Grandpa helping Mary Leigh bee a good student

Shoe polish box project

The Boys wanted a project to put together.   Verne calls it a “shoe polish box” We thought it might be used for tools or toys.   We shall see.

It’s the Mason Bee’s Knees

Verne built Mason bee box with Porter and Nathan.

The house is paid off, celebration dinner at Perry’s on Fremont

SEA you Later

Our last day of the cruise.   We slept in, after staying up so late.

We made our way to the Serenity Deck where Verne finished his second book.

We passed another cruise ship along the way, that was having a little engine problem.   We said our goodbyes and headed into the sunset, and the port of Miami,FL

  “Whanau ma ake tonu”   Maori for . . .

Families are forever.

Welcome to “Grand Turk” key

So What could this island that is 7 1/2 miles across and 1 1/2 miles wide have.   NOT MUCH  But there is a history.   Between 1950 and 1970 the U.S. had a military base.(now boarded up)  In the 1960’s the space capsule carrying John Glen splashed down just off the island and he was taken to the base for debriefing.   And the island used to have a nice salt farm before other larger places pushed them out of business.    

                                       

The beautiful beach was quite empty when we got there.   Another ship arrived and the island was FULL. Enough about that . . .   We sat by a beautiful fresh water pool and had virgin pina coladas and a very impressive platter of nachos.      We took a trolley ride around the island (doesn’t take long) and saw some of the sights.Here is the beach just before we left, and us getting on the ship.   This was our last port of call.

A Happy Birthday on the Ship

A fun Dinner and Kurt’s birthday too.   We had a nice day in “Grand Turk” and got cleaned up for dinner.   The evening was starting to get cooler, about 74 degrees. We danced and sang Karaoke.   Alan and Kristin were quite the dancers.  We all were impressed.   Jeff and Robbin were our grand champions of the karaoke!!!   I will remember Robbin’s rendition  of “Somewhere out There”   for the rest of my life.  

Amazing . . . . . . . . .

sunset off the side as we left “Grand Turk”

The waiter brought  a cake for Kurt to blow the candle out.   Great job Kurt.   All the waiters even  got up on the side tables and danced “Gangdom Style”  We had a very fun and active evening.