We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with the Noe's. Bill and Debb opened their home to us again, and we were once again part of their family!

Our good friend, Ekkehard found his way to Woodbine, NJ all the from Barbados, and joined us for a few days of adventure on the farm. He departed at 5 am from Barbados, arrived in Miami at 11 am, flew from Miami to Philadelphia, arriving at 5:30 pm. He took a lonely ride on the only bus from Phili to a lonely corner of the small town of Woodbine, arriving there at a very chilly 11 pm.

Christmas morning we woke early and were joined by Bill's sons, Steve and Damon, again to enjoy a wonderful time of gift sharing and opening. Debb made a fantastic breakfast for us with baked french toast, scrambled egg, baked oatmeal and a whole lot more. Wow!

In the afternoon, we took Luke's new Lego firefighting boat which he got from the Simon's family, which he had built for a test drive on the pickle pond. Movie to follow. Then Phil, Ekk and Luke went for a little canoe trip along a tidal river that fills up the pickle pond. The
trip lasted about an hour or two. Ruthie and I took a slow walk back home to Bill's place and then snuggled up on the couch and had a little nap. After the canoe trip Bill picked the boys up and took them over to have another look at the schooner Ada C. Lore.

Late in the afternoon, Debb's friends, Tim, Liz and Olivia (featured ont eh left of the photo) came over for dinner. We had a great evening with everyone. After they went home and the kids had gone to bed Philip and Ekk took a dip in the hot tub.

We left the wonderful "holiday home" down in Woodbine just after lunch today and took a lengthy 4 and a half hours to drive up to north Jersey. Yes, traffic was somewhat congested. We will be house-sitting for friends of ours, the Parisi's while they are away on vacation.