Family Reunion Vacation

June 23-30, 2007 - The extended Cooper family gathered at Teal Point Resort on Lake Norfork near Mountain Home, Arkansas for a family reunion vacation--32 of us in five cottages. It was a fabulous time of fellowship, fun and relaxation in the sun, water and beauty of the Ozark Mountains. Many thanks to my dear brother, Ken, for providing the administrative genius to make it happen so successfully!

The Cooper Group

Rhonda and Cathy Enjoy the Pool
Dad & Mom - Family Dinner at Dan & Rhonda's Cottage
Ski Outing on the Pontoon Boat

So Far Away

Here I am, looking at pictures of Alex on Brian and Sarah's flickr site, wishing that I could hold him. I do love looking at his pictures and videos, though.

Nate & Katie Wedding Prep

Here are some exquisite examples of wedding handiwork by the lovely and talented women of FHBC (Rhonda, Susie VR, Judy VR , etc.) carried out in preparation for Katie and Nate's wedding. A true labor of love. The wedding was a beautiful thing--solemn, fun and God-glorifying.

Unity Candle

Wedding Banner
Floral Arrangement

Progressive Dinner Party

On April 14 we enjoyed a neighborhood progressive dinner, complete with wine tasting at each stop. We hosted the main course (co-hosted by the Vincents), which included grilled pork loin and pineapple, roasted rosemary potatoes and asparagus, and buttered carrots. The red wine was a 2003 Hayman & Hill Meritage, Monterey County, California Reserve Selection #38, and the white was a 2002 Beaucanon estate, Ehlers Lane, Napa Valley Chardonnay. The blended red was especially good.

Dessert at Bradys' included a very nice port, R.L.Buller & Son “Victoria Tawny” from Victoria, Australia. Excellent choice.

You may notice some new dining furniture, recently made by Amish crafstmen in southeastern Ohio. The table is actually a loaner graciously provided by Bears in the Woods (the retailer) until ours, which is running late, is ready.
This rocking chair was a gift from the Oostermans, our next-door neighbors in Alger Heights about 25 years ago. It was Mr. Oosterman's disabled brother's favorite chair, who's belt rubbed the paint off the spindles during many years of use. We have left them so in his honor.
This would be a nice place to rock our grandson, Alex, if he came for a visit. But alas, he is far away for now.

Eskimo Slumber Party

Kate and John have been working diligently on an igloo in the back yard--made possible by the continuation of winter's snowy blast. They finished the igloo yesterday and, although it was snowing and blowing hard, they decided to sleep in it last night.
Here are Danny, John and Kate, all snug in their sleeping bags and ready for lights out! They put down a tarp and foam pads and woke up warm and dry. Quite cozy.
Elizabeth waxing artistic with Paint
A study in Cranberry Juice

John's New Mullet

Today was haircut day for John and Danny. John's hair had gotten quite long, and rather than losing the entire mop, he decided to enter the stylish world of mulletdom. What do you think?
Handsome Boy
Sweet Blonde

The Blizzard of 2007

It has been snowing and blowing for a couple of days with temperatures in the single digits F and wind chills in the minus double digits. It is now Sunday morning; church is cancelled due to bad roads, predicted high of 3 degrees F and 15-20 mph winds. We are planning a family worship service after breakfast. What fun!!

Driveway Snow Piles Higher than the Mailbox
Roof Snow Drifts on Mrs. Caulkins' House
Mr. Heron Blowing the Driveway
Backyard Snowboarding Hill
Lots of Snow on the Deck

Australian Holiday - From Cairns Home - 3 Nov 2006

Brian upheld his perfect record of timely wakeup calls at 4:30 AM. We showered, finished packing, had some breakfast, sadly said goodbye to Sarah, and headed for the airport and our 6:50 AM flight to Sydney. Brian dropped us off at the international terminal where we said our farewell. This was hard, but eased by the knowledge that Brian and Sarah will be back in the States for Christmas.

It took us 36 hours to make our way from Cairns to Sydney to Los Angeles to Indianapolis to Detroit to Grand Rapids: 25 hours flying time and 11 hours in airports. Our flight out of Sydney was late due to a labor dispute (the ground crew wouldn’t deliver the 747 to the gate), and we thought we would miss our flight out of LAX. However, we collected our bags, hoofed it from the international terminal to the Northwest departure terminal, and cleared check in and security with about five minutes to spare.

We arrived in Grand Rapids at 12:30 AM (about an hour late) and Steve picked us up. It was great to get home again, where Tom, Suz, Steve, Kate, John, Danny and Liz had survived our two week absence with no problem. We were very grateful for God’s care of us and our kids as we enjoyed this wonderful trip.

Recovery from jet lag and travel fatigue was not easy, but as I (Dan) write this on December 3, 2006, we are about back to normal.

