....

The Wilderness Tabernacle is moving along, or at least some of the furniture for it and the outer walls, and those poor sheep.  From time to time I've come back to put a little more and more on this, getting it all together as I read the various scriptures from Exodus as it all slowly comes together

The Chia pets are doing good - there are some sprouts growing out, some quicker than others, but there's definitely some growth there.  I think we'll see something big moving along by Memorial Day weekend.

Maddie did some driving lessons today with Mom, and there's a theme of parking this weekend - Maddie is starting to enter a parallel universe, which is to say she's going to be attempting some never-done-before parallel parking!  She was trying it today with another car nearby, but tomorrow we'll do the ol' "cones in the place of cars" training exercises at the church parking lot.  Couldn't do that today because of the three graduation ceremonies taking place and the huge congestion there.

Speaking of congestion, that's me.  Ever since I returned from the cruise.  The lungs.  The nose.  The sore throat.  Ugh.  NyQuil night for sure.

But first, taekwondo.  I dropped Maddie off there, and some of her friends were either graduating or watching other friends graduate - it's been a big year for that.  She enjoyed classes as always, and there's no class tomorrow because it's Memorial Day weekend.  We'll be celebrating like always at Nana and Ye-Ye's house that day, and there's some food prep we'll be doing here, including the creation of the patriotic jello!  Mom's done this before, made an American flag from jello and cool whip and blueberries and strawberries.  But Ye-Ye requested it specifically this year, and it's the semiquincentennial, so it's on!

That meant a lot of grocery shopping for me.  I was loading up the cart while Maddie was kicking people, and while we were both indoors, the deluge just slammed into us from above, a downpour so heavy and huge.  The rain has been enormous today, as if the entire state of Georgia just decided to do a bucket challenge, with torrential gushers just dumping down on all of us at the same time.  It was so loud on the roofs!  

Fortunately, we drove home after it passed, and as we were unpacking, the Braves game was in fact on - there was some thought that it might be either a rain delay or a washout, but the game went on, and it was a thriller of an ending.  We watched until the bottom of the eleventh inning, when good ol' Chadwick Tromp helped us get to bed by ending the game with a single right over the middle infielders that brought speedy Eli White home.  And there was much rejoicing.  Again.  This team just keeps on winning!

We did some reading tonight, closing out an ordinary sort of day.  Mom had hot dogs for us for dinner, some grass-fed meat that she orders for us, and that was a classic baseball meal there.  I was also walking earlier, finishing up "Rocketman" as I moved closer to the end of this current virtual walk.  In about a week I should be splashing down to earth again, and it's been fun watching all these themed movies and television shows as I march along.

In regards to the reading tonight, we're trying to figure out why someone would kill a goblin.  And of course who.  Vimes is engaged in another mystery, and the City Watch seems to be involved in something unusual as well.  We read for a bit tonight, but we were getting tired - eleven innings and NyQuil will do that to you.  It was time for prayers, and time for sleep!

Rain

Interesting little swarm of insects here.  We had to look these little guys up to measure their danger, and nope, no danger.  They look like a nymph of a leaf-footed bug, and of course there's plenty of these around.  A lot more, currently walking on our front porch wall there!

We finally got the rain today, a great heavy downpour that just made all creation sing, as we were all pretty thirsty.  I know that messes with people's Memorial Day plans, and in fact we have plans for something Monday with the family.  But we're also in a pretty heavy duty drought, so that's something to consider.  

Today we had a massive meeting for the college kids at Free Chapel, a planning session that went on for quite some time - hours and hours, in fact.  Unexpectedly long, but we did get a bit done, and there were coffee orders at the beginning and Chick-Fil-A at lunch time, so there's that.  All in all, the KidPak curriculum students should be good.

 

There were the big graduation commencements at the church today, with thousands and thousands of people there to celebrate the big day.  Good enough reason to go straight home and do some work there instead.  Also, get some things done at the house - I got some more walking in on the treadmill, trying to average about 2 miles a day.  Today's feature:  "Rocketman."  This is a gem of a movie, and it's not for everyone, but I just still laugh out loud at it.  I'm still doing that walk to the moon and back, virtually, and I think I've just reentered the earth's atmosphere, and we're not long from deploying the parachutes.  Almost time to pick a new virtual course!

Maddie drove us to the taekwondo tonight, and she had a good time there as an instructor's assistant, and then off to leadership class as well.  She drove us over to the grocery store, where she got her sourdough bread that she loves, but we picked up a few other necessities before she drove us home again.

