04 April 2013

April is the month of undetermined weather, here in Idaho. We had a couple of days in March where the temperatures were above freezing. However, this April stayed cold and windy, very windy. But today is beautiful. I mean warm and wonderful to be outside. I still have on my long underwear and will not move too far from them until I can be comfortable in warmer weather.

The month of April brings Easter and each year we think about the grand kids. So we sent each family a package with candy Easter eggs, basket grass, egg dye and chocolate bunnies. They seem glad to get something from grandpa and grandma. We also sent Burton Mariner and Boe Russel l a Strider bike. Those were the two youngest boys of our family.

Following General Conference we planned a trip with Julia, Woody, and Val to Las Vegas and Bullhead, AZ. Julia, Dawn and I flew to Las Vegas and met Woody and Val the afternoon of the 11^th of April. Woody and Val drove Tara’s 1963 Chevy Impala and stayed with us at the Excalibur hotel. Woody spent the month before repairing the car so it would get us to Arizona.

The next day we traveled to Loughlin, NV. at the River Palms hotel along the banks of the Colorado river. The next day we drove to Glendale and checked Dawn and Julia into the Quality Inn. Then Woody drove me to the Mesa Gateway Airport to pick up a rental car. We spent the week golfing and exercising in the warm weather of Arizona. Dawn spent her days helping Monica with the new baby. Baby Roxy is cute as a bug and growing nicely. Julia and I took her brother, Burton to the Arizona zoo and had a full day of fun. Julia and I also had a chance to shoot my new Ruger 380 at “Shooter’s World” for the first time. We also spent a big part of the day at the giant Cabellas store shopping and having lunch. How pleasant!

Dawn and I headed home so we could be here for stake conference. Julia and Woody flew home on Sunday. The intent of the trip was to find a place to stay during the winter months this year beginning in December.

It was tough being gone during the week before stake conference since there were so many things to schedule for our stake president. Fortunately, our stake clerk Randy Peterson filled in for me. I was sure glad things went well. We also had to have substitutes fill in for us at the temple, since we are ordinance workers.

Today was a golf day for me at Shelley. It was the nicest day I have had this year to golf in Idaho. There was no breeze and the warm weather made it wonderful. Also, I spent the morning working on the lawn and flower beds. The grass is starting to green up and the flowers are coming through the unfrozen soil. It will be a miracle if they do not freeze before June. Our family is not putting in a garden before May. Last year it froze all the garden plants on the first of June. It is cold here in Idaho nine months of the year.

  

This is baby "Roxy" on the day of her blessing.

This is Burton at the sting ray tank at Phoenix Zoo.
He was not about to touch them. However, I did and they are remarkably soft.

Burton on the zebra at the zoo.

 Burton's favorite animal at the zoo. The brass Kamoto Dragon.

We were fortunate to find an East Indian restaurant and you can tell we really enjoyed the Tendori chicken, curried shrimp and spicy rice.

This is 1215 W. Shanee. The house we sold once Brian Hodson came to live with us. We have fond memories of living there for 6 months while we fixed it up.

Dawn and I are loading in the back of Allegiant aircraft on our way home to a much cooler Idaho. Arizona was so pleasant and we really enjoyed being with family and visiting all the familiar places we frequented in Glendale, AZ (i.e Sprouts, Sushi restaurant, and the movies.

 Now you know why we enjoy visiting the Mariners. They have a beautiful little girl. She is growing every day and becoming more beautiful.

 

This is my golfing partner. I just cannot get enough of playing golf especially when Dawn comes along to encourage me.

 Dawn next to Hello Kitty in Las Vegas.

Julia next to a giant M and M. We spent a great deal of time in the M and M store downtown Las Vegas. Not to mention I bought $20 worth of candy M and Ms along with a car for Burton and a bib for little Roxy.

 Val got into the act with her friend Dino! We had a great time together.

The 63' Chevy getting gassed up in Arizona. Woody took the opportunity to drive to Arizona so he could deliver the car to Tara. He has been working on it to travel. We had no problems all the way to Sierra Vista. However, once delivered the brakes failed to our surprise.  It belongs to Tara now and we are home safe and sound.

