FEBRUARY 2012

January brings in another birthday for Andy and our anniversary.  This one was special, as it was our 25th.  Yes, it happened on Superbowl Sunday, just as it did 25 yrs ago when we go married.  We were happy that our nephew Eric was able to fly out from NY and Sandra flew in from Florida.  We started with renewal of our vows at Sunday mass.  We had a good crowd of friends in the church, maybe 30.  Afterwards, we had a reception at a lovely place called the Majestic.  About 50 attended and we had a great time.  Be sure to visit our Recent Photos page to see some of the pictures.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JANUARY 2012

January brings in another birthday for Andy and our anniversary.  This one was special, as it was our 25th.  Yes, it happened on Superbowl Sunday, just as it did 25 yrs ago when we go married.  We treated ourselves to a great trip to Costa Rica for 10 days.  The first week was spent at the Hilton Resort in Papagayo Beach, on the northern pacific coast.  The flight was a disaster.... Delta Airlines sucks!  We left 3 hours late which resulted in missing our connection in Atlanta.  We had to pay for a hotel that night, in spite of having a paid room in Costa Rica that we couldn't use.  When we finally arrived a day later, one of our bags never made it.   It took 4 days to get the bag and of course, that was the one with all of Grace's clothes.  Delta eventually made good but they still suck.

The resort was awesome and the weather was great!  We went on a tour in the jungle where we saw lots of cool wildlife, such as monkeys, crocodiles, all kinds of birds, etc.  Be sure to visit our Recent Photos page to see them.  After the week at the beach, we spent 3 nights in San Jose with Uncle Carl and Aunt Ana, and the family.  Once again we had  a great time.  It was nice to see Maria and Horacio and hang out with them.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

DECEMBER 2011

not Happy Holiday ! 

As we near the end of another year, I ask you.... how's that hope and change working for you?  Are you better off today than you were last year or the year before?  Are you still as free as you were last year or the year before?  Hows your 401K doing?  Or should I say... 201K?

We attended a dinner and private reception with President Regan's son, Michael.  What an awesome person and speaker! 

Christmas eve dinner was at our home.  We had 11 total and the menu was similar to last year.  For those of you that have not tried it yet, you MUST try my shrimp scampi recipe, it is sure to be the best one you have had!  Christmas day was our typical lay back, pajamas, open gifts and watch old movies.  The weather has been mild. 40-50 and dry, so there is always yardwork to do if I get bored.

 Another year over, A new one just begun!

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

 OCTOBER 2011

October brought us a visitor from NY.  Grace's sister Nancy visited us for the month.  We all had a great time, as we love having company and she enjoyed one of her many fun trips out. Included in the activities was an overnight trip to Issaquah, where we went to the annual "Salmon Days" fair along with Bill and Renee.  We had dinner at the local casino, and worked hard at taking some of their money.  The next day we had breakfast at the Salish lodge http://www.salishlodge.com/ , which overlooks the Snoqualmie Falls.  Spectacular!  The girls got to spend a week of quality time together while Andy went on his monthly business trip to Orange County CA.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

AUGUST 2011

August started out with a wonderful 2 1/2 week vacation. We flew to London and arrived on July 31st.  We spent 4 days in London before heading to South Hampton to catch our cruise ship for 12 days in the British Isles.  We had dinner with cousin Mark and Rick one night.  Rick lives in London and Mark was in town visiting.  We had a great time with them.  Then, on the 2nd, dad, Celia, Denise and Jimmy arrived.  We went to the Theatre one night and saw a newly released play "Ghosts".  It was awesome!  Highly recommend it if it makes its way to Broadway or the States.  We visited the Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly, and visited many other sites there.  We walked across the Tower Bridge to have dinner, as our hotel was on the water at the foot of the bridge.

The cruise departed on Thursday, the 4th.  First port was St. Peter Port, Great Britain.  To be honest, this was not a port worth getting excited about.  Next day was Holyhead Wales. We took a tour there, and decided that Wales did not have much to show.  Dublin, on the other hand, was quite interesting and a nice city.  We walked quite a bit around town, shopped a bit, visited the famous Trinity University, where the Book of Kells is kept.  These are some of the oldest books written in existence.  Andy enjoyed some Guinness Stout, and a stew that they make in Ireland with Guinness Stout in it.  The people in Ireland were extremely nice and friendly.

