Olivia's Birthday Party

Olivia's birthday was May 28, but she waited until this weekend for her party so we could be with her! It was an awesome day! Chris designed the invitations. The party was at Pappy and Sa's house. Sa had decorated with pink in honor of Olivia's day and Pappy did the grilling. Aunt Kay made cakes (oh - my - goodness!) for Olivia and for Chris and Aunt Cindy made some awesome snacks and potato salad.

The Piechota family is in the process of moving to Norcross, GA. Ryan has already moved up there, so he drove back Friday for the party. Sara and Olivia hope to join him there in July. I'm OK with it for now, but probably only because we are away on the boat anyway. At home, I'm kind of used to seeing Olivia every other day or so.

We got a chance to see my brother, Walt, and Terri and their gorgeous girls. We also got to see Pappy's sister Jeannine (we call her Neenie), and Larry, their daughter Dena, and her son Austin. It was a rare treat to see all of them. Kay's boys, Nicholas and Michael, came with their mom and their dad, JR, came straight from his ANG drill weekend. He changed quickly and took folks for boat rides. Randy, Cindy's husband, and Brice, their grandson, were able to be with us too. Randy works in Macon and all over, so it was good to see him! Our dear friends, Diane Harwell, her daughter Julie and granddaughter Audrey came to share the celebration.

Olivia had her own little cake to eat as she would... she had a ball! She didn't quite know what to make of everybody singing to her. She went home happy and exhausted, with a big stash of new toys. Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea!

Today we do more doctor visits and errands. We leave tomorrow to get back to our boat and continue north. More from the road (actually, river) on Wednesday or Thursday!

The artwork was done by our resident illustrator, Chris! The wording is a nod to my grandmother, Mamaw Sister, who sang like a bullfrog and loved to sing this song to us when we were little.

Kay made a Winnie the Pooh cake for the party. The top was just for Olivia!

She also made an AWESOME chocolate cake for Chris!

Olivia got to play in the pool

Julie and Audrey joined her

Waiting on the presents

With my Pappy

Audrey helped open the presents

She likes this present thing

Playing with Audrey

Waiting for cake

What's with the singing?

Oh! For me?

Thanks, Aunt Kay!

Sa and Neenie

L-R, JR, Walt, Randy and Larry

Brice loves his Nana.

L-R, Deanna, Dena, Neenie, Beth, Cindy and Kay

The four kids: Cindy, Beth, Walt and Kay. I'm the oldest, so I should have swapped places with Cindy.

Pappy and his sister, Neenie.

Papa has a new job! The Piechotas are moving to Norcross.

Neenie, Rachael, Sa and Pappy

Austin jumped in clothes and all!

Sa put everything together! Thanks, Sa!

You've come a long way, little girl!

Chris graduates from SCAD

As most of you know, we are home for a few days for some joyous family events. The first of these is Christopher's graduation from the Savannah College of Art and Design. It was a very busy but very fulfilling day. There were about 1700 graduates this year, so they had a large general graduation ceremony complete with Valedictorian and Guest Speaker - in this case Whoopi Goldberg. Then the graduates come back in one of two groups for the conferment of diplomas.

Graduation started at 9:00am and the School of Communications Arts was part of the 4:00pm ceremony. In between, we met with Ryan and Olivia for breakfast. We were hoping to go to J. Christopher for breakfast, but apparently many other families had the same idea and got there first.

The graduation was a beautifully done event. Whoopi Goldberg was awesome. She attributed much of her success to her "weird" mother. I took that as a good omen for Chris. He definitely has a passion for illustration - he's been doing it since he could hold a pencil.

I am very excited for him as he begins a new phase of his life. It's so cool to watch your children evolve into very interesting adults! We are quite proud of all three of our children. Good luck, Boy!

Whoopi was cool

The new graduate - sort of

Olivia waiting for breakfast

One of her new faces

Uncle Chris - her favorite uncle.

Back again - this time for the diploma!

Got it this time!

Good luck, my Boy!

Wonderful children!

The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal

First of all, thanks to Speedy who asked about the USS Constellation from the Baltimore posting. I checked and found that this is the second USS Constellation, not the sister ship to the USS Constitution in Boston. It is an interesting ship in its own right, though. You can find out more about it at constellation .

The C and D Canal is an old canal linking the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River. The first proposal for building this canal was in 1661. The original canal was completed in 1829 and had four locks. It has been expanded and deepened since that time to accommodate vessels up to 886 ft. Luckily we didn't see anything bigger than a barge.

There are five bridges across the canal, all of which are high enough for passage without opening. There was also a gas pipeline across the canal. The scenery went from rolling pastoral hills on the Chesapeake Bay side to flat marshland on the Delaware River side. About halfway through the canal is a marina where Cousin Rich lived on his boat for several years before coming to Savannah.

We saw young ducks and geese, and lots of osprey mothers sitting their nests. We also saw hundreds of dead fish - mostly large ones - in ones and twos, all along the north Chesapeake area to the Delaware River. There was also a great deal of debris in the water - logs, branches, lumber and lots of seaweed. We had to pay attention as we cruised along.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we will drive to Savannah to attend Chris' graduation from The Savannah College of Art and Design and to celebrate Olivia's birthday. I can't wait to see all my babies!

Leaving the marina at Charlestown

A community of RVs and trailers

The entrance to the canal

Beautiful farm and pastureland

The land is starting to flatten out

Young Canada geese

A 6" gas pipeline suspended over the canal

This is the marina where Cousin Rich kept his boat

You can see a nuclear power plant across the marsh

The Delaware River

Pea Patch Island and Fort Delaware

Steve and Ryder going for a walk

Delaware City Marina