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Looking Back at 2025

January is always a slow month spent mostly visiting with our Texas family and a few friends. It usually, as it did this year, includes a few days of frozen weather. Not a big problem for us since we are self contained….no water, not electricity…no problem. Luckily it doesn’t last long.

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Dec. 18 – Belize City

“Life’s a journey, not a destination.” -Aerosmith 
We decided to fly into Belize a day ahead of when we were scheduled to arrive at the resort. A few others in our group did the same thing. Being retired gave us that option. Coming on Thursday instead of Friday also gave us more time to relax and saved us some money. The flight from Houston to Belize City was only two and a half hours and everything went smoothly, although customs were a bit more intense than other countries we’ve been to. We’ll fly down to Placencia tomorrow with Milly and her family and meet up with the rest of our group. 

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Dec. 18 – Belize City

“Life’s a journey, not a destination.” -Aerosmith 
We decided to fly into Belize a day ahead of when we were scheduled to arrive at the resort. A few others in our group did the same thing. Being retired gave us that option. Coming on Thursday instead of Friday also gave us more time to relax and saved us some money. The flight from Houston to Belize City was only two and a half hours and everything went smoothly, although customs were a bit more intense than other countries we’ve been to. We’ll fly down to Placencia tomorrow with Milly and her family and meet up with the rest of our group. 
We spent our first night in Belize at a cute little B&B called Villa Boscardi. Located between the airport and Belize City. We were joined by Milly and her family. What a fun and relaxing evening we had catching up and enjoying a meal overlooking the water. Milly and our oldest son Kyle have been friends since they were in kindergarten. Milly’s like a daughter to us and now we have two bonus grandchildren.  
Belize Immigrations checked our passports and embarkation information at three separate places…all within 30 yards of each other before we could exact the airport. Leaving the county was just as involved.

This is the first time we have had a car waiting for us. It was fun.

Our little inn was very nice. We had our ow little building by the pool.

The office and kitchen were in the main house along with several more roooms.

We spent the afternoon and evening at Smokeez Seaside Restaurant & Bar. It was about the only thing in the area.

We relaxed and enjoyed a local beer while we waited for Milly and Evan to arrive.

It was great too have Milly join us for this holiday trip.

Dinner at Smokeez.

Stan with his new little friends.

Belize Adventure

“Travel as much as you can. As far as you can. As long as you can. Life is not meant to be lived in one place.” -Unknown
We’re off for a little Christmas adventure with family and friends. We’re going to spend the next week on a private island off the town of Planecia in the southern part of Belize. Placencia is one of the most popular destinations in Belize. It’s a charming, low-key fishing village located at the southern tip of the Placencia Peninsula. Bordered on one side by a mangrove-lined lagoon and on the other by the Caribbean Sea. It’s famous for having some of the most beautiful beaches in the country.

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Belize Adventure

“Travel as much as you can. As far as you can. As long as you can. Life is not meant to be lived in one place.” -Unknown
We’re off for a little Christmas adventure with family and friends. We’re going to spend the next week on a private island off the town of Planecia in the southern part of Belize. Placencia is one of the most popular destinations in Belize. It’s a charming, low-key fishing village located at the southern tip of the Placencia Peninsula. Bordered on one side by a mangrove-lined lagoon and on the other by the Caribbean Sea. It’s famous for having some of the most beautiful beaches in the country.

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Merry Christmas 2025

It’s that time of year again when we like to reach out and tell all our friends and family hello and Merry Christmas. We had another great year splitting our time between Texas, New York and our wonderful little home in Lewisburg, PA. We didn’t do any large trips this year, just relaxing weeks on the lake in NY and a week in the Adirondacks in September.  

It’s hard to believe we are getting so old…the thing that makes it the most evident is looking at our grandchildren. All five are excelling in school and becoming interesting and entertaining young people. Our oldest turned 13 this year and our youngest is six.

I hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday season. We look forward to another year and hopefully we are able to cross paths with a few of you soon.

Merry Christmas 2025

It’s that time of year again when we like to reach out and tell all our friends and family hello and Merry Christmas. We had another great year splitting our time between Texas, New York and our wonderful little home in Lewisburg, PA. We didn’t do any large trips this year, just relaxing weeks on the lake in NY and a week in the Adirondacks in September.  

It’s hard to believe we are getting so old…the thing that makes it the most evident is looking at our grandchildren. All five are excelling in school and becoming interesting and entertaining young people. Our oldest turned 13 this year and our youngest is six.

I hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday season. We look forward to another year and hopefully we are able to cross paths with a few of you soon.

Fall Updates

“As leaves cover the forest floor in a carpet of vibrant rusts, orange and gold, Autumn proves that sometimes death, too, can be a beautiful thing.” – Nikita Gill

Our fall has been busy and it’s hard to believe how fast this year has flown by. There are so many things to keep us busy in this area and we love it. Pennsylvania and New York seem to love fall and there are fall pumpkin stands and festivals everywhere. Here’s a look at some of the things that kept us busy this fall. 

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Fall Updates

“As leaves cover the forest floor in a carpet of vibrant rusts, orange and gold, Autumn proves that sometimes death, too, can be a beautiful thing.” – Nikita Gill

Our fall has been busy and it’s hard to believe how fast this year has flown by. There are so many things to keep us busy in this area and we love it. Pennsylvania and New York seem to love fall and there are fall pumpkin stands and festivals everywhere. Here’s a look at some of the things that kept us busy this fall. 
I decided to break this blog post into categories instead of by date. Our biggest activity in the fall is saying goodbye to The Pearl and getting her ready for the winter. So here are pictures of our last days in Ithaca. They were filled with great sunsets and beautiful temperatures.
We never get tired of watching these balloons
or the full moon.
Our favorite place to eat or just have dessert is The Boatyard Grill.
The gulls are moving in and are happy the boats are leaving.
Stan leaving Ithaca…the end of another great year on the lake.
Our last view from The Pearl…one in the evening the other our last morning on the boat.

Goodbye…we’ll see you in the spring.

We’ve stayed busy all year with family activities and they are the ones we enjoy the most. Going places with the kids and having them come play at the house makes life awesome.
What would fall be without football games?

Campfires and s’mores are even better in the fall.

The kids came over one weekend to enjoy the Woolly Worm Winter Weather Prognostication and Fall Festival. We had fun taking part in family activities, looking through craft booths, listening to music and having lunch in the park.

One afternoon we rode our bikes to Mifflinburg to enjoy their October Fest.

Our yard is beginning to look like fall.

We’re enjoying all the fall squashes…this is butternut squash soup with fresh basil, parmesan cheese and pumpkin seeds on top.
Stan made these poblano rellenos and they were delicious. 
We usually eat at the Boathouse Grill on our last night at the marina, but they were closed so we celebrated the end of the season by going to Elizabeth’s in Lewisburg. It’s a beautiful little restaurant but not as good as the Boatyard.
I had the bistro carbonara pasta and Stan had the fall tasting menu which included chick pea salad, lemon baked trout and cheese cake. We shared the salad and dessert.

Finger Lakes Wineries & Breweries (Part XIII)

“Pour kindness like rum, forgive like waves, and let your heart be the island that welcomes everyone home.” –Jimmy Buffett 

We didn’t make it to any new wineries in 2024, but we’ve done a little more exploring this year. It’s hard to get to new places when you enjoy the favorites so much. The title of this blog is a bit misleading since several of the new places we visited were in Pennsylvania.

Keuka Spring Vineyards sits on the east side of Keuka Lake just outside of Penn Yan. It has beautiful views of the lake and was established in 1985.

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