Tuesday we pulled into our first of 4 ports in Scotland... Glasgow.  We had an all day tour that was very good.  A drive through the highlights of town, then off to the Highlands.  We spent time in the old city of Sterling, and also visited Falkirk, where the famous Falkirk Wheel is. Picture a Ferris wheel that has 2 Gondolas on it, filled with water.  It is used to raise boats from the lowland canal to the highland canal.  It is 450 feet high, and the boat enters the lower level, the lock is closed and then the wheel rotates till the boat is at the top.  At that point it is the same height as the water in the upper canal. The lock is opened and the boat enters the upper canal.  We spent the night in Glasgow, and the next day at sea with no ports.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JULY 2011

Happy Birthday America!  Yes, we survived another year, in spite of the many challenges we have in D.C.  Its been 23 years since we built the house.  That means time for a new roof.  Andy wanted to do this in May before it gets too hot, but it took so long to get the color samples and then to special order the roofing, it just arrived on July 1st.  They delivered it right to the top of the roof, so he didn't have to carry any of it up the ladder.  Two friends from work came over on the 3rd and the three of them worked 10 hours, getting more than half of it done.  By the following weekend, Andy finished the rest of it.

       
 Click on the thumbnail to enlarge

Summer has been slow to start, but of course, the sun was out in full force the days he went up on the roof.  Thanks to Tony and Diego and Bill for all the help. 

On Independence Day, we had a BBQ with a small crowd of about 15.  On the menu were BBQ ribs (Andy has perfected his recipe), and hot dogs (cousin Gina's recipe.... hotdogs, beer and sour kraut in the crock pot).  In the evening, we sat around the fire pit, relaxing.  Donna, Fred, Crystal and Michael came in from Spokane.  It was good to spend time with them. 

Of course, now we are getting ready for the cruise.   More on that next month, with lots of pictures!

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

MAY 2011

Well spring is definitely upon us, as the weather dries out and the sunshine and temperatures increase.  This year's major project will be a new roof for the house.  Hopefully we will have a volunteer or two to help out.  Burgers and beer is on us.  Work has been a bit more stressful than desired, as Andy picked up an additional responsibility for a new product that is made in Germany.  So there will be 7 weeks of testing there in Nuremburg, most of which he hopes to delegate to a couple of engineers in the group.  He continues to make the monthly trip to Orange County CA.

Rumor has it that Grace's sister Nancy will be visiting us later this summer for about a month.  Of course we both look forward to that, as we enjoy sharing our home with friends and family that visit.  Andy has also been working as Chairman of a Steering Committee for our next Governor.  Can't say the name yet as it has not yet been officially announced.  Grace is recovering nicely from her surgery and is back to working a few days a week.  She looks as great as ever!  May is her month for planting the flowers and getting the baskets planted to hang around the house and property.  Andy gets to mow the lawn, clean up all the brush and get out the patio furniture (actually never got put away last fall) and clean it all up.  We have made our reservations for our 25th anniversary get away next year, to visit Costa Rica.   We will spend 8 nights at the Hilton there on the beach, and then visit Uncle Carl and our cousins for a few days after.  We are looking forward to it, as we have talked about this for so long.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

APRIL 2011

Grace is doing great recovering from her surgery.  Andy flew back mid April for a week, to visit family and to pick her up and bring her home.  Andy arrived on a Saturday, and stayed with his sister Denise for a few days.  Dad, Celia, and Nancy, Jerry and Grace came down on Sunday for dinner.  Macaroni, NY style and awesome meat balls was on the menu.  Then on Monday, Andy went up to Nancy and Jerry's place to stay for a few days with Grace.  We flew home together the following Saturday.  Grace stayed home the rest of the month recuperating while Andy went back to work.

