Celloing

Yesterday, for the first time in over six months I was able to play the cello. It still hurt, and I wasn't able to play at the level I am used to, but it is just so exciting to actually be able to play again. That's all I wanted to say for now...

Sailing and Whaling

By far the coolest activity we did was go sailing on Saturday. I think we gave the poor crew a lot of trouble. They seemed to be a relatively new crew, and not many of them had much experience, and here we come with twice as many kids as adults, most of which were under the age of 8. But we had no accidents. We were trying to spot the hump-backed whale, so Mom spent a lot of the trip perched out on the bow with two cameras strapped around her neck. I wasn't brave enough to climb up to the crow's nest (My excuse being that climbing a rope ladder with nothing but water underneath you is relatively hard with only one working hand), but I did spend the last bit of the trip out on the bow. It was fantastic. Katie even got over her fear of water enough to enjoy herself. I am so glad Jenny was able to give us this amazing opportunity.

Canoeing

On Friday we took adventage of the sunshine and went canoeing. It was great amounts of fun, though we had problems both getting the canoe and coming back home. Dave had to come rescue our dead car. Katie absolutely refused to go out in the boat, I've never met a kid who so little likes the water. But we certainly had fun. Jenny and Mom took Emily out first, while Dad taught Chase how to shoot with the gun he got for his birthday. He was such a good shot. Then Dad and I took Chase and Emily over again. Chase about gave me a heart attack with his tendency to surf down the mountain. I thought for sure he was going to fall and kill himself. But apparently my nephew is a braver soul than I am.

Magic Quest

So many things happened over my week in Washington to visit Jenny that I am going to have to post in several pieces. My first full day there we went to possibly the coolest hotel in existence and played Magic Quest. You buy a wand (or in our case reactivate it) and then most everything in the hotel will do or say something when you wave your wand at it. It was fantastic. They have a series of quests and adventures you can go on. This involves searching through the hotel and following clues to find various things; you are then rewarded with a rune that gives you some special ability that will presumably be needed on the later adventures. But the best part of it was watching how excited the kids were. I've added some pictures for your viewing pleasure.