Thanks to Brian and Sarah for being such excellent hosts. Seeing Australia was great, but sharing it with them made it pure delight.

Australian Holiday - Great Barrier Reef - 2 Nov 2006

We rolled out of bed early on Dan and Rhonda’s last day in Australia, very excited about spending the day at the Great Barrier Reef! After a quick breakfast in our apartment we headed up the winding coastal highway (poor Sarah) for Port Douglas and arrived at the marina before 8 AM. We found the Poseidon, a 75 ft catamaran that tours the reef daily, and got settled in. On the 90 minute trip to the first reef site, Sarah and Rhonda went through the snorkeling orientation while Brian and Dan took the introductory scuba diving course. The scuba training emphasized equalizing body cavity pressures (mouth, lungs and ear) with increasing water pressure as you descend. The Eustachian tubes can be a bugger to keep clear, and differential pressure across the ear drum is particularly painful.

Brian Starts the Descent

We visited three sites on the reef. At the first, Brian and Dan scuba dived while Sarah and Rhonda snorkeled; at the second we all snorkeled together; and at the third Brian and Dan scuba dived, Rhonda snorkeled, and Sarah stayed on the Poseidon, bravely fighting off sea sickness by nibbling crackers. We were amazed as we lowered our masks into the water and entered the marine world, with its profusion of shapes and colors of coral and fish. The Great Barrier Reef is actually made up of thousands of individual reefs, where the coral has grown to the surface. The sites we visited were along the perimeter of these reefs, where cliffs of coral descend 10 or 15 meters to beds of white sand, which is actually made up coral broken to bits by storms. The dive sites were on the outer reef near the brink of the continental shelf, where the ocean depths plunge to many thousands of feet. The introductory scuba dives were escorted, with three or four divers per instructor, and marine biologists accompanied the snorkelers, explaining the wonders of the reef features and creatures. A six-foot shark swam below Rhonda, but the rest of us did not see any large creatures.

Rhonda and a Sea Cucumber

Clown Fish

Dan in the Deep

Big Clam

A woman on our tour broke her upper arm while stepping off the Poseidon’s rear platform into the water. Before long, a helicopter appeared, landing on a floating helipad anchored about ¼ mile from our dive site. The crew took her to the helipad in a motorized raft, and she was soon off to the Cairns hospital. The crew handled the situation very smoothly with little or no disturbance to the other passengers.

The Poseidon crew served us a fine lunch between the second and third dives and had snacks and drinks available throughout the day. We slathered up with sun screen at the beginning of the day, but missed a few spots such as the back of Rhonda’s and Sarah’s legs and Dan’s chest. The sun has lots of power that close to the equator.

After returning to Port Douglas, we drove back to the Roydon for showers, then to Cairns for great Chinese food at the Golden Boat. We returned to the apartment after supper, where Dan and Rhonda packed up and we all applied aloe vera to our sunburned places – then to bed in preparation for Dan and Rhonda’s early departure.

Australian Holiday - Rain Forest Tour & Cairns Waterfront - 1 Nov 2006

We breakfasted on cereal and toast at the apartment, then drove to Caravonica (between Trinity Beach and Cairns) to catch the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway at 10 AM. The cableway trip from Caravonica to Kuranda took about two hours, including stops at Red Peak and Barron Falls Stations. The gondola gave us great views of the rainforest canopy, which supports ferns, orchids and a fascinating array of fruits and flowers living in the tree tops. At Red Peak Station, wooden walkways allow a close-up view of the rainforest under the canopy and the ranger explained the trees, plants and animals living there.
At the Barron Falls Station, we walked to three different lookouts providing views of the Barron River gorge and falls.
We ate lunch and shopped in Kuranda for a couple of hours (looked at about 3,000 T-shirts and bought some more souvenirs), then took the Kuranda Scenic Railway back to Cairns. The railway skirts the southern rim of the Barron River gorge, which widens to a valley as it approaches Cairns, providing spectacular views along the way.

From the train station we took a bus to retrieve the car in Carvonica and drove back to Cairns for a tour of the city. We parked by the public pool on the waterfront, a kind of man-made lagoon, and walked out on the wharf to view the yachts docked at the Marlin Marina. Brian, as a naval architect, appreciated several specimens, especially the Kokomo, a 170 foot fast cruising sloop launched just over a year ago. Very sweet!
We drove back to Trinity Beach and had an excellent Italian dinner at L’unico, with children at nearby tables providing entertainment; then back to the Roydon for a few more rounds of Greed before bed.

Australian Holiday - Adelaide to Cairns - 31 Oct 2006

Brian woke us at 3:45 AM and we showered, finished packing, said farewell to 9 John Street and headed for the airport. Brian and Sarah flew Virgin Blue by way of Melbourne while Dan and Rhonda were on Qantas through Sydney. We checked our luggage, passed through security, bought some breakfast sandwiches, said farewell, and headed for our departure gates.

