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!!!!!HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

 
 Hi and welcome to my Daily Diary. Here is where I will be posting interesting things that I have been doing and also cool pictures of the places that I have been.
 


January

  • We vacationed to our Florida Time Share where we were able to host our friend Rob for the weekend. We went to Universal Studios Florida, Orchid World, and Blue Springs to see Manatees in the wild. We also had dinner a Key W. Kools, which was a really nice steak house. The size of the portions of beef was huge, but cooked to perfection. We continued our ritual of going to Tony Roma's for Ribs. The ribs were tender, juicy, and delicious.
  • We returned early from Florida so that we could swing up through Pennsylvania to visit our Families. We were unable to make the trip earlier in the month due to bad weather patterns across the north east. We had a nice visit with everyone.


February

  • We had a bitter sweet February. Karen's Grandmother passed away and we had to head to Pennsylvania for the funeral. We were so glad that we made the trip home in January to visit and take her out to dinner.
  • We were able to have a nice romantic Valentines day. We made a wonderful dinner, enjoyed the day together and exchanged gifts.
  • We also finished paying for our Anniversary Cruise to Alaska on Princess. It should be fabulous. I am taking my wife first class all the way. It has been her dream to see Alaska and I am so glad that I could help make her dream come true.


 March

  • We celebrated our 11th Wedding Anniversary. It has had its up and downs but the downs are minute in comparison to the ups.
  • We traveled with our family from South Jersey to be home to celebrate our Mother's 75th Birthday. I really think that she was surprised and pleased.

April

  • Karen was very proud of my promotion to Member Technical Staff at Lucent Technologies.
  • I asked Karen if she would Marry me and she said "Yes"!!! It is a good thing. I had already added a Renewal of Vows ceremony to our trip so that we could be married on the Love Boat. :)
  • I signed up to join the Lucent Telephone Pioneers to help support them in their charitable endeavors.
  • Karen and I attended Andy and Jackie's Wedding. It was a wonderful affair and everyone had a great time. They asked me to do a responsive reading during the service and I was glad to be a participant in their wedding.
  • I celebrated my 15th Anniversary with Lucent at the end of the month.
  • We had a death in the house. Our 12 year old dishwasher finally died. The seals on the motor went and the leaking water destroyed the bearings. The repairman said that it was not worth the money to repair. So we will be out looking for a new dishwasher some time soon.


May

  • Karen bought me a present. A new Sony Mavica FD-73 digital camera. It will make it easier to get pictures to add to my web site. I bought Karen a TV/VCR for the mini van for when we travel.
  • We finally went on our dream cruise to Alaska. Exquisite, awesome, and more wonderful than we could ever have imagined. Princess Cruise Lines arguably has to be the best cruise line in the world. Our plans were flawless, service was above and beyond perfect, and the little extra touches were surprising, pleasing and pampering! Our on-line photo album has the digital pictures that we took during the cruise.
  • Karen once again made me the happiest man in the world. On Sunday we proudly stood in front of Captain David Christie and renewed our marriage vows of love. It was a beautiful spiritual ceremony that touched us deeply.

June

  • Karen's Mom and Dad were out visiting us for the weekend. This was their first trip out to see us in quite a few years and we were very glad to host them. Thanks go to Barb and Kevin for bringing them out when they came with their daughter Brooke. We had a whole lot fun and really hope that they come out again next year.
  • Lou turned 40 this month. We won't say anything more on that 


July

  • Had a Happy 4th of July. Karen was off with me and we enjoyed ourselves.
  • Attended the Satterfield Reunion at Sonny Bussard's Farm south of Bedford. Got to visit with Mom and Dad and most of my favorite relatives. Mom and Dad looked really good and it was hard to realize how everyone has grown.
  • Andy celebrated the big 3 0.

 


August

  • My brother Dave, and his wife Traci came out for nice weekend. We hit some high points on the Jersey shore. The best was visiting AC for gambling and a magic show. My winning over $200.00 did not sway my opinion as to what was the best time we had.
  • Paul met 3 0 head on to the tunes of a Pat Benatar Concert in AC. We had a limo, dinner in AC and a great concert.
  • Best news in August was Karen retiring from her position at Holmdel Health Care Center. She is spending her time now making me the "HAPPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD" !!!!



September

  • We helped to Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of our dear friend Dawn's parents Al and Helen. Al and Helen's children surprised them with a dinner cruise over Labor Day weekend on the River Lady in Toms River. Everyone had a really nice time. I think that Al and Helen were really touched by the effort that the kids made to make their Anniversary so nice.
  • I surprised my baby with a nice dinner out to celebrate her birthday. We all met at the Chinese buffet and talked about our doings over some of the best Chinese food in Brick.
  • We took Barb, Kevin, and Brooke on a great trip up to Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada. We stayed at the Best Western in a Jacuzzi suite and a really nice time. We did the Maid of the Mist boat ride, the Spanish Aero Car over the whirlpool, the Floral Clock, and the Journey Behind the Falls on a great old British Double Decker Tour Bus. The next day we spent our time at the Greenhouse and Butterfly Conservatory enjoying the beauty of nature.
  • We finally have the new carpet installed and the new furniture from Macy's has arrived. We have ordered the new Entertainment Center and are looking forward to having the living room renovations complete sometime in October.