Lastly, on our way to golf at Adobe Family Golf Club we passed the site of the new Phoenix temple. The building is beginning to take shape and is near completion.

March 2013

Still cold in March! The beginning of March was met with continued cold weather. There was very little snow but below zero temperatures for weeks. As a result of the cold weather we did very little out of doors.

The Beginning of March was very cold!

Most notably, Dawn had returned from Arizona and we celebrated her 63^rd birthday. She is just four years younger than I and a whole lot more energetic. As the Relief Society president of the 3^rd ward, her commitment to service is great, not to mention spearheading many activities. Just this month she planned and prepared for the “Relief Society Birthday Party”.

The above mentioned event took great effort. She made the decorations, prepared much of the food, arranged for the entertainment and executed the event with the aid of her counselors. The theme was , The Wizard of Oz”. There was even a “yellow brick road” , witches hats and ruby red shoes to festoon the event. Frankly, this event took up most of my wife and my time the month of March.

We played lots of cards during March.

In addition to church service we managed to spend time at the YMCA nearly each day during the week. We also had extra service at the Idaho Falls temple. We regularly spend Tuesday mornings, beginning at 5:00AM until 11:00AM, at the temple as ordinance workers. During the month of March we had two extra Saturdays. It was just as well since the weather was too cold to golf!

Fortunately, as the month ended the weather began to warm. 

Still cold the middle of March. 

We did manage to get a couple of days in working outside on the lawn and flower beds. The snow had melted enough to also uncover our two winter stored vehicles. The VW started right up after charging the battery overnight. The Toyota Avalon ignited immediately after sitting for five months under a tarp all winter. We no longer share the Honda Element but have options in driving.

Lastly, Julia, Dawn and I did visit Enid (Julia’s sister) in Pocatello and golfed the Riverside course on a very nice day in March. So, March ended well despite the cold and miserable beginning. There is promise of warmer weather for April.

We are looking forward to our trip to Arizona in April. I will give a full report next month.

February  2013

What can I say about living in Idaho in February. Again, it is cold just like January. I was hoping for warmer weather and yet I know it is still winter in Idaho. We have had very little snow following the major snow storm the end of January. We made the most of it by leaving Idaho Falls and heading for Lava Hot Springs to soak in the warm water.

It was delightful to spend time in the warm (hot) water. Dawn had frost in her hair as we sat looking at each other finally feeling warm. The next morning we arose from our motel and I went out to start the car. After several tries it finally turned over and began a noisy start. The air temperature was 5 below zero.

Our next destination was Newton, Utah where we teamed up with the Andersons. Gordon and Paul Anderson were gracious enough to let us stay with them for a night. Dawn and I were able to cross country ski in the local park at Newton. Afterward we picked up Gordon at the technical college and we all went to dinner at the Bluebird in Logan. How nice, we always enjoy eating fine food and of course the wonderful chocolates.

Early the next morning we were on our way to Park City, Utah in search of Homestead Resort. At Homestead Resort there is a volcanic crater which has filled with heated water. This underground cavern serves as a scuba diving spot year around. I needed to upgrade my certification in order to scuba dive the Caribbean later this month. It was an incredible experience diving inland in 98 degree water. I passed all the skills and was able to sustain a dive in 65 feet of water for about a half an hour.

Following our visit to Homestead we traveled to Josh and Danielle's in Layton and stayed the night. Danielle was busy canning meat in her new jars. The kids are always fun to be with. All are doing well.

Returning to Idaho Falls we picked up the pace with things to do. Sister Peterson had passed away and she had arranged for the funeral meal as well as arranging all the essentials associated with the Relief Society president duties. Her days ares spent visiting sisters in the ward and assigning visiting teachers. There is never a day she is not on the go. However, we always manage to visit Julia and family.

Monica is getting close to her delivery date. Dawn has left for Arizona to assit her in her delivery and care for the baby. She is busy cleaning and helping with Burton. We are all anxious to have Roxy enter into the family of the Mariners. Any day now!

