Who's who?

I'm beginning to see some similarities between mother and daughter.

The Queens

My sisters and I have had the opportunity to take many riverboat cruises together. We were fortunate enough to make our first trip with our mother in 1994 aboard the beautiful legendary "Delta Queen". Our last trip aboard her was in 2008, her second to last cruise.


The DQ was one of three paddle wheelers originally owned and operated by the Delta Queen Steamboat Co. and a veteran of WWII serving along the west coast with a home port of Sacramento.


Her "brother" the Delta King who also served during WWII as a troop transport still resides in Sacramento serving as a hotel. Sadly the DQ was forced into retirement in 2008 and also became a hotel moored in Chattanooga TN.


The sisters and I had the opportunity to cruise twice on the Mississippi Queen. She was much "flashier" and could accommodate more passengers. Unlike the DQ the MQ did have rooms for three...the one attribute we liked about her. Unfortunately she was abruptly retired in 2008 and left to an unknown future moored in New Orleans.


When we boarded the American Queen we were truly in awe. She was gorgeous! She was so ornate...something right out of a Hollywood 40's movie ... breathtakingly beautiful. But alas, she has been docked in Beaumont Texas since 2008 - also with an unknown future.

When these three river worthy paddle wheelers were "grounded" it was the end of an era as they were true riverboats right out of a Mark Twain story, gracefully floating the beautiful Mississippi River (and all her tributaries). Their overnight cruises were fabulous, sitting on deck was so relaxing...I don't believe there will be anything like it again.


Long live the Queens...

Farewell Missoula...

Earlier this month Melissa, Mitch and Esmé moved to Anaconda Montana where Mitch had accepted the position of Library Director at the Hearst Free Library. This is a wonderful opportunity for them and I wish them the best. They have purchased their first home and will be putting down some roots.

I really enjoyed visiting Missoula...when flying in I found the surrounding countryside absolutely breath-taking.


On one of our earliest visits, when kids lived on Front, we were able to sit on their front porch and hear the "Rolling Stones" concert at the University of Montana football field! It was great AND inexpensive!


There were many, many unique restaurants...


Staggering Ox - for unique sandwich design!


Iron Horse for burgers...

Finnegan's Family Restaurant which was built over a creek offered a fun dining experience when seated at booth to watch fish and ducks floating by...the fact that they served good food was also an enjoyable experience.
Paul's Pancake Parlor offered best pancakes ... and had a really cool hand painted mural of the Grizzly football stadium on an entire wall.

Or course Missoula was where granddaughter Esmé was born so it will always hold a special place in my heart.


Carousel at Caras Park along river...nice walking paths and picnic areas...fun to watch kayakers run the rapids too!


Dragon Hallow is adjacent to Carousel area and allows for children of all ages to have a great play area.

So, for now, I will bid adieu to Missoula and the alphabet mountains!

and her many rivers...

...you were a great place to visit and for a short time a great place to live...

Camping with Noah

Our week with Noah ended with camping on Friday night at Pawnee Lake. I have to say camping with three daughters is so different than camping with one eight year old boy!


For instance there are handheld games now ... and they are more fun when you can play them in an empty ice chest!!!


He does have a healthy appetite. Was able to polish off an egg over-easy, two strips of bacon, one pancake and a glass of milk...


When we were notified by camp ranger that we would be without power to repair a pedastal at one of the adjoining campsites, Noah hid under the covers and played with his game. Why you ask? Why not? This is the same kid that walked around the camper wearing an empty six pack cooler on his head singing to hear the echo and feel the vibration... As I said earlier daughters were soooo different when camping!

A day with Noah...

Did you know that French Toast is a finger food? Well it is according to this eight year old...


Toasted tortilla strips make for perfect fangs... "I want to suck your blood!"


Just a little snooze before baseball practice. Guess hanging with Grandma can be pretty exhausting...


Gotta love the little guy...he's keeping me on my toes!!!

Special Olympics 2010

Athletes from all over the United States are arriving for the Special Olympics being held this year in Lincoln Nebraska! There were over 160 Cessna airplanes landing yesterday at Duncan Aviation - an average of a plane touching down every two minutes.

Daughter Lisa, son-in-law Dan and granddaughter Beth are all volunteering for this week long event. Translation? Noah will be spending the week with Grandma and Grandpa!


(NOTE: No we don't have ducks. Here he's visiting the farm of a friends aunt.)

Jake VS the Mongoose!

Jake got to spend some time with the VanLaningham grandparents this week in Beatrice. We delivered him on Wednesday evening - retrieving him on Thursday evening. I think he had an enjoyable time, as he got to be the "only child" while there so had undivided attention (not that he demands it). He had a lot of quiet time and began reading the first book in the "Twilight" saga.

Grandma Karen got him a Mongoose 100 Build-a-Board (skateboard)and he is spending the morning putting it together.

He is very attentive to directions and appears to be taking his time...you have got to get everything aligned just right before attaching the "truck"...


Once aligned it's a little trickier to connect nuts and bolts...hard to do with only two hands!

The wheel assembly was even trickier...but once first wheel was done...rest would be a snap!

As you can see...project is finished...and he is quite pleased with his accomplishment!

UPDATE: Jake found that the trucks were on wrong, once reversed the "ride" was better.