October

  • We found a Church of the Brethren to attend. It is the Amwell Church of the Brethren. It is a long drive but the country that we are driving through is beautiful. God sure knew what He was doing when He created the country side.
  • Experienced the Corn Maze at Howell Living Farm again this year. It was cut in the shape of Washington Crossing the Delaware. We finished it in 1 hour and 40 minutes... not to shabby....
  • Went to Treasure Lake to enjoy the mountains. We took my sister Donna with us so that she could have a nice rest in the country.
  • We hiked out in Cook Forest to enjoy the Fall Foliage.
  • We got a change to visit with my Mom & Dad, and then with Karen's family before heading back home.
  • On the way, we hopped off the turnpike to visit The Amish Farm and House in Lancaster, PA. It was a very interesting place to tour and see how things are done on an Amish Farm. They had buggy rides available and I made sure that Donna got to go for a ride around the farm. I would recommend it as a neat place to visit.
  • Celebrated my Birthday at Paul & Julie's house. Everyone had a great time. Thanks to Paul and Julie for their hospitality.
  • Finally received the entertainment center and it is looking pretty good. We still have to do window treatments and get a small side table but the living room is looking the best it has in a long time.
  • We spent Halloween weekend down near Washington DC visiting our  very dear friends. Karen frosted the kid's hair (do these kids have cool parents or what?) Dustin's and Cody's hair turned out great.

November

  • Enjoyed The Campbells Gospel Singers at church today. They were magnificent and we enjoyed them thoroughly.
  • We are planning our trips to PA for the holidays. Time is flying and we are making out the "list" and looking forward to sharing the time with family and friends.
  • Treated ourselves to something that we have wanted to see for a very long time .... Meat Loaf in Concert. It was in Atlantic City at Trump Marina and it was fabulous. It was part of the Story Teller's Tour and he told stories about the songs and had the audience telling stories of when they first heard the song.
  • Karen, Barb, and Jill surprised their parents with a  40th Anniversary party at the Best Western in Bedford, PA. They had a 34 people waiting at the restaurant when Cork and Inez came into the room. Inez is very hard to surprise, but they pulled it off.
  • We returned to PA to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families. It was so nice being able to spend the day with my parents for lunch and Karen's parents for supper. This is the first time that we have been able to make the trip in quite a few years.
  • Between  two back-to-back trips to PA, poor Trouble has been spending time climbing all over us to welcome us back. It is really nice to visit PA but it is also nice to be back in our own home.


December

  • We had Andy, Jackie, Paul, and Julie up for a early Christmas Dinner. Karen cooked a delicious meal featuring roast turkey with cornbread & sausage stuffing. The meal was rounded out with all the trimmings. Everyone had a great visit while we waited for the turkey to finish roasting.
  • After the dinner we went for a ride up to the Garden State Arts Center to see the Holiday light spectacular. It is a huge drive through animated light display. It was fabulous. We had gone up last year for the display, but this one was even larger. For the end of the 1900's, they had animated light displays of toys throughout the century. It was nice to see each toy that we have seen and in the later decades, actually had played with. The display is a nice way to spend a couple of hours and we look forward to it every year now.
  • Thanks to Karen's retirement we were able to be in Pennsylvania for Christmas with our families. After getting to watch Brooke slowly open her gifts, she was more than happy to help rip the wrapping paper off of our gifts. We had a great time visiting with Karen's family for the afternoon. We then went over to my brother's home to visit and have dinner. We had a nice time with Mom & Dad and got a big kick out of Mickey following the clues to find his present.
  • On Boxing Day, Sunday, we left PA at 5 Am to drive down to Maryland to visit with our dear friends outside of Washington. We had a great time with them and shared a great spiral cut ham lunch. It was so nice to see them for Christmas. The drive back up I95 was not too bad. There was about a 3 mile back up at the Delaware border for the Delaware toll plaza. We saw the large backup on the southbound lanes of I95. The trip to the NJ turnpike was fine and traffic was running nicely on the northbound lanes of the NJ turnpike until we got to exit 5. Then the traffic was at a standstill and we were finally able to get off of the turnpike at exit 7 after about an hour of stop and go traffic.
  • What were we up to for New Year's Eve???? We were safe and sound at home. We decided to stay in for the night. We had delicious dinner early in the afternoon. Karen enjoyed the 2 lb lobster that we picked up at the store, while I enjoyed my steak and popcorn shrimp. We watched the Scoopy Doo movies that Karen gave to me for my birthday in October. We watched the ball drop all over the world, and watched the final drop in Times Square in New York city. It was a nice quiet evening together. Just what we needed after the hectic Christmas weekend the week before.

 

Of course there are no guarantees that this will be updated on a daily basis... Monthly will be more like it. 

Today's update is as of August 14, 2003.
 
 

If you have comments or suggestions, email me at steve@steveloveskaren.net