Merry Times in the Canadian Maritimes?

We've been back on AMI for a little over a week now.  It's been hot and humid as it always is down here at this time of year, but it's been very nice for afternoon swims, paddle boarding and of course the nightly sunsets..  We're going to be here for six more nights before hitting the road again.  Like our last adventure, we're going to be heading north in search of a little cooler weather.
This time we will be flying to New Hampshire.  We'll be spending a little time in Maine, but most of the three weeks will be spent north of the border in Canada.  We'll be in Canada's eastern provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island which are known as the Canadian Maritimes.  We'll be covering quite a bit of territory by both car and ferry.  We've been to a few of the places that we have on the itinerary but a lot of it we'll be exploring for the first time.  Rugged mountains, green valleys and rocky coast lines and high temperatures in the 70's! Yes!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maritimes
 https://www.kennebunkport.org
https://visitmaine.com/places-to-go/downeast-and-acadia/ellsworth
http://www.cabottrail.travel
http://www.city.charlottetown.pe.ca
http://bayoffundytourism.com

Adios Chicago!

As with all major metropolitan areas, Chicago has it's share of challenges in certain areas of the city.  That being said, it's truly a great place to visit with so many things to see and do.  As I had mentioned previously, they really appreciate their summer days and take full advantage of them.  The 18 mile Lakefront trail is busy with runners, walkers and bikers of all ages.  The numerous beaches, with their Caribbean blue water are full of sunbathers, beach volleyball players and a bunch of brave (or crazy) people swimming in the 70 degree water.
https://www.choosechicago.com/things-to-do/parks-and-outdoors/the-lakefront-trail/
One of the exceptionally great things Chicago has to offer along the waterfront is Millennium Park.  This 25 acre park along with the much larger and adjoining Grant Park is set between Michigan Avenue and the lakefront.  Millennium Park has a huge children's play area, climbing walls, miniature golf and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion which is a massive outdoor theater.  Throughout the summer there are multiday events such as the Jazzfest, Bluesfest and gospel music festival. They also have movies, dance performances and concerts on a regular basis.  During the month of July there was some type of "event" 22 evenings and the really great thing about them is that they were all free!  On Thursday night we listened to a really nice "Progressive Folk" (sounds like an oxymoron to me) group called Honeysuckle and a rock band called the Drive By Truckers.  Friday night we were back, this time enjoying the Grant Park Orchestra & Chorus along with two featured vocalists, Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana.  What we quickly learned about the vocalists were that they both had to their credit leading roles in various Broadway productions.  I didn't see the movie but Santino Fontana played the "Evil Prince" in the movie Frozen.
https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/millennium_park.html
http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/grant-park/
http://www.jaypritzkerpavilion.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Osnes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santino_Fontana
Before heading out Saturday afternoon we enjoyed one final walk along the lakefront.  It was a great time to reflect on everything we had done during our visit to this great city.
Twelve days sure passes quickly in Chicago!

Lakefront Trail



Children Play Area in Maggie Daley Park

Pritzker Pavilion

Pritzker Pavilion

Baseball on the Northside

Today it was time to head north on the Red Line to a place we've become familiar with during our stay  here in Chicago, Wrigley Field.  It was our third time here during this stay.  The first two were for concerts but today we were there for what Wrigley was built for and that was baseball.  Wrigley Field was the last of the major league ballparks to install lights, however they still play more than their fair share of games under the sunshine.  I really like the fact that they play every one of their Friday home games in the afternoon.  I doubt much work gets done on these Friday's around the city and it's a great way to kick off the weekend.
Today the Cubs were playing their most hated rival, the St. Louis Cardinals.  Given the popularity of both the Cubs and Cardinals these games sell out and today was no exception.  Wrigleyville was lively when we arrived even though it was it was well before noon.  Our tickets were "standing room only" but they weren't bad.  We found a place behind home plate that was out of the sun and had a nice breeze.  I would have rather been standing there than jammed into a crowded seat with the sun beating down. 
If you're a baseball fan and you haven't been to Wrigley it's really a special place to catch a game.  The ballpark at the intersection of Clark and Addison is old, crowded, lacking many of the features of the newer ballparks and yet it's awesome.  The fans, ticket scalpers and t-shirt vendors were in full form outside the stadium.  Inside, the legendary ivy that has been know to swallow a baseball, has had enough warm weather and sunshine to completely fill in the outfield wall. The manual scoreboard was looking as good as ever and the smell of hot dogs, popcorn, nachos and other ballpark health food hung thick in the air.  The Cubs blew a lead late in the game  (they really blew it by giving up 9 runs in the eighth inning) but who cares, it was a great afternoon for baseball at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley_Field
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/chc/ballpark

Friday afternoon baseball at Wrigley!



