Laconia, New Hampshire and East Falmouth, Massachusetts

December 1 to December 31, 2007

We left Myrtle Beach on December 1st heading back, by car, to Cape Cod for not only the holiday season, but the arrival of our sixth grandchild and the celebration of our 35th Wedding Anniversary! It was so great to see and visit the kids again...knew I missed them; just didn't know how much! Didn't miss the weather though. We left 72 degree sunny weather only to arrive back to Cape Cod on its coldest day of the season with wind chills creating 10 degree weather.

After a quick visit with the kids and grandkids, our first order of business was checking on Jodie and Dennis to see how our 6th grandchild, due December 8th, was coming along. It became very apparent as the days went by that he was very comfortable where he was; however, he was getting bigger and bigger every day. He made us wait and of course chose a day when 8 inches of new snow was falling, making for very slicky roads, especially in Laconia with all its hilly roads!

After 24 hours of labor, Jodie had a c-section and Zander Paul LeClerc arrived at 11:51 p.m. on December 20, 2007, weighing in at 9 lbs, 3 ozs and 21 inches long (his Noni - me - won all the pools on weight and length of course!) Mom and Dad are doing great (only lacking a little sleep!) More about them later.

Our month at home was filled with visits and overnights. Our home base was at Susan and Bob's house...they literally opened their house to us, making it our home too. We can't thank them enough for their hospitality and graciousness.

We went to the Falmouth Christmas Parade to watch Jake march with his karate group (we're very proud 'cause Jake just got his purple belt.

A big surprise happened to me on December 23rd, our 35th Wedding Anniversary, when our kids all got together and with some help from Ken with planning, held an anniversary dinner for us at Chris and Jen's house. Our first surprise was walking in the living room and finding Dennis, Jodie and Zander sitting there. They had literally left the hospital, stopped at home to shower and made the 3 hour trip to the Cape to be here for our celebration!!!! When asked how he proposed, Ken told everyone it wasn't a very formal event and then got down on his knee to formally ask me to marry him again. When he pulled out the new diamond wedding band, I knew I had to say yes! This was pretty emotional...I don't think there were too many dry eyes in the house. During this time our friend Nancy, who was the justice of the peace at Dennis and Jodie's wedding, appeared out of nowhere to perform the renewal of our vows. My gift to Ken was a new wedding band, however my plans for giving him the gift were not as lavish!

The newly-re-weds were then lavished with a fabulous meal prepared by Chris that could have been served in any of the finest restaurants! Jen pulled out all the stops, even unpacking my wedding china for the dinner. There were toasts and, of course, Jake and Cassidy learned how to clink their glasses for the obligatory kiss! But we didn't mind. We were, after all, now on our honeymoon!

Christmas was also a lot of fun (how can Christmas not be fun?)! More than gifts though, we enjoyed the time with our children and grandchildren on Christmas Eve and ended the holiday with dinner at Susan and Bob's and our extended family.

We have been blessed with a wonderful family (as you can see) and with each other and with what we are doing now, travelling and golfing the States. Wish everyone could go with us. We're having a wonderful ride.

Happy New Year to all. See you next in Orlando.