Courageous Joy

Monday, July 04, 2016

Sunday, July 03, 2016

CoRielle Are Here

After church, lunch, and our visit to Brother Jonathan Point...this happened.

Repair on Mom G's car

CoRielle arrived. They are down for the evening and day tomorrow. We enjoyed dinner and then headed over to Mom G's. The guys decided to initiate Cory into an old family tradition - sleeping on the beach. Michael did this a lot while growing up here. We girls opted for warm and soft beds in the Caboose.

A site was selected, rocks were cleared and driftwood was gathered.

Next up was a visit with Mom G.

Mom, Arielle, Cory

Stacia, Cory, Arielle - Arrow and Nina

Smith River at Sunset

Of COURSE we stayed for s'mores before heading back to the park.

CoRielle, Nolan, Michael, Stacia, Alex

It's a blessing to have the kids make the drive for a quick visit. We'll pack in as much as we can.

Brother Jonathan Point

JaRissa have been taking quick video clips of places they are going and things they are doing in Alaska. They have been such fun for us to watch, that we decided to try our own. I had thought we'd need to wait until we have a Go Pro - but we made it work without it - once we figured out not to put the selfie-stick over the volume button. LOL

Below - a quick visit to Brother Jonathan Point in Crescent City, CA. We'll mostly share these on our Courageous Joy Facebook page.

We've been thinking of starting a YouTube channel for quite some time....It seems to do that we'd need to do more professional videos, and learn to edit, and learn how You Tube works....so we've done nothing.

A still shot that will print - though it's a bit odd. ::snort::

Saturday, July 02, 2016

Monkeying Around in Eureka, CA

We have been trying to visit John and Mary K (Michael's sister) since he retired. We kept getting diverted by health, family or VA . TODAY - Nolan woke up ill, but the rest of us drove over the Redwood Hwy, down Hwy 101 to Eureka, for the long awaited visit.

We chatted a bit at their home.

Mary K showed us where she goes to work on her art. She's had a couple of shows in Eureka lately.

Our next stop was the Clarke Memorial Museum. The customer service was awesome. They saw us looking at the steps and came out to show us a side entrance with a ramp. They were great at answering our questions.

John (our BIL), Mary (Michael's sister), Stacia, Michael & Alex

I had hoped to find information on the Carson Mansion. It turns out it's owned by an exclusive, private club and not open to the public.....but sometimes they open for tours one weekend in December. We'll have to keep our ears and eyes open.

A memorial to WW2 Chaplain Pearson

It was lunch time when we left the museum. We opted for a picnic in Sequoia Park.

The next natural stop was the Sequoia ZOO! Stacia hadn't been to an American zoo since she was old enough to remember. This is a smallish zoo - but very easy to do and we loved it. Stacia's favorites were the monkeys.

Via Google Images

Do you see Stacia below? She's inside a tube in the middle of an aquarium. VERY COOL - and slightly freaky.

Eagles Nest

Scarlet Ibis

Blonde Crested Spider

Aunt Mary and Stacia

Crested Screamers - the one in the foreground appears
to be threatening the one with the eggs

John said he wanted a photo with me in it - and so Michael took one

F - John
B - Stacia, Mary, Me

We FINALLY found our retirement flamingos. . . not in FL like we'd hoped. . . but we found them.

Daniel - a HUGE cow temporarily lives at the zoo. He is 6 foot 4 inches! His owners are looking for a new home for him. They raised him on a bottle. They SERIOUSLY are checking and it appears this cow may break a few records.

Via Google Images

It was a great day. We didn't stay for Arts Alive, as we needed to drive the couple of hours back, have dinner and prepare for an early Sunday morning.....and CoRielle are coming to town to see us.

Yuuki in the Spotlight

Such a pretty dog! Note she is ON their futon.

The cushions stacked in the closets are their futons. Yuuki's personality shines through in this video - she is NOT going to do what Nolan asks.

The Redwood Highway

Our current home is in a park directly off US Hwy 199 - the Redwood Highway. It's a beautiful stretch of road. When I say Mom G lives 13 miles from town - it's 13 of the windiest, curviest, most beautiful miles in America. ::snort::

I struggle with motion sickness. I made myself sick the first time I drove it. ::snort::

I'm getting used to finding tourists in the middle of the road as one comes around a tight curve....

I'm learning to deal with the odd combination of locals who zip around the curves at 55 mph and the tourists who slow down to 15 mph to take the curves.

Semis, trailers, giant Class A's, bicyclists....it makes for an interesting drive. This is NOT a curvy spot....but note the bicycle club leading the pack. LOL

Friday, July 01, 2016

We Also Played

Around 3 or 4 p.m. each day, Michael tells the kids to hit the river. He and I usually continue to work on jobs, but one day he joined them.

Nolan & Stacia

Stacia, Nolan, Michael and Alex behind the boat

I discovered grocery shopping is great fun, if I stop and sit a bit at one of the beach access'. One day Stacia and I tried a new spot. We brought a treat, set on a bench, watched the waves and breathed.....Stacia felt a movement on her leg, looked down and had a critter resting on her leg. These things were FAT and everywhere....

Michael simply HAD to have a break yesterday. We had a few things we needed to pick up and so we went into town. We stopped at the Del Norte Historical Museum. They said they are connected with the Coast Guard and because of Homeland security photos aren't allowed. Glad they didn't tell us this when we visited the lighthouse run by the coastguard in WA. LOL