ONe other event worth mentioning is reather concerning. Woody suffers from respiratory problems as well as his heart is always a concern. Well, last week he had a terrible time breathing at night and ended up in the hospital in distress. Come to find out he has asthma and it was triggered by the cold air as he walks the river each day. He also had a follow up angiogram to assess his heart circulation. All is well with his heart but his lungs are a major problem.

We are planning to spend next winter in a warmer climate to prevent on going lung problems. Julia, Woody, Val and Dawn and I are hoping to find a place to spend in the winter south of Idaho.

I have my bags packed for a cruise to the Caribbean. Steph has invited me to go with the Aylworths on a cruise to the western Caribbean, to include Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, and the Grand Cayman Islands. Our plans are to have fun and scuba dive the warm waters as well as excursions inland at Roatan. It will be a much appreciated departure from the cold weather of Idaho.

Whenever we leave Idaho we have to arrange for substitutes for our temple duty. Also, I have to arrange for agendas in advance to the stake meetings. Holding a calling and planning visits is challenging. We still enjoy what we can do when called to serve.

Carnival cruise begins 16 February 2013

I left Idaho Falls the morning of February 16 flying to Denver then on to Tampa, Florida. It was clear and cold in Idaho but warmer in Denver. Upon arrival in Florida, much to my dismay it was very cold. Stephanie and company picked me up at the airport and then on to the Ramada for a good nights sleep.

After exercise at the motel and a small breakfast we were shuttled to the port by friends of the Aylworth. Check in was routine and well orchestrated. The Legend cruise is one of Carnivals large passenger craft. Following a brief mandatory briefing on emergency measures we were off as scheduled at 4:00 pm.

(By the way it never did warm up in Idaho while away on the cruise - it was below zero the night I returned)

This is a very beautiful liner and so far everything is grand. From the top of the stern, I watched the gulls scramble for food behind the boat as it stirred up the water leaving the channel. This evening I dined with the friends from Georgia. One lady introduced herself as the daughter of Harry Davis a former resident and bishop of Yuba City the same time I served as bishop of the Marysville 1st ward in the same stake.

Tonight we bunk together in the cabin apartment. I am sleeping on the upper bunk as illustrated. The ship is listing and I hope I can sleep without difficulty.

We traveled all night towards Mexico. At 8:30 we woke up and were docked at Cozumel

Steph and I put our gear together and headed out to meet our guide for the beginner's scuba class. The instructor was Adrian from the Sand Dollar PADI scuba. We were given a 15 minute instruction and took a short quiz then off to the equipment station.

We quickly were in the cool water and checked out for buoyancy. Then it happened, we followed our instructor through crystal clear water as he pointed out the beautiful fish and other animals. Lobster, urchins, eels and tons of other creatures. It was heaven. We did not have a camera but were photographed by the company and purchases pictures afterwards.

 

After our dive we went back to the shopping area and picked up a few things for family members. I did buy Steph a beautiful pair of python leather boots. What a day!  It ended as I watched this huge vessel became unattached and pull from the dock sight.

We are on our way to Belize this evening.

Well what a day. We were tendered from the ship anchored a couple of miles off the shore along with two thousand others. It took a long time to get to our pick up point in Belize City. Once we were under way we drove one hour to Laminia turn off. There we transferred to a high speed boat and traveled up river through jungle for anther 45 minutes. Once we reached the ruins we barely had time to use the restroom before our guide took off to the ruins. We walked a half a mile to the site of the exist temple. Wow how fascinating to see the ancient Mayan ruins.   We did take time to climb the High temple and look over the jungle listening to the Howler monkeys in the distance.

Lastly, we visited the Olmec temple down the path. These structures extend time periods from approximately 1200 BC to around 500 AD. The church's research teams equate the B. of M events directly with corresponding dates.

On our way back we ate our box lunch since we did not have time to sit down to eat not to miss our shuttle boat back to the Legend.

Roatan Honduras is south of Belize and is an island off the coast of Honduras. It is isolated from the mainland and is heavily visited by tourists. We never actually visited Honduras. The ship rested in Mahogany Bay and we spent our time snorkeling the bay and playing in the sand. It was a rest day, I might add a much needed resting time for all.