Electronic video boards have been installed in left and right field but the manual scoreboard in centerfield remains!


https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2016/10/18/13305750/inside-the-wrigley-field-scoreboard

Getting educated beyond my level of intelligence

Tomorrow is our last day here in Chicago.  Twelve days is going by quickly .  There is so much to do here, especially in the summer.  The good folks of Chicago take advantage of the warm temperatures with special events such as free outdoor concerts in the park, fireworks at Navy Pier, festivals and so much more.  They pay a big price for these nice days once November/December rolls around and the temperature drops to ridiculously low levels for the next six months or so.
In addition to all the mindless fun stuff such as biking and walking the lakefront trail, baseball games, concerts and pizza, we have also made an effort to educate ourselves a little along the way.  First it was the Art Institute of Chicago which I've written about in a previous blog.  We also did an  architecture tour on the Chicago River and yesterday we spent most of the day pondering the enormity of space at the Adler Planetarium. Speaking strictly for me, I feel I'm educated well beyond my level of intelligence.
All of these activities were part of the "Go Chicago" pass or from a Groupon.  The "Go Chicago" pass is a pretty good deal.  You pick three or five activities from a list of around twenty choices.  They have similar City Passes in a number of major cities and if you're traveling to somewhere like NY, Chicago, LA or other places like that I would recommend checking it out.  They even have one for Tampa that we purchased and used last year that was fun.
https://www.smartdestinations.com/chicago-attractions-and-tours
http://www.citypass.com
The architecture of Chicago is fantastic and there are so many interesting stories about the buildings along the lakefront and Chicago River.  We had done a boat tour on a previous trip but decided to do it again because it was so much fun previously.  It certainly didn't disappoint and we learned quite a bit in the 75 minutes.  One of the most interesting stories was about the Chicago Tribune building.  This building is on Michigan Avenue and is actually just across the river from our hotel so we have a great view of it.  On the outside of the building there are artifacts such as bricks, stones and small pieces of buildings that are mounted into the walls.  Currently there are 150 of these fragments mounted around the outside.  As the story goes, it all started when the owner and publisher (Robert McCormick) of the Tribune back in the early 1900's had his reporters who were sent out on assignment to bring something back that could be mounted on the building.  Some are from some pretty sacred places and I can only imagine how they were collected, but it does make for a great story and walking around the building is quite interesting.
 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-tribune-tower-wall-artifacts-htmlstory.html
It was our first visit to the Adler Planetarium and it was well worth it.  They have a number of interesting exhibits as well as shows throughout the day in different theaters within the building.
This may come as a shock to some of you who are so kind to read this blog occasionally, but I'm no Stephen Hawking!  I am fascinated by this whole space and infinity thing but it's a little beyond my comprehension.  When I hear it, I am intelligent enough to know that somewhere out there in the vastness of all this space there is intelligent life.  Heck, maybe we'll find it here on earth one of these days!
http://www.adlerplanetarium.org

And big................

Chicago Tribune Building

I wonder if the Pope knows about this?

You really can't trust the media, especially if they have a hammer and chisel in their bag!



