Thursday, October 31, 2013

Baby Lydia Carol Clay has finally arrived!

After a couple of long days in the hospital baby Lydia Carol Clay arrived to greet her parents and older sister Victoria.  8 lbs. 1 oz. and 20 inches long.
The first family photo with Lydia.


 Granddymom Carol flew in to help take care of Victoria and mom and baby when they got home.

Lydia is sweet, calm and cuddly.  Her long dark hair was a surprise to her parents......

 ...even though Victoria had dark hair when she was born. 
 So we probably have another blonde in the future. 

Grandma and Grandpa Clay arrived later in the day to admire little Lydia.  She is our 15th grandchild! 


Already sucking her thumb.
She was totally bright eyed when we got to the hospital and aware of thing going on around her.

Home on Tuesday afternoon so Mom and Baby could finally get some rest.  
Great Grandma Betty was thrilled to see our latest Clay Grandbaby.

Four Generations.  Great Grandma Betty Bennett, Grandma Kathy Clay, Dad David and Lydia Clay.

Betty and Carol saying goodbye.  My mom leaves her cottage to go home to Pennsylvania this weekend.
Carol goes home next week.  I will miss them both!!!





Tuesday, March 5, 2013

FHE at the Clays in Camillus

Kristine, Dave and Victoria



Golden fooling around with Dev and Connor



I had a yummy dinner and fun FHE with Clays and Smiglianis.  Victoria was so cute folding her arms for the prayer and dancing for  us!

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Random Pics of our Cruise

We played shuffle board every day.  After the first two days we finally read ALL the rules and had to change OUR way of playing.   Ha!   Lots of good fun!



 Fruit sculptures 


 We would find towel sculptures in our rooms every night.  They had a class on it one day on the ship.  I should have gone!


 Volleyball against the crew.
 This is the Royal Caribbean ship called the "Allure of the Seas".  It is one of their largest ships.  It came into port in St. Thomas while we were there.  It holds around 6000 people on board. There were only 2500 passengers on our ship.  It was perfect for our first cruise and we never had much of a line for anything the whole 9 days and nights.

 Carved cats at a shop in Old San Juan
 Inside the Solarium on one of the cooler days.
 I climbed the right side of this rock wall the second day on ship.  I went to check it out and the crew were just opening up after lunch.  It took me much longer to climb it than it took Joe, but I DID IT!  On one part there was a protruding rock that was hard to get up and around because my arms were a little short.  You really have to use your legs to push, more than pulling with your arms.  FUN!


 We teased Mark about carrying Terry's bag with the jewels on the front.  He didn't care one bit!


 Last night to take pictures.  We loved the cruise, our companions and being able to just relax and enjoy time with each other.

4th Port of Call - Labadee, Haiti

Labadee, Haiti is a resort that Royal Carribbean has exclusively for their passengers.  It is a beautiful place with white sandy beaches and clear aqua water.  On one side you could lay out, but not swim because the waves were crashing in, but on the other side were 3 beaches and plenty of room to swim within a roped off area.  There were lots of things you could do there if you wanted to pay: Zip Line, alpine slide, water slide, water park for kids with climbing rocks, trampoline, etc., and you could go on a waverunner excursion.  We walked all the way to the 3rd beach at the end of the cove on the right and settled in on our lounges.  I did alot of swimming, although we all swam during the day and we shopped some.  There were 75 shops one on top of the other selling all the same things. We all bought some native looking things to bring back with us and I got a carved bowl and a carved soapstone women.   The boys went to the alpine slide and had fun riding it down the hill.




 A kayaking excursion was taking place when the other Royal Carribbean ship came into Labadee.  The people in the kayaks were really paddling fast to get out of the way!  It was really funny to watch.
 The "Independence of the Sea" backed right in on the other side of the wharf from our ship  making it look rather easy! Ha!
 When all the passenger got off that ship and the rest of the lounges were layed out, it then started to feel a little crowded, but by that time we had already been there a couple of hours and had done alot of swimming and shopping.  Royal Caribbean put  on a big picnic for both ships and we ate under covered picnic areas.  We had a great time relaxing, shopping and swimming and were ready to get back on our ship at 3:30.

 This side of the island resort was just for laying out.  You can see the waves and the wind was really strong, too.  On a smooth day we might have been able to go snorkeling back to the right in a protected area, but it wasn't to be this day.



 Joe was trying to get a pic of Mark and Terry when first Marc jumped in and then Julie and I.  We sure had fun with the Bennetts and Allens!

 Leaving  Labadee, Haiti.  I think I would like to do the zip line the next time
 we come here - if there is a next time!  
Our cabin steward, Rodney, was from Haiti, so he got to see his wife and 6 kids in the few hours we were there.  He hadn't been home for 6 months, except for the few days when the Enchantment of the Seas pays a visit.