2016-07-31 - Sunday - Cruising

Sunday we got on our ship, Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas to cruise the Caribbean for seven days. My in-laws came with us and we had eleven people all together.

We left out of Port Canaveral and were headed to Cococay in the Bahamas.

Our schedule was:
7/31 Port Canaveral
8/1   Cococay (Bahamas)
8/2   day at sea
8/3   St. Thomas
8/4   St. Maarten
8/5   day at sea
8/6   day at sea
8/7   Port Canaveral

These cruise ships are getting larger and larger and they carry a small city. The Freedom of the Seas is 1112 ft long, 185 ft beam, 28 ft draft, and has a crew of 1360. That's a small town by itself, add the passengers and you have a city.

Our cabin was 159 sq ft, and half of it was beds.
The kids bunks came down from the ceiling.

A Carnival ship left first.

Watching us turn around and head out.
Eva, Justin, Scott, John, Ryan, Meredith, and Stephanie.

The Flow Rider was fun to watch.

The main promenade inside.

Scott and Rich on the bridge.

Meredith and Ryan walking the deck.

Cruising off into the afternoon.

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2014-12-25 - Thursday - Christmas

Christmas afternoon we opened our presents at my sister-in-law's house. It was a giggle-fest.

I hope your Christmas was as happy as ours was.

Meredith, Stephanie, Audrey, John, Justin, and Ryan.

Meredith and Stephanie.

Meredith is a bit camera shy.

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2014-12-21 - Sunday - Pennsylvania

We drove to PA on Saturday and Sunday we were at my brother-in-law's with all the cousins together. Stephanie asked me to take a photo of all the cousins that she could get printed to put in a frame for her grandfather.

It's nice when we all get together and the kids have a great time with each other.

Ryan holding baby Justin.

Clockwise from bottom left:
Audrey, Justin, Stephanie, Ryan, Meredith, and John.

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June 26 - Family fun

Tuesday Karen's aunt and uncle came over with two of her cousins.  It's always good to see Uncle Anthony and Aunt Camille and it's surely a bonus when Janet and Julie come along too.  I've said many times that I am blessed to have married into such a great family.

My brother also arrived for a couple of days.  I really like to spend time with him and we always have a lot of fun.

Early morning.

Stephanie, Ryan, and Justin clowning around.

Karen, Julie, and Janet.

John and Anthony.

A family meeting on the beach.

Atlantic City in the distance.

While waiting for my brother to arrive
I found a nice cloud at the end of the street.

Later, the moon caught me.

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June 11 - Graduation trip - pre-graduation

We took a trip to PA for our nephew's graduation from high school.  It was short trip bookended by two long drives, but we had a good time catching up with both families.  We went to lunch with my family and then went out to dinner with Karen's.  After that it was back to the house for cake.

The actual graduation will be tomorrow, but it will be late when it's over so we had our family celebration today.

My father, mother, Karen, and Stephanie.

Ryan, John, Stephanie, and Karen.

Scott and Rich.

Audrey and Eva.

Ryan, John, Stephanie (and her tongue), and Justin.

Justin, Meredith, and Sydney.

Rich and Meredith.

Justin and the cake.

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2010-08-11 Wednesday - Ocean City, NJ

Another day of walking the beach and another night on the boardwalk.  The trip to the boardwalk held some added adventure since Justin and Stephanie got their ears pierced.  A big step for both of them.  Justin got a "regular" piercing in his left earlobe, and Stephanie got a ball stud in the upper cartilage of her left ear.  We started out at Kohr Bros. for some frozen custard and ended up at Beach Jewelry for the piercings.

This is an odd treat that we tried and turned out to be pretty good.

Justin mugging for the camera and Ryan eating his cone.

Stephanie and Justin laughing about something.

John takes any chance to see his Phillies play.

Walking the boards.

The boardwalk.

Marking the spot.

Pow!

Presto!

Ready...

Pow!

Presto!

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2010-08-09 Monday - Ocean City, NJ

Monday we spent a lot of time walking the beach and then came back and had a nice hamburger and hot dog dinner.  Once that was cleaned up we headed to the boardwalk for some frozen custard and caramel corn.  While they're getting a bit big for some of the rides, the kids still love going to the boardwalk.  Traditions.

Supper time!

Stephanie, Audrey, John, Eva, and Scott.

Frozen custard for Eva and Audrey.

John, Scott, Eva, and Audrey.

There's ALWAYS a line at Kohr Bros.

Meredith, Justin, Stephanie (with popcorn bucket on head), and Ryan.

The people working at Kohr Bros. can handle multiple cones.

Audrey and Eva, Ryan, and Meredith (blurring out of frame.)

Ryan, Justin, Scott, Stephanie (still balancing), and John.

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2010-02-28 Sunday

Sunday saw a crew of regulars at Clayworks.  Everyone was being very productive and having a lot of fun in the making of things.  I finished up my glazing from Saturday since the gas kiln was going to be loaded on Wednesday night.

 

Katherine and Pete (with twelve lbs of clay).

  

Ju-Ian and her new little buddy.

  

She makes great faces.

  

John working on decoration.

  

 When I got home I grabbed a photo of this planter on the deck.

This is a testament to how cold this winter has been

since it's lived on the deck for more than five years

with no problem at all.