WISHING YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Where did the year go?? As you will see, we had a busy but fun year. Just when we think we'll slow down and relax a little more...... ha! It's a good thing we all keep busy so we can hopefully fool our minds into thinking we're younger than we are. I don't know about you, but I don't like my numbers!

This year for Christmas, we've decided to go up north in the Dolomite mountains to a little town called Andalo. It's a charming little town just south of the Austrian border. Genie, Bob and I are also going on a sleigh ride. Can hardly wait.

We'll take some special time and think about you all. We do love keeping in touch with all our friends. We have had a few losses this past year and we will keep them in our memories.

We miss our sons & families but look forward to having one of them here in May or June. The other one, we'll see on a trip to the east coast.

PLEASE ENJOY SHARING OUR YEAR ON THIS BLOG. IF YOU WANT TO START FROM THE BEGINNING, SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TIL YOU SEE THE YEAR STARTING, AND WORK YOUR WAY UP. OR LOOK ON THE RIGHT SIDE BAR AND CLICK ON TITLE IN THE LIST.

HAVE A LOVING CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY, SAFE, HEALTHY NEW YEAR!!!

LOVE, MARILYN, BOB & GENE

OH-----FORGOT SOMETHING- THE NEWEST 'PET'

This is what the Italians think of this stop light!

Hello there.....

We live on a hill, just a few minutes from the main town. We hear cow bells most of the time. One evening they sounded VERY close...... We opened the door, and here stood this........

And just another little tid-bit.... Couldn't help taking this picture of this stoplight. Look closely. My caption for this is "Now you know what Italians think of the red stop light!"

FAREWELL TO THE ULRICHS

Change of Command

Harry & Mary Ulrich

The Navy League Farewell party for Harry and Mary Ulrich. It came time for the Ulrichs to leave........ as this is the normal in Navy life. And the Change of Command.

THE PRESIDENT OF NAVY LEAGUE-NAPLES

The President, Navy League, and his 'worker'

Bob talking with the present Commanding Officer of the Navy Hospital, Naples
Admiral Harry Ulrich, Naval Forces Europe

And then there is the Navy League. Our friends, Pia, Mary, Harry,(Harry's part of the summer sailing group, remember?), and Betty, made sure Bob said 'yes' to stepping into the job of President of the Navy League. It is a grand organization, and we are members. Now we have a little more to do and is very rewarding to be helping our troops. At the moment we are working on the Christmas party for this Sat, the 15th.

IT'S PET TIME ....

Marley cat & Bailey
With Bailey & Mia.... his 'girls'.

I think you all know how much Bob loves pets...... Well, we did have a great time pet sitting in Naples with favorites..... Mia, Bailey & Marley cat. (2 labs & a cat). Then all of a sudden we heard these little 'meows' outside our door in Formia. The mama cat had kittens. They now get fed every day and have learned to come into the kitchen, and even let us pet them. Usually cats in the wild do not get this close. They have extra good sense!

AND MORE..... IT'S BEEN A BUSY YEAR

Gibraltar is where they have the wild (tourist tame) monkies. When we were back at the hotel in Marbella, we had a Paella demonstration. Made us all hungry....... got to eat it.

MORE PICTURES.....

Yes, there was a seat there on the bow.
Monaco, Casino in background. No....no gambling that day.
Tarregone, Spain
And, of course, you recognize 'the rock' - Gibraltar

A stop in Monaco.... and 'on the road again', to Marbella. We took a couple day trips to Gibraltar, and into the historic town of Ronda, in the high hills of Spain.

PORTOFINO, HERE WE COME, AND MORE....

Portofino
Bob, Me, Jeanette, Shirley, Don


Manuela, Corinne, Giuseppe
Alberto, & Giuseppe

When Shirley & Don got here, they had only a couple days before we headed north, picking up Jeanette, Shirley's sister, in Rome. First stop Lucca, and over night with our friends there. Then to Portofino for a couple nights. We had a gracious host and the trip of dreams. As you can see by the pictures, no words needed. Then on to Cannes, France- one night, to Tarragone, Spain- one night, to Cartegena, Spain---one night.... then to Malaga/Marbella, Spain for one week! Use your credit cards, friends. Points and miles work wonders!

