Kent & Sharon's Echo Acres Excerpts

ARUBA -- JAN. 2009

Dad & Joan, Roger & Bonnie, Ivan & Norma, Carl & Sally, and Kent & I flew to Aruba for 9 days. The villa we like to stay in right on the ocean wasn't available the first two days, so we stayed at one right behind it until we could move into the one on the ocean. There was always lots of activity to watch while we relaxed and swam, as all the tourists, snorkellers, cruise ship bus loads, jeeps & 4-wheelers, party busses all came by that spot all day long waving and taking pictures, etc. It was entertaining! We ate out at some nice restaurants every other night and cooked at the villa the other evenings. We fixed our own breakfasts and lunches at the villa. We walked every morning, sometimes up to the lighthouse and other times the opposite direction along the beach towards the Merriott Hotel. Both are very pleasant walks. It was special to be with the Nedds again for meetings and dinner with them on Sunday. We had them for a cook-out the last evening we were there. It was nice to visit with Petre Bloecker from Holland who is staying with them and making visits on the island. Dad & Joan had to leave two days earlier than planned due to the death of her sister-in-law in NY. But we all had a great and relaxing time together!

The first villa we stayed at for 2 nights.

Our villa for a week.
The same place we stayed last year.

Entrance to our villa.

View across the infinity pool out to the ocean.

Kent & Sharon

Ivan & Norma

Carl & Sally

Dinner after meeting at the Nedds.

Vel serving delicious dessert!

Meeting at the Nedds.

Enjoyed our walks every AM.

Party bus going by with a happy crowd!

Our friendly iguana.

Ivan enjoyed his bike rides.

Kent chilling out in the shade.

Relaxing in the sun by the pool.

Met Carl & Sally out walking.

Coming back to our villa from our AM walk along the beach.

Dad & Joan enjoying the view of the ocean.

Gorgeous sunsets every evening!

Pretty little lizards scurried everywhere!

Dad & Joan

Horse back riders on the beach

The Matthews stopped by on their day in ARUBA on their cruise.

Enjoyed walking to the lighthouse

Our favorite party bus with the iguana on top

Another beautiful sunset in ARUBA!

The end of a wonderful 9 days in ARUBA!

Farewell ARUBA!

ICE STORM -- DECEMBER 11, 2008

We had a vicious ice storm which caused massive destruction and wide spread power outage throughout New Hampshire. It was the worst storm here in history as far as power outage and destruction. We were without power for a week, but some were without power for two weeks or more. Generators were in great demand and they sold like hotcakes! We were able to have heat and running water and kept our refrigerator and freezer running and could cook with the microwave, so we got along fine. We had no lights and only one outlet live in the kitchen besides the one the refrigerator was plugged into, so we ran an extension cord into the living room to plug lamps into and ran the same extension cord into the laundry to run the washing machine a few times. I hung the clothes up to dry in our old garage where the furnaces are. Amazing how imaginative you can be! Made good use of the crock pot and microwave and griddle for meals. We even had over night guests and made use of candles and flashlights. It was an interesting week!!!

Coming up Federal Hill Rd.

Downed wires and branches on

Federal Hill Rd.

Heading up Foster Rd.

Brent & Brad's driveway

Echo Rd. by our driveway

Looking out breakfast room at bird feeders

Modern laundry facilities!

Ate in front of the fire

DAD & JOAN'S WEDDING DEC. 12, 2008

Friday, December 12th was Dad & Joan's wedding day. In spite of a destructive ice storm the previous day which caused a power outage for a week, Joan made it over from NY by noon on the wedding day as well as her daughter's family from LA arriving finally in Boston that morning. Thanks to generators, the wedding went off as scheduled and was very lovely. Charlotte Smith made the cake and sent it over with Nancy Knaggs, and Sharon & Lucille put it together and added the final touches. We breathed a sigh of relief when it was done, as neither of us had ever done any cake decorating before! It was a masterpiece, thanks to Charlotte! After the wedding, we all went to Longhorn Steakhouse for a lovely dinner. We had planned to go across the street from the farm to The Mile Away, but they didn't have power and weren't open.