Twilight Basketball Tonight

No age restrictions. Young or old.

I Love My Grandpa!

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Praise Him, You Great Sea Creatures!

This week, the kids and I tagged along on Paul's business trip.  He worked.  We played.  Our first stop was the Mystic Aquarium where we saw so many amazing sea creatures that would otherwise be unknown to us.

Sun Sea Star

"Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all deeps. . ."
Psalm 148:7

Josiah petting a shark.  Unfortunately, they were just too far
into the touch pool for Shifrah to reach them!

This is a Sea Lion.  We know it is not a seal because
a seal's flippers would be much shorter.

Early Blooms

A few shots of the flowers that last week's beautiful weather brought us.  I was so sad this morning to see that the overnight frost had killed the flowers on my Saucer Magnolia - the price we paid for the warm sunny days we enjoyed.

Shifrah Shows Her Dance Moves

At the Crayola Factory.  They had one of those screens that recorded your movements in different colors.  No surprise that Shifrah didn't want to stop once she realized the co-relation.
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This is a kid who wakes up every morning just tickled pink to be alive.

NYC With Ed & Cyndi's Gang

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Birds of the Bronx Zoo

It was a simple math equation last week:

Beautiful Weather + No School for a Day = Trip to the Zoo.

"All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD!"  Psalm 145:10

Roseate Spoonbill

Indian Peafowl

This guy makes me laugh:

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Signs of Spring!

Basketball Season Is Over

After skipping basketball last year to recover from surgery, Hadassah was back on the court in full swing this year.  It was fun to watch her throwing all her effort into the game, running back and forth with the ball and scoring for her team.  How do you like my artwork of the game?  Love what you can do with photo software.

Dr. Shif

When you have a real working stethoscope, it's nice to listen to a real heartbeat.

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Shifrah has a keen interest in all things medical whether animals or the human body and she loves to examine them (and us) with her otoscope.  One time after much prodding of Gunther, she declared him to have a "very interesting mouth!"  Wanna see?  Here's Gunther yawning:

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I also caught Shifrah taking his blood pressure. Problem is, hamsters are small and you have to stuff the entire hamster into the cuff . . . and this was a real blood pressure cuff. . .

Atlantis Aquadventure

One last post on the cruise.  While docked in Nassau, Bahamas, we chose to explore the Atlantis Aquadventure waterpark.  I think this might have been our best day.  Clear blues skies and perfect weather.

Shifrah and I spent most of our day on the mile-long rapids river (not to be confused with the lazy river that was elsewhere in the park and heaps milder).  It was perfect for a mom and her fun-loving four-year-old.

Shifrah braces herself as she enters the rapids...

...and splash!  There she goes.  The kid has no fear.  She laughed the whole ride.

You can barely see it but in the picture below, Josiah and Hadassah are having a race.  They actually had a clock on the bottom for each slide so there were no arguments.  Hadassah won.

More From The Cruise

Rough seas our first day at sea.  15 foot waves.

Beautiful Fog Lifting Off the Warm Sea Water into the Cool Air

Our cabin was right off a cozy courtyard with its own pool, hot tub, exercise equipment and . . . best of all, peace and quiet.

That pool was very small but since the courtyard had a retractable roof, we didn't have to wait for warmer weather to swim.  Our kids met three other kids - which made everything extra fun.



Sunrise Over The Atlantic

Cruise to the Bahamas

Last week, our family boarded the Norwegian Jewel in New York City and headed south on a cruise to the Bahamas.  The pictures in this post were taken on Norwegian's private Bahamian island called Great Stirrup Cay. 

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More photos to come of this gorgeous ship which had much more to do on it than
you can pack into a day at sea.  Here she is anchored just offshore Great Stirrup Cay.

Still Building Forts

As the boy gets older, the fort-building becomes a bit more elaborate and starts to require things like mattresses and ropes.



Another Daybook

Monday morning.

Outside my window -  Sunny.  Cool.  No snow.

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I am thinking about eating better - for the whole family.  My kids are quite worried since we already ban so many things!  (Their view.)

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I am wearing comfy lounge pants and a tank top.  Let me know when winter arrives and I'll consider sleeves.

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I am listening to Bach.  After a brief reminder yesterday of Charlotte Mason's music method, Shiffy and I started Bach today for the next six weeks.  But, read on...

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I am going to the Bahamas in February. Cruise is booked. Can't wait!

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I am currently reading The Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson (an  audio book, actually, whose reader has a very soothing voice), Redeeming Sociology by Vern Poythress and Lectures on Calvinism by Abraham Kuyper.  And the Bible - currently 1 Timothy.

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I am hoping that Hadassah's glucose levels will continue to decline and that one day (soon?) she'll be non-diabetic.  She is off the steroid now so this is actually possible.

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On my mind - the good and bad of multi-tasking and other things I ran across in yesterday's sermons, books and magazines.  Could we have Sunday every other day please?

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Noticing that my attempts to get Bach infilitrated into Shifrah's mind is being overridden by her own singing.  She's busy belting out the songs she learned for Christmas.  She's off-key and messes up some words but the joy with which she sings makes that irrelevant.  Hadassah (home sick today) told her to stop singing but she said, "No way, Dassah, I'm singing to the Lord!"

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From the kitchen - don't know what's for dinner yet but I do have my next five meals planned so it's just a matter of picking one.  It's early yet.  And no, I'm not that organized.  This five-meal-plan-ahead thing is new.  Let's see how long I last!

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Around the house - I got new carpet in my family room last Friday.  And (thanks to my cousin Sylvia) I started a 52-week program to get my house organized.  Again, let's see how long I last!  The new year is always a good time to start something, isn't it?