The Grandest kids!

It has been way too long since my last post. All three of our grand kids came to visit their Amma and Cappy. The pics in this post only scratch the surface. We treasure our time with them and our time with their parents!

Alex asking Uncle Jamie for a ride on his wheelchair!

Matthew and I learning a song together for our upcoming CD...stay tuned!

Abby at our beach overlook

Leah and Abby watching a serious game of beanbags

This pic is just prior to Stephanie getting cut off from free samples of Gelato

Alexander playing it cool

What a cutie huh?

Alex getting to know Shiloh at his first concert

Amma and Alex at Quiet Waters Park

Mima and Alex

Bri taking Isaac for a dip in the Chesapeake. He wasn't sure about this beach thing!

Thanks Amma...I like the sand much better!

A couple of our "adopted" grandkids (Gabby and Emma Sorensen)

Elise Sorensen with Isaac

Cappy and Amma at the Bay Ridge pool

Brittish Virgin Islands - May 2009

I along with my brother Steve and three other guys chartered a 45' catamaran in the Caribbean from May 8th to May 16th. We sailed from island to island and had a great time together. We spent a lot of time snorkeling, fishing, and just doing guy things. Of course we sailed a ton! No major casualties to report during our week together. You can click on any picture to enlarge it.

This is the Dodger II at anchor. We proudly displayed the colors of the Poor Man's Yacht Club while anchored or moored. I am a bona fide member of the club!


"The Caves" was our first stop after we set sail on Saturday morning. We snorkeled here and the reef was vibrant and alive with all kinds of sea life. There were schools of fish and the diving birds and pelicans were after them in a big way. It was really neat to see.

This is our crew at the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke (White Bay)

Sandy Spit is the most amazing island ever! We anchored off this tiny island and took the dinghy in to shore. We ended up spending a half day here. The reef to the right was another amazing spot to snorkel. We tried to capture a couple of lobsters here but were unsuccessful.

Here is the crew on Sandy Spit. From the left is Roger, Zack, Steve, Jeff, and me of course! How about the color of that water?

We caught this barracuda on our sail from Anegada.

Here is a 4' shark we caught. We saw lots of them but only landed one.

Okay, this photo needs some explanation. I had a fish on and only landed the head. A barracuda or shark tore into this as I was fighting it. With all of the blood in the water, the sharks showed up. I put more blood in the water and the sharks went into a frenzy! Very cool to see live!

A couple of pirates at Marina Cay on their way to the Happy Arrr Bar!

Under way, chillin with my brother! We are thankful to our departed grandparents Rizzo, who made this trip possible for us!

Eagle Update

On my February 8, 2009 post, I included a picture of the eagle's nest in our neighborhood. The nest resident is a bald eagle and she is absolutely majestic. Here are some high-quality shots and you can zoom in by clicking on the picture.

Mom feeding her two eaglets

Mom sporting her 8' wingspan, leaving the nest to protect her young. An osprey (aka sea hawk) was flying nearby and this roused the eagle. I didn't get a pic of the osprey as it happened so quickly. I was lucky to get this shot. It is a little blury so the zoom may not look so good.

Mom perched on a limb above the nest making sure the osprey was gone for good.

Family Transportation in KL

Not something you see every day. This guy and his family were on the highway. Looks like the daily grocery trip. Notice the bag hanging from the handle bar. Mom has a bag too. That little pink shoe belongs to the little girl sitting on mom's left leg. Not sure of a number of things here. Like, what is the kid up front looking at? Maybe he is having a conversation with his sister? Like why aren't the kids wearing helmets? Like what was this guy thinking?

The "Comedy of Errors" Regatta

On Saturday, 2-28-09, I had an invite to the Royal Selangor Yacht Club regatta. Not sure where the people in Southeast Asia learned how to sail, but two races were held at the mouth of the Klang river. While we were sailing down current toward the race course, I noticed that a batten was sticking through the main. We proceeded to drop the main to pull the batten and another sailboat (which was motoring) was headed straight for our beam. He narrowly missed us. I thought for sure we were toast. I had the helm for the first race. Had a perfect start at the committee boat side of the line. We hit the line full speed. Before I knew it, a First 37.5 was above us and tacked right into us. Instead of falling below us, he realized he was going to hit us on our starboard quarter. So he tacked again and missed us by two, maybe three inches. We were all pushing off or he would have hit us for sure. Later in the same race, we got tangled with a hunter 49. He was to windward and I was taking him up to keep out of dead air. He fell off anyway and got his boom fouled in our backstay. "Are you kidding me" was about all that I could mutter! Fortunately, it came free on its own or we could have dismasted and been in a very serious situation. We also broke running rigging twice during the race. We Jibed to get away from this guy and our headsail fouled around the spinnaker halyard. We had to drop the genny and untie the sheets to correct. We ran back to the finish and actually, for all of the problems we had, we finished fifth in our class (out of ten boats) on corrected time. The second race was much better. Martin had the helm and we had another good start. There was a cargo ship heading up river from the Strait of Malacca so our start was posponed. You need to know how to read the nautical flags to determine when your start is. We were the only ones that properly determined our start and nailed it. Other boats were 1-2 minutes late to the line. We had no problems in the second race believe it or not, and we finished second. All things considered, it was still a joy to be out on the water racing in Malaysia!

The Royal Selangor Yacht Club

Me at the helm during the first race

Cold beer is always good after a race! To my right is Christophe (pronounced Christoff) from France. Across from him is Martin. Martin was the captain and Christophe was inexperience crew.

I went out to dinner at an outdoor restaurant afterwards. Ai Lin (pronounced Eileen) was the one that invited me to join them. Her husband Trevor to her left and Mazlan is to my right. We had a great time and the food was really good.

Chicken feet were served along with crab, prawns, and oyster omlettes!

China Town in KL 2-21-09

On Saturday, I went to China Town in Kuala Lumpur. What a hoot! There were tons of people and street vendors everywhere.

One of the less crowded streets

Typical food offerings...here are some geese

Of course we had to stop for a cold beer! On the right is my collegue Jeff (from the US).

An official Rolex distributor!

While we were having our beer, it started to rain. They brought the umbrellas out just in time. Within five minutes, the heavens opened with a rain like I had never seen before, China Town was cleared and a river ran through it!

The New Hood

It was a b-e-a-utiful day today and we went for a walk through our new neighborhood. Here are some shots depicting some of the intangibles that come with living in Annapolis Roads...


One of the coolest tree houses I have ever seen. This guy is definitely living vicariously through his kids!



This is a fence built around their garden and is made totally from trees and vines (to keep the deer out). We are really looking forward to meeting this family!

An eagle's nest just off the beach. One of the neighbors said they are expecting babies!

This is a portion of the 1,400 feet of private beach that we have access to!

Eileen and Lissa at the private picnic area (complete with playground for our grand children) along the Chesapeake, just above the beach!