Excitement

Have you ever wondered what happens when a boat sinks?  If you’re like me, you’ve not given it much thought.  Unfortunately for our neighbors, we got to find out.  Last weekend we had tremendous rains and the next night there was a boat under the water in the canal.

Allen went over and asked if he could help, but they had already called a crane.  How do you call a crane?  Cranes are popular here.  They are used for all kinds of things.  When we first got here, they put trees all around this neighbor’s house by craning them across the canal.  I’d show you, but they have 18 security cameras so I am thinking they are into privacy!?!

Gratuitous picture of the boys…

because I think they are cute…….

See that crane over there?

Then we had to wait a while they got their things set up.

See the guy in the black shirt?  He is standing on the bottom of the boat.  Also, note the neighborhood boys had to gather and direct operations.

Hooking up the straps.

There was a guy swimming under the boat with a mask on feeding the straps around.  See how much the other boat is leaning.  They had the sunk boat tied to that one.  Engineers they weren’t.

Then the crane started lifting.

We were holding our breath (s) at this point.

So what do you do when a boat is upside down and you have to set it down?

Good question?  I’ll just say what was done will never be put in any manuals of how to do it.

Take a deep breath……

Have I mentioned that it was windy.  REALLY windy!

Phew.  Time to exhale.

Allen even heard them start the engine later in the afternoon.

A Little of This and a Little of That

Our days haven’t been that exciting lately.  Lots of beach time, school for the boys.  Some soccer and tennis mixed in.

Miller plays angry Birds a lot.  Yes, he plays the video game on our iPad some, but more often he makes his own games out of blocks and balls with some red Solo cups mixed in.

Sometimes he has to use his bubble wand (AKA his Light Saber) to get the degree of demolition he desires.

Then there is Jackson.  He is ignoring the whole thing and reading his “Where’s Waldo” books.

Hours of entertainment for both of them.

Just another example of how different these two brothers are.

Cousins

Just recently Jackson had been asking me why he didn’t have any cousins his age, and I didn’t have much to tell him.  I remember wanting cousins when I was little, but all of mine were much older.  Once we were in Middle school we got to visit our second cousins and we got to be close with them by visiting with them for many summers in Cape Cod.  I’ve not seen those cousins in years so when I got a Facebook message from my cousin saying they were coming to our island for a visit, I was pretty happy about it.  Even better he and his wife have a son who is 5 and a half and a little girl who is three.  We were able to visit them twice that week and the boys were in hog heaven.

While the grown ups caught up on the last 10 years….

Jackson and RJ were fast friends!

Snacks and TV after a swim, the universal cure for tired kiddos!

3 boys looking in 3 directions.  It’s a talent, I tell ya!

 

These were the only pictures I could get of Miller and Grace.  It was too hard to get them in the same place at once, much less looking at the camera!

or in focus!

I’m really sorry that I didn’t get a picture of my cousin Rob’s sweet wife Irene.  Those of us that take the pictures never make the pictures!

We are hoping for a few more visitors in the near future.  Hint, hint!

Look Mom, it’s a STINGRAY!

Yesterday we were having lunch on our patio, when Miller wandered onto the dock and screamed “Look Mom it’s a STINGRAY!”  I was a little slow getting up and getting up over there, and lo and behold there was not one stingray, but two.  They even hung around long enough for me to get my camera.  Usually, they are really shy, but not these two.  They put up with all the shouting and jumping up and down. 

Remember last time we had stingrays here, we scared them off pretty quickly.

Love this picture.  There are two rays, and Hank is looking at………….neither one!

One swam off to quieter waters, but the other one hung around for a long time.

It’s hard to tell how big they are, but I’d say the big one was two and a half feet and the smaller was about two feet across.

It is amazing how long their tails are.  Probably five to six feet.

The patterns are so gorgeous.

We would love for them to make a home here, but they have probably moved on to a quieter spot.