House of Parliament-London

Beaching it Chicago style

Northside Beaches on a sunny day

Adler Planetarium heat detecting machine 

Baseball on the Southside

Our hotel here in Chicago is in downtown.  With regards to baseball,  you take the Red Line train 4.1 miles south to Guaranteed Rate Field (a rather uninteresting name) where the White Sox play.  Take the same Red Line train 4.4 miles north and you end up at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, home of the 2016 World Champion Chicago Cubs.  Like New York with the Yankees and Mets and LA with the Dodgers and Angels, this is a city divided when it comes to baseball.
We've been to both Cubs and White Sox games on previous visits.  One of the most enjoyable was several years back when Ben and Sarah were still at home and we did a "Tucker Family Baseball Road Trip" that included 4 games in 4 days.  We saw the Cubs and White Sox here in Chicago, the Brewers in Milwaukee and the Twins in Minneapolis.  As always, Beth did an outstanding job planning it and it created some special memories for all of us.  For an encore we did a second "Baseball Trip" a couple of years later that included games in New York, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia that was equally as enjoyable.
Just by observing hats and shirts on the street it would be easy to say the White Sox are the less popular of the two teams here in Chicago.  The Cubs have always been known as the loveable losers and have a huge fan base.  Their popularity soared last year after they won the World Series with many more folks jumping on the bandwagon of the losers who suddenly were the champions..   By winning the championship they exorcised demons such as the curse of the Billy Goat and exonerated an innocent young man named Steve Bartman, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time a few years ago.  He allegedly cost the Cubs a shot at the championship by interfering with a ball hit near the stands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Billy_Goat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bartman_incident
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2673998-steve-bartman-comments-on-cubs-winning-world-series
Last week was the All Star game so there wasn't any games in town during the week. After the All Star break the White Sox had a three game home series against the Mariners that started Friday night.  Thanks again to an old friend we enjoyed complimentary tickets to the Friday night and Sunday afternoon games.
Here are some observations about our trip to the Southside of Chicago.  As the old Jim Croce song about Bad, Bad Leroy Brown went; "the Southside of Chicago is the baddest part of town", I think it still holds true today.  Although it's very safe taking the train and getting to the ballpark which is right at the train station I wouldn't advise wondering too far away from the stadium area.  The ballpark is fairly new and although it is pretty dull on the outside it's quite nice inside.  One interesting thing about the stadium is that if your seats are in the upper deck you can't get to the lower decks even to just walk around.  The White Sox do a great job of honoring the legacy of the team, 
as well as recognizing many of the great individual players who have worn the uniform.  Although this isn't going to be their year as far as making the playoffs go, they are still drawing fairly large and enthusiastic crowds.  Most importantly, the ballpark food was better than average.  They serve a nice Italian Beef Sandwich and believe it or not a pretty nice Cuban Sandwich as well!

Guaranteed Rate Field on a Friday Night!

Check out that gametime (1:10PM) temperature in the upper left hand corner of the scoreboard. 

 

How sweet it is with James Taylor!

Barring anything unforeseen popping up on the concert scene we've finished off the big shows we had on the agenda.  Chicago & the Doobie Bros., Jimmy Buffett & Huey Lewis and last night James Taylor & Bonnie Raitt.  All three shows were very good and all three shows were very unique so there really isn't a way to compare them.  One thing I will compare, and shame Jimmy on a little bit, is that he seems to be getting a little greedy.  Wrigley Field allows you to bring water into the stadium for Cubs games.  James Taylor allowed you to bring water in for his concert.  Jimmy did not allow you to bring in your own water for his show.  I'm not sure what percentage of the concessions he got but even if it was small he did pretty good when water was selling for $6 a bottle!  Not exactly the way you should treat your fans who have been so loyal over the years!
Now that I'm off my soapbox, about last night.  It was another beautiful Chicago evening. It was actually leaning a little toward the chilly side once the sun went down.  Bonnie Raitt plays a mean slide guitar and has a great sorta blues/rock sound that got the crowd rocking.  As good as she was at Wrigley I think she'd be even better to see in a small venue.
It was our second time seeing JT.  We enjoyed seeing him a few years ago at Madison Square Gardens.  It was an excellent show then and he certainly didn't disappoint us last night.  He started out pretty mellow with "Carolina in My Mind" followed by "Country Road".  By the time the show was over he had the crowd on their feet dancing to "How Sweet It Is".  Beth and I dancing to this song on our 35th anniversary brought back a nice memory.  That was the "farewell to the house" song we danced to when we sold our house in Burleson and were heading out the door for the last time.
An appropriate ending to a fun day!

Us and one of the members of our Secret Service Detail

Add caption

JT is down there somewhere on the stage!

