Thanksgiving

Can you believe I was invited to the Thanksgiving celebration at my other Mom's house and Becky & Harvey left me at home! Was not very nice of them for sure and it looks like they had a great time. For sure they came home full and complaining about overeating - serves them right for leaving me behind! All of us have a lot to be thankful for this year: Helen is looking forward to her 90th birthday in January, her friend Betty joined us for the day and was a most welcome addition to the group, Betsy is cancer-free again, Butch and Harvey remain so! Lots of big things to say our prayers for. We hope you all had a great holiday with family and friends. However I certainly hope you didn't leave your pets at home when they were invited!

Schatzi

Plans!

Boy is the Christmas chitter chatter going strong here! I hear tell that all the kids, grandkids, etc. will be home between Christmas and New Year's! WOW that's a biggie for us and hasn't happened in ages. Becky is busy planning a family portrait and already wondering where all will sleep and what to cook! Am sure this is going to be a great time for all of them and I can't wait to meet Lani.  Hope I don't make her allergies worse, I'd feel awful!

TTFN

Schatzi

3-Days in Chicago

I spent three very relaxing days at Camp being completely spoiled by my other Mom & Dad (they are wonderful you know). Becky, Harvey, Nicki, Paul, McKinley and Andy on the other hand were off to Chicago. Whew, they made me tired telling me all they did. Andy pretty much was the photographer on the trip and took 253 pictures in three days! Don't worry, Becky didn't post them all! 

The first day Andy got to go to the big Lego store on Michigan Ave. for the first time and the Bears store. They all went up to the observatory on the John Hancock building, had dinner in Lincoln Park, went to Briar Street Theater to see the Blue Man Group perform AND when they got back to the hotel the kids went swimming! See what I mean? I'm tired just thinking about it.

On the next day they spent almost all day at the Shedd Aquarium where both kids took a zillion pictures until they read the sign that said "NO FLASH PICTURES ALLOWED". Hmmmm.... They got back to the hotel just in time to see Iowa beat Penn State and still get to Heather & Bill's reception pretty much on time! That was another wonderful wedding event.

On the last day Andy, Paul, Nicki & Harvey went to the Bears game - a first for most of them. Other than not bringing home a winner, it was a great time for all of them. McKinley got her very first cab ride with Becky to shop at Water Tower Place where she spent her money wisely! Then they saw the pre-Broadway stage performance of Dirty Dancing. I know they didn't get home until almost midnight cuz I had to spend an extra day at camp! From the number of packages, souvenirs, smiles and pictures, I think it was a great adventure for everyone.

Becky has sorted through the pictures and posted the "best of the best". Click here to see them. We are now having snow, sleet and ice so I think winter is almost here and the adventures may end. I hope so, I love camp, but I need to sleep in my own bed sometimes.

TTFN

Schatzi

Fishing Evidence from Cancun

And here's the fishing evidence.  You can see the infamous barracuda in Harvey's left hand.  To see the rest of the fishing pictures click here.

Finally - Pictures

I am going to let Becky post this one since I'm not allowed to use the camera and she is.....

As you all know our Goddaughter Heather was married to Bill Maris in Cancun on October 10th and I've not yet posted pictures of any of the wedding events and/or the vacation part of the trip to Cancun. Believe me, it has been a challenge as I must have a zillion pictures to choose from and am sure none of you want to see them all! Have sorted these into events and picked what I thought was the best of the best for each one. Many thanks to Sandy, Heather & Bill, Tony & Kathy and the tour folks for the ones I've chosen. 

Click to see any or all of these you are interested in and thanks so much for stopping by the blog! We'd love to hear from you.

Heather's shower in Cedar Rapids

This was hosted by her bridesmaids, Anna, Beth & Courtney, at the Cedar Rapids Country Club In August.

Heather's Shower in Bolingbrook

This was hosted by Bill's family at a restaurant in Bolingbrook.

Heather & Bill's wedding in Cancun

The wedding was at the Excellence Playa Mujeres resort a bit north of the city of Cancun. It was a beautiful setting, the bride was gorgeous and everything was much like a fairy tale!

Vacation time in Cancun

We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation time in Cancun.  We were there a whole week and lived in the lap of pure luxury! The resort is elegant and we spent way too much time enjoying the fruits of "all-inclusive".  The food was outstanding, there were a LOT of pools and we spent many hours in them.  The spa there was in my opinion outstanding - at least I enjoyed it! We did a bit of shopping one day in the town of Cancun. Harvey went fishing one day on very rough seas and came home having caught several Amberjack, a Barracuda and something unknown that broke a 50 lb. test line. He came home with the snout of the Barracuda and convinced one of the cooks to boil the meat off so we could bring the teeth home and I was cautious what I ordered for dinner that night. They are currently on display on our kitchen counter and the pictures of the fish are yet to be available. The eight of us "oldies" from Cedar Rapids/Marion went on a catamaran trip to Isla Mujeres (about a 40 minute boat ride from Cancun) one day where we met a wonderful young couple, Kathy & Tony.  While the tour was not as advertised I believe each of us had a great time and enjoyed the day. We had the opportunity to snorkel, shop on Isla Mujeres, have lunch there, swim with a shark, get awfully sunburned and laugh a lot.

The entire trip was wonderful! A real vacation and that is something we haven't had in ages! We truly enjoyed every event and thank Heather and Bill for including us in this most special time of their lives. We look forward to celebrating one more time with them at a reception in Bolingbrook next weekend.

Becky & Harvey