Travels of Mark and Pat

Wednesday - July 20

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y MAEVE

Our little Moppet is SIX today

What joy this adorable little girl has brought to our family - Maeve oozes sweetness and although she's small, she's mighty! No problem keeping up with her brother. Maeve loves her baby dolls, swimming (wow, that girl can move across the pool), cheese pizza, mani-pedi's, the color "teal", and loves dressing up (Princess style)!!! Can't believe she'll soon be in 1st grade.....Grandma can remember so well July 20, 2016 when she arrived in Florida - 2nd granddaughter and 8th grandchild! And now she's a little Carolina girl! Maeve is always smiling and loves to "pose" for Grandma (the Photo Queen according to Blair)! Ha!

Whew,,,,,4 family birthdays in 6 days! Lots to celebrate...now a reprieve till Philip in September! Along with Maeve, today is also the birthday of Auntie Karen (youngest of the Chamberlain clan), my dear friend Allie, and our long-time neighbor and friend, Angie who passed away in 2009.

We 3 walked downtown for breakfast at Coffee Express - very busy as always. We sat outside and enjoyed our quiche/breakfast sandwich/coffees and a nice breeze.

Marilyn and I just chilled for a while - had planned to take Millers Ferry to Kelley's Island today, but threatening weather and strong winds in the forecast, so.....tomorrow, we'll go there.

Mark started waxing Flo...and Great Lakes Diesel called - they are coming Friday to check Catrina. We were under a severe weather alert for 6 hours starting at 2:00. Hot, sunny and very windy today!

We drove to Docks Beach House for lunch - good as always and then Mark dropped we girls off downtown so Marilyn could "experience" the Great Lakes Popcorn Co." and the Port Clinton Candy Co. Fun for her and a few treats for all./

Hello from Lake Erie

We walked home and all 3 of us took a nap! 😉

When rain is in the forecast here on Lake Erie, it means business and around 4:45, the downpour came and kept coming! WOW! Wouldn't want to be caught out in that. Turns out we got 1/2" - sure seemed like more

Luke and Maeve with their friend, Chuck E Cheese

Thank you Claire for identifying those pretty red flowers in downtown Port Clinton as mandevilla!

Facetime with Maeve and her party at the camp tonight! Fun time with her friends! She's had quite a big day!

Party time celebrating Maeve!!!

Tuesday - July 19

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY, BLAIR

Big day for Miss Priss

After 6 grandsons, we were thrilled to welcome Blair, our first granddaughter on July 19, 2013 and what a joy she has been. Her imagination and constant chatter using the big words expressing herself are fun and mind boggling! With 3 older brothers, this one can certainly hold her own. She loves to dance, make up stories, is sooo into anything "Pusheen", the color pink and a real sweetheart!

We were off at 6:45 for Cleveland to pick up Marilyn who flew from O'Hare and will be with us till Saturday. Stopped at Starbucks (Marilyn LOVES her coffee) and then to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Mark and I toured this last year and thought Marilyn would really enjoy, too.....and that she did! Great fun hearing all the oldies and especially the American Bandstand tribute to all the legends with Dick Clark!!!

Mark and Marilyn

We had lunch at Nuevo Mexican and sat outside under the covered roof....good food and margaritas (Marilyn and me).

Cheers! Welcome!

Delicious refreshing peach margarita

We had a fun facetime chat on the way home with the birthday girl - she's having a family party tonight and friends are coming Saturday.

Back to Catrina and played Rummikube (Marilyn won 2x) and 3-handed euchre (Mark won)! Since we had a big lunch, decided ice cream was in order on this hot day/evening. We walked to RJ's for dishes of butter pecan (Marilyn and Mark) and moose tracks (me). Walked around downtown but really warm so on home at 6:45.

The siblings heading for ice cream

Lots of these pretty flowers (bush) downtown in black pots

(they have exploded in the last few days)

Anyone know what they are?

Marilyn enjoying her butter pecan

Philip's friend flew into Put in Bay today - here's a beautiful aerial view!!!

