Auction, Hiking, School & Tennis

Jenn was on the Old Trail School Celebration Auction Fundraiser committee this year, and the event was really, really cool. Lots of neat items were auctioned, from courtside seats & an autographed LeBron James Jersey to a hot air balloon birthday party, from a trip into the Cargill Salt Mines to dinner parties at some of the finest restaurants in the Cleveland area, from fine wine to a weekend at The Masters. A silent auction made up the early part of the event, with lots of opporutnity to meet new families and friends, and the evening concluded with a live auciton for the biggest items. In addition to coordinating all of the auction items, Jenn also made the desserts for the VIP table.

While it's cold this weekend, the weather has been really up and down lately, with lots of warm weather for hiking and getting out into the parks.

I had my first Cuyahoga Valley National Park photo taken up by the Park's Instagram:

This #Cardinal, the state bird of #Ohio, exploring Ohio's only National Park. #FindYourPark #Birding Photo credit to @rggates

A photo posted by CuyahogaValleyNPS (@cuyahogavalleynps) on Mar 13, 2016 at 1:29pm PDT

CVNP has a fraction of the followers that the bigger, more well-known parks have, such as Yellowstone or Yosemite, but it's cool to have my photos recognized no matter the size of the audience. I'm told that the next one of mine that they're planning to share is this one:

Some of my other cool shots from recent hikes include...

The kids have had some small events at school, such as little music perforances and Book Character Day:

This morning we took another trip to Seiberling to feed the birds. At our last trip, the kids got a kick out of feeding the ducks, but that got cut short this time when a muskrat swam across the pond to chase away the ducks and get at the seed we'd dropped. So we went a ways down the trail and the real excitement came when a Tufted titmouse came to feed!

Lincoln's still having fun with tennis. He's been learning how to keep score and play matches, and this summer we'll get him enrolled in a tournament or two so he can move up to the next level of classes. I've had fun photographing him and practicing my action photography. When I showed my photos to his coach, Alvin, he liked them and asked if he could use some of them on their website. He then proceeded to tell me I need to work on getting better photos with the ball on the strings. Ha! It made me chuckle. Always room for improvement.

On the agenda: start a second blog. Don't laugh. Jenn and I both know that we don't update this as often as we ought. But a second blog will high-light our 50-State adventure. We'll play catch up by revising our North Carolina and South Carolina vacations, and then make it about the trips once they're completed, but also dig deep into our planning process. We'll see how successful it is, but it's something both Jenn and I have on our minds to do.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park Photography

My new camera gear is a whole bunch of fun to use. It certainly is taking practice, and even the practice is fun. Instagram, and following a number of the national parks and good photographers is definitely helping my photography. (At least I think so... you can be your own judge.)

Cuyahoga River Ohio & Erie Canal

The other day I went hunting for the Bald Eagle's nest up in the Brecksville Reservation are of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and while I found it, I couldn't see the eagles. Bummer. But that didn't make the trip disappointing at all. The CVNP is beautiful in any season, and seeing it through a camera lens has been lots of fun.

The Great Blue Herons are returning to their nests, the Cuyahoga River has been flowing fast with the rain and snowmelt, and I never noticed just how many ducks are around these parts.

Grandparents Week

While we were away, Grandma Laura came up for a few days to stay with them, and then they went to Grandma Paulette & Grandpa Doug's house for a time.

Before we left, we all attended Henry's Celebration at school. It was a special time that ended with one of his class's committees giving him a "custom made" snow globe.

The Monday of that particular week was Chinese New Year, so Grandma Paulette set up some fun for the kids to celebrate.

The week ended with a trip to the cabin, and all the fun that such a trip includes!

Western Caribbean

Jenn and I had a nice vacation get-away and the kids had some really cool time with Grandma Laura, then Grandma Paulette & Grandpa Doug.

We chose this vacation for the itinerary and the company, and while we’ve really enjoyed the warm waters of the southern Caribbean, we chose the western Caribbean this time around with stops in Roatan, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel. Pete and Moe, along with their friends Kevin and Beverly, joined us, as well.

This was one of the smaller ships we’ve been on, though it was hard to tell. The big ships tend to hide the crowds well with more areas of activity and dining to shunt everyone. Vision of the Seas is a nice ship, our room was comfortable, our balcony was nice, and the entertainment was good. Our food service improved as the cruise went on. The first two evenings were quite disappointing, as our waiter was just not as responsive as we’d expect on a cruise. After moving to a different section and taking on a new waiter, things turned out very nicely.

Jenn scheduled all of our excursions herself with the help of Trip Advisor. There is good savings and better options staying away from the cruise listings, we've found.

We went with Roatan Ocean Adventures and went drift snorkeling for a time, followed by a visit to a place that rescues monkeys, macaws, parrots and other animals. The animals were very well cared for, and we had a blast on both stops.

Preston describs what we were to see under the water on our drift snorkel.

In Belize we went with Belize Tours Unlimited and our driver, Marvin, picked us up a the cruise terminal and drove us to Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, apparently one of the best birding locations in North America. It did not disappoint. Marvin lives about 5 minutes from the Audubon Society outfit there, and when he felt like we didn't see all of the species we should have, he took us to his house where we found a number of new species in his back yard. He also cut open some newly ripe cocunuts to drink from, and wow, was that tasty.

On the way back to the terminal, he took us to a hole-in-the-wall named Dand's and we had a *really* good Belizian meal of rice & beans, I had pork and Jenn had gibnut, a.k.a. "the royal rat."

The third stop was a beach on Costa Maya. Our experience with sitting on Caribbean beaches has been mixed, with the most negative experiences coming when the beaches were filled with "vendors" and solicitors. This time we reserved a spot at Nohoch Kay Beach Club that included beach chairs, an umbrella, wifi, food, drinks, kayak, restrooms, and very friendly service.

The beach was really pleasant, and while the air and water weren't as warm as we've experienced in the Caribbean this time around, this was our best weather day of the week. Also very cool were the small patches of sea grass where the Little Blue Heron and the Yellow Capped Night Heron were fishing for lunch. This was my first opportunity to wade into the water with my big lens, and it was a lot of fun.

Cozumel was our last stop, and Jenn arranged for us to drive around the island in a modified VW Beetle with a guide. One of our stops was a tequila factory where we were pretty much only interested in learning the history and the technique, not in tassting. Even the smell of tequila has nearly triggered my gag reflex in the past, but that was apparently because I was smelling cheap, chemical-induced tequila. This factory was a very small outfit that made it the right way, which takes >7 years to grow the plant and then months to years to age the product. Theirs was very tasty.

We drove through the city, then across the island to the beach, down south to Punta Sur Eco Beach Park, then up to a fun restaurant, then back to the boat. Santiago, our guide, was as friendly and professional as they come, and he showed us a good time around the island.

We finished the cruise with a day at sea that included 5 hours of dominos in the solarium. It was a blast!