Summer views!

Well it's been one of those weeks .. again! All week I have been counting down to one thing or another, and it isn't any better next week!

Thursday Zac took his final oral exam and passed! He is now an Officer of the Watch and can navigate a ship of unlimited tonnage.. it was actually not so bad as the time approached as he realised he had prepped quite well, lots of group learning and sessions with a port pilot, not quite the repeat learning we used to do for maths and geography in our day!

On Friday Pops travelled down from Col's brothers where he was staying a few days and Zac gave him a look round Southampton port.  They travelled home.. a long hot journey amidst all the holiday makers on the south coast road.

Summer Foods: salady stuff .. outside!

We are having the loveliest of weather, although in the office we see it more than feel it, but it is lovely to have evenings to sit out and eat.. so that's what we did with all the family on Friday evening.. quite satisfying too as Kate passed her driving theory test the same day.

Add to that April passing her Teaching skills exams and we have 4 out of 4 so far!

I have failed on some summer views (feet..and sky today) but have covered these other weeks!

Big Sisters.. Lilly not happy as her burger was cold! Age 3y 4m and 6 years

Baby Annabelle..being like the big girls..age 18 months and just about walking.

Marazion

From my window

Frequently visited.. the building works down the field.. 

Footings!

Zac's home.. cue the family barbecue 

Zac's Passed Out! (well, he graduated and saw the sunrise over Southampton)

Proud Mommy!

So... three years have passed us by.. almost.. Zac has sailed the high seas for almost 14 months and spent many an hour pondering ballast and navigation calculations at college .. oh and also acquainted himself with many a nightclub, Hollywood wax works, Hawaiian volcanos, glaciers in Alaska and tropical downpours in Fiji.. (sure I have missed what he would see as his highlights!)

The academic terms are done, short courses in fire fighting and rescue boats passed and all the cadets had family come to Southampton Guildhall for the Passing Out Ceremony. Not quite a march past but the cadets were all so beautifully turned out and professional you could not fail to be proud or impressed!

The only shame is that the biggest hurdle is still to face.. his final oral exam in about 2 weeks.  Then he can go to sea with his Princess Cruise company employer as a fully fledged Third Officer (Officer of the Watch)



The College put out a spoof 'Notice to Shipping' warning of the imminent arrival of newly qualified officers!

6am Sunday!

It was a lovely evening and we got to see some of his great friends who had been here for Col's 50th birthday. Some of them have family abroad and they invited friends to play Mum & Dad instead but their parents were able to watch the ceremony online.. ahh the wonders of the 21st Century!



They were a lot of fun and even invited us two out for their after party drinks.. we decided being horizontal back at the hotel was the best place for us after a long day visiting museums and running about the day before (I always seem to get Colin to visit a customer instead of really taking time off) .. well it was the hottest night too, poor Zac in his formal uniform and me in a maxi dress.. 










The next day Zac's friend Sean and his family who were down for the event and had brought along the whole family for a holiday, invited us to Sean's grandad's 90th birthday as a joint barbecue celebration with the newly qualified sailors! 

Jordan had made the cake and we had delivered it the day before.

Sean's family are from Liverpool so there was lots of banter with Colin and we met Sean's 'Champagne Auntie' who was Zac's drinking partner at Easter when he went 'up north' to visit with Sean!  Charlie had all his family round him and he was telling me he knew that they must have something planned as several of his kids said they were going away the very weekend of his birthday.   They flew Charlie and his wife down  to Southampton and they loved it, certainly less stressful than a 5 hour drive for them!

The newly graduated crew were a little worse for wear, 'some' not having got home from the casino and nightclubs til 7am!  But it was so hot and sunny that it felt like perfect end of term summer atmosphere!

Voirrey, Imogen, (Lauren, an already qualified pal), Zac & Sean

Tattoo!

 Not being one to miss an opportunity, I asked Voirrey if I could photograph her tattoo for the Summer Scavenger Hunt..and she kindly obliged!