Late April, Andy had a business trip to Orlando for 5 days, where he had to go witness some testing at a lab on some new equipment for the 777.  Orlando was hot and muggy, 92-96 degrees every day.  The flight was a redeye, but at least he got upgraded to First Class so he was able to knock himself out and sleep a bit.  After taking a nap in the hotel that morning, he went to Cousin Josie's house for lunch.  Anita was in from Texas and on her way home that day, so we both met a Josie's for lunch.  Later that evening, Amanda and Justine joined for dinner.  Of course, Josie made sure Andy went back to his hotel room with about 5 lbs of pasta and 100 meatballs!  Boeing got away cheap for meals that trip!  Patty came over on Thursday and we all had dinner again.  Its always nice to have a business trip somewhere that you have family or friends.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

MARCH 2011

March was a lonely month for Andy.  Grace flew back to NY to have some minor surgery done.  We figured that it would be easier for her to recover at her sister's house where she could take care of her.  The surgery went perfect, but now Andy must be at home alone for 4 weeks, at which point he will fly to NY to visit family and to bring Grace home.  When she is gone, it is extra busy for him as he now has the additional jobs of taking care of Romeo and the other animals, cleaning the house, paying bills, etc, that Grace normally takes care of.  This combined with allot of extra crap at work made for a very busy month.  Of course, Andy still had to make his monthly trip to Cali, to further complicate things.

Grace is doing fine recovering at Nancy's. She and Jerry are taking good care of her, I'm sure spoiling her a bit too.  She enjoys her time back in NY visiting all the cousins and of course her sister, so her very understanding husband is OK with her going back once a year or so for a few weeks. 

Politics is slowly kicking off, as Andy is Chairman of a Steering Committee for a very important person that will soon announce their intent to run for Governor.  Of course, it has to remain a secret till it is formally announced, but lots of work gets done preparing in the mean time.  Look for the formal announcement of who in early June.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JANUARY 2011

What a busy month, but what else is new in life?  Of course, January brings 3 major events every year.... Andy's birthday (he was 31 again!), our anniversary (24 wonderful glorious years), and vacation!  We spent 2 weeks in Kona at our timeshare, but this trip was a little different than in the past.  In mid January, we closed on a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo that we just bought.  It is located on the main drag along the waterfront in Kailua Kona on Alii Drive.  So we spent a few days cleaning it and getting together with the property manager that is going to rent it for now.  When we retire, we will stay there a few months in the winter and at that point will make it available for short term rental to friends and family only, during the time we are not there.  The weather was excellent, as usual. It rained twice in 14 days, and both times were at night, so who really cared.  More to come next time...

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

DECEMBER 2010

December was a crazy busy month for us.  Grace was preparing our home for our Christmas Eve dinner, while we both were decorating and putting up the tree.  Work is crazy as ever.  We made an offer on a condo in Kona Hawaii, and when it got accepted, Andy had to fly there on Sunday for 2 days to do the inspection on it.  After that, on Tuesday, he flew directly to Orange County for a 2 day meeting, getting home Thursday night.  Then on Saturday, we both went to Seattle for our annual Christmas show at the theatre.  The next morning, we both flew to Orange County for 5 nights.  Andy of course was working while Grace enjoyed the finer points of Huntington Beach.  We got out of there just as the rain started.

This year we celebrated Jesus' birthday at our home.  On the eve, we had a small group of friends over for traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner, lite. Helen and Jim, Krista (from Grace's office) our new friends Brian and his son.  That means that we only had 7 dishes instead of 107, as Grandma would have done.  All of these recipes can be found on our "Family Recipes" page.  Antipasto consisted of stuffed mushrooms and baked clams oreganato.  Next came Linguini with white clam sauce (very easy to make).  Salad, then the main entrees were Filet of Sole stuffed with shrimp and crab, and Andy's version of Shrimp Scampi (excellent recipe!!).  Don't forget to eat your veggies.... asparagus.  Of course, even thought we limited dinner to 7 dishes, we all ate way too much, so grandma would be happy.  We even made it to midnight mass this year, which has become easier since it now starts at 10 PM (Midnight mass??).  Christmas Day was typical for us, stay home, sit on our butts and open our gifts while watching Christmas movies with Romeo.  He doesn't really care which movie we watch, as long as he gets to sit on our laps and lick us. 

