Tuesday, October 13, 2015

catching up again but with cool Super Moon/Blood moon pictures

this is from the last few weeks.  none of these pictures are mine- we had clouds and my pictures showed the moon full until almost the total eclipse.  But it was cool.  I kept Rocket man up to watch the eclipse.  we never saw the moon red though - that happened behind the clouds.

 
I was excited to see this because the last one occurred while I was in high school and I missed it even though I tried to see it.
 
Love and hugs,
Deb

school picture and I promise to update with our activites from the last month

 Rocket Man's latest school picture arrived last night (of course, I had to ask for it today after seeing all his friends' pictures being posted on Facebook by their parents).  He looks so grown up.  Where did my baby go??????
We got to see replicas of the Nina and Pinta in September.  We took Rocket's friend from school.  Apparently, I forgot I posted these last month.  I am loosing my mind.

Hehe, I got a picture with his eyes closed.

 
The boys, the boat and the Big Mac bridge.  Lots of B's.
 
Rocket man has had soccer games each weekend and once during the week.  His team has done so well, they will be in a playoff on Halloween to see if they go into the year end tournament.  Apparently, at 10 years old, the boys are not supposed to be excited about Halloween trick or treating, because the playoff game is scheduled at 4 pm.  Trick or treating starts at 6 pm.  I think we will get home from the game just as the kids start coming down the street.  What adult plans these things?
 
that's all for now.
 
Love and hugs,
Deb

Sunday, September 13, 2015

soccer, scouts and seeing the ships

I will update tomorrow with all the descriptions, but thought you might enjoy the pictures.
 
 
Updated
lets start with Friday, 11Sep- I had an appointment to have some blood drawn.  When I pulled into my parking space, I could see there was a bird on the curb.  When I got out of the car, and the bird did not fly away, I could see it was a hawk.  I am not sure of the exact type of hawk, but it was sure cool watching it eat its lunch.

I like that it looked right at me.  I moved slightly to get a better angle and bird flew away.  I should have had my camera taking video instead, but oh well.

Saturday, Rocket man had a soccer game (our life every Saturday until 17Oct).  This week, he was one of the team captains.

Rocket is the kid furthest away- he is right defender most games.  He did great this game making a number of saves for the team.  I love watching him play.  His team won 8-2.  This is the second win for them, so right now they have 2 wins and 1 loss on the season.

In the afternoon, we had a camp out/pig roast with the boy scouts.  this is likely the troop Rocket will bridge up to in the Spring so it was nice to go meet everyone.  Now that we have had an outdoor event with a boy scout troop, we are allowed to go visit other boy scout troops in the area to see which one he likes the best (and I like the best) to decide which troop he will join.  it will be a process, though he has expressed interest in not joining one of the troops that was on our list to visit.

He and his buddies playing with the fire.  underneath the fire are the potatoes for our dinner.  YUMMM (they are wrapped in aluminum foil)

 
After the rain storm and dinner, we had a flag retirement ceremony.  I have shared pictures of others we have been at, so I wont go over the details again.  At this ceremony, there were 50 flags to retire.  Any of the boys in "class A" uniforms (full uniform) could participate.

Rocket is just on the other side of the fire

he is trying to shield himself from the heat of the fire.



After Church on Sunday, we went over to Newport to see the replicas of the Nina and Pinta.  One is built exactly as it would have been built in Christophe Columbus' time, the other is a more modern boat. 

 
ooops- pictures out of order, back to the soccer game.  this is warm ups.

 
the dark sky- no rain at the game, it came later in the day while we were out at the camp site with the boy scouts.

the boys like to bunch up still, but they are getting better.

if you look just over the goalie's head you can see Mam sitting on the sideline.


chasing down the ball.

getting set to defend.



great save by the goalie

passing the ball up the field

directing the team for the goal kick

taking a header.  the game ended just after this.

Back to the ships- Rocket on the hill.  he was going to roll down, but decided not to do it.

The Daniel Beard "Big Mac" bridge.  it is called the Big Mac bridge because it looks the arches on the McDonald sign.

Me, the masts of the ships and the Purple People Bridge, with the skyline.


the sky was great on Sunday, so lots of sky pictures are coming too.

details about the Nina.  It is actually the Santa Clara, but ships have nicknames and this ship was built by the Nino family, so it became the Nina.

Auntie Lulu, P and Rocket Man with the ships behind them.

the whole gang, minus my friend L who is taking the picture.

looking up at the flag

the bridge again.

the flag on the Pinta




the rigging



the boys

the gang again



info on the ships.  I like the information in the second paragraph.  It was also interesting to find out that the hold was filled with supplies so that the crew had to sleep on deck.  CC had captains quarters that were about 4 feet- his only private area.  Not like what you see in the movies with huge rooms for the captain to retreat to during the voyage.




this is the map of voyage.  from Palos Spain to the Canary Islands was 30 days, they restocked the ship and then set out across the Atlantic ocean, reaching the Bahamas about 30 days after leaving the canary islands.  WOW!

red lines show where the ships have been on US waterways.  Some might ask where the 3rd ship is.  Well, according to the information, 1. the Santa Maria is too big to travel on the rivers, 2. the Santa Maria never made it back to Europe after the voyages, 3. Christopher Columbus did not like the Santa Maria.  per the information, there are no plans to replicate the Santa Maria.





the boys checking out the ropes.



Happy boys.  this was a fun trip.  Now tomorrow, we are going to see a World War 2 landing ship for a school field trip.  it is one of only 2 remaining.  that should be a fun learning adventure too.
 
Love and hugs,
Deb