Parrot Head Paradise

I think my fondness for Jimmy Buffett's music has been pretty well documented.  This affection goes back in time to the mid-seventies, well before the mainstream stuff like Margaritaville, Fins, Five O'clock Somewhere, etc.  There's some really good music on Havana Daydreaming, Changes in Latitude, A1A and Living and Dying in 3/4 time.  I had all those albums on vinyl. Heck, I probably had some of them on 8 Track!  If all you know of Jimmy is the popular tunes, do yourself a favor sometime and give some of his other music a listen.
Anyone who has been to one of Jimmy's concerts can attest to the fact that it is more of an event than a concert.  Often times you'll see two and three generations of families roaming around in the most unusual attire.  Grass skirts, coconut bras, obnoxious Hawaiian shirts, shark costumes, cheeseburger hats and of course parrot heads.  Now there are even organized Parrot Head clubs.  Currently there are over 200 of them around the world!  The link below has some interesting tidbits of information on the good work these clubs do in the communities, keeping true to their mission to "Party with a Purpose".
https://www.phip.com/about
Saturday night at the iconic Wrigley Field under clear skies and  temperatures in the upper 60's was pretty darn special!  After Huey Lewis and the News did an impressive opening set Jimmy rolled out on stage in a Cubs jersey.  His first song was "Go Cubs Go" and they brought out the World Series trophy.  I'm sure there were a few White Sox fans in the audience but I would imagine they joined right in the celebration.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-jimmy-buffett-wrigley-parrotheads-ent-0717-20170716-story.html
Great show by Jimmy and the 41,000 Parrot Heads that swayed, danced and sang along to every song.  Even though there were plenty of candidates, Beth and I immediately found our favorite member of the crowd. She was a young girl that looked around 10-12 years of age who was with her parents. She was decked out with a bright pink flamingo headband. She danced, and sang every word to every song.  I'm predicting a bright future for that kiddo!
At the end of the night everyone was a winner, especially the beer vendors.  Sales were brisk and the tips those guys were making were impressive.
Tonight's the final concert.  James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt at Wrigley Field.  It's an extra special evening because I'm spending it with an amazing person who became my wife 35 years ago today!

The sign says it all!

Jimmy hits the stage singing "Go Cubs Go"

35 or 53 years depending on how you look at it!



 

Cultured and enlighted in five short hours!

Growing up in the dusty town of Mulberry, Fl in the 70"s didn't really offer too many opportunities for cultural enrichment.  I do recall taking Spanish while in middle school.  Our teacher whose name has long since escaped my memory decided that we needed to be exposed to food from a Spanish speaking country.  She arranged a field trip for us that I can remember to this day.  We loaded up on a school bus and drove all the way to the east side of Lakeland which was a good 10-12 miles away for a hearty meal.
Now the meal wasn't prearranged so we had to practice our Spanish by ordering the food ourselves.  Somehow we managed to stumble through the ordering and soon after we were feasting on Taco's, Burrito's and other exotic foods at Taco Bell!  Yes, that's right, Taco Bell.  Like I said, there wasn't an overabundance of cultural opportunities for us little Mulberrians!
Fast forward about 5 decades and most of my friends and acquaintances would probably say I'm no more cultured now than I was when I stepped up to that Taco Bell counter and boldly said "Dos Tacos, Por Favor"!  However, I've made a considerable effort over the years and probably have exposed myself enough to the fine arts just to be dangerous.
In keeping with this quest, Beth and I enjoyed about five hours at the amazing Art Institute of Chicago.  I don't use the word "amazing" lightly. This museum has been around since 1879 and is one of the largest art museums in the US.  It houses some of the world's most famous works of art which are viewed by over 1.5 million people per year.  On this particular day one of those visitors included me, a guy with the attention span of a squirrel.
http://www.artic.edu
Actually it was an amazing five hours and a place that we could have easily spent more time except our feet & legs said "enough is enough".  Staring at and learning about paintings from some of the heavy hitters such as  Van Gogh, Picasso, Renoir, Matisse, Gauguin, O'Keffe, Wharhol and so many others was great.  My favorite.....it's between  Grant Wood's American Gothic and Georges Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grand Jatte".  One interesting tidbit of information about American Gothic.  Wood actually used his dentist as the model for the farmer and the female is not the farmers wife but his daughter and the model was Wood's sister.
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/27992
Then there was the Modern Art section......I don't think I've been enlightened enough to understand that stuff and I don't see it happening anytime soon.
We've seen and done a lot since the Art Institute of Chicago. Those stories will be included in future blogs.  It's now Saturday afternoon and the Jimmy Buffett concert is just a few hours away.........more culture and enlightenment on the horizon!

American Gothic

One of the two "changing faces" in Millennium Park 

The Old Guitarist by Picasso

Modern Art?

Another piece of modern art?

