Cole, 6 years old, stayed for 4 nights……which was 1 night too many for his mother, she REALLY missed him!  Cole was excited that he got to stay for more time than Anna….that’s his competitive side.  I still remember when he was a baby and now he comes over and sits and has conversations with us!  Where have the years gone?  He made his bed each day, asked to help with getting dinner ready, packed his clothes, AND carried all of his things outside to the car….none of which I asked him to do……he just knew what needed to be done and he did it!!!

We played tennis twice.  We were on the court for an hour and 15 minutes…..Cole’s idea….he was just having so much fun.  He did really well….I fed balls to him and he had many FANTASTIC shots.  Now he tells everyone that he beat Nana at tennis.  We went and bought a ball hopper and plenty of tennis balls for practicing.  Good thing I got my steroids renewed for the posion ivy…..need that extra boost of energy.

We also went to the movies and saw the Karate Kid with Jackie Chan.  Great movie and of course Cole did his karate moves as we were leaving the theater.  Yes, we had popcorn……I need some veggies

We spent a day at Dutch Wonderland.  Cole went on many more rides this year. 

We went to visit Siobhan and Fionn.  Siobhan was so excited to see us!!!  Cole got to hold Fionn.  Cole and Siobhan then played with her new bike.  Cole didn’t want to leave but we promised Don that we would play the SORRY game.  It was Cole’s last night….Nana lost at Sorry….Cole thought it was great that the boys (him and Don) won the game!!!  Ah, memories of  Brian and Aunt Barb playing games in North Wildwood….both sssssooooo competitive…….that apple didn’t fall far the tree

After the Sorry game, we watched a movie and then took the binoculars outside to look at the stars.  There were 1000’s of lightening bugs lighting up our trees….so cool!!!  Beautiful stars too! 

Cole’s favorite words       ……awesome…….oh my God…….let’s play tennis!!

Every morning he played Miss Pacman on the TV…..shades of Aunt Barbara again…..playing every weekend on the boardwalk at the 26th street arcade…..along with Jerry, Tom and I.  We were all a little competitive on that game

Needless to say, a great time was had by all……looking foward to making this an annual event!!  Next year we can add John and Siobhan to the sleepovers

Here are some photos:

Anna and I went to the movies also while she was here.  We saw Toy Story III (a tear jerker) and Shrek.  Yes, we had popcorn….my body is craving vegetables

Nana has poison ivy/oak and needed to take steroids……this is a good thing…….I had plenty of energy to keep up with the girls in the heat and humidity!

Here are some photos…..

Here are some photos from overnight.  The christening photos are on thekellehers.com

Here are some photos:

We stayed at a place called OASI, owned and operated by Luciano Estriazle and Michael.  Our hosts were fabulous people!!!!  So accomodating, fresh flowers in the room each day and VERY clean apartment.  We had a refrigerator and stove (not that I cooked of course).   There is cable TV with HBO and STARZ.  The ceiling fan and cool tropical breeze through the windows, kept us very comfortable.  There is also air conditioning, which we didn’t use.  We got 2 bikes which was included with the room rate of 65.00 per night!!!

Our days were pretty much the same……wake up and drink coffee on the front porch, listening to the birds and watching them play in the bird bath at our apartment.  We would then bike into town (about 10 minutes) and would sit and have breakfast at our favorite spot….Femi’s.  It was right on the water and we sat and watched the birds, people, boats, water……the orange juice was ssssoooo fresh and sweet.  We usually stayed here for about 2 hours each morning.

We would then ride another 10 minutes to another favorite spot…..the Lazy Lizard ‘at the split’.  This was an eclectic bar with tables that sat partially in the water…..so you got to cool your feet and legs while sipping on your rum punch.  We usually got lucky and found 2 recliners under the palm trees (there were only 3 recliners total).  We sat there with a rum puch for a few hours, doing what you ask?……looking at the water, the birds, people, music, clouds, whatever…. totally mindless

We usually came back to the apartment around 3pm each day.  I got to recline in the hammock on the front porch of the apartment, Don took a nap.  I rocked in the hammock and looked at the birds, clouds.

We did ‘attempt’ scuba diving.  We signed up for the Resort Dive and learned a lot…..especially the fact that you can die doing scuba!  The gear we had on was ridiculous….I couldn’t tell which button inflated or deflated or sent me down or up in the water.  Don’s mask kept filling with water, after he swallowed about a gallon, he decided scuba wasn’t for him and he got out of the water.  I decided that scuba wasn’t for me before I even got in the water…….being flipped over backwards off the boat into the water with all that equipment….that was enough for me!!!!  We spent the rest of day talking with our tour guide on the boat while 2 others from our class did their dives.  What a colorful life story he had…. He is Belizean, ‘adopted’ when he was 2 months old.  He was found by a 61 year old American woman who was living in Belize.  She had 8 grown girls living in the US. She raised him and they moved all over to different islands and also US.  She recently died at the age of 97….God bless her.

We also went snorkeling.  I had a cold (probably from whatever germs were on the respirator from the scuba equipment) so I did not go in the water.  Don only snorkeled a short time and then we both sat on the boat talking with the tour guide.  Yet another colorful story.