Voirrey works for Holland America Cruise Line and they are very keen that staff do not have tattoos, or at least ones which are very visible so she had to declare that she had one and send pictures of it to the company to make sure she would still be allowed to join their training programme! ( I think she has it covered whilst at work..;-) )

It was a great time, another of our crew on the way in the world and not one of them taking a conventional route yet!

Viewed from the back!

So.. last week's prompt was taking pictures from behind or the back of something.  I had lots of good intentions but not all of them worked out..and since I am a bit behind I thought I would just show you them all in one go!

On Saturday a week ago, we hung out with Zac and visited the HMS Alliance ( a great exhibit, a real vintage submarine!) and also a small but very interesting (especially to Colin) Diving Museum set up in Gosport in a navy battery almost underground.

I took this picture of the submarine poster as it was a view from the back!

Colin & Zac were happy to play along with my crazy picture taking as they studied this One Atmosphere 'JIM' suit.







There was also an exhibit which was very dark and like an operations room in a sub or naval ship.. there were lots of mannequins and my lovely Jordan would have been quite uncomfortable with them around every corner!










This exhibit at the diving museum was especially spooky, looked more like Dr Who costumes! But they were just examples of different diving equipment used not that long ago.

One of our workshop guys has got a GoPro head camera and took a video of a cycle ride.. this is tea break with all the guys watching the video..



..and yesterday I went to Plymouth and took the chance to sit down whilst the girls were choosing which 'Spud They Liked' !!

.. finally.. the back of the orchid a friend bought me 3 and half years ago and it still flowers!

Transportation..

So this week was Colin's birthday. 

It has been crazy busy in the office as one of our main men has gone away for three weeks well earned holiday!  Zac has gone back to warsash for his final short courses before his passing out in 3 weeks, then just his oral exams before he is a fully fledged 3rd Officer iwth Princess Cruises.. yay! Some stressful days for him the next six weeks but I am sure he will be fine.

We went to Torquay last night for the evening, we really like it there, always things going on and usually we have great sunshine..and it gave me chance to find the transport prompts for the week: 

My Car... we do love it..

Well these ones are oldies:

2 wheeled Segways in tenerife

There was D-Day commemorative event in the Pavilion Gardens and they had some lovely old vintage vehicles which really help set the mood.. 

Torquay has an enviable marina with all kind of boats of every shape and size, this is kind of public transport; a ferry which takes you round to Dartmouth..

.. and this pretty much fits the bill for some unusual transport I'd say!

(the blue sky cost us extra!)

English Riviera Wheel

The fabric of my life!?

It's a little bit sad when the posted of the blog prompt cannot get anything posted for the group!

But I do have excuses.. more of them later.. here is my fabric offering.. a floral dress I wore on Monday and lovely cotton pillowcases and my bedroom curtains.. the rest is history!

So.. what have we been up to here in the Big House (that's what Colin's Mum used to call our house and I noticed that Ken has it down on his key rings too.. awhhh.



We spent a lot of the bank holiday weekend decorating over at Pop's house, he was away and we got busy.. finishing the bathroom decorating and then a quick spruce before his new kitchen went in.. it was all hands to the pump.

Zac was home as he had no short course this week and he and Ross went to work outside while Kate, JB, April, Col and I were painting and staining anything which stood still..

I must a get a picture of how it looks now.. well, when pops has done the tiling!





This weekend was somewhat more recreational! Zac needed a suit for his final oral exams in July and Col needed a suit.. full stop! We are off to Zac's passing out evening late June and whilst he has formal wear (white naval type jacket and bow tie) Colin and I have to get done up as if it was a wedding or something.. they say it is a bit more than a graduation as once he is done there he is going to be a (Third) Officer on a cruise ship!

We had a few laughs in M&S as there was no-one offering any help.. so went to the very high ratio staff : customer Moss Bros and got suited and booted.. well suited and bow tied!