Following Christmas Andy is looking forward to not doing much more than going to the gym and catching up on some more weight loss, as he is off till after New Years.  Grace will be working a few days, and Romeo gets to stay home and do nothing.  Oh, and we will hopefully be closing on the condo before the end of the year.  We will be going there next month for 2 weeks, staying in our timeshare while we prepare the new condo for renting.  Well, its time to go to the gym.  We wish you all the best, good health, wealth, happiness and Freedom.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JUNE 2010

This month was a renewal of some political activities, as Andy was a Delegate to the Washington State Republican Convention.  It was held in Vancouver WA, which is about 4.5 hour drive from home, right on the Oregon border.  The hotel was lovely, with a view of the Columbia River from his room.  On Friday evening the Banquet dinner had over 800 in attendance.  It was like a mini reunion, as Andy had not seen many of these people for a couple of years.  The keynote speaker, who was beyond outstanding, was Michele Malkin (FOX news, author, blogger).  Her speech was awesome and of course drew a standing ovation.  Candidate for the US Sentate, Clint Didier, sat with Andy at his table for dinner.  Clint played for the Washington Red Skins and won 2 Superbowls.  Below is a picture of Andy with Clint, wearing his Superbowl ring!  Also at the next table over was Mack Strong, who used to play for the Seattle Seahawks.  Andy has known Mack and his mother Rose for a number of years now, as Rose is active in Republican politics also.

                             
  Michele Malkin               Andy with Michele         Andy with Clint Didier       Andy with Mack Strong
                            CLICK the thumbnails to enlarge

On Saturday, the convention had Presidential candidate Mitt Romney as the keynote speaker.  Also speaking was Andy and Grace's good friend Attorney General Rob McKenna.  Hopefully, Rob will be our next Governor in 2012.  We will see.  The Delegates at the Convention were full of energy, eager to change the direction this great Country has been heading over the past year and a half.  The path to Socialism must be diverted back to the Right to keep our Nation free!

             
   Mitt Romney            Attorney General Rob McKenna

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

MAY 2010

Spring cleaning time is here and we have some major spring cleaning to do.  It was time once again to pressure wash the outside of the house.  It has been about 10 years since it was last done, so Andy rented scaffolding for a week, and spent one weekend pressure washing the house and the following weekend spraying preservative on it.  It looks nearly new once again.

                             
    Half pressure washed               After preservative applied
                    CLICK on the thumbnail to enlarge

Work remains the same for the most part.  Andy continues to make his monthly trips to Orange County CA, trying to accumulate as many frequent flyer miles as possible before retiring, so we can get lots of free tickets when we are old and broke.  Now that Obama says the recession is over, maybe I can think about retiring some day, cause my 401K I am sure will rebound and grow at record rates, plus I no longer have to worry about my health care.  Life is good!

Grace's sister Nancy arrived this month to visit with us till July.  We are looking forward to spending some quality time with her over the next few weeks.  Andy's family (Dad, Celia, Denise and Jim) will be coming out the end of July for a while.  Other than that not much is new, so ...

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

APRIL 2010

T.E.A. = Taxed Enough Already.  Remember December 16th, 1773?  The first Tea Party was held in Boston Harbor.  Now, in 2010, the TEA parties have resurged.  The TEA movement is a movement of fed up Americans that want to take their country back from those that are wasting our hard earned money and spending out of control.  It is NOT a right wing conspiracy, more than 50% of the TEA movement are NOT republicans, but are Independents and Democrats.  Do you know the difference between the government and a drunken sailor?  The drunken sailor stops spending when he runs out of money!

Did you pay enough taxes this year?  Do you feel a sense of guilt for not paying your fair share?  Do not worry, because you will be paying much more in the future, so any guilt you may be feeling will rapidly turn to joy!  Our government thinks that they need to redistribute your wealth.  They will decide what to spend your hard earned money on. 

DONATION - def - The act or contract by which a person voluntarily transfers the title to a thing of which be is the owner, from himself to another, without any consideration, as a free gift.

EXTORTION - def - The Hobbs Act defines "extortion" as "the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right."  to secure (money, favours, etc.) by intimidation.

So I ask you... which one better defines our tax system?  Are you "voluntarily" giving up your money so the government can give it to illegals and lazy bums that don't want to work?  I'm sure if you refuse, there will be no "threat of force or fear or intimidation".  A free person chooses when, to who and how much the donate to help their fellow mankind. 

