Thursday, December 28, 2017

Christmas in Guatemala

Enjoying a coffee at a cafe overlooking the busy street.
 We arrived in Antigua rather ill. Heather came down with something just after the Holiday Party and ended up in the ER in Florida. It was bronchitus not pneumonia thank goodness but the regimen on prednisone and antibiotics haven't completed a cure still on 12/29. Scott has caught it too so we're quite a pair. But we rallied enough to walk around Antigua admiring the beautiful Christmas decorations and Scott got 6 fillings done by a good local dentist. On the 23rd we took the long bus ride down to the Rio and are now on Scott Free. We enjoyed a very nice cruiser pot luck here at our Marina on Christmas Day with some old friends. But we're still dreaming of a White Christmas!

Antigua is lit up for the holidays. We joined the crowd celebrating a live Nativity play in front of .La Merced Church

It was a beautiful scene.

The 3 Kings arrived with great pomp and
circumstance.

This is the center of the main square at night in Antigua in front of the Cathedral. Lots of families are out walking around and playing.

Doris putting out the pot luck buffet. She made
the roast turkey and gravy.
Kathi, Luis and Daphne (owner of Tortugal Resort)
Scott in his shirt from the San Blas islands with a few other
cruisers.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

End of the Year Travels

Scott, Heather, Nick, Tommy and Zoë hiking up above Palo Alto
This fall Scott and I spent a week each in Palo Alto, CA and Dallas, TX. The first was with our daughter Zoë, son in law George and 2 grandchildren Nick and Tommy. We got to see Tommy's school play "The Stinky Cheese Man" and visited San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.  Next we were off to Dallas to see our oldest son Joshua, daughter in law Michal and grandchildren Daniel, Cookie, Maya, Jonathan and Shira. A visit with them involves cooking, playing board games and watching movies - non stop!
We had Thanksgiving at home with James, Sean, Will, Will's parents Cathy & Gary, Larry, Luke and Christine. Great long weekend with a dusting of snow, fires in the fireplace and stove - and lots of great food (and of course board games).
Maya, Cookie and Heather love art!

Shira gave us all some advice.

Jonathan and Daniel prefer electronic media.

And so does Heather at times.
Another long weekend in Concord MA followed with a dinner on Friday night to celebrate two birthdays (Scott's and Bill Fonvielle's) and the Annual Holiday Open House on Sunday. This party has been going on since 1970!
Larry, Will, Sean, James, Scott and Christine at Thanksgiving
Bill, Carole, Russ, Heather, Marty, Debra and Scott at the Capitol Grille
Sean & James
Declan, Will and Sean at the Holiday Party
Doug, Carole and Nick
Jesse, Barbara, Scott, Patrick and Molly
Bill, Debra and Marty
Dick, Gene and Julie
Jeannie, Karen and Leslie
Marty, Nick, Heather, Leslie and Dave
Then we packed up and flew south to Florida to visit first Julie & Peter in Punta Gorda and then Uli & Thomas in Titusville. Both have been cruising friends for many years. After a wonderful week there we hoped on a plane to Guatemala and on to the old capitol Antigua.  We've been enjoying three days here before taking the bus down to the Rio Dulce and back to Scott Free tomorrow. So many photos - here are those thru Florida!
Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukah!
Peter & Julie get a hug!
The view from Peter & Julie's condo in Punta Gorda
Enjoying ice cream on Scott's Birthday - 70 now!
With our cruiser friends Uli & Thomas in Titusville
's
Their Christmas Card Photo on Toriba