Cruise with the Grandchildren
Every year we try to schedule a few barbeques in the backyard around a fire, a few day outings at nearby attractions and we also spend a day with Sheila's parents and the grandkids on a cruise on Lake Champlain. Although we would like to get together with a bunch of friends in the backyard, I think we've pretty much given up on socializing outside in the backyard lately. We've also been waiting on some good weather so we could go on our annual cruise on Lake Champlain with the grandchildren and Sheila's dad and that is what this blog entry is about this time.
Once we arrived at the dock, we had a bit of time to kill before we could board the Spirit of Ethan Allen. I held our place in line (we were first in line) while everyone else wandered around the dock looking at boats, fish and ducks...
At this point, I'm not sure whether Ace understood what we were all doing standing on this dock but he was still enjoying himself. He was visibly excited and very animated to see the water, boats, fish and ducks...
We boarded the Ethan Allen earlier than usual on this day and we still managed to get our usual spot on the top deck at the stern of the boat. Now we were just waiting on Ellie and Whitney to arrive from their hospital visit...
About four minutes before our cruise was to depart the dock, Whitney and Ellie were still not on the boat so Sheila went down to talk with the First Officer about Whitney and Ellie being a bit delayed from the hospital. They told her that they could delay only eight minutes but they immediately held our departure while we waited. It was obvious to the rest of us that they were killing time with some chatter on the intercom that we don't normally hear.
We had a rare day-long break in the rain showers one day last week so we chose that day for our cruise. I had managed to get the lawn mowed a couple days earlier in between rain showers but the day we chose for the cruise appeared as though it would be a much nicer day. Now it was just a matter of seeing whether everyone was available on that particular day.
Ellie had a medical appointment for her cystic fibrosis at the hospital in Burlington on the morning of the cruise (which is also in Burlington) but we all figured that she and mom (Whitney) would be able to get to the boat in plenty of time. Actually, if all went as usual with this appointment, then they would have had an hour or so to kill before the cruise. The good thing is that scheduling the cruise on the same day as Ellie's medical appointment saved them an extra drive to Burlington and that is a pretty long drive for them. It seemed like everything was timed very well. The weather was cooperating... Whitney and Ellie would already be in Burlington... Lukey and Kenzie were staying with us so we had direct access to them... Sheila's dad said he could take the day off from helping out in flooded downtown Waterbury so he could join us... Liza is off from work on maternity leave so she, Ace and Sophia could easily meet us in Burlington too. This looked like the day for a nice cruise.
In the past, we would do this cruise every year with Sheila's parents and Lukey and Kenzie. Unfortunately, Sheila's mom passed away this past winter so Will would be joining us alone. This year, however, Whitney and Ellie were able to join us for the first time. Liza is home on maternity leave so she also was available to join us with Ace and one-month-old Sophia. So, there were quite a few "firsts" for this year's cruise. It would be a first cruise for Ellie, Ace and Sophia and this would be the first time that Liza and Whitney joined us for this annual event.
We arrived early enough to find available parking in the lot right at the Waterfront which made for a very short walk to the boathouse and dock. In the past, we would park uptown a bit and have a 20 minute walk to the waterfront (which is also exhausting and painful for me).
At about four minutes after our original departure time, Whitney and Ellie came running down the dock. They sprinted from the car a couple of blocks away and just made it down the gangway in time! They were very lucky to find a parking spot as close as they did!
Below, Gee is grabbing Ellie's hand to bring her aboard and to join the rest of us awaiting their arrival...
Now we are under way departing the dock and Burlington Bay. Here, below, we are looking toward the rugged Adirondack Mountains...
We're leaving the Burlington Boathouse behind...
That is the breakwater for Burlington Bay behind Gee and Kenzie...
Ellie seemed to really enjoy the cruise... she was all smiles and giggles...
Although this was Sophia's first cruise at one-month-old, I suspect the next few cruises will not be all that memorable for her until she is three or four years old. It was nice to have all the grandchildren with us on this cruise though... especially since it was the first cruise for us since Sheila's mom had passed away.
Quite often, we see teenagers diving from the cliffs here. On this day, however, we only saw a couple of hikers waving to us...
One of the ferries that crosses the lake, back and forth everyday, with passengers and cars was dry-docked in the Shelburne Shipyard. This shipyard has been in operation for over 200 years!
Ace clearly enjoyed the cruise. He was visibly excited about everything...
Liza and Sophia taking a break under cover, out of the sun... well... mostly out of the sun...
Below, Gee is taking the grandchildren to the pilothouse to say hello to the Captain...
We got very lucky with the weather on this day during a period of many weeks of rain showers. Even the smoke from the Canadian wildfires that had been obscuring our skies took a break on this day too! As can be seen in the photos, everyone had a really nice time and enjoyed themselves!
We all went out to lunch at The Longhorn after the cruise. I'll write more about that soon.
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