A GOVERNMENT BIG ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED IS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO TAKE IT ALL AWAY.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

FEBRUARY 2010

The highlight of this month was of course our vacation.  We love Hawaii, and our favorite place is in Kona on the big island of Hawaii, where we own a couple of weeks of timeshare.  This year, we went to Kauai for one week first.  Kauai is called the garden island, because it is the oldest of the Hawaiian islands and receives a bit more rain than the others, it is greener.  We spent one week there just relaxing, soaking up sun and vitamin D, getting massages, and all the other tough things you have to do on vacation.  After the week, we flew to Kona on the big island, where we met our friend Dennis and Roanne, who joined us for a week in our condo there.  In Kona you can almost be assured of sunshine nearly every day.  We shopped a bit of real estate, as the market is quite depressed.  Condo's are selling short for less than half of what they sold for just 2 years ago.  We are considering one, if we can work out the details.  Since we were gone the first 2 weeks of the month, there was no time for business trips, so Andy did not have to go anywhere.  As spring is definitely upon us, we found the daffodils in bloom by the time we got home, and some of the other flowers breaking ground.  Another winter behind us, time to get the boat cleaned up!

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JANUARY 2010

We stayed in NY till January 10th, to celebrate Andy's dad's 80th birthday.  The weather continued to be cold and snowy most of the whole time. The party was great, about 35 friends and family attended.  Go to our Recent Photo page to see more pictures.

    click to enlarge

Upon returning, spring rapidly was arriving at home.  With mild temperatures (anything was mild compared to NY) and less than average rainfall, Andy started early spring cleanup on the property.  Then he made his monthly business trip to Orange County the third week in January, and returned home on his birthday.  Yes, he was 31 again!  On the 25th, we celebrated 23 wonderful glorious years together!  Now, its time to get ready for our vacation to Hawaii, as we will be leaving on the 30th for one week in Kauai and then one week in Kona.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

DECEMBER 2009

To All My Democrat Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.

To My Republican Friends: 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 2010.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

NOVEMBER 2009

In November we are reminded of the many things in life that we should be thankful for.  First, that we are alive and hopefully relatively healthy.  We can thank our parents for this, especially our mothers, who obviously chose life!  We are thankful for our families, friends and relationships.  We are thankful that we have food, shelter and for most of us, much more than the basics of life.  For this we can thank our Lord who has blessed us with these gifts and more.  We are also thankful that we live in what is still a relatively free country (for now).  For this, we can thank our founding fathers, who's genius created the best free republic in history, all the men and woman that have served over the years to fight to keep these freedoms, and once again, The Devine Creator who gave us our freedom.  If you didn't know that our freedoms come from Him, and not from the guy in the White House, you need to re-read last months newsletter and some of the founding documents of our great country.  So, if you think you had a shitty year or month, or week, contemplate this list and think about how life could have been if you were born poor in the Congo, for example.  I'm sure you can add at least a handful of other things you are thankful for!

We celebrated Thanksgiving quietly with our friends Jim and Helen, at a small local family style restaurant.  Dinner was good, with all the trimmings.  After dinner we went to the movies.  The weather has held out so far this fall, with little rain and mild temperatures.  Andy made his monthly ritual trip to California, as he has been doing for 9 years now.  Grace has been working a few extra hours in preparation of her trip to NY first week in December, where she will catch up on visiting her sister, till Andy arrives for Christmas. 

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

OCTOBER 2009

Fall has arrived.  Gone are the 0430 AM sunrises and the 1030 PM sunsets.  For you optimists...The good news is, in just 2 months the days will start getting longer again.  Yes, I know they all have 24 hours in them, but you know what I mean.

Grace came down to Orange County this month with Andy on his monthly business trip.  He had just 2 meetings on Monday and Tuesday, so we went down together on Saturday so we could have Sunday to tour the town.  We took, an all day (10 hour) tour which included highlights such as Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Strip.  We got to see homes of the rich and famous, including the house that Michael Jackson died in, which he rented from Sean Connery for a mere $100,000 per month!  It is a worth while tour if you happen to visit Los Angeles area.  While Andy was slaving at work, Grace got to pamper herself at the Mall on Monday and then at Burke Williams Spa all day Tuesday. 

We flew home Wednesday and then Andy flew to New York on Friday morning for the weekend, to help celebrate Uncle Joe's and Cousin Josie's 85th birthdays.  Uncle Carl, Aunt Ana and Peter, Maria Teresa and Horacio came in for the festivities from Costa Rica.  .  There were over 100 people at the party, and we all had a great time.  As always, it is great to spend party time with the family.  

