A birthday-celebration weekend in Los Angeles

Dan and Julie visited Christine and Jamie in Los Angeles in early January to celebrate Christine's birthday. Highlights included a visit to the Getty Center museum, where Julie and Christine posed before an appropriate sculpture, "Draped Reclining Mother and Baby" by Henry Moore.

The weekend began with a stroll on and around the Santa Monica Pier, and then to a movie theater to experience the new Avatar movie in 3D.

That evening, the group toasted the birthday girl at Harvelle's Blues Club in Santa Monica, where they were entertained by a New Orleans-style jazz band called Alligator Beach.

The visit to the Getty was the following day. "We could only see a fraction of Getty Center, as it's enormous," says Dan, "and that's just one of the two Getty museums in LA. But we enjoyed both the exhibits - including a collection of drawings and sketches by Dutch artists - and the grounds themselves."

That evening, the group had a fine dinner at an Italian restaurant, La Bruschetta in the Westwood neighborhood, that has become a C&J favorite.

D&J stayed through Monday, and while Jamie worked, they and Christine visited South Dakota the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures - a new attraction in the city, which opened in late 2021. This selfie was taken in front of Mount Rushmore a painted backdrop used in Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest."

Outside the museum, heavy rain arrived that afternoon, part of a series of storms that caused flooding and mudslides in various parts of California during January. Some streets in the LA area were flooded that night, but fortunately, there were no such problems in C&J's neighborhood. And the skies cleared for D&J's flight back to New Jersey the next day.

Christmas brings family members together

After two missed years due to the pandemic, the annual family Christmas party in Yonkers took place on Monday, hosted by Kathy at her home. It was wonderful to be able to get together in person to celebrate the holiday.

The guests included Kathy's daughter Vivien with her husband, CJ, and their boys, Charlie and Austin - all currently living in London but on holiday stateside. Kathy's son, Patrick, and his fiance, Kelsey, joined the party, but left before this photo was taken. Robert arrived in time for the photo and is seen in back by the Christmas tree. Kathy's daughter Genevieve, her husband, John, and their children, Bea, Jack and Liam, were unable to attend because of illness, and were sorely missed. 

Kathy's three brothers were there. Dan and his wife, Julie, drove in from New Jersey with their son, Andy, and his fiance, Wren, who were visiting from upstate New York. Brien and Kevin arrived along with Kevin's wife, Kathy; their son, Kevin; and their daughter, Shanna, her husband, Rick, and daughter, Lucy, who is front-and-center in the photo. There also was one virtual attendee: Christine, who circulated through the crowd via a Zoom call on Julie's phone.

Hugh and Dolores invited family to a Christmas meal at one of the restaurants at Oak Crest in Maryland. The red-and-green-bedecked couple are seen here with their son, Doug, and (standing l to r) granddaughters Liz and Stephanie, grandson Christopher, daughter-in-law Lisa, daughter Cathy and granddaughter Rebecca.

Dolores writes that they had a private area in the restaurant, "and a good thing, because everyone was still sharing Scotland stories and experiences, sometimes all at once!" She particularly enjoyed hearing Chris and Steph's reactions to their "their First Trip Abroad. It was a great opportunity for them."

A collection of Thanksgiving postcards

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, at home or on the road.


Dan and Julie drove down to Virginia to visit Marie, Brian and Xander, as well as Brian's parents, Steve and Barbara, who live nearby. Marie prepared a marvelous meal, and after dinner we all enjoyed a board game.

Cathy, Christopher and Stephanie had Thanksgiving dinner with Dolores and Hugh at one of the restaurants in Oak Crest.

The following evening, they joined the "black Friday" party at Doug and Lisa's house. Also there were D&L's daughters - Liz and Rebecca (and her dogs) - and Dan and Julie. Somehow, no one thought to take a photo of that gathering!

Prowling Facebook, we see that Courtney paid a Thanksgiving visit to her mother, Nanette, on Shelter Island.

Shanna, Rick and Lucy posted this photo with a Happy Thanksgiving message.

And from overseas (where it wasn't Thanksgiving) come these photos from Vivien and CJ, who celebrated their anniversary earlier this month...

...and later in the month, traveled with Charlie and Austin to Budapest, where they took in the sights - and a performance, at what appears to be the Budapest Circus.

Dan and Julie visit Dublin

Dan and Julie combined their trip to Scotland with a few days in Dublin.

Arriving Sunday and departing Thursday (Dan's birthday), they managed to catch a sold-out concert by popular Irish singer Mary Black...