We caught up with Mom again at home as we were watching the Braves defeat the Marlins yet again, this time 9-3.  Then it was time for a few more Mandalorian episodes, some reading from the Discworld, prayers... and some sleep!

Texture of Joy

 

Here we have a a little bit of Summer Xtreme planning - I was an at aquatic center this morning and then we were also planning some exciting games for KidPak.

We had such great news today with Mom's bone scan report.  That's been so heavy on my heart this week, and the release of that burden was so enormous, as God answered prayers.  Not only that, but Mom's other tests came back with great news, adding a texture of joy to the day.

And that being said, Camille now has a son, James Grigg, who was born this afternoon and brought their family a similar texture of joy.  We're really happy for all of them!

The rest of the day was somewhat similar to others lately.  Our chia pets are doing well, dormant, but yo can see the beginnings of some possible growth there.  We'll post pictures when it gets more interesting.  We had some other Summer Xtreme meetings today, working out some content and planning there.  But the high school graduations are starting in the main sanctuary, these massive events that come one at a time at the church for I think seven of the Hall County schools that apparently have no other place to be that's's big enough (or indoors enough).  So there's this huge security and traffic and all that, so we're sort of stuck downstairs riding it out a bit.  Tomorrow we'll probably be at the north campus, in fact.

To make things more interesting, there was a pretty big accident on Browns Bridge Road on the way home, so it took a while to get home.  But I was certainly glad to give Mom that extra hug, and it was awesome watching the Braves get eight more runs in a game against the Marlins in a fun game there.  The family has been pretty addicted to BravesVision lately, and what's not to love with all the great plays and fun of the broadcasts.  

Afterwards, we turned to the series "Boba Fett," to continue the story of "The Mandalorian," which has a new movie coming out very soon.  We'll get through all these episodes before watching the movie, but we're pretty hyped about it.

And that's about it for the day, but it's been a good day.  We did our reading tonight, and we said our prayers.  And we keep having the raccoon and possums up there on our back porch.  We'll hear the bird bath fall over, and our guess is that the raccoon is thirsty.  We haven't had rain in quite a bit here locally, although there's a lot of it in the forecast.  We'll see!  But for now, we're putting out a smaller bowl on ground level, one filled with water for our nocturnal friends.  Just so they'll stop knocking things over!

Primary Day

 

Still walking towards the moon - here's the latest post card from the moon.  It's been great watching all these dramatic reenactments and documentaries, and learning a lot via these various posts earned as I march along.  Eighty miles so far, and about twenty to go!

This morning we went off to vote, and we got our stickers - it is primary day in Georgia.  We usually vote early, but there were so many candidates that we had a lot of research to do.  In fact, when we got there this morning to the new polling location, we were ready for a huge amount of candidate votes and questions.  We took our cheat sheets with us, which is just fine.  I wore my new Buc-ee's 250 America shirt, and my "I secured my vote" sticker the rest of the day.

So this morning we did another new song for Summer Xtreme this year, working with Dawn and Emma to write up something and I think that opening number is going to be really great.  Maddie was there for a bit at the office, and then off to Nate's for the rest of the day.  I got a lot done today, including some trivia for this weekend, and more meetings about upcoming events... then it was time to get home.  

And then... it was time for some ice cream!  We got that BOGO card for Blizzards, and wow, we've been taking advantage of that one!

I'm not feeling great - brought something back with me from the cruise.  It's not too bad, but certainly annoying.  We sat and watched the Braves get some revenge on the Marlins for the previous night with a good win, 8-0.  And after that, a few episodes of Boba Fett, continuing our Mandalorian marathon leading up to the movie at the end of this month.  And after that, some reading from "Snuff," and then prayers... and a good night's rest (thanks to some medication!).

...One of those Days

 ...Professor Utonium, Braves lose 12-0, position player pitching, bad day, bus stops, good test results, chia dormant, Mt. St. Helen's... updates coming soon...

Building the Temple

Today we started on a project that Mom got me, a it's a big one - but a really fantastic one.  I loved reading through Exodus and all the specifications and processes for putting together the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, but only when seeing some sort of visual to understand what it was I was reading.  There are videos for that sort of thing, a step-by-step account with visual aids to go with those scriptures that show how it all came together.  Well, Mom got me this LEGO brick version of the Wilderness Temple, and it goes with the scriptures just the same, verse by verse, as you assemble that Wilderness Temple.  As you can see here, all I have thus far is the ground, and a high priest.  But he looks ready for that Temple to get into place.  This will be a fun thing to put together.  Mom got this for me earlier, and I've been waiting to make room at the table to get it all going.  Look what else we started today!