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

SEPTEMBER 2009

Another summer down the tubes!  Here today, gone tomorrow.  That's the story of life, so be sure to embrace today with great passion!  While summer my have technically been over on September 21st, the weatherman obviously doesn't know it, so don't say anything.  We continue to have sunny days in the mid 70s, which for us, is perfect weather. 

Freedom isn't free,

Ask a veteran

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

AUGUST 2009

The path is finished.  It was actually a very fun project to do.  120 feet long by 4 feet wide.  480 square feet.  Cost if we hired a contractor .....480 sq ft X $12 per sq ft = $5760.  Cost to do it myself ... 33 bags of cement X $9 per bag, + 3 loads of sand and 3 loads of stone $90, total = $387.  Savings of $5,600 .  Plus it was fun.  

           
                  Click on any thumbnail to see a larger picture

Of course, Andy continues to do his monthly ritual to Orange County CA for 5 days per month. Hopefully Grace will be able to join him on his future trip, maybe October.  We had the pleasure of company this month, Sandra and her 2 beautiful daughters, Grace and Amanda came to visit for a week and a half.  We had a great time with them, though Grace got to spend more time with them than Andy, as they took off to Seattle for 3 days to explore some of the greater sites of the city.  This gave Andy a few days to relax and do "Guy" stuff. 

We had a BBQ with some of Andy's friends and coworkers.  About 20 people turned out.  BBQ ribs and cedar planked salmon were on the menu.  We've had an awesome summer with little to no rain and hope it continues into November.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JULY 2009

WOW, I can't believe how fast this summer is going by.  I couldn't believe it was July already and I didn't even update this newsletter in June.  As always, time just flies, so don't forget to stop what you are doing and grab a hold of it once in a while, or it will just pass you by and be gone.  We flew back to New York for Independence Day, where cousins Gina and Alex had a wonderful event at their home.  At one point we counted about 105 people, possibly more.  The food was great, as always, and the company better!  I got to spend some time with many of the cousins I really don't know well, as they grew up during the years that we have been gone.  Angela's son and daughter were just great to talk to and especially enjoyed their conversations.  Also, Trisha announced that she got engaged, so the family will continue to grow, (like it isn't big enough already)!  Be sure to visit the Recent Photo page to see some of the pictures from the party.

Andy continues to work on the stamped concrete path.  He should be done in a few more weeks.  He has completed 8 of the 11 pours, each one is 4' wide by 11' long.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

MAY 2009

This was a busy month for us, starting with a trip to Vegas.  We stayed at the Venetian Hotel, which is absolutely awesome.  Their smallest room is an 800 sq foot suite with a  sunken living room and a pair of french doors that lead into the bath, where you will find a jetted tub.  We spent 4 nights there and saw a show called Legends in Concert, which played at Harrah's.  It was a good show worth seeing.  Weather was hot, with the mercury hitting right at 100 or so every day.  We got to visit our friends Livia and Leno, who now live there since moving from Whidbey Island. 

                CLICK TO ENLARGE
                
Fountain at Bellagio     Andy & Grace        Gov Jan Brewer     Michael Reagan

After 4 nights, we rented a car and we were off to Phoenix. The NRA had its annual convention, which lasted 3 days, in Phoenix.  We stayed at the Embassy Suites, and met up with our friends Wes, Renee and their son Nick, who we met 7 years ago at the last NRA convention we attended.  They flew in to join us at the convention from Naples FL.  The weather in Phoenix was a little warmer, up to 105 degrees.  Oh. . . but its a dry heat.  So is my oven!  The first day of the convention is the Leadership Forum, which hosted a large number of excellent speakers, including John McCain, Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer, Governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour, Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, Former US Ambassador John Bolton, Political Consultant/Commentator Dick Morris, Former Governor of Mass Mitt Romney, President Reagan's son Michael Reagan, just to name a few.  CLICK TO ENLARGE

               
Gov Jan Brewer     Michael Reagan      Amb John Bolton    Dick Morris            Mitt Romney