 

...tour Dublin castle, see two cathedrals, visit the National Museum of Ireland...

...and hike along the Irish Sea coast at Howth.

They also saw a bit of Dublin's rock-and-roll history and caught live music at pubs in the Temple Bar nightlife district.

Click here to see a collection of photos from the trip!

Many have captions, which you can see when you click on the individual photos. You might also need to click the info icon (i).

Visiting Scotland for curling and more

As Rebecca and her teammates competed in the World Mixed Curling competition in Aberdeen, Scotland, eight members of her family traveled to cheer on Team USA and see other sights in the British Isles.

Rebecca's parents, Doug and Lisa, toured other Scottish cities before and after the competition, as did her Aunt Cathy and cousins Chrstopher and Stephanie. Her Aunt Julie and Uncle Dan combined a week in Aberdeen with four days in Dublin, Ireland. And sister Liz visited London, joined the group in Aberdeen and then toured extensively in Northern Scotland.

The Team USA foursome of Caitlin, Jeff, Rebecca and Jason were proud and happy to represent the Rochester Curling Club and Curling USA. On the ice at Curl Aberdeen, they enjoyed the competition and camraderie that characterize the sport. The team played hard and smart, ending with a won-loss record of 3-4 in the round-robin, short of the cutoff for the playoffs. In a Facebook post, Rebecca thanked "the most amazing teammates in the world. I can't think of better folks on and off the ice to have shared this experience with."

 

The trip provided a great opportunity for family members to get together as spectators and tourists. Just a few highlights: 

Dan, Julie, Cathy, Chris and Steph went on a small-group tour of the Highlands, including a boat ride on Loch Ness. 

Urquhart Castle alongside Loch Ness

On a rare sunny day, Doug, Lisa, Dan and Julie took a long walk through downtown Aberdeen to the beach on the North Sea. 

Castlegate Square in downtown Aberdeen

Touching the North Sea

And the whole family group joined Rebecca's teammates and their families and friends to watch Aberdeen Football Club defeat Partick Thistle in a Scottish League Cup quarter-final match.

Pre-game dinner

We had great seats!

Individually and together, clan members packed their trips with experiences all over the Scottish landscape - too many to list here. A big collection of photos taken by various family members is being compiled in a Google album.

Click here for a visual travelogue of the trip!

Baby makes five for Genevieve and John

Genevieve and John are very happy to share that baby Liam has arrived!

William Francis was born Oct. 21. Proud mom Genevieve writes: "Bea and Jack are thrilled to have a new brother, and John and I are adjusting to being outnumbered! We can’t wait to introduce Liam to his family and friends."

Austin turns 2, Charlie is 4 - Family celebration at Disneyland Paris

When you're residing in London, the Disney park outside Paris is just a quick hop away. So that's where Austin celebrated his second birthday last month - along with big brother Charlie, who turned 4 earlier in September, and of course, their parents, Vivien and CJ.

Jupiter visits our neighborhood

Jupiter's orbit has brought it closer to earth than it's been in 70 years. On Sept. 26, it was a mere 367,000,000 miles away. The following night, from his front yard in New Jersey, Dan managed to capture this image of the planet and three of its moons - (l to r) Europa, Io and Calisto. It's blurry, taken with a 250mm zoom lens, a 0.10-second exposure, and without a tripod. If you have a good camera, binoculars or telescope, check it out on any clear night soon! You'll likely see a different arrangement of moons.

Charlie, Austin witness history in London

Charlie and Austin joined other residents of London and Great Britain in paying their respects upon the death Sept. 8 of Queen Elizabeth II. They stopped by Buckingham Palace to place some flowers among the tributes at the gate.

The following week, they stood along the route from Westminster Cathedral to Windsor Castle and clapped for the queen as the procession passed by.

Late-summer days on Long Island

Current London residents Vivien, CJ, Charlie and Austin were able to spend August back in the States, mostly on Long Island. They enjoyed time visiting with Vivien's sister, Genevieve; their mom, Kathy; plus John, Bea, Jack and Robert. Dan and Julie were able to join the crowd for a couple of days in late August. This photo captures a rare moment when everyone was awake and in the same spot.

Dan and Kathy were able to take a sail on Loridan, along with Robert. As previously reported, the venerable sailboat is ship-shape again after a few years out of service. Dan and Kathy were last aboard together back in 2016, on a cruise that exposed its need of repair. "It's great to have it back in its home port," says Dan.