No trip to Chicago would be complete without at least one stop at Garrett Popcorn.  Technically speaking, popcorn is a vegetable isn't it?

The Wrigley Building at night from our hotel room!

A mass gathering of old white people!

Last nights concert (The Doobie Brothers and Chicago) was great!  It was at the Huntington Bank Pavilion which is a fairly small (I'm guessing 8,000-10,000 capacity) outdoor venue on the shore of Lake Michigan.  The seating and stage are configured so the audience has a great view of the magnificent Chicago skyline behind the stage.  As an added bonus every Wednesday and Saturday night during the summer there are fireworks at the Navy Pier.  So for a period of time we had the Chicago Skyline as a backdrop, Chicago the band rocking it on stage and the Navy Pier Fireworks going off over the lake.  Pretty darn cool!
The capacity crowd was an entertainment spectacle themselves.  A bunch of old rockers and yes, we're including ourselves in this mix.  However, as scary as that may seem, what makes it even scarier is that we were definitely on the younger end of the demographic.
We came up with a series of questions, conditions and statements that we're pretty certain everybody in the crowd would answer "yes" to at least one.  They were things like: 
Are you taking blood pressure or cholesterol medication? 
Do you have an artificial joint? 
Did you see either of these bands more than 30 years ago?
Did you ever inhale?
Do you need reading glasses to read a book?
Do you have less hair than you used to have?
Does your hair color come from a bottle?
Was your ticket purchased with funds from your social security check?
I think you get the idea of who was in the crowd.  I'd be a "yes" to a few of them but we're just going to leave it at that.  Thank goodness I didn't see any attempts at crowd surfing. It would not have been pretty.
The Doobie Brothers opened the show and had the place rocking.  What I really appreciated was they stuck mainly to the songs that most of the audience knew by heart.  The music and the vocals were as good as ever which inspired me to turn to Beth and comment "they sound really good".  She quickly replied "well they should, they've been practicing for a long time".  Point well made!
When they ripped into Long Train Running near the end of their set it was time for me to tip my cap to my good buddy Mike Gardner who passed away a little over a year ago.  Mike was as big of a Doobie Brothers fan as ever walked the earth.  I can attest to this because for two years while we commuted together to Polk Community College if he was driving, we were listening to the Doobies. He was a great guy and I still miss our conversations about Gator football and other matters of great importance to the world.
One thing that has improved about concerts with more than one band from the old days is how quickly they are able to change out the stage.  Within 20-25 minutes of the Doobie Brothers finishing up, Chicago was on and tearing it up as well.  I still love the horn section of this band and although a number of the band members have turned over through the years the core remains and they are still as solid as ever.  Like the Doobie Brothers, they stuck mainly to the songs that everyone knew the words to and it was a mass sing along throughout.
It was a great first of three shows.  I'm already looking forward to joining my fellow Parrotheads Saturday night at Wrigley for the next one!

Show #1

Getting ready to rock!



Chicago skyline at night

Like my crown?