We were in a Chia pet frame of mind, and I think that's because we have a State of Liberty version of one that we'll do closer to July 4th, but in the meantime, we have Grogu and Shrek to do some test runs on.  We went through the set up tonight and got these guys going, all while catching up on "The Mandalorian," which of course is all setting up for the big movie coming out in a few weeks.

And there's good ol' Shrek!  Remember this guy from before?  We've put this one together a few times over the years, going way back to 2011!  These will be fun to keep an eye on in the coming days - don't worry, we'll post pictures!

The rest of the afternoon was pretty standard for a Sunday, eating together and watching the Braves whoop up on the Boston Red Sox again, 8-1.  The game was at Truist Park, and there was actually a sudden explosion of rain there that caused a small delay - it was actually hailing on the field, small bits of ice hitting the park.  But just as suddenly, the sun came out again - briefly, and long enough for the game to end with the Braves on top of things.

This morning, we had a great KidPak service as always.  Emma was speaking, and we did a memory verse exercise, and just had a lot of fun with the kids.  It was a good morning - I took this photo backstage before Emma went out there, but below that are just some of the excellent pictures Maddie takes of our services.

It was a fun day.  We had the "Rededicate 250" event live-streamed from Washington DC, and that was a really nice thing to see up there in our nation's capital.  Tonight we closed up our evening with reading from "Snuff," and after that prayers and a good night's rest.  I'm on some medication right now with a little cold, so I'm sleeping a little heavy tonight! 

More Mean Girls

This afternoon we were at the final City Springs Theater production, which was "Mean Girls."  I saw the high school version of it about two years ago, and it's okay.  Not my favorite, but we still enjoyed the performance, and it was nice to go down and see a bit play.  

Maddie was at the graduation party for Nate this afternoon, and earlier on, she and the rest of Team Edge were practicing together at the martial arts studio, where there were some important questions asked.  Like, "What kind of fruit or vegetable would you be?"  The answer for Maddie, or at least other people's answers for her:  a lemon.

She had a good day today, and then got home to join us for the Braves game against the Red Sox.  Mom actually got us some Cracker Jacks to enjoy while watching, and we destroyed that bag.  Those were delicious, of course.  The Red Sox got us this time, but tomorrow is another game and another chance to win the series with them.

Tonight we moved our story, reading "Snuff," and there's a mystery afoot to figure out.  No doubt Sam Vimes will be on top of this one.  We read for a bit, said our prayers, did some of our puzzles, and then yeah, it was time for some sleep!  We've got Kidpak tomorrow morning.

Nate's Graduation

Tonight was Nate's graduation, and Maddie was happy to be there and celebrate with him!  They had fun with the family together, and after that went off to eat.  When the manager heard there was a graduate at his restaurant, Nate got a super sweet delicious cupcake!

Okay, those actually look pretty good.  As do the tacos that Maddie got, of course.  I'm kind of wanting one of these street tacos now.  We'll have got go there again soon!

Here's the family there after the graduation.  Congratulations, Nate!  Maddie had a nice time tonight being there for Nate's big night.  There's a party or two tomorrow, and you know she'll be there for that.

Wow, tonight's Braves game was a thriller - extra innings, and Yaz came through with another huge hit to drive in the game winner and against his grandpa's old team, the Red Sox.  Maddie got home just in time to see the big play.

Today was a bit of driving to and fro, heading to the church to get a few things to set up for Sunday's service.  We did our reading tonight with the Plush Entourage, continuing with "Snuff," the final book of the Sam Vimes series in the Discworld.  After that, prayers, and a good night's rest!  

Goombay

You're looking at some Bahamas Goombay Punch!  I bought a few cans in Nassau, and imported them back home for lunch today, and Maddie had one too - she liked it!  It's basically a carbonated fruit punch, but I remember seeing these cans a long, long time ago.  I found one at the market right there next to the boat in Nassau, so I picked up a few cans.  I was going to drink them there, and then maybe later, and then it just worked out that I brought them home with me.  And that's just fine!  Anyway, it's good stuff.  We'll have to go back and get some more now.

