Our Bonding Weekend

While Jessica and Mike were in Hawaii, we had a wonderful opportunity to spend some quality time with Benjamin. I flew up to Minneapolis on Tuesday and was met by Grandma Cindy and Benjamin. Then the 2 of us drove down to Rochester to begin our adventure! We spent most of the time watching movies, especially Beauty and the Beast (2 times) and the Wizard of Oz. In between, we put together tons of puzzles and played several hands of "Go Fish" - Benjamin is a professional at both! Later, Grandpa was able to join us. We took Benjamin to the Lark Toy Store where he was able to ride the carousel and tried on every hat in the place! On Saturday. we went to the Mall of America where Grandpa and Benjamin tried their hand at some carnival games, even winning a stuffed Spongebob Squarepants! It was then off to the airport to pickup Mommy & Daddy, it was very touching to see Benjamin run to Mike and Jessica, literally jumping into Jessica's arms - wasn't a dry eye in the house! We really enjoyed our time together, Benjamin is one smart, charming little boy - Mommy and Daddy should be very proud!

Fun in the Sun

Having enough of the snow and cold, we packed our bags and boarded Royal Caribbeans "Jewel of the Seas" for 6 days of sun, food and relaxation! After spending the night in Fort Lauderdale (and losing our shirts at the infamous Hard Rock Casino) we sailed off to our first stop, Key West. We rented one of those electric cars and tooled all over the island, taking in the watering holes, shopping and Hemingway's house.

Back on ship, we met our wonderful tablemates, Joann and Pat, cousins from New Jersey celebrating their 50th birthdays - I was in heaven, 2 smart, witty, Irish ladies the same age as me! The conversation covered it all, funny to downright raunchy!

The next stop was Cozumel, we spent the day chilling at the beach and doing some shopping - just what we needed - to do next to nothing. That night was our 1st formal night, it's always fun to dress up and Ed looked wonderful in his tux -

Belize was a trip, all 4 of us (Joann and Pat included) braved the rain forest and went tubing down a river to some Mayan ruins. What a way to travel - just laying there like slugs. When the tubing was over, lunch was provided, since we were ravenous, we sucked down the food not knowing what we were eating, could have been the local favorite of Iguana for all we knew!

Meanwhile, back on the ship, we decided to recoup some of our losses in the casino, low and behold I hit the red, white and blue 7's on the Wheel of Fortune for a payout of $1600, this being international waters, no taxes were taken out! This almost covered our bar bill at the end if the cruise - ALMOST! A few smalled wins soon followed -

Our last port was Playa Del Carmen Mexico - we spent another relaxing day on a beautiful beach enjoying some pina coladas and trying not to think about going home.

It was a fabulous trip, capped by another day in Ft Lauderdale. But all good things must come to an end and we returned to cold Chicago looking forward to our next adventure!

Ed, Tom and Buddy Guy

Santa was in a "blue" mood this year and during a silent auction, won a "date" with a local radio station DJ, Tom Marker from WXRT - Tom is the host of the 'XRT show, Blues Breakers. Ed met Tom at Buddy Guys Legends, shared drinks and dinner, then Ed was taken to Buddys dressing room for a private meeting, can you imagine the conversation? Buddy regaled Ed with stories of Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Jeff Beck, etc. Ed was in Blues Heaven!

Rock Star

A Very Merry Christmas

We were lucky this year to share 3 wonderful Christmases! The first was just us exchanging gifts and preparing a delicious Christmas Frittata. Then we were off to the Terry Murphys to share Christmas with the Murphys, Mom, the Coopers, the Williamses, and the Bayolas from Hawaii. Even sweet little Kelsey and her mom and dad were able to join us. After a wonderful meal, we all gathered around to exchange gifts, the most for Kelsey and Benjamin!
On Saturday, we packed Santas sled and headed off to Minnesota for a Schmitt Christmas. All we can say is thank goodness we have a SUV or we would have been in big trouble! It was packed to the gills but thanks to the "Master Packer" (Ed) we got all the goodies in with a little room for our luggage. Sunday morning was our Christmas morning with the Schmitts. I think it was successful, the biggest hits were the kitchen set and guitar with microphone for Benjamin. See the video, I think there might be a career in music for this little man! Santa brought a sled for Benjamin and we all took turns going down the hill, reminded me of all the times Mark and I went to Swan Pond with Dad.
We'd like to wish everyone a very happy, healthy and successful 2008! Look for details of our exciting new adventure for 2008. Love Chris and Ed

Happy Holidays

Just in case you forgot what this time of the year is all about - look at the happy smiling faces of these two characters -

Warm holiday wishes from Ed & Chris!

Acoustics