Hello

Hello

Wilmington NC for Charles's bday

Tapas style dinner at Circa 1922. Charles had pork tenderloin and a nice glass of scotch. I had a Maine scallops (best ever) with a glass of wine.

Our very own, table for 2, personal balcony table at Riverboat Landing over looking the river and people walking around downtown. The breeze off the river was so nice. We skipped dessert, but enjoyed more food and after dinner drinks.

Water Street and Market Street

On Sunday, we braved the triple digit heat to take a tour of the USS North Carolina that is now a memorial on the Cape Fear River, just over the river from downtown Wilmington.

On board the USS North Carolina - working the radio knobs.

The tour was a self guided with plaques all over the place explaining the ship as well as highlighting crew members memories and experiences with that part of the ship. One of the best ones was the one above talking about showering aboard the ship.

Bunks and chains for scratching!

South Haven July 2010

Becky's Sprinkle Baby Shower

Friends/Co Workers - Kiley, Katherine, Becky (Mommy to be) and Beverly

Veggies, fruit, sausage balls, pimento sammies, cucumber sammies, cupcakes

Baby Banner!

Table setting with my floral carnation creations!

Clothespin baby game, and price is right game - both winner shower games

Yay - my floral arrangements worked out!

Chicago Trip - and a day with Mom!

Jeannelle and Dave Roth - Trip to Edisto, SC

Walk down the beach (Edisto Island, south of Charleston, SC) with Lauren and Monique while the guys played a round of golf on Friday.

We played couples "best ball" at the resort's mini golf course. The Sumner came in last but we both got a hole in one! Monique had some serious beginners luck!

David and Jeannelle Roth - May 1, 2010

Azaleas and Izzy

I think this weekend is going to be the full bloom weekend for our azaleas. I got a few shots of them this morning.

Jeannelle's Bridal Shower

Jeanelle's Bridal Shower

Dad's Boat Progress

Here is a quick update on the boat:

Its in dry-dock in Rio Vista, CA (Map Quest) at Walton’s Marine Repair (Goggle). The blisters (below the waterline-about 40 of them) are sanded out and ready for fiber glassing. The starboard rudder, the port trim tab have been repaired, the starboard prop is being re-shaped as we speak. The hull will be polished out next week by the boat yard crew. Bob Gregoire (my friend and partner) and I will be working on the boat in the yard this Saturday and Sunday. (New depth-finders and transponders and numerous other items. The list is mighty long). I will snap a few photos this weekend for the kids if you like and email them.

Bottom line: I feel comfortable we will move the boat to Schoonmaker Point Marina in Sausalito around or possibly before the dates of April 1st to April 3rd. It’s a two day voyage. Maybe get to Benicia Yacht Club or Richmond Marina on the first leg, then to Sausalito on the 2nd leg. Our big challenge (enemy) will be the winds coming through the Golden Gate, up through to San Pablo Bay and then on toSuisun Bay. That makes for a rough and windy passage. It would be a better but longer voyage by sailboat. Not very pleasant, can be cold, and very bouncy.

All these points and areas you may want to show the kids on line or have them search them out for fun. Don’t forget to have them look up Muir Woods in the Mill Valley area, the cable cars in SFO, the ferry system in SFO bay from Sausalito to Fishermen’s Warf too.

Keep in touch-Love Dad and Grandpa John

Happy Bday to Izzy!

Izzy at the Dog Park

Two videos of the crazy Izzy girl at the dog park! She loves to run and play with tennis balls.

Down comes the Christmas tree

As promised, the final part of the Christmas Tree Trilogy

Happy New Year !!!

Hello to all in the new year 2010! We enjoyed a holiday dinner at the Bistro with Shannon and Brady. How did that wine bottle get there! Haha. Brian and I spent the evening watch more.... bowl games. We toasted at midnite and made it to 12:30am. We have spent today drinking mimosas and clearing out the old...stuff. Friends, Jim and Cheryl are coming for dinner Saturday. Tom and Charles, Brian says thank you for the kick ass Bourbon. CC, the knives certainly work great...much better than the old ones!! I will be enjoying the last of Brian's holiday break as he returns to MO on Jan 4th. The tree will come down on Sunday and classes start on Jan 11th. Luff to ewe all!! Lisa

K gift exchange for C and C

Hello Family -

Merry Christmas! Thanks to Mom and Chaz for our gifts this year. Chaz was afraid that his gift to Charles was lame - but we can't wait to pick out our Kansas City steaks! Yum! Mom prepared me that my gifts were phonetically. The candlesticks are wonderful additions to my Christmas mantle. Also, Mom gave me a K tree ornament. Mom wrapped up my gifts with beautiful paper, ribbon and gold snowflake ornaments. Izzy loves her puppy treat and toy too!



Charles and I did not exchange gifts, but decided to purchase a new grill in the coming months. We joked to say we woke up in our gift - the house!

