Happy Easter!

We have had one gray, wet Easter. I haven't looked to see how much rain we've gotten over the last few days, but there's water standing in the yard. At least it's warm enough that there's no snow in the picture. We wound up closing schools on Monday due to some of the white stuff in the western end of the county. We actually got more snow on Tuesday but it wasn't a threat to safety and schools ran on time.

MENDING. Mom seems to be doing pretty well. Vicki took her to the doctor on Tuesday and after taking another x-ray he said that she could continue with the boot and try putting full weight on the foot by today, which she has done with a lot of success.

Mom made it to church today and everyone was glad to see her. She enjoyed everything about going to church except trying to get up from sitting in the pew. After church we enjoyed a light lunch over at Mom's house and later in the afternoon she took off with the walker.

We still have people helping Mom out 'round the clock. I think she's needed it since she has so much trouble getting up from low seats and maneuvering with the boot, though that should prove easier now that she can put more weight on her foot. We have met some really nice women and Mom has enjoyed their company.

"WOO HOO! NO HUSBAND, NO CHILDREN!" That's what Vicki heard herself say when she replayed some video she shot as soon as she and her friends were relaxing on the Carnival Fascination. She had thought the camera wasn't recording at the time but then Vicki is always making that mistake with the video camera.

I won't go into all the details of her cruise, mostly because I'm getting the story in bits and pieces. Vicki and her friends all had a great time and are plotting to take another cruise together in the future.

We naturally asked how the Fascination compared with the Disney Magic since that's our only point of reference. She simply said Carnival was perfect for a trip with a bunch of friends and Disney was perfect for a family vacation. She did go on to say that the food aboard the Fascination was excellent.

The girls made two ports of call on their cruise. The first was at Freeport, and they spent their time there at the beach and shopping. Vicki and Roni attempted to use a sea kayak while at the beach but wound up capsizing their craft, entertaining all in the immediate area. I am told there are pictures but I have yet to see the evidence.

Their second stop was at Nassau where they went snorkeling. Vicki said their snorkeling experience was much better than our excursion at Grand Cayman -- the water was much calmer and clearer and the fish more plentiful. She snapped several pictures with a disposable, waterproof camera but the images don't do the scenery justice. (We had purchased a camera like this on Grand Cayman but it leaked so we didn't get any shots.)

So now Vicki is back into the normal routine and while we are glad she could go we are all very glad to have her home.

Joe