NEXT.....AUGUST & VISITORS

Roy, Ivona, & Eva. Gaeta in the background.
Kelly and Kay.......

In mid August, our neighbor from Bonsall, Roy, and his lady, Ivona & daughter, Eva were here. They had been traveling so we took only local trips and showed them our area. A nice visit.

Then in Sept, Kay deWit and her daughter, Kelly, came. We had lots of fun. As you can see, everyone that comes 'needs' to go to the open market...... the 'mercato'. Best intentions of not buying because of packing...... uh huh.... of course they bought.

CAPPUCCINO DELIGHT

Just to let you know what goes on in our normal routine at home in Formia....................We visit our favorite cappuccino bar, get car washed and gased up, all in one place. Our friends/owners, Aldo and Alessandro, love to have us come in. We even can get our fresh mozzarella di bufala there.

CROATIA... Continued.......

This was near the end of the trip, and after 2 days of rough weather for the boaters, a couple of 'sickies', you can tell they are a bit 'pooped'!

The boys sailed on to visit more islands and cities on the way to Pula. We took a bus this time and headed north to the city of Opatjia. Our stay there was for 4 nights so we could enjoy the spa and visiting nearby spots. Yes, of course, we each took advantage of being pampered..... massage, facials, swimming, and I had a special foot massage. MamaMia....how nice! The boys sailed in and met us for dinner. Next day we all met in Pula and had planned an extra day to see the famous amphitheater. From there, it was ferry to Venice, boat to airport and (for us) fly back to Naples. The others spent a day in Venice and on back to the U.S.

TRIP TO CROATIA

Leaving for Split on the big catamaran ferry. 6 hours to Croatia from Ancona, Italy.
Harry & Bob and the rest of group meeting us in Apatjia.

It was time again for the yearly trip to Croatia. Last year, the boys did their sailing on a 52 footer in the southern part of Croatia, visiting coves in small islands and larger cities on the bigger islands. This year.... they headed north, starting near Split and ending up at Pula. We ladies, minus Mary this time, spent a couple nights in a small town of Vodice, on the coast. Beach time, and walking the shops in the evening, was fun and shopping was successful.

RETURN TO ITALIA

This Castle on the Island of Ischia is open for touring. We visited our friends, the Isaacs, and had a scenic tour of the whole island with stories of the history.

GETTING BACK TO ROUTINE.. Being home

I guess time went by so quickly I didn't realize it had been so long since I updated the Blog. Within the first 10 days of returning to our little town of Formia, we took the ferry from Pozzuoli to Ischia to see our friends the Isaacs and get a full tour of the island.

BRAGGING ON THE NEW GRANDSONS

Luke
Abby with the Bragging Nonna & Grandpa Bob
Gavin with 'those' two again.......
Kaili with her little brother, Gavin.

We were really excited to see the new addition to Craig, Marie, & Abby...... Abby's new baby brother, Luke. All babies are cute but 'yours' are always very special!! I wonder what babies are thinking when most of the time we large human beings tower over these little beings and make these weird sounds to get them to smile and gurgle. Something to go 'hhhhmmmm' about. And then we got to see the other new addition to Mike, Tracey, & Kaili......... and Kaili's new baby brother, Gavin. OK.. enough talk, here they are.

U.S. VISIT

First thing on our list was to be with Don & Shirley for their big party. Fun was had by all and an evening to remember! We then settled into our little Bonsall place and got to work on a few things that needed to be done. Our schedule filled as we made plans to see some friends. We spent a few days in Lake Havasu City, took a boat ride and saw the London Bridge......no, no... not the one in London, the one on the Colorado River. We were visiting Art & Kay deWit. Bob & Art got some golf in, of course.

CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN !!!!

See that mountain off to the right? Up -up- up from there.


And then there is Mount Redentore (Mount Redeemer) ------- and we went hiking with Harry & Mary. Whew! I made it higher than I thought I could. 'Course Mary helped with a little push (or pull) now and then! Slow, and I mean very slow, but I kept on truckin'. It was a spectacular mountain, even tho' it would have been better had it been one of those clear days. It was still fabulous.....up above the clouds. We went as far as the chapel in the rocks, but the men went another half hour to the very top. Bravo!