On Saturday during the day Andy roamed the floor with countless exhibitors showing all their new products.  One thing that was quite evident is the only thing Obama is stimulating in the economy is the sales of guns and ammo.  There is almost NO ammo to be found in this whole country, cause people are buying it by the case.  Same holds true for firearms, the manufacturers cant make them fast enough to keep the shelves stocked.  Why is it that so many Americans are so scared?  For good reason, that's why.  We are heading for some serious bad times that will make the 11% unemployment and 16% interest rates of Jimmy Carter look like paradise.  This administration has printed more worthless money in the first 100 days than the total value of ALL the gold that has ever been mined since Christ.  This is a fact, not my opinion.  How do you spell inflation?  Speakers at the banquet dinner included Colonel Oliver North, and investigative reporter John Stossel.  Both were excellent, as was the food and company.  There were over 600 tables of 10 at the dinner!

Col Ollie North

When we left Phoenix, we drove to Sedona for 2 nights, where we got to visit the southern rim of the grand canyon.  Spectacular!  Breathtaking!  What else can I say.

Sedona is also a great place and we decided that we would definitely go back there again.  The 5 of us went on a tour in a jeep to visit the outcrops of red rock that is prevalent in Sedona.  We visited an archeological site of the ancient Indians of the area of 500 years ago.  We had dinner one night in the Asylum, which is now in the Grand Jerome Hotel in the town of Jerome, formally an asylum.  Very interesting and good food.  Be sure to visit "Recent Photos" page to see more photos from this vacation.

Andy started working on the path on the side door, doing it with stamped dyed concrete, similar to the driveway that we did 2 yrs ago.  So far 5 pours (4'x10') are done with about another 6 more to go.

                            CLICK TO ENLARGE
       

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

MARCH 2009

After returning from Maui the second week of March, it was time for Andy to do his monthly ritual trip to Orange County CA.  Yes, he still goes down every month for business.  Grace comes with him on occasion (maybe once or so a year), but not often enough.  It is now time for spring cleaning, which at our home, involves both inside and outside.  On the outside, we get ready for Earth Day, which Andy celebrates religiously every year.  That is where he gathers up all the branches and debris that blew down over the winter and puts it in a big pile.  Then, on earth day, he sets fire to it, returning it all to Mommy Earth, part in the form of smoke and part in the form of ash.

Andy is getting ready to start another concrete project; the path that goes from the side entrance to the driveway and out to the perennial flower garden.  It will be similar to the driveway that was done last year, but with a different pattern of stamped concrete.  More to come on this project next month.  So far, all he did was pick up a couple of yards of sand and a couple of yards of gravel to get ready to start mixing concrete.

Looks like we will be making a couple of trips to New York this year.  For all that will be at Gina and Alex's for their annual Independence Day gathering, we will see you there.  Then, we will make it back in for Christmas.  Hurray!

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

FEBRUARY 2009

February was a busy month, as we prepared to go on vacation.  We spent 8 nights on the Big Island of Hawaii, in Kona, at our timeshare at Kona Coast Resorts, followed by a 9 days on Kaua'i in Kapa'a.  This trip, Denise and Jimmy joined us.  The weather in Kona was excellent, as most always; sunny, low 80s and beautiful.  We toured the island to many places that Grace and I had been in the past, but two new things that we did were an ATV ride through the Parker Ranch in Waimea, and a tour to the top of Mauna Kea.  The ATV ride was fun, although we had some sprinkles since that is on the green or wet side of the island.  The Parker Ranch is about 170,000 acres of cattle ranch with about 35,000 head of cattle.  They sell Angus beef to Safeway under the "Ranchers Reserve" label, just to name one.  We rode for about 2 to 2.5 hours, about 15 miles.

                   
                                                 Click to enlarge

The tour to the top of Mauna Kea was spectacular.  It was about 8 hours from pickup to drop off, starting with the drive up to the 9,000 foot level, where there is a small visitor center.  There we stopped to eat, and to allow our bodies to start to acclimate to the altitude.  The temperature there was about 37 degrees.  The tour operator provides down parkas, gloves and hoods, which you need when you ascend to the next level.  After dinner, we drove up to the top, where some of the world's biggest telescopes are to be found.  We arrived about 15 minutes before sunset, and it was BUTT COLD.  About 25 degrees plus about 30 MPH winds was enough to cut through you.  It was all you could do to take the gloves off just long enough to take a few pictures.  We spent about 45 minutes up there, at 13,770 feet level.  It took Andy a while to acclimate, as he was a bit dizzy for the first 15 minutes or so.

