Christmas Cruise

We decided not to celebrate Christmas as usual, as this is our first Christmas after losing Kara, so we flew to Jacksonville, FL on December 24th, rented a car and drove to Mimi and Bob's for the night.  We went to church with them on Christmas Eve, and really enjoyed spending time with them.

On December 25th, after a delicious breakfast, we drove back to Jacksonville to catch a bus to our cruise ship, the Carnival Fascination.  We spent the 25th and 26th at sea, and it was pretty rough seas.  On the 27th we docked in Nassau, to VERY windy weather.  The Bahamians said they had never experienced such wind without a hurricane, and they said it was unseasonably cold--great, right? 

We tried not to let the weather dampen our enthusiasm as we set off on our excursion at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.  We participated in a deep water dolphin adventure! We were foot-pushed by dolphins, swam under water with them, and got to interact with them up close. It was very cool--and pretty cold, even in wetsuits--but we're very glad we had the experience.

 
On the 28th, we were supposed to go to the private island of Half Moon Cay, but the weather prevented us from going, so we docked in Freeport, Bahamas.  We enjoyed shopping in the Lucaya Marketplace, and the sunny weather was a nice change.  The 29th was also spent at sea, and we arrived back in Jacksonville on the morning of the 30th.  Some of the highlights of the cruise were the comedy shows, entertainment on board, and the art auctions.  We met some nice people, but are happy to be back home. 

Exchanging Gifts

Nana & Papa opened their gifts from us today, and so did Krista and Hunter. We also opened gifts from Karen's family.  Nana and Papa loved the mugs with their pictures of Kara. :)  Tim and Kathy already used one of their gift cards from the O'Malley's while enjoying a delicious dinner at Outback tonight.

 

Celebrating Sean's 6th birthday

Our nephew, Sean, turned 6 on December 16, and today we celebrated his birthday together with family.  We had a delicious brunch and watched as Sean opened his presents.  Sean got some really cool gifts, and loved it all. :)

Our New Kitten

Abby is the very cute, new addition to our family. She is a Siberian and considered hypo-allergenic, which is necessary because of Tim's cat allergies.  Abby is doing really well--eating, playing, and using the litter box.

Christmas decorations

We decorated our Christmas tree yesterday, and Tim put up our lights outside the house. We are very happy with the results. We just wish Kara were here to enjoy it with us.

Thanksgiving 2010

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Ohio with Tim's parents, and his brother, Mike.  Dinner was incredibly delicious, as were leftovers the next day. Tim, Kathy, Samantha and Ellen also enjoyed seeing the new Harry Potter movie the day after Thanksgiving. On our way home to WV we actually encountered snow! Thank goodness the snow didn't make it all the way home. We're not ready for that--even though Tim did buy a snow blower today from Lowe's.

EKU Homecoming Weekend

We spent the weekend at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, KY.  We met the first recipient of the Kara Anne Lang Memorial Scholarship Fund at the dinner on Friday night. His name is Mark, and he's a very nice young man.  Tim and Kathy are thankful that Kara's love of music is being recognized through Mark as he teaches other children all about music.

We also had the opportunity to meet the recipient of the Hennessey Endowed Scholarship started by my parents and my grandmother, Mimi, in honor of my grandfather. It was awarded to Michael, a ROTC student, and interesting young man.

On Saturday morning we attended the brunch at the EKU President's home, then watched the great parade from front row seats. In the afternoon, we watched the football game from the President's box, and EKU beat Murray State!

The weekend was very special, and we look forward to meeting scholarship recipients for at least the next 15 years.