A family cruise around the Caribbean

Owen and Tish, Lizzie, Gerrit and Angela took a big family vacation together shortly after Lizzie's high school graduation. They embarked on a cruise through the Caribbean on the MS Jewel of the Seas.


Tish writes: "Amazing family vacation: rainforest, waterfall, snorkeling with sea turtles, beach time, frightening jeep rides, and just a little rum punch!


"We visited St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Barbados, Antigua, and St. Lucia.

Owen finds new friends in St. Kitts

"There will definitely be some paintings of the Caribbean!"

Here are a few dozen of the hundreds of photos from the trip:

Lightning bugs, Supermoon on a visit to Virginia

Dan visited Marie, Brian and Xander at their new house near Fredericksburg, Va., last weekend. They enjoyed a fine June evening on Saturday: Pleasantly warm weather, lightning bugs drifting around the yard and an extra-large full moon on the rise.



Xander and his parents are happily settling into the house, after moving in for good early this month.

Xander in his BIG new room

On Sunday, the group visited a nearby county park that features playgrounds, ball fields, tennis courts, a swimming pool and a Frisbee golf course.

Taking Dad out to the ballgame

At least three of the Dads in the family were treated to Father's Day at a baseball game.


Christine, Andy, Dan, Julie, Hugh and Dolores all took in a Somerset Patriots game at their ballpark in Bridgewater, N.J. There was plenty of action in the game - 24 hits, a few home runs, double plays, the ejection of the opposing manager - but in the end, Somerset lost to the Bridgeport Bluefish, 8-4.


Meanwhile, in Queens, Kevin, Kathy, Shanna and Kevin were watching the New York Mets, who had a thrilling finish to their game.


After being shut out for eight innings, the Mets rallied in the bottom of the ninth for four runs, three of them on a walk-off homer by Kurt Nieuwenhuis, to beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3.

Back in time to Thomas Edison's lab

Julie, Dan, Christine, Andy and Julie's parents, Hugh and Dolores (visiting from Maryland), took a trip to Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, N.J. The park consists of the laboratory and workshop buildings where Edison worked from 1887 until his death in 1931, as well as the nearby Glenmont estate where he lived with his wife, Mina, and family.


The park reopened in 2009 after extensive renovations, which restored many areas to their appearance circa 1930 and improved the displays of Edison's inventions and other artifacts. Dan, who had been there once before, said the changes made for a much better experience.

Here's a collection of photos that give just a sampling of all there is to see.

Stepping up: Xander finishes Kindergarten

Friday was Xander's last day of Kindergarten at Hugh Mercer Elementary School. He really enjoyed his first school year. In the fall, he'll start first grade at a school closer to his new home outside Fredericksburg.

Lizzie graduates from Dennis-Yarmouth HS

Lizzie graduated from Dennis-Yarmouth High School in ceremonies Saturday on the school's football field, then celebrated with her proud parents, Owen and Tish, brother Gerrit and sister-in-law Angela.

The sky was overcast but the threat of rain passed and the school was able to conduct the ceremony outside as planned.

The school's principal praised the 196 graduates for “pursuing excellence and demonstrating character.” He also thanked them and their families for the "dry thoughts" that pushed the rain away, according to The Yarmouth Register.

The paper's website, Wickedlocal.com, has a 2-minute video of the ceremony that includes Lizzie getting her diploma. (It's just after the 1:30 mark.)



Lizzie now moves from the D-Y High Class of 2013 to the Elon University Class of 2017. She'll start her studies in the fall at the university in Elon, N.C., where she plans to major in education with a minor in dance.

wickedlocal.com photo

Cicadas emerge en masse; Christine explains it all

Hello, we are here

Coming out of its shell

Cicadas have been appearing over the past couple of weeks around Dan and Julie's house in New Jersey, but Monday evening brought a sudden mass emergence from the backyard.

Dan, Julie, Christine, Andy and some friends were finishing a little Memorial Day cookout when Christine noticed that, where there had been handfuls of cicadas moving through the grass, there were now hundreds.

Still wearing their brown shells, the critters crawled to trees and fences and then started climbing upward. At some point each cicada would stop, wriggle out of its shell and then pause to dry off and unfurl its wings, completing its transition to the adult stage.

Taking their adult form

The process seemed to take a few hours for each bug, but with hundreds if not thousands of them swarming around the yard, it was easy to find examples of each stage. Here, Christine gives a quick lesson.



Earlier in the weekend, Christine captured these great photos of adult cicadas.

Rebecca's birthday greeting: You're hired!

On Friday, her birthday, Rebecca received and accepted a job offer from a firm called Filmetrics. She'll start June 3 at the company's office in Fairport, N.Y.



Fairport is just outside Rochester, where Rebecca has remained since graduating earlier this year from Rochester Institute of Technology with a bachelors degree in polymer chemistry.

Filmetrics, headquartered in San Diego, specializes in thin-film thickness measurement. What does that mean? As the company's web site explains, thin films are applied to many products in electronics, computers, optics and other fields - for example, an anti-glare film on eyeglasses.

Filmetrics produces equipment to measure such films - as thin as 1 nanometer - by analyzing how they reflect light.

Rebecca's job will involve thin-film measurements and sales of the company's products and services. Filmetrics' office and lab in Fairport is in a plaza just off Main Street alongside the Erie Canal.