Entrance to Mahogany Beach.

This is a very beautiful place. The chairlift carries tourists across the park to the beach.

 

We snorkeled the warm waters and there were many small fishes and an abundance of swimmers.

Roatan is a very beautiful place and the beaches are sponsored by the Carnival touring company. We spent the day snorkeling and laying around in the sun.

Tomorrow is our big day at Grand Cayman Island. Steph and I are scheduled to dive the famous reefs of the island. Jared and Tanis are taking a beginner's scuba diving class. This will be our final excursion before we return to port in Florida. So far it has been a wonderful adventure. The most outstanding features of this cruise has to be the food. All is good and especially the evening meal with friends. There is a well equipped gym and I have been running in the morning around the upper deck. The one evening show I attended, " Jazz On" was very professional and entertaining. Last night Tanis and I attended an illusion (magic) show. The performance was fascinating with intrigue and filled with dancing along with disappearing of actors and stage excitement of light show and fireworks. It was highly entertaining.

Stephanie and her friends are delightful and we have enjoyed having dinner together. The evening meal tables are set for dress dining. The menus change each evening. Four course meals with entrees of wonderful and exotic dishes. Last night I ordered oysters on half shells for appetizers along with a green salad. The main course selection was an Indian vegetarian plate with four types of curry choice and Batsami rice. It was delicious. Finally I ordered the fruit plate for desert.

Yesterday was the highlight of the trip. We anchored in the bay at Grand Cayman and tendered in groups. Steph and I lined up for the two tank dive serviced by Rogers dive operation. After a short shuttle there were 12 of us briefed and boarded omn a beautiful dive boat, all very professional.

After a shore boat ride to moor at " The Eagle's Nest" we were in the crystal clear blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. We descended to 50' and drifted over to the wall which drops off to 3000'!  I have terrific video of Steph taken with my new GoPro camera.

The next dive site was an half hour away moored at " The Wreck". An old drug running ship sank off the coast so 50' down. This was the dive of the century. Loaded with fish of all kinds and sizes. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience of a lifetime. As you can see Stephanie found her a bicycle at the bottom of the dive.

I accused her of "multi-tasking" on her vacation. 

I purchases an excursion for Tanis and Jared. They were signed up for the beginner scuba. Both agreed it was well worth it and had a great time. Just one mishap when Tanis dropped a lead weight on his big toe. All is well that ends well. Our trip back to the Carnival ship was relaxing after a full day of excitement. We slept well last night.

Today is our last day at sea. Tomorrow we arrive back in Tampa and disembark the craft.  I will finally be able to contact those in my regular life.

I do know Monica had her baby girl. Not as planned but after a Cesarian section baby Roxy is finally here. I am so glad Dawn can be there to help out especially since Monica will have to take more time to heal up. I will be able to see the baby in April when she is a month old. More photos to follow.

What a month!!!

January 2013

The new year had special meaning for us as a Russell family. As a part of our Christmas celebration we traveled to beautiful Costa Rica. Dawn and I traveled with Julia, Holly and Jon to Phoenix where we met Robyn, Wayne, Kesler and Indy. Once we arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica we stayed at the Holiday Express motel for the evening. The next day we drove in two cars to Uvita along the western coast.

Robyn had rented a house in the mountains for all of us to stay. After resting up we were not long before we reached the beaches at Dominical. The boys surfed and the girls spent time on the beach and in the waves. For the next two days we spent touring and scheduled three excisions.

The first excursion on our third day in the beautiful country was a boat tour from Ballena State Park. From the boat we snorkeled the whale tale reef. This was Dawn’s first time in the ocean snorkeling. We saw many fish and I filmed the fish with the new GoPro camera. It was a long swim back to the boat. While resting up we looked for whales and dolphins at sea. It was not until we returned to the caves south of the park did we see dolphins. Two large bottle nosed dolphins swam next to the boat.

