Shawn’s Uncle Cleon and his wife Aunt Ellie arrived at our place the Thursday night before Christmas and that kicked of a spree of holiday celebration what would last all the way to January 4 (even though some of us had to be back at work on January 2).

On Friday, we picked up the Grampa to join the fun and we all got to watch Joshua’s first varsity wrestling match. He’s behind a couple of seniors in his weight class so he gets infrequent shots at the varsity lineup but he’s always eager!  His varsity career began with a decisive first period pin that impressed the relatives and even earned him a photo in the local newspaper!

On Christmas eve, we added Gramsie to the mix to fill out our flock. After the afternoon service at our church, we settled in for some serious celebration with our traditional Feast of Seven Fishes which this year went to eight:  shrimp cocktail, fried calamari, bacallà, and a ciopinno with mussels, clams, crab, salmon, and polpo.

After dinner, our friends Heather and Thor joined us for desert and Limoncello. There’s was much fun and laughter and Marie even got a brand new Sponge Bob Flashlight!

Christmas day began with the traditional pajama-clad opening of presents. Our plan to “dial it back a bit” this year seemed to have gone off track someplace as the piles of presents seemed as big as always!  Jake and Josh performed notably well this year in choosing gifts that were extremely well targeted to their recipients – Santa hats off to them!

Grampa loved his new shoehorns…

Jake loved his new Beats…

And Josh rocked Shawn Thornton!

After the presents and a brunch or two, we settled down to a John Madden-inspired Christmas Turducken feast! We’d never tried one before but thought it was time. Now we’ve done it – next year, maybe a goose!

We kept the holidays rolling with a house blessing at Grampa’s Place on Monday. Rev. Scottie from the Church of the Good Shepherd hosted and did a bang-up job. She led, the relatives, along with a few neighbors and friends, throughout the house, blessing each room as we went. A blessing of the gardens and a final blessing for the house as a whole took us to refreshments and socializing.  (Too bad the camera stayed out in the car!) Good stuff!

Later that evening we were off to Riccardo’s in the North End for a a birthday celebration for Cleon and Grampa (whose birthday isn’t really until the end of March). We enjoyed a nice dinner out and strolling through the historic North End!

On Wednesday, we took Grampa to watch Jake run in one more indoor track meet.  This is Jake’s first year running any sort of formal track but he’s getting the hang of it. He competes mostly in the 300m dash and it’s quite fun to cheer him on! Go Jake!

Thursday we were off to another wrestling match where we’d get to see Josh score another pin!

Thursday night we were off to The Shoe with a bunch of local friends: Lori, Ed, Maureen, Bob, Heather and Thor. We enjoyed more food and laughter.

On the morning of New year’s Eve we shipped Grampa back to Florida.  He’ll enjoy the warm winter down there and then make a more complete move to North Reading in the spring when he’ll bring his furniture and his own car up. We can’t wait ’til he gets back!

It was then off to yet another Wrestling meet. This time, we got to see Josh execute two decisive wins – one against a Peabody opponent ad the other against a wrestler from Wakefield. Josh sure looks strong out there!

John and Shawn would later head out for a nice seafood dinner at Finz in Salem. with their friends Heather and Thor. We had a great time celebrating the New Year a little early and were home and well settled in our respective couches long before the ball came down!

We’d spend the rest of the break taking down decorations and resting up for re-immersion. It was back to work on Monday for Shawn and John while the boys had until Wednesday before they’d return to school. All and all, it was a relaxing and fun-filled break and we’d due it again in a second!  Happy New Year!

Departing on a Saturday night, the first stop was Sunday morning at London’s Heathrow Airport. John was here just long enough to catch a nap and a pint.

From there, it was on to the city of Bangalore and the Blue Petal hotel.

After a nap and a trip to the local mall to do a little Christmas shopping, we had the first of many Indian meals and settled into a routine of working with the folks back in the USA as their day began in our evening.

Work occupied the next days. We did have an exciting trip to a cell tower…

Of course, every trip in Bangalore is exciting because of the notorious traffic. It’s not just the cars, it’s the plethora of motorbikes, auto-rickshaws, trucks, buses, and even cows that make the roads really exciting! Here’s John’s video excuse for being late for an evening conference call – pretty typical in Bangalore.

There is an amazing range of culture here – from the poorest to the richest. We tried to see the full spectrum!

On our last night in Bangalore, our hosts treated us to an outstanding dinner at the absolutely gorgeous ITC Windsor Hotel. The building had served as a British government headquarters until India’s independence in 1947. Today, it’s a magnificent hotel with restaurants including the Royal Afghan where we dined in luxury by the pool. What a treat!

It was up early the next morning for the marathon trip home. Up at 3:30 AM for a 4:30 departure from the hotel, a 7:50 AM 11 hour flight from Bangalore, a quick beer at Heathrow, and another 7-1/2 hour flight before arriving in Boston, 26 hours after waking, at 7:15 PM.  Talk about a long day!

It was an exciting trip but it’s good to be home.  Give me Massachusetts any day!

