April 22nd through April 28th

April 22^nd through April 28^th:  This last week, after Chris finished her two days of work on Monday and Tuesday, we worked on going through our art and choosing which pictures we would hang where.  Then I got the job of hanging them.  We aren’t completely done, but we are close.  The walls look so much better with the art on them.  

Dining room.

Two prints in the dining room.

Dining room.

This is an oil painting from China.

Kitchen.  This is an oil painting that I did years ago.

Going into our bedroom.

Just inside our bedroom door.

High school graduation photos of our 5 kids.

Bedroom wall.

Bedroom.  This is a watercolor from China.

TV room.

Bathroom.

Thursday, our niece, Megan Welling and 4 of her children, along with a girlfriend of one of her sons, came to lunch.  Megan is the daughter of Chris’ brother, Craig.  They live in Pullman, Washington and she came down to pick up kids from BYU.  It has been many years since we have seen her children and they are all grown up.  Three of them have served missions.  We had a wonderful visit getting re-acquainted.  Megan was happy to receive Grandma Cornwall's pickle dish and her cedar chest.  

Left to right:  Christian, Sydney, Mom, Megan, Truman, Susan (girlfriend) and Abby.

Thursday evening we went to dinner with our good friends, Brent and Sharon Christensen.  He is the surgeon who operated on me a few weeks ago.  I asked him when I went in for my check up if I could go back to work after 6 weeks and he said that he would not release me until we had gone to dinner.  We spent a nice evening eating and visiting with them, so now I guess I am cleared to go back to work. My next projects are John B.’s upstairs and the cement work to get a set of stairs for our entrance in the backyard.  Saturday we had a nice day in the temple.  I performed another live sealing and had an uplifting shift.  Sunday evening after church, we went to Charlotte and Alex’s home for our monthly family dinner.  Mom bought salmon and it was delicious.  We were also celebrating with an ice cream cake mom’s birthday.  I am not going to say how young she is, but it is a milestone.   We had a lovely evening with 22 of our posterity.  It is always sad when we get together and Ginny, Sam and the girls are missing.  We wish they could be with us every month.  

The adult table.

The 3 kid's tables.

Some of the 14 grandkids.

Mom blowing out her candles.

I am looking forward to getting back to work and staying busy.  So it was a great week for me. 

April 15th through April 21st

 April 15^th through April 21^st:  Monday was a day at sea as we sailed from Curacao to Cartagena, Colombia. The day was spent in playing cards, eating and talking.  The talking is the best part of being together with family.  We tried to come up with trivia questions about my mom and dad for a trivia game to be played during the family reunion of my parents descendents that we will have this next July.  We really laughed a lot about the things we remembered growing up together.  Tuesday we docked early in Cartagena, Colombia and took a taxi to the historic district of the city.  This was a colonial port and has a famous fort that protected the city from the English and pirates.  Part of the film “Romancing the Stone” was filmed at the fort or at the Castile San Felipe.  It was hot and humid and we only lasted a few hours.  We went back to the boat and after lunch everyone got in the pool to cool off.  

Docking in Cartagena.

The new part of Cartagena.

4 pretty ladies.

The clock tower entrance to the old city.

Each street was full of charm and old colonial architecture.

Every building had a balcony overlooking the street.

One of the churches we visited.

A Botero sculpture of "La Gordita"

We really thought Cartagena was charming.

We saw a lot of cool old doors.

The cathedral in Cartagena.

We just finished some ice cream and felt happy and refreshed.

This little fellow was one of our greeters as we got back to the terminal.

Proof that we got in the pool.  Where is Tove?????

Wednesday we arrived at the entrance of the Panama Canal before sunup.  We got a good spot on the front of our deck and watched as we got in line to enter the locks.  In 2016, a new set of larger locks were finished to allow larger ships to cross the isthmus.  However, we went through the old locks that are now more than 100 years old.  They still work and use the original doors.  It was fascinating to see how 3 to 4 small locomotives on each side of the ships work together to keep the ships centered in the canal.  It took us about 2 hours to go through the 3 locks.  The locks on each side of Panama raise each ship 85 feet to a manmade lake that covers most of the interior of the country.  After passing through the locks to the lake we dropped anchor and let about half the passengers off for shore excursions.  We stayed on board and went back through the locks and we docked in the city of Colon about 4:30 pm which is on the Pacific side of Panama.  When the passengers that went on excursions got back to the ship we left and sailed for Costa Rica.  

