Ahh. . . . Shamu Stadium. . . the last stop in Sea World. We walked past a vendor selling fish puppets and both boys went nuts. Caleb picked out a dolphin and Zach wanted the Orca Whale. This was perfect because we made it to the stadium early, and the boys entertained themselves for the longest time! Of course Daddy joined in on the fun and put on a puppet show like only Daddy could do - complete with silly songs and voices. We still have those puppets, and occasionally Zach will play with them, acting out his own silly plays, just like his Daddy.
Scrapbooking Tip:
I am particularly proud of this page for a unique technique I used. I was having trouble getting a picture of the whales jumping out of the water. If my picture was clear, I only could see the tips of the whales' tails. The pictures with the whales in perfect position were blurry. I was just about to go without the picture when inspiration struck!
I grabbed one of my blurry pictures out of the garbage and cut out the whales. I then used foam adhesive to attach the whales to one of the clear photos of the stadium.
I was very pleased with the result! At a distance you can't really tell that I merged two pictures. I know some scrapbookers would have used Photoshop, but (confession time), I really don't like using the computer to scrapbook! Occasionally I will type out some of my journaling, but I like to see my handwriting on my layouts.
Here's my argument for using handwriting over computer journaling. Ever since Dave died anytime I find something in his handwriting, even a grocery list, I save it. I love seeing his small, all caps print. Dave didn't write as much as I do, so what I find is very precious. I also want the boys to know that little tid bit about him. What I have a lot of in Dave's handwriting are the love letters he wrote to me while we were dating, some after we were married, then a lot when he was going through the Police Academy. But most of those "handwriting samples" are for my eyes only, and while I will share some with the boys as they get older to show them how much their Daddy loved Mommy and later them, they are not scrapbook material. To collect things to show the boys is so important for me. Anything that can give them glimpses of their Daddy is worth saving.
I hope that my boys would feel the same way if anything ever happened to me. My handwriting is all over the scrapbooks. Notes to them telling stories, telling them I love them. They will never have to wonder how Daddy and Mommy felt about them.
So that's way I'm going to continue to handwrite my journaling, and I don't see this ever changing! A computer might make the printing perfect and spacing even, but it can't add the personal touch handwriting can.
