Another wonderful Fourth of July

Group shot without Heather (who took the picture)

Group shot without Jenny

Russ begins the Fourth celebrations by arriving on Friday!
This was the only rain (and it was brief).
He had just had hip replacement surgery 5 days before.

It was another fantastic Fourth of July weekend. The largest attendance, 26 at top, for a very long time. The Garren Shay Pavlovic DeKrey (Heather, Scott, James, Morgen, Sean & Will), Wolf (Russ, Marty, Jenny, Julie & Molly), Bond D'Arpa (Debra & Dick), Silverstein (David, Leslie, Scott), Barns (Larry, Luke and Christine) families and David Wood were mostly all there. We all missed the Youmans as they were unable to attend due to Susan's illness. Leslie Smith & Rob Nichols joined us again. And Sean & Will had 6 friends come as well (Jesse, Sarah, Josh, Asaf, Sarah and Pepijn). Russ was a trooper, arriving only days after his surgery.
We had great food as always, water skiing, swimming, running, hiking and games. And wonderful times just sitting and talking - solving the problems of the world - or not! Until next year...

Rob, Leslie, James and Morgen 

Rob, Leslie, Larry and Christine on the deck

David, Leslie, Scott and Dick pitch right in with desert. 

Along with Christine (and Larry way back)

Morgen helps herself to brown sugar cake (Marty's)

Relaxing in the living room on Saturday.
Scott G., Christine, James, Dick and Scott S.

Leslie & Deb cuddle up.

Molly, Sarah, Jesse, Asaf, Leslie and Julie

Close up of Leslie & Julie

And Morgen with Molly

Games were played of all kinds.

With some observing - here Jesse with a lot of beach towels.
We swam every day at the lake.

Josh and Morgen watch the show

James & Morgen, Asaf, Will and Pepijn

Sean & Sarah

Kibbitzing on the deck: Dick, Scott, Leslie, Russ and Deb

Will

Will & Sean work on the BBQ ribs

Jenny appreciates the dinner.

But it obviously doesn't affect her figure!

Luke and Scott

tent village at the old wedding site

David Wood leads the way on the hike.

Crossing the stream with the Davids

Scott, Deb and Heather

Christine & Larry

Leslie brings out her famous flag cake with Jesse's help.

Cleaning up was a constant job

Leslie and David Wood

Will and James partner up.

Asaf, Will, Josh, James, Jesse and Sean - the board games
came out in the evening.

Scott made blueberry pancakes - a lot of them!

James made the whole dinner one night: Steak tacos with
slaw and an amazing corn salad.

Harvey's Memorial Service & Will's Graduation

Will, Sean, Scott, Heather and James outside the Church where we attended Harvey's Memorial Service

Scott and I returned to Vermont early this year to attend the Memorial Service for our wonderful friend Harvey Crocker Smith. We were friends for 47 years and it's hard to imagine a world without him. He was so loved and will be incredibly missed. His wife Gail, son Colin, daughter Leslie and her husband Rob and his sister Patty were the immediate family. Many friends and other family members spoke movingly about his life and effect on us all. Afterwards Gail had arranged a reception at the Middlebury Inn where we had a chance to visit with so many old friends - many part of "The Ski House Group". A wonderful slide show and photo display chronicled Harvey's career, adventures and times with family and friends. Later many of us continued to visit at their home nearby. It was a very special day.
Our sons Sean and James came up for the weekend along with son-in-law Will. Russ and Marty stayed with us. The boys prepared an amazing Mother's Day Brunch for us all. Then I went down to Maryland to spend time with my wonderful sister Paula. We had lots of fun times and got some needed chores done. I especially enjoyed visiting Paula's synagogue for Friday night service and meeting many of her friends. It was great to have lots of time to catch up on our lives.
Next was the graduation exercises celebrating Will's completion of the M.B.A. program at the Sloan School of Business at M.I.T. Will's father Gary came from Minnesota and we had a tight schedule of events. Will and Sean had made reservations at some great restaurants for the evenings. The first afternoon was the ceremony for the Sloan School graduates at the Wang Center followed by a reception at the top of the Hub. Friday was the huge ceremony for all M.I.T. graduates outdoors in front of the dome. Individual receptions followed at the separate schools. Then Will gave us a fun tour of Hubspot were he begins work in July. Last we had dinner with their friends and parents - great evening!