I shall no doubt have a big pic blog fest late June for my boy xx

I also seemed to be in St Ives again! Dropping off the crew for a night at the Rumn Shack.. not quite sure why we didn't go out as well.. oh yes, that's it, we are the oldies! ;-)
had to stop off and take this great Friday night sunset!

.. and yesterday we had a wander and went round the back of the harbour.. had to leave after a bit as a lad was there showing off and it made uncomfortable viewing worrying that he may fall off a chunk of wood he was balancing on!

But St Ives is always busy and has great photo opportunities..

I almost forgot!! Last Sunday Zac, Lisa and her husband and some of their pals went on a 12Km Tough Enough challenge, set by Marines it was under mud and over mud.. obstacles and even an open water swim out and back.. we had the children and went to see them turn the corner for the final mile..

Annabelle..16 months

Later there was another muddy party for the runners and despite it being horrible weather M&D cannot give up on a planned night without the babes!

.. so the girls slept over and in the morning we did some Nan & girlie selfies in bed!

 (If it had been fine I would be posting pics of the Penzance Pirate challenge.. but we were all pooped (on the poop deck maybe) so we have to admit we were the 7 of the 77 too short to make a world record!

Over to you Lynn.. did you go when Hastings got the World Record?

Windows : Modern

What could be more modern than a Pod which carries people to and from Terminal 5 at Heathrow to the Thistle hotel....

My Zac is home in UK..more to follow no doubt!

December Daily : Day 17

Well our Zac is in dry dock in Vancouver with his cruise ship the Grand Princess this week. He has managed to call and we got a decent connection using his mobile..usually we settle for the cheaper Satellite connection but a good long technical chat is a bit overdue.

I love to hear Col on the phone to Zac..He loved working on big boats and now loves to share stories and hear tales from Zac's trips. Me, well I like to check he is well and having a healthy safe time ...oh and all about the dancing girls. .

Col used to work away himself and once got a radio guy out of his bunk to make the ship to shore connection on Christmas Day.  His parents and brother were surprised to hear from him and all passed the phone around wishing him Happy Christmas but not getting deep into conversation.  They said goodbye, wished him all the best and the call was over .

The radio guy, still weary from broken sleep, disconnected the call, turned to Colin and told him the length of the call.. 1 minute 25 seconds ...
'Worth it was it ?' he asked...
...'Not really'..said Col and went back to his single bunk in the North Sea to enjoy the rest of his Christmas Day...;-(

Funny stories..experiences..offshore life is all about them..

..We have sent two packages out to Zac for him to collect after Dry Dock when he goes down to San Francisco to get the Christmas contingent of cruise guests. I hope they all get through.. Some of the customs side of trying to get things to the USA is quite difficult. .so Jordan and I have taken pictures of the gifts to send him on 25th just in case they never turn up..It is the thought which counts ..isn't it?

December Daily: Day 14

So we had a kids day and Ross April Col and I took the three girlie's to Trevor no to the Helston Railway. We rode on the brake van with its red hot little stove and drank hot spicy apple drink in the buffet afterwards.

The girls ..and I got to meet Santa and I even sat on his knee! Oh dear .. and Col was videoing all the time whilst I didn't know!

It's a great little piece of railway run by volunteers and proper old school family time.

This evening Lilley has slept over and we all enjoy some super one to one.. We decorated the dresser and now we are having an 'almost  midnight' feast..Jordan and I are eating the savouries and Lilly has the ĺong promised candy cane off my tree!!

I took some pics and I even made a corner forZac's ships and his tree .. The upside for him this year is he cannot cut my Holly from Hawaii xx

A few pics.. even the one where the two youngest met Joey through the security of plate glass..oh and the girls saw a fix walk through the garden and yard at 9am.
I think today you could say we 'Went for It' ... great last prompt Anne xx xx