travel-log thing...And there were just too many gorgeous photos to leave out any more than I already did...
We started the morning on the boat, noticing that we were headed towards land and it wasn't raining (whoo-hoo!)  We actually landed in Victoria mid-day and were due back on ship at 9pm, I believe, so we had a nice stretch of daylight time when shops, etc. were open.
We originally planned to do some geocaching, and although we had cell phone service, we were having some trouble with the GPS being accurate enough to get us where we needed to be. We ended up following a walking trail along the ocean, then cutting into town to visit the public garden and see some sights. We declined the trip to Butchart Gardens, and instead visited the city public park and the grounds of Empress Hotel--see photos below!

An out of order photo of almost the whole group one night at dinner.

Coming into port--we think this could be Mt. Ranier, but we were so confused because it is a different angle than we've ever seen before.

The breakwater around the Harbor

A walk along the beach--there was a paved path above the beach and fun things to explore on the beach.

Some photo ops...

Along the public walking trail

First discovery at the public park was this fantastic water feature--it was hot, we enjoyed taking a short break and playing with the local little children for a few minutes.
















The public park was incredible--these photos don't capture how gorgeous it was--we had to take a few photos!

Beautiful fountain with pond and water lillies...


















Look at the color of those flowers--really--just beautiful!


























We did briefly stop and observe a "Canadian playground" (not pictured...looks just like an American playground)

And read some signage about nesting birds and history of the park (it used to have a zoo...now just has a petting zoo). We took a few photos as we left the park and headed out for our next adventure...

Outside the Royal BC Museum--it closed at 5, but the grounds were open and fun to explore























We then headed towards the government building area and the Empress Hotel













Before having some delicious dinner at the (locally?) famous (and recommended by the nice young man at the Visitor's Center--Red Fish Blue Fish!  Dinner on the dock--lovely!

All the seating is outside and the kitchen is in a shipping container (with plants growing on the roof!

This is for the Boy--"3 Hour Sail.com"...he's a big Gilligan's Island fan and thought this was hilarious...

We walked back along a different public path along the water (other side of the harbor)--equally beautiful and different sights!

Sooooo pretty....



This "yard" was so incredible--my photo doesn't do it justice--lillies, a pond, really awesome...

Our ship was gigantic...but that is it, dwarfed by Princess and Holland America--wow!

Back to the breakwater..

These are from back on the boat in the late evening--a sign on the Carnival Cruise Ship docked next to us--stating "Security Warning:  Stay 15 feet back"...um, who exactly is five stories high closer than 15 feet to the ship?

And, overheard, a teenage girl (not ours) stating, "Oh!  Look at all those penguins!"  (Ummm...those are seagulls...)

Lights of Victoria as we left--Goodbye Victoria---wonderful day!