The next day we left early for Baru Hacienda to zip line with the family. This was Julia’s first time on a zip line. Our guide was so helpful and encouraging. She did it without hesitation. After eight zip lines we were ready to get on with the next excursion. While we were waiting for our trek to the zip line we walked through a butterfly garden. Also, our guide pointed out many animals on our way to the zip line stands. We say anteaters, sloths, monkeys and many insects.

After the zip line experience we had to drive for 2 hours to Sierpe to boat the mangroves. Jon and Holly went to Ballena to dive while we cruised the river with a guide. This was an exceptional tour. We saw so much flora and fauna. While navigating through the water hyacinth we came on a giant crocodile. There were others as well as American alligators along the shores of the river. The birds were remarkable. There were parakeets, scarlet McCaws, herons, egrets and many others. There were an abundance of iguanas and we even saw a green boa constrictor. But the highlight was the while faced capuchin monkey with a new born on her back. How exciting to see her come right up to the boat. It was here we saw our first Howler monkeys. We had heard them each morning near our mountain home.

The food was excellent, the people treated us with respect and courtesy. The weather was perfect and the landscape beautiful. It was a great trip. However, there were a couple of incidents worth mentioning. First, I contacted a colony of  Trombiculida , known as “chiggers”.  From my feet to my upper body, they caused extreme itch. No one else was affected. Also, I was seriously ill from a sore throat and fever but it lasted only two days. Dawn began to cough and so did Wayne and Jon. The rest seemed to escape the virus. Once we got home we have many in our area who are experiencing sever flu symptoms.

Our return to Idaho Falls, Idaho began as we boarded the Express Shuttle with temperatures below zero. There was little heat in the shuttle and hours of freezing conditions caught up to Dawn and she became ill. Her cough lasted weeks. Fortunately, I was unaffected and neither was Julia. She did remarkably well the entire trip.

Our trip to Lava Hot Springs (-5 degrees)

The water felt soooo goood!

It is time to get out sweetie!!

The remainder of January was spent indoors since the outside temperature was below zero every evening and in single digits during the day. We finally were so cold, Dawn and I left for Lava Hot Springs to get into the heated pools. The temperature remained cold (-5 degrees) outside but the water was very warm. Then we visited Gordon and Paul Anderson in Newton, Utah and it was even colder in Cache Valley. We managed to do a cross country ski during the day. On our way to Midway, Utah the air quality was so bad we could hardly see the mountains.

The real reason for our trip was to get into “hot water”. So I scheduled a “update” scuba dive in the only warm water in the entire western states. The Homestead Crater is the perfect place to scuba in the winter. This volcanic pool lies under a dome of lava. The pool is 96 degrees and 65 feet deep. My instructor, Eddie, was terrific and I felt comfortable with the skills I had to check off to get updated certification. Now I dive in the Caribbean after completing this dive. I have not been on scuba since 1996 when I left the Army and duty site at TAMC Hawaii.

On our way back home we stayed with Josh and Danielle. They were busy doing home storage. She is canning meat and vegetables in her new glass jars. We had fun with the kids before leaving for home the next morning. It is worth mentioning the drive home. That morning we traveled through a freezing rain and ice covered roads. The drive was harrowing as we traveled at a snail’s pace. There were cars off the road and trucks passing us within inches. We finally got clear of the terrifying conditions at the top of Malad pass.

Lastly, we stopped to visit with Bill and Marsha Peterson Schmitt. I had not seen they since before Linda had passed away. She is my second cousin and an avid genealogist.  I have an interest in working on the Peterson family history. Rosanne Boardman has recently returned from a visit to Sweden. She spent time with our Swedish family members. How about a trip to Sweden to meet our living relatives? I am thinking seriously about it. Dawn also has many Swedish relatives still living in the home lands.

The sunset from our house in Costa Rica  

The ocean at Dominical

Jon and Holly 

The burgers are ready!

Fun in Costa Rica!

Ballina Park boat ride 

Our lizard friend 

Here we are at Dominical Beach 

Robyn and Wayne in their landcruiser!

Playing cards at night in Costa Rica 

Uvita Beach 

Ready for the ZIP!

Mother and new baby 

Sierpe River tour 

Too many monkeys

Costa Rica has it all!