It is hard for us to believe this cruising year is coming to an end. While we admit, it has been a long and at times a trying year, we still love our Leu Cat and the adventures she has given us. We started out in Malaysia, then on to Thailand, the Maldives, the Chagos, Seychelles, Madagascar, Mozambique and finally South Africa; including rounding the Cape and leaving the Indian Ocean behind us. Whew! What a year! All told, we logged over 9,000 nm this year. That is a lot of sea water passing under the hulls.

We are anxious to see our kids and grandchildren and are looking forward to returning to the States. While there, our son, David Paul, will be marrying his sweetheart, Allison. We are looking forward to adding her to our family. She is a sweetie and comes from a great family that oozes warmth and love. David Paul and we are so lucky to be part of her family.

We also will be attending a second wedding. Our niece, Sarah, my brother's younger daughter, is marrying her sweetheart, John. They make a lovely couple and we are so happy for them and my eldest brother, Don, and his wife, Debbie.

Speaking about my brother, I invite you to check out an article and video that the hospital in his community of Waterford, Conn. put together. Click Here To Go To This Site. He had a pretty scary heart attack this last summer and we are so thankful that through the hospital's effort, he pulled through. I lost my younger brother, Dwight, to a heart attack a few years ago. Don has made a remarkable recovery after a triple bypass surgery and we are looking forward to playing another round of golf this coming year.

We will be doing a lot of traveling when back in the States. Our itinerary includes, San Francisco, Yosemite (where Dave and Allison's wedding will be), Las Vegas, Tucson, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Waterford, Conn., then all the way back to the west coast and Dana Point, California (where we used to live) then up the coast to Portland, Seattle and Bellingham (where my sister lives). Finally we return to San Francisco where we will depart to return to Leu Cat here in Simon's Town in July. Lordy, Lordy, that is a lot of land traveling and we are exhausted just talking about it. However, as we get older we place so much value on seeing family and friends and they live all over the US. Thus, we have the heavy load of travel, travel and more travel. We will be looking forward to getting back to Leu Cat just to rest up!