Burial At Sea

On Saturday, March 15th, the Swanson, Nichols and Keltch families finally laid to rest the ashes of Lea Swanson and Anna & Dale Nichols off the coast of California. We were happy to see all of us together after so long. Alot of catching up was done on the way out to sea and afterwards at our home in Simi Valley. We met up with Chuck and Carol at the pier in Ventura.

The morning started out beautiful in Simi Valley, a bright and sunny day. Typical California weather. When we reached the Ventura pier, the sun was still shinning but the winds had picked up something wicked! We continued to the pier with hopes that the wind wouldn't be evident on the ocean. Captain Doug told us that it was going to be a bumpy ride but we would still be able to set our loved ones out to sea, however if we were to stay out any length of time, would be left to the condition of the ocean once we get out in it. So, we braved it and set out to sea.

The site of the breakwaters were pretty daunting. It didn't look like some place I'd like to be and we could see we were headed for a short trip. A couple of things came to my mind...the theme song for Gillian Island and the fact that Lea was getting her revenge on us for leaving her sitting on the shelf in the office even after she told us not to... Oh well, what can you do? After many many ups and downs over large swells, Captian Doug was able to swing the boat around and allow us to quickly say a few words and set Lea, Anna and Dale out to their final resting. The pictures here are of the urns on their way out to sea. Lea is the box-shape urn and Anna and Dale were place together in the shell urn. Both bio-degradeable. Made from very thick handmade paper. They were both very beautiful urns. According to Captian Doug, the urns were place at Longitude: 34 14 66 and Latitude: 117 17 00. So if you're ever in the neighborhood, drop by and throw them a line. Sorry, had to say it!

We were able to watch the urns drift along the waves for a while as we sailed back to land. Everyone was pretty quiet and it was a bit sad to say that final goodbye which we had put off for so long. But it does feel better to know that they are finally at peace. Rest in peace Mom, Anna and Dale. We miss and love you all.

The Best field trip ever

Yeah I know, I don't belong in 5th grade but I couldn't wait for Alex to have Mrs. Hatland for a teacher for many reasons. Two of them being that, shes a great teacher. She still has that drive to make the kids have fun while they are learning. Not the "same ole same ole" kind of teacher. And secondly, she takes the kids on the best field trip ever! They get to go whale watching! I love the ocean and its creatures so of course I put a word in with Mrs. Hatland at the beginning of the year. So on March 18th, we went to find some whales.

We were on the boat for over an hour looking out amongst the waves, spotting seals, otters, birds everything except whales when finally I saw something jump out of the water and I yelled "LOOK!" pointing out to the right side of the boat...sorry I have no idea if its starboard or whatnot. What we saw was both kind of creepy and facinating. There had to be HUNDREDS of dolphins coming towards our boat all at once and from every direction. I only say creepy cuz I've seen the Jaw's movies once too many times in my life and I pictured us out on the ocean in this teeny tiny boat with all these creatures acending on us all at once and well, it freaked me out for a second. But then the kids were screeching, yes the boys and the girls, with such happiness at the sight of the dolphins along side of the boat, jumping through the water where they could practically touch them that I forgot that creepy feeling. You'll see in some of the pictures here.

After 1/2 hour of dolphins, I spotted the first whale sighting. And yes I did the customary "Thar she blows!" as instructed by the captian of the boat. There was a pod of 5 or 6 whales all together. They allowed us to follow them for quite some time. I only wish they would have come closer to us. The laws say the boat must stay at least 100 feet away for the whales protection. Thank goodness I have a great lens on my camera. Even though they were still somewhat far away, you couldn't help but feel how huge they were. I actually didn't return to that creepy feeling but I was definately in awe by their massive sizes.

We ate our lunches on the boat looking for more whales and other sea life for a lil while longer until it was time to go back to land and school. We only had 5 kids get sea sick which is a low record according to Mr. Hatland. But even those kids were still able to have a great time. I we will have to do this again with the family!