Chicago by way of Texas

After a few weeks of the annual beach house extravaganza on Anna Maria Island we headed out last Friday for Chicago.  We didn't take the direct route, stopping first in Texas for a very important event.  Sweet Baby James is now Sweet Big Boy James!  He turned one this past Sunday and the celebration lasted all weekend.  There was a party in Burleson on Saturday hosted by Joey's parents Rick and Oleta.  There was great food and fellowship with family and friends.  James soaked up every bit of the attention and cake that he could, smiling the whole time except during the singing of Happy Birthday. Throughout the entire song he had the most puzzled look on his face as if he was thinking "what is going on?" or man that's some bad singing!
After the party Sarah, Joey and James headed back to Fort Smith where there was another party with church friends on Sunday afternoon.  I can only imagine how disappointed he must have been Monday morning waking up to no party, presents or cake. 
We enjoyed having Ben join us for the party on Saturday as well as spending most of Sunday with him.  He was kind enough to treat us to lunch Sunday afternoon and that evening we took in a Cleburne Railroaders baseball game.  The Railroaders are a new minor league team in their first year of operation.  They have built a nice little ballpark called "The Depot" which features some great information and exhibits on the areas railroad and baseball history.  Minor league baseball is hard to beat!
http://www.railroaderbaseball.com/
Monday it was on to Chicago which will be our home for the next 12 days.  We got a great deal on the downtown  Hyatt Regency on Priceline.  I wrote the hotel prior to our arrival letting them know we will be celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary while we are here and they were kind enough to upgrade us to a suite overlooking the river and the Wrigley Building.
Chicago is such a great town and while it's far from frigid we did find one of the things we were looking for which is a little cooler weather.  Coming from Florida and Texas it wasn't too difficult, but it is that time of the year when it's hot pretty much everywhere.  I'm reasonably sure this global warming stuff is Al Gore's fault but this isn't a political blog.
Not long after unpacking we were off to find one of our favorite things..........food!  Chicago is a food lovers paradise and nothing quite says "Chicago" like deep dish pizza.  You can't go wrong at so many of the local places like Gino's, Giordano's, Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders or hundreds of other places.  We chose a place we had enjoyed before that wasn't too far from the hotel (at least it wouldn't have been if I hadn't turned us the wrong way), Lou Malnati's.  It was every bit as good as we remembered it being.  The only challenge with Chicago Deep Dish Pizza is the wait from the time it is ordered until it's ready to devour.  These masterpieces take a little longer than a normal pizza.  The wait is somewhat torturous but well worth it.
 https://www.loumalnatis.com
Yesterday and this morning we enjoyed nice long walks along the lake shore.  Southward yesterday down to the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium.  Today we walked north on the lake shore directly into an approaching thunderstorm as we headed towards the Lincoln Park Zoo.  We almost made it before the heavens opened up and we had to take shelter in a pedestrian underpass with several other folks for a bit of time until the storm passed.  It wasn't exactly what we had in mind for our picnic spot but watching it rain made us hungry.  The zoo is an outstanding one made even more outstanding by the fact that it is free.  It's a nice place for kids and kids at heart.
http://www.lpzoo.org
Tonight we have the first of our three concerts.  This one was a late addition.  We're seeing the Doobie Brothers and Chicago at the Huntington Bank Pavilion.  Pat Simmons, one of the original members of the Doobie's turns 70 soon.  Robert Lamm of Chicago is 70+, Jimmy Buffett who we are seeing Saturday has passed the 70 mark and James Taylor, our Monday night performer will hit the big 7-0 in 2018.  Dang, I'm feeling younger by the minute!

SBJ during the singing of "Happy Birthday"

James and his buddy- Uncle Ben!

A family celebration!

The Depot-Home of the Cleburne Railroaders

From the Lakeshore Drive Bridge-That's Donald's building in the center

Chicago Skyline from the Windy-a 148 foot "tall sailing ship"

One of the many animals in the Lincoln Park Zoo

A nearly perfect Beach House!

Last year at this time I wrote a blog titled:  Beach House-"That's just the way it's always been".  It was the July 2, 2016 post if you're interested in reading a little bit of the history of this extravaganza.
There has been a major change in the family since then and that of course was the arrival of Sweet Baby James on July 9 of last year.  What a blast it has been to see that little fella grow over the past year and yes, time does fly as it's hard to believe he's about to turn one!
This years beach house has been in full force for a week now and it's been almost perfect.  We have the usual gathering of Beth's immediate and extended family just like it's been every year for decades.  During this two week period I am in a state of perpetual amazement at this awesome gathering and the many traditions.  From the daily morning swim, Sunday lunches, 4th of July blowout, Rook Tournament and sunset gatherings you pretty much have to see to believe.  With all the complexities of life these days family traditions seem to be going by the wayside.  So far the Beach House tradition has withstood the test of time.  I hope and pray it continues to be passed down from generation to generation for a very long time.
As for Beth and I, this past week has been extra special and almost perfect.  Last Saturday Ben flew in and was with us until Friday.   Tuesday night Sarah and Sweet Baby James flew in around midnight and are going to be with us until early Monday morning.  It's been four years since Sarah has been able to come to Beach House.  Since her last time here she's finished up her OT degree, gotten married and now there's my little buddy SBJ.
We were so grateful to all be together for a few days at this special place.  Joey we wish you would have been able to join us.  That would have made this past week absolutely perfect!

Sunset on the beach with Ben, Sarah and SBJ



NaNa and SBJ sharing a moment and a little food

James loves blueberries and cantaloupe!

Lunch on the City Pier-A Tucker Family Tradition

My unbiased opinion-cutest kiddo on the beach!



Sunset gathering-the group will more than double in size on the 4th of July!