D & D to BOSTON

Well it's hard to believe it happened. Darleen and I (Denise) decided to plan a trip to Boston to see Lucas & Kim. After long and hard research for the best plane ticket price ever....we were on our way!! I started looking for plane tickets in June, when my boss told me he was taking a week off in September to go on an elk hunt in Montana. One day while I was at work the tickets were $198.00 but I wasn't sure at that time if Darleen was going with me or not so I didn't book them. All of a sudden they started going up and up and up.....I was not feeling good about this. So I decided to see how the price was on Sept 11th. Well it must not be the favorite day to fly because the tickets on that day were $218.00 round trip. Still not clicking on the purchase ticket button, I decided to go to church that Sunday and if I was meant to go and at a good price the tickets would be that same price when I got home. So...after thinking about it a little longer I called Lucas and asked him if he thought we'd get a better price and he said, "Mother click the purchase ticket NOW." I knew from the tone of his voice he was tired of me and my pickyness. It's a good thing I clicked because the next day the ticket was $589.00 and then they kept going up and up. At the end the ticket was $1,285.00 for the same ticket. By the way those seats were empty still on the day of the flight. So then the planning began. Of course Darleen was packed and organized a week before our trip, with Christmas present wrapped to go, unlike her baby sister who packed the night before and morning of. Dan would tell you that is normal for me! The trip started off a little shaky at the get-go. We drove to Flint and stayed the night at Dale & Deb's house. Dale decided he wouldn't be able to take us to Loralee's so David jumped in and said he would. Well the night he was suppose to take us he was sitting in a locked garage waiting for someone to show up to unload his truck. Loralee to the rescue. She came and picked us up. We spent the night watching a marathon of the Wedding Channel which we planned Loralee's up-coming wedding. Only one thing we have to find the groom!! Anyway during the night I woke up with a horrible sore-throat, headache, chills, and sick to my stomach. I woke Darleen up at 6:00 am and told her I didn't know if I could go I was so sick. They made me a hot chocolate, and I decided to start getting ready. We were on our way. An hour late but plenty of time when we got there. We said our goodbye's to Loralee and without any problems got our e-tickets and had plenty of time to spare. The flight was good except for the girl who sat next to Darleen spilled her drink into her lap and we had to help her out. The landing was fantastic....it was raining so hard and foggy we didn't see land until the tires hit the runway. The timing was perfect because Lucas was running a little late, so after we got our luggage he was there with a few minutes to spare. Also he had a clean trunk...that is a whole other story. We decided to go to the store and buy groceries and surprise Kim with a homecooked chicken dinner when she got home from work. So out in the pouring rain we went. It was just great to see them both and spend time. The next day we went into Boston and went to a Museum. It was Darleen's first time on the subways. The next day we went into Boston and did a tour on the trolley around town. We got off and went and took a tour of the USS Constitution ship. That was fun. The day was long but Darleen saw alot. I've seen most of the sites except the USS Constitution. We also took a boat around the harbor. It was a beautiful day. We played alot of euchere in the evenings and had to put up with Lucas doing a stupid "LONER DANCE", I think Kim did a couple of those dances also. One was when she was making fun of him. Friday evening Kim, Darleen and I went to a local pub for supper and watched a little of the Red Sox game. After we drove to the church and showed Darleen around. Lucas was having a kick-off Spam Party for the youth. That was interesting and smelly. Soon it was Saturday and time for us to leave. The worst part of the trip is always having to say goodbye. We made it quick with a few tears. The flight home was so fast we couldn't believe it. We must have had a tail wind pushing us. We held hands when the plane took off, which I like to do because I don't like taking off, but Darleen went along with it. It was ok when we sat next to each other but it was kinda weird looking across the isle. People probably thought we were lezzies. haha......I'm not sure on that spelling but you know what I mean. The rest of the trip was smooth and easy. Did I mention Darleen's poor hurting feet. The day after our tour of Boston, she had swelling and pain like no other. That is going to be checked out when she goes to the doctor. So other than my sickness and her feet the trip was GREAT!! also Lucas didn't get a spanking for the first time. This only a few people will get.

Take your wife & daughter to work day(s).

I have a unique job to say the least. A lot of you, at first, did not understand how my job worked. Maybe you still don't. But it does have a few perks. Like take your wife to work day (or week). In the past 20 years I have been able to bring my wife and/or children for a trip on the boat. I have taken advantage of this in the past...Lucas went from Rogers City to Cedarville about 4 hours. Logan went from Rogers City to Duluth and back to the Soo Locks. Denise has been able to go on the boat a number of times. (Thank you P Dot for watching the kids.) My favorite was when she came on the Calcite II and it was our anniversary. The boat was going thru the Detroit River. (Remember that is where the world's only floating post office is located.) I called ahead and had the "Flower Lady" ( A woman with a flower shop who send flowers to alot of the boats on special days like Father's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving,Christmas, etc...) send a bouquet of flowers sent to the boat by way of the floating post office or AKA.. J.W. Westcott. They came while we were sleeping and put just outside our room but when I got up for work I put them in our room. When she woke up in the dark she could not figure out where that smell was coming from.
Well, Denise has not been able to come aboard for a few years due to work and other things. Plus, the last time she came on the boat was rolling quite a bit. Denise pulled a "Debbie". She did not feel very well.
Anyway, this past Labor Day weekend she was able to come aboard for 3 days as her boss was out of town giving her some time off. She came aboard at Stoneport and we went to Detroit to unload stone and then back to Stoneport. We even had a visitor at Detroit. Loralee came to see us. But to come to the boat the J.W. Wescott must bring you from under the Ambassador Bridge to our dock at Zug Island. About a 20-30 minute ride. We had high hopes that she would be able to ride with us up to Stoneport but the boat took longer to unload than usual and she needed to make sure she could get back to work on Tuesday. But she did get to spend the day with us and was treated to a nice supper of filet mignon.

As Loralee has never been on the boat while it was moving I am hoping to get her on before I retire. I have a few more years to make this happen if she will still be willing and able.
I was hoping Denise would put this post up with some pictures of the trip but she probably is too busy. Maybe I can edit this when I get home to add some pictures because I know how you all like pictures on the blogs.
That is all for now...wait a minute... what about the trivia question and the interesting fact.

Interesting fact #9...A duck can not walk without bobbing it's head.

Trivia Question #9...Where in American history was printed the motto: "Mind your own business"?

Good Luck Denise , Lauren, Darleen, and anyone else that would like to play our game.