With both guys in the same school this year, we spent a lot of time at the High School fields watching soccer! We were fortunate that a number of venues had the Varsity and JV teams playing in close proximity so we could catch both boys in action!

Jake skipped right over the Freshman team and found himself a leading goal-scorer for the JV crew. Though a lot of the guys are bigger than him, he’s still got blazing speed and an instinctual ability to be in the right place at the right time.

Josh found himself behind a senior co-captain in goal which meant he saw limited time in net. Fortunately, he’s got some field skills too and his flexibility earned him a fair amount of playing time as a defender.

The Varsity team finished with an overall 9-9-1 record and entered the 2011 MIAA Boys Soccer North Division 3 Tournament as the #14 seed. They ran up against a strong #3 seed from St. Mary’s Prep in Lynn in the first round. They gave up one goal on an apparent off-sides play and scored another that was called back for a push in a physical effort that resulted in a very close 2-1 loss.

The JV’s finished their season at 10-3-2 and showed a lot of potential for next year’s Varsity team!

Jake’s already begun play with the Black Hornets in a local indoor league and Josh’s club team is training for a Thanksgiving weekend tournament. We just can’t wait for next year!  (More photos on Facebook here.)

They had a number of programs going on within the school including a contest where homerooms earned points for various food items and competed for a pizza lunch.

They spent one Saturday in front of the local supermarket handing out shopping lists of most needed items and asking shoppers to help “Fill the Cart” for the food pantry. This proved so successful that we had to quit when our vehicles filled up!

All the food was brought back to our garage where the guys counted and sorted it. With the help of a neighbor’s truck, we then delivered it all directly to the food pantry and helped to sort and store it!

A couple of other loads of food came directly from the school and, in the end, they collected nearly 5,000 food items!  Here’s the story from our local newspaper!

Way to go guys!

He spent a good part of a weekend in Santiago, the capital city, enjoying the Chilean spring. After arriving on Saturday morning and a cab to his hotel to drop bags, John set out on walking tour of the city.

After catching the tail end of the changing of the guards at the federal building, the first adventure was in the Municipal Park – a great elevated pastoral respite with awesome 360 degree views.

Next came an exploration of the shopping district and it’s vendors. Halloween costumes were in big demand!

Though the name confused some, the Hotel Plaza de San Francisco, so named from its proximity to the Iglesia San Francisco below,  provided comfortable lodging and a fine Saturday night seafood dinner.

More walking on Sunday led to the discovery of the Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral (GAM) and its striking architecture. The stained glass-like skylights and the metal superstructure were particularly impressive.

A bit further down the road, John discovered the Funicular San Cristobal and it’s $4 round-trip ride to the summit of Cerro San Cristobal in the Parque Metropolitano. The summit was impressive with its chapel, amphitheater overlooking the city, and statue of the virgin Mary.

John also observed the effect of “El exceso de información” or “Too much information.” Reminded him of Midnight!

A cool beer at Pio Nono’s “Blue Bar” was called for…

Then it was a two-hour flight north to Antofagasta and a drive to the mining community of Mejillones where he’d spend the week working on his company’s new storage installation there. Though on the coast, the landscape was mostly dirt and electrical wires – the community exists to support the mining operations off in the mountains with port operations, electricity generation, etc.

The rest of the week would be spent on the Angamos Power Plant construction site where’s John’s company, A123, is installing a 20MW grid stabilization battery system. Pretty exciting to be there when the first of ten battery containers arrived!

It was a great trip! There are many more photos here for the strong of heart!

We arrived safely at the Wyndham Hotel that would be our home for the weekend but it was late enough that we just enjoyed the views from our room and a quick stop at the hotel bar. But the next morning, we were up and ready to go!

After some breakfast, we set out to walk Broadway to the South to see what we could find!

Along the way we found a Korean street fair, a farmers market, numerous vendors selling discount goods, and even Andy Warhol in the form of The Andy Monument. We thought the tomato soup really added something.

Next stop was Chinatown where we marveled at the fresh seafood and produce and the men playing Xiangqi (Chinese chess) in the park.

We next happened upon NYU’s main campus and since it’s on Joshua’s college radar, we stopped in to the Visitors’ Center to pick up some brochures and just check things out. Pretty cool urban campus!

Pretty soon we reached the financial district and the Occupy Wall Street protest that was going on near there. We talked with some of the protesters about what they were trying to do and some of the challengers they face. It was pretty interesting!

Along the way, Jake found some cool things to photograph- he has a good eye for such things!

We couldn’t get tickets for the new 9/11 Memorial – they’re booked way in advance. But we did get to walk around it and check out some of the new buildings going up and see some of the surrounding memorials. Very moving.

We ate our lunch at P.J. Clarke’s on the terrace behind the World Financial Center. This is a gorgeous new area with views overlooking the marina and the Statue of Liberty.

Next it was back uptown for a walk around Rockefeller Center and the NBC studios.

It began to rain a bit hear so we ducked into some of the stores in and around Times Square and just had fun exploring!

After a quick nap back at our hotel, it was time to head out for the evening!  We had a nice Spanish dinner at Sangria 46 before heading to the Foxwoods Theater to see Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark.