Marilyn got up at 2:20 AM for the drive to O'Hare with 2 sisters, Joan and Karen.

She was off to dreamland early tonight.

Monday - July 18

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE

Looking good and sweet as ever!

CHEERS!

Brooke has been part of our family since 1998 when she married Michael and then blessed us with Drew, Davis, Brady and Blair! She is always on the move running a busy household, on top of the kids activities, loyal friend to many and loves her pickleball. She is "Energy" +++ and we wish her the happiest of birthdays!

Exercised this morning and then did a pump out - at least no alarms went off during the short distance we took Catrina! Waiting to hear back from Great Lakes Diesel.

Mark took me to BeYoutiful for my mani with Danielle - she seemed fine and no mention of what was going on last week? He went to Baby Bassetts for a few groceries. We have the big Bassetts and then a smaller one which the locals call "Baby" Bassetts.

I walked back home afterwards - warm sunny afternoon.

Enjoyed our books, did some computer stuff and had a good chat with Brooke.

Sunday - July 17

Rainy Sunday.....we had breakfast and then said good bye to the girls. We were off to 10:30 Mass and so good to be back with Father Jonathan (been 3 weeks) and later, Megan and Alex left for Columbus.

Fun visit with these gals!

Stopped at Coffee Express for a Sunday treat and on home to gather the laundry (sheets, towels, etc.) and prepare for our next guest coming Tuesday (Mark's' sister Marilyn). While I stayed at the laundromat, Mark drove nearby to the Tin Goose Diner to see if they were open....he found this sign on the door (we either missed it the other day or was put up since then)

Sad....hopefully will reopen at some point!

We were to have rain all day, but a lull in between showers.....we got the laundry done and Mark thought we should check out Marblehead, a town to the east of us on the lake. Very nice community with many RV parks/campgrounds and marinas. Lakeside and Marblehead share the same zip code and are sister cities. We stopped in Marblehead and I did a little shopping - the "Pink Perch" was a really cute gift shop. The Redfern Inn is an old stone house that gets a 5* rating. Next door is the Rocky Point winery and cafe with live music and lots of folks enjoying this Sunday afternoon under a covered building with their wine, etc.

We kept on driving and decided on "Cleats" in Lakeside for lunch - very good! It was cooler today with the rain. Mark enjoyed his chili and I had a buffalo chicken/mac 'n cheese melt) - happy with our choices! On home - raining, so we'll unload the laundry tomorrow!

Zoom tonight included 5 others besides us - good to see folks and just general chit chat! Doris is on Myrtle Beach; Janet in Wisconsin and Jim is on Fort Myers Beach

Saturday - July 16

Nice gentle rain overnight. It was cloudy all morning. Our niece Megan and friend Alex from Columbus arrived at 12:20. They settled in and later we took Catrina out for a little ride. The plan had been to cruise to Middle Bass Island, but when we arrived and Mark checked for a spot just to tie up for a few hours, they said they were totally full? Yikes....middle of summer and a weekend.....not surprised, but a bummer. So decided to go across the way to Put-in-Bay, but that was even crazier with folks trying to find a mooring ball to tie up. Nothing available and lots of boat traffic so let's get the heck outta here!

As we were cruising and Catrina is doing great......all of a sudden, the port engine alarm went off again! NOOOOOOO! We have no idea what is going on as Jeff checked everything and gave it the 👍and "thought" all was fixed. We got back to our slip here at Superior Marine and will be making a phone call first thing Monday morning. When Jeff was here on Thursday, he said we were his last customer as he will be taking a new job working on school buses in Vermilion. His father-in-law owns the business (Great Lakes Diesel), so.....stay tuned!!!!! UGH....ARGGHH....

The sun came out around 1:30 and a delightful Saturday afternoon.

We drove to Dock's Beach House and sat in the sand with our drinks and the girls went into the water and walked the beach. There was a wedding party taking pictures after the ceremony, so fun to watch that. We had a short wait for a table and enjoyed perch, walleye and chicken salad.