my little man

I don't dream of Boaz very often, maybe four times so far.

The other night I did.

I was putting him to bed. 

I helped him onto the top bunk 

(where he loved to climb up and play, but I never let him sleep),

*Like this*

 I got him his blanket, turtle, and pillow.

As he lay down looking so sweet, 

actually he usually looked mischievous until he was asleep!

I realized that he'd tried to hide some toys in the bed, 

typical Boaz, a few matchbox cars, that sort of thing.

The turtle HAD to be upside down.

(I always like looking at them when they're sleeping.)

And then he lay down.

It was such a common thing,

that it was very real.

A few minutes later my alarm really did go off,
in my mind Boaz was sleeping
so I jumped quickly to turn off the alarm.
It didn't take me but a few more seconds
to realize that the alarm would not be waking my Boaz.
He sleeps no more.................

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon,
to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, 
and the Lamb is the light thereof.
And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day:
for there shall be no night there.
Revelation 21:23, 25
 

?good night?

Well, this isn't exactly what I call sleeping 

but then again, I'm not nine. 

Notice the mag-lite on the bed

beside his pillow?

Can you guess his favorite team?

fun with the family

Every once in a while we just take the day

and have fun!!!

  a little wish shopping..........

what boys do while girls shop....

romping in the warm water

trying out their new snorkels and masks

(I really like it when they have their own money)

or maybe just carry water 

around in the flippers???

the thrill of diving into the waves

those masks must be the new cool thing

cause they like walking around with 'em on

is it me, or is he getting rather big?

of course, part of why we went was for

my sunset pictures

The heavens declare the glory of God;

and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Psalms 19:1

s'mores for a snack, yummmmmmm

space shuttle launch

On our last day sailing we were up on the deck

when the captain made an announcement.

The space shuttle was taking off

from Cape Canaveral, FL.

It was a bit away. 

We were able to see it take off, 

see the smoke and the flame.

It all only took a few minutes. 

Then all that was left was the smoke. 

It was pretty neat. 

The last time I remember seeing a take-off

was when I was in elementary school.

We had a good time on the water slides Friday.

This one was four or five stories high,

and went out over the side of the ship.

It was really hot and the slides were cool.

These racer slides were for the very little ones.

Here's the adult racer slides. 

They were, of course, fast, wet, FUN.

Nick won most of the time, 

I don't know why.

  Watching the sunset the last night.

I love taking a picture every few minutes, 

it's amazing how fast the sun sinks.

*Beautiful*

*****

 

***

This ship appeared 

before the sun could 

finish sinking.

I know it wasn't going fast,

but it seemed like it.

 And then it was gone. 

The ship and the sun.

 ******

snorkeling

We were on the water all day Tuesday.

We were headed for Key West.

It was hard to believe how blue the water was. 

Closer inland, in the Gulf where we live

it seems darker.

We were off the boat pretty early, 

before many people were up, 

(including the bums who sleep on the beach).

We did a little looking around,

visiting the southern most point 

(90 miles from Cuba),

and the southern most everything else too. 

We sat on the beach and read and talked.

There was this guy,

totally spray painted silver, like a statue, 

though the  crates kinda give it away.

And he would stand there perfectly still, 

his flag waving in the wind,

until someone would get close to him

trying to figure out what "it" was,

then he'd jump at them and hollar,

"what'cha lookin' at"?

And they would always jump, or scream, or both.

Beautiful water, and even white sand.

The next day we sailed into the Bahamas.

The water was beautifully clear.

The driving was a bit like Mexico or the Congo,

except the vehicles were nicer.

People were everywhere selling things.

They blow these conch shells and it sounds like a fog horn!

When I was younger we would sometimes 

find these at our beaches.

In this water, off Paradise Island

we went kayaking, "ya mon".

Our kayak was clear so we could 

see down into the water, "ya mon".

Then we went snorkeling.

I've never been snorkeling, 

but I learned quickly how to do it!

And they ended everything they said with, "ya mon".

It was great. I love the water.

Seeing all those colorful fish was fun.

Their colors were astounding.

On the boat we bought fish food, 

which the fish readily recognized.

I would feed them just enough to get lots around,

then watch and take a few pictures.

Then spit out the snorkel and dive down 

to be in the middle of them.

I never knew 27 pics could be taken so quickly.

The snorkeling was definitely top on my list.

I enjoyed the boat ride out and back too.

We enjoyed meeting the other people also.

We got back aboard the ship in time to

watch the sunset from the deck, 

which was beautiful again.