Ship to Shore

When we disembarked from our cruise ship in New Orleans last Sunday, we had 4 or 5 hours to spare before we had to drop Adam and Richie off at the airport. Since our car was still in the week-long pre-paid parking garage, we simply stowed our luggage in it and walked to the "Aquarium of the Americas." It was a great place to spend a couple of hours.

Jim, Jacob, and I returned to Houston to find a pool full of seeds that had fallen from our annoyingly large Live Southern Oak trees and a creepy, dead critter carcass in the yard. The temperatures in Texas were very warm - hot actually - but the three of us were only there to enjoy them for a few days. On Thursday, we headed back to Michigan where the low temperature dipped to 18 degrees - about 65 degrees cooler than the lovely high we had just experienced down south. Brrrr!

The kiddie area was awesome on our ship. We had no use for it, other than standing over it and admiring the beautiful blue wake.

Jacob liked the ship's driving range. Jim offered him some unsolicited advice.

Some cute penguins at the aquarium. They were very playful and animated.

Check out the schnoz on this guy at the aquarium!

I think it was a squirrel that met its demise on our deck.

Every spring we get zillions of these seeds in our pool. Luckily, the seed season only lasts about a month. This particular batch gathered only an hour after I had skimmed the water.