So here are a few of our medals we got for the games the last few cruises.  We actually got the old-school ones before this, although I'm not sure where they are at the moment.  We've won quite a few trivia games, but keep getting the Donald Duck and Cruise Ship medals.  We'll have to go back and get some more now!

Here's the new Star Wars set-up Mom has on the counter there.  You can see our new rubber ducks and of course the C-3PO head there.  That just might be my new popcorn bucket!

The Braves lost tonight, actually shut out for the first time in a month of so.  Hopefully they can wake those bats up a bit soon, but even so they've got the best record in baseball, and are the first team to win thirty games this year.  There's a lot of good news here.

I've been a bit under the weather lately, and I think it's something I got on the cruise.  I'm sort of doing the medicine thing and taking it easy, but yeah, it's weird having a little cold when it's summer.  I put together a few fern stands for Mom, so her new ferns look great on that front porch.

We read tonight, and we're moving through the book "Snuff" fairly quickly now.  It's supplementary book, "The World of Poo" is what follows, but we're wrapping up the adventures of Sam Vimes and the City Watch.  There's still plenty of other Discworld books we haven't read yet, so no worries there.  

After reading, we said our prayers.  Quiet but good day.

Outback

Mom and I had a gift card to Outback Steakhouse, so why not drop by tonight?  We Maddie and Team Edge had a big performance tonight at the martial arts studio, and afterwards Maddie was hanging out at Nate's place for a bit.  So Mom and I had a date night, and it was pretty nice there.  

Here's something else nice - some flowers that Nate got for Mom for her birthday, or perhaps Mother's Day.  Either way, it was a nice gesture!

As for the Team Edge performance, it was great!  The team was showing off a little for all the parents and students that were testing tonight, and it was a really good run-through.

Today was a good day - we had some KidPak planning today for various upcoming events like Father's Day and Summer Xtreme.  We're keeping out exercise going with the walking - I've been watching old movies while walking "to the moon."  Today's flick was "Space Chimps," and wow, we've come a long way with CGI.  It's fun watching these older movies where animation studios were just starting to figure out computer animation.  Anyway, not a bad movie.  Next up is "Area 51," and after that I'm looking forward to "Muppets in Space."  

So tonight after watching the Braves win, we closed up things with reading from the Discworld.  We said our prayers after that, and it was off to sleep.

Keep Moonwalking

Got another post card from the Moon!  Still walking along this trail in space, following star dust and all that.  While walking, today's movie was "Space Chimps," which I'm about halfway through at the moment, keeping up with the whole space exploration theme.  I'm about 70% or so through this virtual walk, but it's been a good one, as there have been a lot of post cards, images and different moments along the way, but also all of these VHS and DVDs I've been watching on the television the whole journey.  Super fun.

Okay, so yeah I was back to work today.  Mom was still doing laundry.  Maddie was ... I'm not sure what she was doing, but I'm sure it was awesome!  We finished the Summer Xtreme booklet today, and that is going to be great to have all done and ready to go.

We had a more chill day today, certainly nothing as hugely scheduled as last week of course.  But it was nice nonetheless.  I got home and we all were watching the Braves vs. Cubs, basically the teams with the two best records in baseball.  We were number one beforehand, and we defeated the Cubs pretty well tonight to get even further ahead.  The Braves are doing really well, and it's just been fun watching this BravesVision, as the team is really fun broadcasting the game and other things going on.  I think it's the other things going on that add a bit of craziness, from hamsters, ice cream, second buttons, eel bites, giant sandwiches and more.  And then the other things being shown, ceremonies and post-game interviews and all kinds of interesting things.  It's been our staple this year!

 

National Twilight Zone Day

First, the Twilight Zone.  Mom marked down "Twilight Zone Day" on the calendar, and after a bit of searching I found a streaming channel that had all the episodes on it, so yeah, we watched a few old-school episodes tonight.  And we watched our very own KidPak version too, something we made a few years ago that was a lot of fun.

The day itself was pretty restful.  I was marching along this morning, back on the treadmill with my walk to the moon.  I finished up "Hidden Figures" while walking towards the moon.  Mom spent the entire day cleaning up, particularly doing laundry.  

We set up our new Disney Cruise souvenir here, the Cogsworth clock.  He looks great, and works just fine there.  That's a nice souvenir!  But now it was time for taekwondo, and the usual Monday routine... sort of...

New t-shirts and decorations at Edge!