Seated left to right:Scott, Pat Armstrong, Marty Wolf, Heather, Russ Wolf, David Wood, Patty. Standing: Sean, Brian Armstrong, Harpal Singh, Larry Barns, Gail Smith, Karen Martin, Carol Sharoff, Ted Martin, Bill Fonvielle and Colin Smith
at the Middlebury Inn for the reception (we're so sorry that somehow Leslie Smith and Rob Nichols weren't there for this shot)

Marty, Pat and Russ

Harpal

Sean and Russ

Will, Sean and James made an amazing Mother's Day breakfast

Hard at work. in the kitchen

Marty and Russ were up for the Memorial Service so Marty
and I were the Mothers!

Will's beautiful fruit salad

Sean's Eggs Benedict

James' asparagus with crispy shallots

Will doing some laundry too

My sister Paula whom I visited for a week in Maryland

Will and his father Gary outside the Sloan
School Graduation Ceremonies

Will and Sean with Will's diploma

Will took us on a tour of his new company,
Hubspot - very cool!

The main graduation exercises with thousands attending.
Matt Damon was the main speaker.

From left; Scott, Heather, Sean, Will, Jesse, Lindsey, and

Jesse's parents Kathy and Bobby.

Belize Cruising Season 2016 in Photos

Scott Free under sail with our dingy on the davits and our kayak up at the bow - taken by Jim on Emerald Seas

Russ Wolf came for his annual and much appreciated visit

Russ is right at home on Scott Free now and pitches right in

We spent lots of time out in reef islands exploring and of
course, lots of swimming and snorkeling

Here on Tobacco Caye

Party time at Hideaway Caye in the Pelican Cayes

Dave on "Cordelia"

Lovely  Uli on Toriba

Scott and her husband Thomas - we visited them in Bavaria
last summer

Dave & Pat from "Ten Year's After", Renate, Heather and
Jim play Mexican Train Dominos at the Paradise Hotel

Jim and Renate with some conch they hunted down. Renate
made them into conch fritters that evening - Yum!

We found the most amazing tree covered with
orchids on a remote Caye out on the barrier
reef. I'm not going to tell you where!

There were hundreds of gorgeous white orchids on it

Unbelievable

Emerald Seas afloat in a world of blue water and sky

Jim cleans conch and fish - a messy job

A local fisherman in his dugout spends the day hunting
fish and conch

This fisherman was better equipped to travel far

Jim and I took his dinghy out on the reef to take pictures of
both the fishermen, the water and a wreck

This old freighter is now in several big pieces over the reef

And the birds enjoy the perches it provides

We found it fun to photograph. Getting there was a bit of a job
as the water was so clear it was hard to tell how deep it was.

This is the "mother ship" for 6 fishermen who live on this tiny
boat for up to a week at a time.  A charter boat at the end of
their week gave us a ton of food they hadn't eaten. We shared
it with these fishermen and I think they hadn't eaten so well
for a long time. They especially appreciated the meat and
cheese.

Jim took this dramatic picture of a big ship at sunset. We
saw a lot of them, particularly cruise ships, from our anchorage
at Terniffe Atoll

As I can't dive any more due to my lung surgery, Scott now
buddies with Jim and Renate

And in this dramatic picture by Renate, his buddy is a huge tarpon!

Dinner on the beach at Ranguana with Marsha & Rick on
the left of "She Wolf" and Dave & Pat on "Ten Year's After"

End of the Season farewell dinner at Tortugal - around
the table from left - Steve & Tricia, Rosie, Heather,
Scott, Judy "Quest", Don "Chickcharne", Renate & Jim,
last 2 , sorry can't remember their names