We are lined up to enter the fist lock.

This is the water coming out of the lock so that the ship lowers down to sea level.

The gate is open and we are entering the first lock.

Click below to see us enter the lock.

Video of the first lock.

Click below to view second lock.

Entering the second lock


Click below to see a huge ship.

A ship passing next to us.

Click below to view.

Gates closing on third lock

This is coming back out and entering
the middle lock.
Click below to view.

Entering the second lock on the way out.

This barge was enormous and passed us going through the opposite locks.  It must have been a couple hundred feet tall.
Click below to view.

The huge barge passing us.
 

We stood on the deck for about 4 hours and got some sun.

Thursday we arrived early in Port Limon, Costa Rica and we went on a shore excursion in a small boat through the rain forest.  It was a lot of fun and we saw sloths, monkeys, an alligator and many different types of birds.  We finished of the day with more card games.  At this point, Alice has won most of the games of “sets and runs”.  

On the bus to the river.

Our guide and captain.

Our boat ride through the rain forest.

This guy was only interested in getting a suntan.

This is a banana flower and the yellow fingers at the top are what grow into bananas.

One of the sloths.

Friday and Saturday were two days of eating, card playing, eating and laughing as we sailed back to Fort Lauderdale.  

This was Saturday morning during our walk.

Sunday we arrived early and got off the ship. We had enough time to find a chapel and go to church.  It was a Spanish speaking ward so Chris translated for Alice and Tove and I translated for Tad.  It was a nice Easter Sunday meeting.  

When we arrive in Fort Lauderdale, there were already 5 cruise ships docked.

After church Sunday morning.

We then took an Uber to the airport for our trip home. We had a layover in Atlanta and then our plane was taken out of service and we did not get home until 1:00 am Monday morning.  What a long day, but what a wonderful week we had cruising the Caribbean.

April 8th through April 14th

April 8th through April 14^th:  Monday Xela had a fever and had to stay home from school.  Mom and I got to stay with her while Sam and Ginny went to work.  Tuesday Ginny drove us to the airport and we flew home to Salt Lake City.  Charlotte picked us up and took us to our home.  Chris did laundry and I packed for our cruise.  Alice came over about 8:30 pm and then John B. drove us to the airport.  We took the red-eye to  Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Wednesday Tad, my older brother, picked us up at the airport at 5:30 am and drove us to a condo the he had rented.  Tad and Tove, his wife, had been in Florida for about a week with their daughter and her family.  We did not get any sleep on the plane so we all took a nap.  Tad had a rental car and drove us to the port and dropped us off with all of our luggage.  He took the rental car back and then got a ride back to the pier.  We got on the ship, Zuiderdam, about 11:30 am and our cruise to the Panama Canal was underway.  We got a game a sets  and runs in right after lunch.  

Waiting to get on the ship.

Lunch right after we boarded the ship.

Leaving Ft. Lauderdale.

Thursday we anchored off the island of Half Moon Key, we took a tender to the island and walked along the beautiful sandy beach. 

Our ship as we head to Half Moon Key.

On the tender to Half Moon Key.

Tove stayed on the ship.  The beaches were beautiful.

Friday we were at sea headed to the Bahamas.  

The sunsets are spectacular.

This was our first formal dinner.  

Saturday we arrived around 1:00 pm at Aruba and we went ashore and bought some diet coke.  There really wasn’t a lot to see in  Oranjestad, the capitol.

Walking around Oranjestad.

Oranjestad from the ship.

All he needs is a bottle of Coke.

Sunday we arrived in Curacao at 8:00 am and were some of the first people off the boat.  We took a 20 minute taxi to church.  It was a branch of about 80 members in attendance.  The meeting was in Papiamento, a language that is a mixture of Spanish and Dutch.  They had an Elder from the US translate for us.  Chris and I could understand a lot of what they were saying because many of the words are Spanish.  It was fun to go to church and feel the sweet Spirit that was present.  

Headed to church in Willemstad.

Mom and Alice went for a walk through Willemstad.

The buildings were painted so cute.

Mom says the crab cakes were delicious.

Enjoying some of the entertainment.

The steel drum group were incredible.

We are enjoying being together and playing cards and telling stories that invariably make us laugh.   I am still experiencing some pain and I am ready to be done with this recovery.