The big event of the night was testing for taekwondo.  Maddie didn't feel like doing that tonight, probably because she just got back from a cruise.  But Nate was testing and she hadn't seen him in a bit.  She had the camera with her tonight and took a lot of great pictures for the team.

Maddie drove us over to taekwondo, by the way.  And then drove us to boba tea afterwards, because it's tradition!  And then... she drove us home, because it was getting late.

We watched another "Mandalorian" episode tonight, the one that re-introduces us to Ahsoka Tano.  We'll be moving through all these episodes again as we get closer to the release of the movie in theaters.  Should be fun.

And that was it for today - we read tonight from "Snuff," our latest Discworld book, and after that it was time for prayers.... and sleep!

Journey Home

And here we are, back at Port Canaveral.  Looking outside, you can see the port is filled with cruise ships, ready to take off on Mother's Day.  Yes, that's right, it's Mother's Day.  Most of our luggage is gone at this point, packed up and put outside the cabin the night before.  All that remains is to clean up, get our stuff together, enjoy a quick breakfast at the Enchanted Garden, and then it's time to disembark.  Kind of bittersweet, really.

Then off to the Enchanted Garden for one final meal aboard the Fantasy!

It was short and sweet.  It's sort of melancholy watching the big room gradually empty, the passengers leaving the room and eventually the boat.  Next, it was our turn to say "see you real soon."

It was a much easier process than it ever had been before, thanks to all kinds of facial recognition and so forth.  Convenient, and terrifying!  Anyway, we went down the gangplank and back on dry land.  Fun fact:  for the past four days, Mom and I only got off the boat for a total of maybe an hour and a half.

Anyway, we got back to the parking deck and said our goodbyes to Uncle George and Thip.  They were heading up to the cemetery, and then down to Miami.  We had a bit of a longer drive:  home.  It was time for the long drive home, and it wasn't so bad.  To help, we made a few stops along the way.

Oh goodness, first a rest stop not far away.  I already had to use the rest room!  Okay, let's try again.  Next stop!

We visited the Buc-ee's in Daytona, which was a big mistake in that the cars were lined up outside and it took a while just to get to the Buc-ee's.  The exit and turning lane was just so crowded, and it was like this last time too.  Okay, so next time we'll do the Jacksonville Buc-ee's and skip this one.  Just too many people!  But we needed gas, so I got there and filled up and we all went in to get some drinks and a snack or two.  We weren't in there for two long, we felt like molecules in some science experiment about an area being heated up.  So we drove out of there, no problems going around Jacksonville and across I-10.  We were listening to some Discworld radio dramas that Mom got me for Christmas.  Through the course of the day we listened to "Mort" and "Guards!  Guards!"  And soon enough, we found ourselves crossing the Georgia State Line again.

The Georgia Welcome Center!  They had a neat little semiquincentennial display there, a nice one.  We always pick up a few brochures while there, stretching our legs and walking along.  But now it was time to head up another eighty miles or so to... 

The Great Peanut of Ashburn, the World's Largest Peanut.  Wow, I remember when the hurricane knocked this down for a while a few years ago.  It's been restored and looking nicer than ever.  It's somewhat of a landmark here in South Georgia, this massive peanut.  But it's also nearby a store called "Carroll's Sausage and Country Store," which we enjoyed stopping at.  While there, we even got a few things to drink before moving on to get more pictures with the giant peanut.

Moving right along!  We had just one more stop, and I think you know what that probably was.  

We got a few drinks from the next Buc-ee's, filled the car up with gas, walked around a bit, and then just drove straight home.  This time, no traffic in Henry Country.  But still some traffic in Atlanta this time.  I had in all this old-school Disney music to keep me awake - I didn't sleep as well last night.  But it was fun listening to Mary Poppins in the car again!  

So we arrived home without any incidents, and Mom saw some new gifts for her birthday there - some potted ferns.  We'll order some stands for those and they'll look nice on the front porch there.

But we made it.  Always a wild thing at the end of these days when you look around at the house and all the ordinariness of it and then think back on the fact that this very morning we were having breakfast in the Enchanted Garden on the Fantasy.  

Tonight we managed to stay awake and watch the replay of the Braves game today - they defeated the Dodgers again, 7-2.  The Braves are having a really great start to the year, and that's been fun to watch.  Anyway, it's time for bed.  We read tonight, and we said our prayers, and it was quite easy to get some sleep tonight.