Here's To Life!

A Little January Fun The best way to spend a week in January is not in the Chicago area. We took a 10 day trip south driving to Destin, FL and New Orleans, LA. We drove through Birmingham and Montgomery, AL on the way and  stopped at some of the civil rights memorials. One of the most meaningful one was the National Memorial for Peace and Justice which highlights the many lynchings (4400) that took place in this country between the years of 1877 and 1950. We spent 2 1/2 days in Destin, enjoying walking on the beach and using the pool at the resort as well as trying different restaurants. Drove to New Orleans, stopping in Biloxi, MS to visit the last home of Jefferson Davis. Activities in New Orleans included exploring the French Quarter, taking a 2 hour cruise on the Natchez steam boat, and sipping coffee and eating beignets at Cafe Du Mond.   The next day we visited a few plantations along Plantation Row - the Whitney Planta...

Christmas, 2019 Dear Family and Friends, Our tree is up, cookie baking has started and it is time to reflect on this year and share our happenings with you. We celebrated 40 years of marriage on May 12. We took the whole family to dinner and then at the end of June we took them all to Hawaii for a week. Our kids arranged for a photoshoot while we were there (hence the Hawaii pictures on our card) and we all had a great time seeing the sights, enjoying the sun, sand and surf. Dolphin watching and snorkeling was a highlight. We did a fair amount of traveling this year - 28,000 miles or so. Besides Hawaii, we took a trip to Greece with our church friends following in the footsteps of the apostle Paul. Amazing to think we walked in the same places in Corinth, Ephesus and Athens. The trip ended with a four day cruise on the Aegean Sea. We drove to Cape Cod with John, Sasha and Xochitl and spent a week there. We started the year with a trip to West Virginia and in Apri...

Fall Trip - 2019 Photos from our trip Taking advantage again of not working and being able to vacation during the school year. This week we are in Texas - in the New Braunfels/San Antonio area. After having snow on Halloween at home, we are enjoying temps once again in the 70s and one day in the 80s. We left our house on Saturday, Nov. 2nd and drove to Republic, MO. We spent Sunday morning touring Wilson Creek Battlefield where Paul had an ancestor who fought there. It was a lovely fall day - hard to picture the conditions of battle in August 1861. After touring the battlefield, we drove on to Oklahoma City - where we started our married life in 1979.  We started downtown where we stopped at the memorial where the Murrah building had been and 168 people were killed in 1995 in a terrorist bombing. Another contemplative site and a memorial very well done. To the State Capital building after that - to see if the oil well is still there in front which it is. Onward to more...

Following   in the Footsteps of St. Paul - September 2019 September found us on a tour sponsored by our church - Following in the Footsteps of St. Paul. This was a wonderful trip to Greece beginning in Thessaloniki and ending in Athens. We stood where Paul stood - visited many of the cities where he preached. Rather awe inspiring! We traveled to Delphi and Meteora. We ended in Athens where we visited the Acropolis and Mars Hill where Paul preached to early Christians. Our trip ended with a 4 day cruise among the Greek Islands of Crete, Rhodes, Santorini and a visit to the city of Ephesus in Turkey. We had some great tour guides who shared what they thought best in their cities. It was an interesting trip and an amazing experience.

A Trip to Cape Cod - August 2019 Had a nice trip to Cape Cod with John, Sasha and Xochitl. Tried out our new car for travel - it was packed but we all fit and made it safely there and back. We enjoyed seeing Xochitl at the   pond just as we did with our own children. We ate out a bit - seafood, clam chowder and pizza. My mom enjoyed watching Xochitl walk around the house with her cane. Also went to see a Cape Cod baseball playoff game for the Cotuit Kettleers. Happy to say they won big - 22 - 2. Did a little wine tasting and beer tasting as well. Made good use of our time there.     

Best of 2019

Celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary with a family trip to Hawaii. Stayed at the Wyndham Waikiki Beach Resort and had a wonderful time. We were in the heart of Waikiki within walking distance of the ocean. Enjoyed good food, walking around and the resort pool. Also took a day to go snorkeling and dolphin watching as well as a day to drive to the north of the island and stopped at the Dole Plantation. Also went to Pearl Harbor and John, Sasha and Xochitl climbed to the top of Diamond Head. Hawaii - 2019