Time to visit VA

March 2009 Since moving to Baltimore, we have been able to go to VA to visit with Mark's sister Christine, her hubby Mick and our niece Taylor several times. Nicole and Aubrey (whom they had not met yet) came to visit while we were there and of course we had a great time! Taylor couldn't wait to "walk" Aubrey who had started to walk around the furniture and loves to walk with someones help. Aubrey also got a chance to meet Goldie and Molson (the dogs) while she was there.
Pictures are of Mark and Aubrey (of course only Grandpa matters), Taylor and Aubrey, Aubrey, Great Aunt Christine and Aubrey, Aubrey, Nicole and the dogs and Great Uncle Mick with Aubrey.

5 Generations!!

February 20, 2009 Nicole, Aubrey and Vicki travel to MN to obtain a 5 generation picture with Great, Great Grandma Edna Victoria Amyotte in Duluth, MN. Vicki was born on Great, Great Grandma Amyotte's birthday and Aubrey received her middle name from this grandma (Victoria). Grandma Amyotte turned 99 this year and we thought it not only a landmark but important that we capture the family history.

This was also the first time that Great Grandma and Great Grandpa LaLonde got to see Aubrey. We had a short but great visit and have the cherished memories for the future. Thanks to Mark for allowing (and paying for) the trip as he had to bach it while Vicki was away.

Pictures are of Aubrey with her "Mousie" whom she always sleeps with, Vicki and her Grandma, Nicole, Aubrey and Great, Great Grandma Amyotte, Great, Great Grandma Amyotte and then the 5 generation picture of Nicole, Aubrey Victoria, Great Grandma LaLonde (Betty, Vicki's mom), Vicki and Great, Great Grandma Amyotte (Edna Victoria) (Front)

More Christmas pictures

Here are pictures of Aubrey opening her presents and more of the family. My favorite picture is of Aubrey and her grandpa (which she just adores).

Aubrey's first Christmas

The weekend following Christmas down in VA with Nicole and Aubrey was great! Vicki's brother Brian and his family came from Winston-Salem to celebrate with us and family time was excellent! Pictures are of the time we spent at the hotel and the restaurant for dinner.

Christmas 2008

We were able to spend some time at the house in MI at Christmas time and thoroughly enjoyed the snow. When we first arrived, Mark had to wade through thigh deep snow to the pole barn to get the snow blower out to clear a path up the driveway. While we were there, he had to run the snow blower everyday.

Pictures included are of Mark snow blowing the driveway, Mark while we were out snowshoeing, the house and driveway (showing all the snow) and a red headed woodpecker eating some of the seeds we put out for the birds.

Thanksgiving in MI with Vicki's mom and dad

Thanksgiving 2008 was a wonderful time for us at home in MI. Vicki's mom and dad come for a visit and we were able to obtain a special hunting permit for Vicki's dad allowing him to hunt from a standing vehicle. Although they didn't see anything for him to shoot, just being in the woods with her dad once again meant everything to her. Vicki was fortunate the have been able to shoot her first buck with her bow in October and there is a picture of that here. Other pictures include Vicki and her mom going for a ride, Vicki and her dad while hunting and Vicki's dad hunting.

South to Baltimore, MD

At the end of summer 2008, Mark took a job in Baltimore, MD and we had the boat hauled and transported by truck to a marina in the town of Northeast, MD where we had it put back together. While Mark was working up in Oswego, NY still, I got the privilege (a little scary) of moving the boat to her new home in Baltimore Inner Harbor Marine Center at the beginning of November 2008. I took one of the riggers with me as he knew the waters around Northeast and we sailed down the Chesapeake to Baltimore. It was a great sail and I was very proud of doing this "all by myself" (meaning without Mark on board).

Summer in Fair Haven, NY

The summer in Fair Haven, NY was really wonderful. We met so many nice people at the marina and were blessed to be able to share many great meals and conversations with them both at the marina (which has the coolest parties, complete with bands) and in towm at our favorite eatery, Pleasant Beach (owned by "H" and Bonnie who are sailboat owners from GA).
The fourth of July was really cool! The bay does this neat thing called the "Ring of Fire" which is when everyoe around the bay puts out flares by the water and lights them at dark. The result is a actual ring of fire around the bay and is quite the sight to see. The fireworks were really exceptional also.
The picture is of one of the fireworks and also shows the lights along the bottom of the picture (which is part of the ring of fire).

