A Whale of a Trip

We made it!

(One little detail I forgot about on the trip out - it rained on us the 2nd night.  A couple of the tents leaked.  Ours did not.)

My sister Lisa and her family stayed with Bob and Lou.  My family stayed in the apartment they rent out on the lower level of their house.  The rest stayed in a hotel not too far away.

Tuesday, July 30, we slept in a little but we had to get ready for a trip out on the ocean to see whales and other ocean life.  Amanda and Ron chose not to go so 24 of us headed out for the whale watch.

K and her cousin

J enjoying the view from the back of the boat

Little A and her cousin at the front of the boat with Seth

My dad and his sister, June

If you look closely you can see the tail of a humpback whale.

I made several picture attempts, but my camera was just not quick enough.  My son, however, captured a lot of great shots on his iPod.

Little A on the upper deck

K on the upper deck.  She was the most afraid of seeing a shark.  When I told my aunt Lou, she said it was not likely that we would see a shark.  Guess what?  We did!  I didn't see it well enough to get a picture, but a blue shark swam next to the boat.  I wasn't with K at the time so I asked her about it later.  She said she was a little scared but she did get a good look at it.  That's my girl.

Another shot of a humpback whale.  She stayed around and showed off quite a bit.

After a couple hours on the ocean, we headed back in.  Here sits my brother-in-law Andy, my aunt Lou, and aunt June.

My grandma who was enjoying a nap.

My uncle Bob

Me with my brother-in-law Tim

J with his cousin

Little A with her cousin

My sister Sara read a few books to some of the kids.  K is lying on the floor.

My dad and my sister Lisa holding her little one.

My mom

Another niece reading

2 of my nephews

2 more nephews

Seth and me

My brother-in-law Nate

We could view this lighthouse on the way out and in

We had left shore around 1:30 and the boat finally docked around 5:30.  We were to meet Amanda and Ron at the Lobster Pool for supper.  As we arrived, I saw Amanda waving and a blonde woman standing next to her waving as well.  I was very confused.  "Who's the girl with Amanda?"  Seth was too busy finding a place to park (which was nearly impossible!) to notice.  One of my kids thought Amanda had made a new friend.  I found that odd.  We drove by again (still looking for a parking space) and I looked harder and thought to myself, "That looks like Barb but she wouldn't be here..."  I was still just so very confused.

We finally parked and I realize it WAS Barb!  What a surprise!!!

She and her husband, Alan, and their son were also on vacation and decided to meet us all out here.  They are long-time family friends from Greenfield who later became family when Alan's mom married my grandpa.

29 people eating together.  The food wasn't too bad.  Seth and I shared a platter of various seafoods.

We also got to see this beautiful sunset as we ate.

We returned to Bob and Lou's house where they had a surprise for all 11 kids.  He turned on the ceiling fan and stuffed animals flew everywhere.  The kids quickly grabbed a few and picked out their favorites, then ran off to play while we adults discussed the next day's plans.

A trip into Boston coming up...