The show was a live comic book. Though we didn’t leave with a truly memorable song in our head (OK, maybe Rise Above), we were taken by the spectacle and the kids seemed to really enjoy it!

On Sunday morning, we headed down to Battery Park to catch a ferry out to Liberty Island. It was a gorgeous morning for it too!

We’d booked tickets in the spring to tour the crown of the Statue of Liberty and boy were they ever worth it! Not only was it a bargain ($16 for adults including the ferry), but we were treated like VIPs as we passed through security and were ushered through the special entrances.

It’s 354 stairs to climb to the top – many of them on two tightly wound concentric spiral staircases. Total fun!

The view from the top was AWESOME! If you have the chance, do this!!

We even got to see the Liberty Bike on display on Liberty Island! Cool!

Our last stop was Ellis Island. We didn’t spend a lot of time here – but did start to get a sense for what it must have been like for folks arriving in New York from far away lands!

Then it was home. Tired from all that touring – it was nice having three drivers to trade off between on the way!

Things kicked off on a Friday night with our celebration of Shawn’s 30th birthday (again!) at The Shoe. Happy birthday Mom!

The next morning, we were off bright and early for Acadia National Park on Maine’s Mount Desert Island. We arrived early in the afternoon at the Oceanside KOA and checked into our comfy little Kamping Kabin that would be our cozy home for the next few nights.

Our next step was to hit the Hulls Cove Visitor Center, buy our Acadia park pass, and plan some of the places we’d want to see in the next couple of days.

A reconnaissance tour of Bar Harbor followed including a stroll on the Shore Path and a nice harbor-side dinner at Stewman’s.

There was a scary moment when Shawn was very nearly abducted by a rogue lobstah…

We’d later finish the day with a campfire near the foggy bay, a few S’mores, and a beer or two…

The next morning, we were out for a tour on the lobster boat Lulu with Captain John! We were expertly piloted through the rolling fog for a tour of the harbor seals’ favorite resting places followed by a lesson on lobstering. Very interesting stuff!

We’d spend the remainder of the day exploring. We walked from Otter Point to the obligatory but disappointing Thunder Hole and then toured the summit of Cadillac Mountain.

We had a nice dinner overlooking the park in Bar Harbor where a great band was playing as part of the Bar harbor Jazz Festival.

We started our next day with a leisurely brunch, played some Pirate Golf (Josh won!), toured the Western side of the island, and finished the day in Southwest Harbor with a cocktail at the Cafe Drydock and an awesome lobster feast at Beal’s on the pier.

Next morning, we were off to Quebec!

Our hotel was fantastically located in the heart of the old city.  Our room was behind that little round window in the upper right of the photo…

We strolled the city to get oriented – and found some great street performers to watch!

We dined in an Italian pizzeria in celebration of Jake’s 15th birthday. He was pretty happy to score a new iPhone!

There may even have been a visit to a local pub to finish the day…

We started the next morning with a walking history tour of Quebec led by our guide in period clothing, Sarah. We learned a lot about the history of the city, its French and British periods, and its battles for freedom!

We then took ourselves a tour through the Irish part of the city, past an overpriced hockey exhibit, and onto the fresh produce market. Though we couldn’t bring any of it home with us, the fruits and vegetables were delightful! One farmer even gave Jake a free apple in honor of his birthday!

That afternoon, we’d take a trip to nearby Montmorency Falls. Quite the drop! And good fun.

That night we’d dine in the Irish section of Quebec – we loved all the open air cafes!

Later that evening, we watched the Image Mill presentation on the Bunge grain silos. Pretty amazing stuff!

The next morning it was home to the USA so the boys could attend the first soccer practices of the year and be ready for the fall season! Back to the rat-race!

For the strong of heart, there are a gazillion more pictures here.

Josh was the first to leave. Shawn drove him and a buddy up to North Woods Camp on the same day that school ended. He spent 4-1/2 weeks as a CIT and loved it! Most of his tie was spent on the docs as a lifeguard – but he did a stent on the soccer fields as well!

Jake joined Josh for the last two weeks as a camper in the senior section.  He too had a great camp experience! He loved taking Photography again and enjoyed swimming and soccer as well.

Both boys had a couple days at home before we stuck Jake on a plane and shipped him off to Ohio. He got to spend a bit of time with Aunt Tuesday and Grammy Susan checking out their new pool and having fun with Rylee!

Josh left a day after Jake on our church‘s annual mission trip. This year, they were off to Sea Island in South Carolina for a week of hard work for the Habitat for Humanity project there.

To cap things off… Both boys then left for a week at Soccer Plus soccer camp to get their skills ready for the fall season! No pictures (yet) but some good stories and high hopes for the fall season!

First stop was New Jersey where they boarded ferries to tour the Statue of Liberty.

From there, it was on to our Nation’s capital where they’d see the buildings and the monuments, take in a ball game, visit museums, take a cruise on the river, visit Busch Gardens, come close to being thrown out of their hotel when the Bruins won the Stanley Cup, and generally have a heck of a time!

When Jake arrived home on Friday night, he was tired and horse and glad to be home!  What a great trip it was!