Pictures of Aubrey

Aubrey is such a wonderful littl girl. We are truly blessed with her as our grandaughter. Nicole is a great mommy and Mark and I are becoming acustomed to being Grandma and Grandpa. These a just a few the pictures that we have taken during the first month of her life.
Pictured are Aubrey, Aubrey with Grandma, Aubrey with Great, Great Aunt Bonnie, Aubrey with Great Uncle Brian, Aubrey with Nicole (Mom) and Grandpa, and Grandpa and Aubrey.

April 10, 2008 - Here's Aubrey Victoria our grandaughter

April 10, 2008 was a very important date for our family as Aubrey Victoria our grandaughter was born. Her mother, Nicole, did very well with the labor and delivery and is a great mother! We are extremely proud of them both!
Grandma and Grandpa were on their way to NY to our new home at Fair Point Marina when Nicole called to say that she was in labor and would be heading to the hospital. We stopped at a motel for a couple of hours of sleep and then got back on the road. Vicki drove as quickly and safely as possible to try to get to Nicole for the birth but missed Aubrey's arrival by only an hour and a half!
Vicki stayed with Nicole and Aubrey for four wonderful weeks after the birth! It was absolutely a once in a lifetime experience for her.
Mark headed to NY to take delivery of the boat and get it into he water. He then headed for MI to visit Jenel (our youngest) and then headed to TN to visit Halsey (our third) before heading to VA to see his grandaughter for the first time. He started work in NY after a whirlwind trip across country to see the family.

Time to move to New York

April 2008 and with the end of Mark's consulting job in sight, a decision was made for Mark to take another consulting job as our insurance claim has still not been settled yet. Tom, Mark's very good friend from the Navy and current training manager at Nine Mile in Oswego, NY called to see if Mark was interested in coming back to NY and helping him. We talked it over and started looking for a place to live in NY on the boat and a way to get the boat up there. We decided to ship the boat by truck and found Fair Point Marina in Little Sodus Bay right off of Lake Ontario to keep the boat over the summer. For a better look you can go to their website at http://www.fairpointmarina.com/ and see where we are for the summer. Come the fall, we will need to look for an apartment that is furnished for the winter (YUCK). We have met a lot of very nice people here and our good friends from Key Largo, Annette and Gary live about 45 minutes away.

Sea Trial

At the end of February 2008, Roger from Nance & Underwood came down with one of his riggers to go sailing with us and do our sea trial. We had a great day of sailing and ended up having to anchor out because we didn't get through the channel before the tide got too low. The tide was especially low since it was a full moon and we had not taken that into consideration when we left in the morning. While out at anchor, the rigger helped Vicki take apart the windless and clean and lube it. He also helped her take apart one of the big self tailing winches in the cockpit and clean and lube that. After sitting around for awhile, Mark decided to take them to the dock by the dinghy while Joy (our friend from the marina) and Vicki waited for the tide to rise enough to get the boat back to the marina.

John and Nora come to visit February 2008

One of the best friends that I have finally came to visit us in Florida even though she is terrified of flying. My high school buddy Nora and her husband John (whom we just love and Mark has so much in common with) came to visit us in Key Largo in February. We were able to visit with them for an entire week and just loved having them.

We went to dinner at Bayside Grill on Valentine's Day (Mark and my anniversary) and had a great meal while watching the sun set. We tried to get out fishing but the weather just wouldn't cooperate with us.. We did make it down to Key West though and had a good time while there. Nora, Joy (one of our friends from the marina) and I shopped while the guys sat and had a couple of drinks at one of the many bars. Nora and John also went to swim with the dolphins and had a fabulous time with two dolphins that normally work with learning disabled and really get excited to work with normal people. They swam so fast that they actually made a wake pulling John and Nora back to the dock! Both of them said that it was wonderful and that it was "a once in a lifetime" opportunity. We are so glad that they visited us and hope to see them again soon.

A new mast at last!!! Jan 2008

Off to Ft. Lauderdale for a new mast (finally!!) On January 15, 2008 we left Key Largo on our way to Playboy Marina for our new mast. On board were Mark and I and our very good friend Gary (who came along to help us and take a rode trip so to speak). We took two days to motor up to Ft. Lauderdale, anchoring the first night and staying in the marina across from Playboy the second night.
On January 17, 2008 we went into the hole over in Playboy and watched as the riggers from Nance & Underwood set about standing our new mast. WOW what a great feeling to finally see our girl with a new mast after being without one for so long!
We had a very long, bumpy ride back to Key Largo on Saturday the 19th and ended up anchoring just outside of the channel to our home at Marina Del Mar due to the tides. The wind was of course right in our face leaving Ft. Lauderdale and we ended up tacking back and forth away from and back towards the shore trying to make headway. We took a lot of waves over the bow and we were reminded what a great boat we picked as she just kept right on going strong even though we didn't have great weather for our first trip with the new mast up.