A Whole Lotta Pictures

I got off work a WHOLE HOUR EARLY today on green time because it's a holiday and call volume is crazy low. Yeah, it's only an hour, but in that hour I got a bath, made a salad, hand-washed the handknit socks, and folded the first basket of laundry.

So now I can sort through pictures and talk about seeing Abby and her family and Hawaii and being 60. In no particular order.

First view of Hawaii. Look real real hard right under the engine. Do not know what island that is and actually am not even sure it's part of Hawaii except since we landed about five minutes later I think that's a good guess. There are really two islands in the picture but the smaller one to the right is pretty hard to see.

Abby's Birthday greeting, made with her Cricut. Nifty, eh? Calix figured that as long as the words were up there, it was still Nana's birthday, which worked fine for Nana.

Nana in crown (the jewels are buttons -- can't get more appropriate than that!) sacrificing the really seriously yummy cake that is shown in its entirety on Abby's blog. Angel food baked in a loaf, sliced and stuffed with raspberries, covered with real whipped cream. I love the part about the itsy bitsy chocolate shavings because I'm a chocolate freak, diabetes or no diabetes. Calix and Maddox there on the bench with their slices. Or clumps. I don't slice skillfully, but so what? Still yummy!

After dinner we sat and talked and laughed and Abby demonstrated their new Wii by bowling for us. She made it look way easy. WAAAAY easy. Normally, of course, I don't do sports. At all. Neither does David, come to that, but this looked so easy that we each made a try at it. I did the baseball game and happily no one thought to take pictures. David bowled a line, and then Abby and Orion beat each other senseless in the boxing ring.

We aimed for a 7:30 departure for the whale trip Thursday morning, which wasn't real hard on the visitors since our bodies still saw that as 9:30 and 9:30 is do-able. I mean, 9:30 is when I start work, and David's on the freeway to his job by then. So we all got up okay and we all got into the car mostly okay and then -- we hit rush hour. We only had to trot a short distance across a corner of Honolulu, but we weren't trotting. And then when we got to the right area we still had to find the right boat. No one flat out admitted doubting we were going to make it by the 8:30 launch time, but I think we all doubted. But then suddenly -- there was the boat, with the captain (if you will) standing around untying ropes and so forth and seeming not in the least put out at our tardiness. We scooted aboard and most of us took the recommended ginger capsules and many of us already had dramamine on board. We were warned that the water was rough. We were warned to hang on at all times. We chose a spot and ranged ourselves along the bench. We held on. We drew away from the dock and we began to rock. Hard.

Abby, Calix, Maddox, and Orion ... then me (not pictured -- heh heh) ... and David.

See how beautifully blue the water is? The waves didn't show up well in any of the photos, but they were there. Oh, they were there! The crew suggested that the best views were right up front -- perhaps they call it the *prow,* perhaps not -- and all our fellow passengers went slipsliding right past up to stand in that ideal spot. A wave slammed the front of the boat, which may or may not be called the *prow,* and all our fellow passengers came slipsliding right back past us again and stayed in the back from then on. We who had not been suckered by the jolly crew had a good laugh among ourselves. It was kind of like a fun carnival ride, up until Maddox turned white. After that, it was a lot of feeling bad for the sick.

I actually didn't get sick this time, but I was packed with dramamine and ginger and I wasn't the one who was holding Maddox at the time. And perhaps I've done my quota with airsickness and carsickness, to say nothing of cleaning up after children with carsickness. (Jenna, I'm talking to you ...)

The ride continued to be rough, though, as well as dramatically beautiful, and the whales continued to be elusive. As we were headed back one of the *crew* said, "Oh, there's a whale over there at the ten o'clock position, everybody," but he was lying and he wasn't a very good liar and there was no whale. No matter. I just wanted to get my kids and grandkids onto a floor that didn't pitch. Another time there will be whales. This time, not so much as a spout.

Abby seems to feel responsible for this, but of course she was not the whales' agent and could not summon them. Early in the voyage, when she was still in high spirits, she and I tried calling them like Dory. We haven't got the skill of Ellen DeGeneres, apparently.

When we got home Abby and Orion and the kids all got baths and clean clothes and we had naps. I personally had a gorgeous nap (a nap this full of relaxation can only be referred to as *gorgeous*) on the sofa in the living room.

More later -- need to fold the rest of the laundry.