!!!!!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
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