Preakness Day is Party Day (Updated 5/23)

Doug and Lisa played host once again to the annual Preakness Party at the Riderwood homestead, site of so many gatherings over the years. Although schedule conflicts kept some of us from joining in (and we're sorry we missed out), plenty of family and friends turned out to enjoy the festivities - and incidentally, a horse race.

Dolores reports she and Hugh "arrived to find a mob under the tree by the Summer House." While she didn't get a head count, she counted 42 cars parked around the property at the height of the festivities. "Of course, we didn't know a quarter of them all!"

"There were games going on - a toss-thingee; crouquet, of course; and some other running stuff. There were a lot of little people this year, too."

The weather was chilly - 60 degrees - but the rain stayed away. "Whatever it did at Pimlico, it never did rain on our party!"

Liz, Rebecca and Lisa in their Preakness Day hats

"I caught Lisa, Beth and Becky in their hats, along with their juleps, and they posed for a photo. They all had a story about where they had acquired the hats. They all cost a lot less than the $300 that I heard that "Preakness hats" cost!"

"Of course, there was enough food to feed the county! The Oval Table was filled with food, and the new table that we just bought to use for some shows was full of desserts, as well as the card table next to it."

Gary Stevens aboard Oxbow wins the 138th running of the
Preakness Stakes at Pimlico race course. (USA Today photo)

As for the race - Liz bet on Oxbow and won the pot, for what Dolores said was "the 5th or 6th time! Next year, we all are going to follow her and see what she decides. She insists that she always loses when she goes elsewhere to gamble, like her trip to Atlantic City recently. However, Dad wants her to choose our next Power Ball numbers!"

Lizzie and friends attend senior prom

Lizzie and her friends made quite a glamorous group as they posed together before the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School senior prom on Saturday.

Tish writes: "They are all such amazing kids. I cannot believe how they have all grown up!"

Below, Lizzie and her date, Jack, make their red-carpet entrance.

The invasion has begun! (Updated 5/18)

They're heeeeeeerrrrrreee!

The 17-year cicadas have begun to appear outside Birch Street Headquarters.These were spotted just outside the front door late Thursday night (5/16). The two above have emerged from their brown shells and begun to spread their wings. The one below is in the process of crawling out of its shell.

The critters are emerging in Virginia as well. Marie sent this picture on May 18.

More music: It's Spring Concert time

Fresh from their performance-and-fun trip to Disney World, the musical groups at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School are holding their spring concerts. Various instrumental ensembles performed Monday night. Above, Andy plays cymbals with the school's Symphonic Band.

Meanwhile, another year's marching band season is about to begin already! "Spring Training" starts this week and there will be numerous practice sessions during the summer, leading up to two weeks of intensive rehearsals in late August. This time around, Andy will be a senior(!) member of the tenor drum section.

Spring cleaning at the lake

 
Hugh writes: Early this month Dolores and I joined our neighbors at Arrowhead for spring clean-up. Here are some photos that Bob, the president of the residents association, sent.



The large pile of firewood is the result of storm damage to our trees last winter.



As Bob said, the bad news is that we cannot use it in our fireplaces, because the logs are pine and would gum up the chimney. The good news is that we can burn them in our outdoor fire pit at the picnic area. It looks like we have enough to last a long time.

Andy & his school band-mates take Disney World

Andy (center rear) getting ready to perform with the SPFHS
Symphonic Band at the Waterfront Stage in Downtown Disney

Andy was one of more than 300 student musicians from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School who spent part of last week at Walt Disney World, performing at various locales and enjoying the park - in between rainstorms.

There were periods of drizzle and occasional downpours on Wednesday and Thursday, and the SPF Raiders Marching Band had a bit of a soggy parade down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom on Thursday night.

There was more sun on Friday, and Andy very much enjoyed spending that day at Epcot - his favorite of the Disney parks.

Goofing around with friends

Strolling with Shannon

Check back - We hope to get video of the march down Main Street.

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Hawaiian adventure: The photo albums

Doug, Lisa and Liz are back from their travels in Hawaii. All three spent a week on the Big Island, after which Liz flew home but Doug and Lisa spent another week on Kauai.

Highlights included para-sailing, zip-lining, snorkeling with manta rays, visiting Volcano National Park, boating out to see lava flowing into the sea, a helicopter tour of Kauai and hikes to beaches and waterfalls.

Here are two albums of photos posted by Lisa. The first is from the Big Island (some of these were posted previously).



The second album is from Kauai.

A beautiful day for a fun run

Lining up at the start

Marie writes: On April 22, Xander's school had a "Bunny Hop" race for kindergarteners. It was two laps around the parking lot. The weather was beautiful and Xander had a great time. He placed around 6th in the boy's race out of a group of about 13 - 15 boys.

Coming down the home stretch

Hawaiian exploration, part 2

A quick update from Doug, Lisa and Liz's adventures in Hawaii.


"We went to the most southern point in the U.S.," Lisa wrote Sunday. Later that day, Liz began her journey home, while Doug and Lisa will spend a week on Kauai.

Earlier, the trio drove across the northern part of the big island, checking out waterfalls along the way; visited Volcano National Park; and took a "lava boat tour."

"Seeing the lava flowing into the ocean was spectacular," Lisa reports. Less fun was the "extremely choppy 40-minute ride there and the twice-as-bad hour ride back. Liz compared it to riding a mechanical bull and getting a bucket of salt water routinely splashed in your face."

We look forward to more photos to come!