We did take a day and went to Belize to see the Mayan ruins at Lamanai.  It was an hour ferry ride to Belize, followed by an hour van ride, an hour boat ride on the North River to the site of the ruins.  We then walked for an hour through the jungle (saw a monkey) to the different sites…..it was ssssooooo hot, we must have lost 3 pounds of sweat.  We then got a homemade fabulous lunch………rice with veggies, curry-type chicken, potato salad, cole slaw and bruschetta.  The tour guides mother makes the meals…she got up at 4:30am because she needed to cook for our group of 20!!!  What an awesome job…Reyes & Sons was the tour guide.

Favorite spots…..Femis for breakfast; Rose’s for dinner; Habaneros and Don Corleone were pricey but sooooo worth it!!! Happy Lobster for lunch, along with Rainbow Cafe for lunch.  We would NOT eat again at the Sand Box.  Syd’s was OK.  Most places were lower prices than US for meals for 2.  We ate ate Roses several nights……they display the fish they caught that day, crab legs, shrimp, grouper, etc.  You pick what you want and they grill it.  You get 2 side dishes and 2 rum punch for $35.00 for BOTH of us!!!!

We would both return to Caye Caulker again….loved the people and the laid back lifestyle.  Looking into land for retirement spot

Here are some of the photos, check them all out…

We went to Starbucks before the show for lunch.  The day was warm and rainy…..really raining.  After the show, Brian took Cole to Wii store to get a new game.  I took Anna to the American Girl Doll store.  The place was PACKED with little girls and mothers.  I had Anna pick out a doll and asked the cashier to get the doll and outfit, after all, how much could an American Girl doll cost? in NY? at Christmas time?…..well, $140.00 later we left the store!!!

Here are some of the photos

Here are some pictures…

We had a 3 hour drive to Cairo. Cairo, which means “the triumphant”, is the capital and largest city in Egypt and Africa. It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world. The city is 82 square miles and has a population of 21 million!!! To put that in perspective, New York City is 305 square miles with a population of 8 million!!! Both Cairo and New York City have a nickname of “The City that Never Sleeps”.

Now lets look at the driving in Cairo. Imagine this: New York City on a busy day, multiply the traffic by 10, take out ALL traffic lights/stop signs, Remove all street lines to designate traffic lanes, and add in people running for their lives attempting to cross the streets at random places and the occasional 9 year old child riding a camel or horse through the traffic. You need to see it to believe it!!! And, very few accidents. If you want a drivers license, just write to the government and they give you one……no test to take….no manual to study. If you are involved in an accident, the police decide who is at fault and that person pays for damages (or doesn’t pay)….no lawyers, no insurance!

Now, the poverty. Visiting Cairo makes one very grateful that they were born in the USA and for anything that they currently own. There is trash everywhere in the streets of Cairo. There is a canal in the street about 4 feet wide with muddy water and God only knows what is in it!!! The USA ghettos would look like upper class homes in Cairo. We saw a bus that holds about 50 people that had probably 150 people on board. The saddest thing was looking at a 5 year old with his face pushed into the bus window becasue it was so jammed with people. Imagine, a hot day (110 degress) on that bus with absolutely NO ROOM to move. We couldn’t imagine how you can get off at your stop!!!

The sites were phenomenal!!! We got to see the “Step Pyramid” of King Djoser, Teti pyramid and the tombs in Sakkara, colossal statue of Ramses II, Giza Plateau which is home to Egypt’s signature attraction of the Great Pyramids…one of the seven wonders of the world…..including the Great Pyramid of Cheops, middle pyramids of Chephren and the little pyramid of Mykerinos and the mysterious Sphinx, the Father of Terror for the ancient pharaohs. We had a buffet lunch at a very nice restuarant with some Egyptian delicacies.

Due to all of the traffic, we left the tour sites and went directly to our dinner River Cruise on the Nile. There were belly dancers for entertainment Our bodyguard and tour director Mario accompanied us to the dinner cruise and picked up us afterwards. The “City that never sleeps” still had mega traffic and stores still open, it was 11pm!!

We arrived at our recommended (thank you Bridget!!) 5-star deluxe hotel called the Mena House. It was superb. We took a picture of the slippers that were placed on the floor next to our beds. There was a fabulous buffet breakfast with the freshest fruit I ever had!! A wide assortment of cereals, cheese, jelly, pastries, etcetc AND you ate looking out at the pyramid!!!! HIGHLY recommend this place

So, day two of the tour we saw: Museum of Egyptian Antiquities with over 120,000 masterpieces including King Tut; Citadel of Saladin; Mohammed Ali Alabaster Mosque; Ben Ezra Synagogue. No tour would be complete without a visit to the Carpet factory, Pyparus factory (yes, we did buy something here) and the aromatherapy/perfume factory. We made it back to the ship with only 45 minutes to spare, they leave without you if you are late

So here are some of the pictures……

Our day would not be complete without a visit to the carpet factory. Apparently tour guides get a commission for bringing visitors to their establishments in the hopes of us buying their crafts. We got to see carpets being made and of course were encouraged to buy…….a small carpet, say 6ft x 8ft was a meager $10,000 euros. No, we did not buy any……nor did we buy anything at the jewelry store that we were taken to visit. There were about 40 different jewlery counters with very unique pieces and the lowest price I could find was $1,000.00 for a small pair of earrings!! Our tour guide offered to ‘give up his commission’ if we wanted to buy anything! No, we didn’t buy here either. We did get taken to lunch but the food was basically American