We spent Christmas Day at Katherine and Mike's house. Before we opened up gifts, we had a yummy brunch of french toast, fruit and sausage. Stockings are always first, and every year the stocking theme is a bit different. This year, everyone purchased items for one person, with all the items starting with a letter. I had N (noodles, choc nuggets, nail file, nail polish) from Susan and Charles had L (Lowe's gift card, Little Debbies and Lamisil) from Sarah.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating and drinking. Dinner was tasty - beef tenderloin, , potatoes, pineapple casserole, asparagus, rolls. My favorite is Mike's peach melba for dessert.

Check out our NEW hand made Adirondack chairs from Tommy and Sarah.

K and J share their Ks (REVISED)

Thanks to Lisa for continuing to post updates. Here are our K's.

Kelly received some knickers (a la Victoria's Secret) and some linen cocktail knap

kins with KJW monogramed on them. Thanks Lisa. Oh and Mom sent me some really tantalizing teas from her trip to Chicago. Paris was my favorite!

And, loved the deer droppings--I want the recipe for those nuts. Oh, and Jay got "knothing" yet from Brian. It's "in the mail" we're told. Wink wink knod knod. :) Kidding....we got Lisa's box o' goodies today. That is, box of wonderful K gifts. See the picture here of the items. Can you make them out?

Hanging out at home today...NO WHERE to go, thankfully. We rented some DVDs yesterday after talking with Lisa and getting a few recommendations. We watched Inglorious Bastards today--loved it. Very well done. Jay is making homemade chix noodle soup right now. Then we'll watch Star Trek or The Farmer Astronaut or Anger Management later. So much relaxing to do...

Had a nice dinner with Woody and Dorothy last night. We exchanged gifts. We received a few free vacation trips using Woody's time share...w

herever we want to go. We also joint gifted all four of us a Wii console and games. I ordered online. But i knew they'd be here late. They were really excited about the idea of spending time together learning how to play and having fun, and exercising.

We are all so blessed to have family and friends around to enjoy. Love you all. Attached is also a fun picture from Christmas Eve at Anita's. From the left: Jay, Taylor, Zeb (Taylor's boyfriend), Anita, Jim (Jordan's finance), Cherie, Kelly, Jordan, and David (Cherie's husband). See the jammies--a new tradition this year.

Kelly and Jay

Christmas a la Blackledge

Happy Holiday to all.

We have been enjoying Brian's long break home. He doesn't go back to MO until Jan 4th then back to Maryland sometime in Feb. We celebrated Christmas eve dinner with neighbors George and Claude and their kids. She treated us with prime rib and lobster and I provided the salad, veggies, rolls and appetizers. I enjoyed setting the table with Ruthie's china. Brady spent Christmas with Dean and came home around 1pm. We opened gifts and to Brady's surprise (not) he received a new ipod touch. Brian and Brady added to my Brighton collection and Charles and Mom added to Brian's bourbon stash. My awesome sister, CC added Knives, kookie sheet, and and a wine Keeper stopper.

We will be visiting Brian's family Monday and celebrating New Years together at home with some friends. I certainly enjoyed not working that retail grind. I look forward to continuing my clinicals and classes in the new year.

Here's some pics of our tree going up with Shannon and Brady decorating with DAK's help, of course.

Love to you all, Can't wait to hear the next gifting letter, CC.

Lisa

J&K Christmas 2009

We find the tree on the property. Jay cuts it and brings it in. Then cuts it again, and again, until finally it fits in the house. See me behind the tree. The tree is 16 feet tall, just barely licking the ceiling on the second floor. We learned this year we need more ornaments to fill the tree. But all in all, it looks pretty good.

Here are a couple of pictures for Papa John to show the shop pad that Jay has started. Waiting for the weather now to cooperate with pouring the full floor of concrete. The whole thing measures 40ft by 60ft.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Christmas Day 2009 Timelapse

Opening presents never happened so fast. This is a companion piece to the time lapse of the decorating of the tree. Opie gets his share of screen time. Look forward to the inevitable timelapse of the dismantling of the Christmas tree to complete the trilogy. Merry Christmas all.

Getting the Cronley Christmas Tree 2009

Here it is, the annual Cronley tradition. The timelapse was a nifty trick this year.



Here is the jewel of the Christmas video. A time lapse of our putting up the Christmas tree, two hours condensed into in one minute, 47 seconds. My thanks to a little piece of freeware called Gawker that allowed me to use my webcam to do this. When shooting this, I had to hide the on-screen preview otherwise Lily's face would have been front and center for most of the video.

Christmas is brought to you by Izzy and the letter 'S'

Commence Operation Christmas Decorating

Mantel is still a work in progress - I am worried the magnolia leaves are not going to make it much longer than a week at a time. After picture to come - I am crafting the last piece of my "vision".

Table a la Christmas stuff... every flat surface in the house is covered!

Brodie even has a bit of the Holiday Spirit!

We are about 95% decorated at the Sumner house. The tree is up, but needs a few more strands of lights and ornaments. The outside lights and wreaths need to be hung. Christmas gifts are purchased, but not completely. I am done with the 'K' gifts! Yes - you read it correctly! Egg nog is in the refrigerator and spiced rum in the cabinet! Fa la la la... and deck the halls, Christmas bells are ringing!

Thanksgiving in Pinehurst