We arrived about noon at the Cairns domestic terminal, where Brian and Sarah were waiting patiently. Cairns is a tourist hot spot with a busy airport, so it took a while to collect our bags and pick up the rental car, which turned out to be the same Ford Falcon model as Brian and Sarah’s with black, rather than silver, exterior. We drove about 15 minutes north from Cairns to Trinity Beach (Dan’s first time driving on the left – quite exciting for all), where we located the Roydon Beachfront Holiday Apartments and checked in. The second floor apartment was very nice; two bedrooms, two baths, a full kitchen, large living and dining room and a balcony with a view of the ocean. The rooms were furnished with wicker furniture giving them a tropical look.

Roydon Holiday Apartments
Dining & Living Room at the Roydon
After settling in, we spent the afternoon at the pool, enjoying sunshine and 85F, but trying to avoid getting sunburned. The pool area was partially covered with a huge nylon canopy stretched horizontally about 20 feet overhead, which made it easy to move in and out of the sun. The water in the pool was cool but comfortable.

We did some grocery shopping and then had steak and lobster for supper at Trinity Beach Grill, a short walk from the Roydon. After eating, we walked the esplanade to the south end of Trinity Beach and back. As we walked, we noticed what we thought were large birds darting about just above the palm trees but, looking more carefully, saw that they were large fruit bats. Their wing spans looked to be three feet or more. We were not bothered by bugs, so we figured the bats (also called Spectacled Flying Foxes) were doing their job well.

Back at the apartment we played the dice game, Greed, until bedtime. Dan and Rhonda are finally over jet lag enough to stay awake past 10 PM.

More Victor Harbor - The Bluff from Granite Island
Granite Island from the Bluff

Australian Holiday - Victor Harbor - 30 Oct 2006

After breakfast we returned to Adelaide’s Rundle Street Mall to do some souvenir shopping before heading for Victor Harbor. It was, once again, a beautiful day as we drove the 85 kilometers south across rolling hills and coastal countryside. In Victor Harbor, we visited a tourist information office, then walked the causeway to Granite Island. A horse-drawn taxi runs from the mainland to the Island, but we opted for exercise. We greatly enjoyed the Island’s perimeter trail, with stunning views of the Harbor, the coastline and the ocean.

We drove about five kilometers east to the highly-recommended Port Elliot Bakery for a late lunch of meat pies, cheese and vegetable pasties, apple turnovers and baked custard. We sat at the picnic tables outside, dug in, and were not disappointed. Hungry as we were, the delectable fare disappeared quickly. We headed back to Victor Harbor, full and happy, for a hike up The Bluff.

Sarah opted to stay in the car while Brian, Dan and Rhonda hiked the steep trail to the top of the bluff. We were rewarded with gorgeous views of the ocean waves crashing against the rocks below and the coast stretching north toward Victor Harbor and southwest toward Newland Head Conservation Park.
We stopped at a rocky beach below the bluff where Rhonda waded in the salty water and nearly got her pants wet as a big wave rolled up further than expected.
We drove back toward Adelaide, made Glenelg Beach just in time to watch a beautiful sunset over the ocean, and returned to Brian and Sarah’s house after dark to pack our things in preparation for tomorrow’s trip to Cairns.

Australian Holiday - Climb Mt. Lofty - 29 Oct 2006

This morning we packed picnic lunches and water bottles and headed out for a hike up Mount Lofty. We started at a park on the edge of town featuring a beautiful waterfall and pond.
The trail up the mountain, about five kilometers (three miles) long and a climb of 2,000 feet, was paved with asphalt for about half the way, then gravel. Brian was very patient with his pregnant wife and aged parents; we took it fairly easy. The weather was beautiful; starting out cool and winding up warm. At the end of the climb we were glad we had braved the cool morning by putting on shorts. As we passed other hikers, the usual greeting was, “Hello. How ya goin’?” The view from the top was gorgeous, looking west over all of Adelaide and its suburbs to the sea. After cooling off and eating lunch, we made the trek back down the mountain, which was less taxing, but more painful for Dan’s sore knee (fell on the ice last winter). Brian found a nice walking stick, which helped greatly.

We arrived back home with just enough time to get ready for the 5 PM service at Holy Trinity Church, which featured great music and a good sermon by seminary student David Brown on Matthew 6:19-34. After the service, Brian introduced us to the 5 PM associate pastor, Craig Broman and the church rector, Paul Harrington. We enjoyed talking with them and easily sensed their love for the Lord and his people. We are so glad Brian and Sarah have joined such a fine congregation in Adelaide.

We picked up supper at a Wok in a Box noodle bar (Asian fast food) and brought it back to Brian and Sarah’s house to eat. We were bushed after the hike and our beds felt very nice.