Bounding the Borders: Happy New Year! January 1, 2014

Happy New Year to all our Friends & Family!

As I think back on 2013 I think of three words.
"Blessings, Challenges and Thanks."
This pretty much sums up our year!

Blessings.
Our newest Grandson Finnley (we call him Finn) was born just before Christmas in 2012 right in time for the coming new year of 2013. He is just over one year old now.

He and his brother Asher have been such blessings in our life.
Add to that our new neighbours (You know who you are), that have become friends, our current friends and of course our much loved family.
We are thankful for all of you.

Challenges.
Last spring we came home early on a hurried trip from California. It wasn't planned that way. A call from one of our Daughters (Finn's Mom) showed us and everyone else how easy it is to change plans on a moments notice. As the call revealed; little Finn had been diagnosed with 4 issues with his heart and required open heart surgery. We were on the highway within 78 minutes and arrived home on March 22nd.

Another challenge that we faced this year was for our very much loved Romeo. If you haven't met Romeo, he was our family dog. But he was more that. Romeo passed away in the fall at Chichester, New Hampshire on our current trip. We are still missing him.

Thanks.
A few weeks after getting home in March we travelled to Edmonton with our Daughter, her husband, Asher & Finnley. We all stayed together at Ronald MacDonald House and Finn was admitted to the hospital for his surgery.

As it turned out the Surgeon decided not to do open heart surgery as first planned. He did what he thought was best. As a result Finn is healing very nicely!

For all of this we give our thanks to God, The Surgical/Medical Staff and Ronald MacDonald House.

Please consider Ronald MacDonald House if you are looking for a charity to support. I can share many stories outside of ours on why this charity is so important to children and their families.

So as we now enter into 2014 our complaints are few!
We are excited and look forward to a happy and entertaining year.

In fact we just got news that some great friends of ours who live near Nashville, TN will be flying down to spend three days with us! We are so excited!

NEW YEARS EVE CELEBRATION!
We are still enjoying life here in Naples, Florida.
At 430pm we jumped onto our new bicycles and Trekked on down to the beach which is about 3 miles (5kms) away. We packed lunch, snacks and a beach blanket. The purpose was to watch a highly recommended fireworks show.

In Naples they do their fireworks show at 730pm instead of the usual midnight so that all the family can enjoy it and what a show it was!
We too were thankful for the early evening.

OK its only 5pm! Now we have 2-1/2 hours to kill!

Jim decides we need better lounge chairs!

Barb says this is way more comfy!

As the skies slowly started to darken we decided it was a good idea that we did get there early. Thousands of people started to come to the beach!

Some had large tables all decorated with candles, appetizers and drinks. Others brought chairs and their friends and family.

If you haven't seen Sky Lanterns before they had hundreds here. These are small Hot Air Balloons that have a small chemical candle at the bottom. Once lit they float into the sky for what seems forever.
As it gets darker they are seen everywhere!