                                                                
9,000 feet level              Summit of Mauna Kea                           Observatories/Telescopes                                     Burrrrrr                Sunset from the top of the world
                                              13,770 feet                                          
                                                                                     Click to enlarge

After 45 minutes at the summit, we descended back to 9,000 foot level where the tour operator set up 2 GPS controlled 11" telescopes, that we used to stargaze.  Venus and Saturn were among the memorable sites that we experienced.

Week 2 was on Kauai, in the town of Kapa'a.  The condo was not as nice as the one we own on Kona, but was still nice, ocean view, 2 Brm 2 Ba.  The weather there tends to be about 5 deg cooler than Kona, but we also had allot of wind the first few days, along with on and off showers.  That is why Kauai is called the "Garden Island".  It is the among the older islands and is a bit wetter and greener.  On Monday we went to the Waimea canyon, which, although not as big as the Grand Canyon, is still impressive.  We visited the little town of Princeville, did some shopping and hung out a bit.  The weather the second week on Kauai sucked, as we only had one sunny day.  In fact, Denise and Jimmy were to leave on Friday and we were going to stay till Sunday.  We ended up changing our flight and going home 2 days early, as there was nothing positive on the weather forecast.  This is why we own and normally go to Kona on the Big Island.  It is one of the hottest and driest places where you have the best chance for great weather.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JANUARY 2009

Well, for those of you that get depressed when winter rolls in, here is the POSITIVE thing to think about.  The days are already getting longer!  That's right, December 21st is the shortest day of the year, so we are well on our way to the sun setting later in the day.  Now all we need is for some of that Global Warming to kick in so we can turn the thermostats down.  Its been chilly in the Pacific Northwest, as has been in most of the country.  Even my monthly trip to Orange County I experienced barely 40 degrees in the evening, and 60 in the day. 

Grace spent the month in New York visiting her sister and family, with a couple of excursions into Manhattan where she stayed with our nephew Eric and caught up on the latest that Broadway has to offer.  Andy was lucky to get approved for a company grant to the annual Consumer Electronic Show which is held every year the first week in January in Las Vegas.  The show was unbelievably huge, requiring the full 4 days to see every new electronic gadget about to this the market.  He stayed at the Venetian Hotel, which was absolutely phenomenal.  The rooms were exquisite and highly recommended for those considering a trip to Vegas.

Attorney General Rob McKenna was re-elected and had his swearing in ceremony.  Andy has held a seat on the Attorney General's State Advisory Council for the past year and a half.  He attended the ceremony which was held in the Supreme Court followed by a small reception in the Supreme Court Justice's chambers.

   Click to enlarge   

You may not have noticed, but now that the messiah has arrived in D.C., so rest assured that everything will be better now.  In case you, like I, am not optimistic, then my advise is to pray for our country VERY HARD, because we are in for a very tough 4 years.  Boeing just announce layoffs of 10,000, partially due to expected reduction in military during this administration as well as other world financial woes that the airlines are experiencing.  On the positive side, New York governor appointed a Pro gun, NRA member democrat to replace Hillary in the U.S. Senate.  This will create a quandary for her partner Sen. Chuckie Shumer and the others that refuse to accept the fact that you and I not only have a God given right to protect and defend ourselves, but a social responsibility to protect your family and society.  A citizen who shirks his duty to contribute to the security of his community is little better than the criminal who threatens it.  Policemen are nobody’s personal bodyguards. Their jobs are to find and arrest people who have committed crimes, not to prevent such potential crimes from happening in the first place. Clearly, the responsibility for victim-prevention lies with the victim-to-be.  I wonder why, with an administration that campaigned stating they believed in the 2nd amendment, are guns and ammunition sales going through the roof.  My advice. . . get it while you can, and remember the 5 works believed by most gun owning patriotic Americans . . . "From my cold dead hands".  OK  off the soap box for now.  If I am wrong, I will be the first one in 2 years from now to say, "Gee, I was wrong".  But I doubt it will happen.

Celia went in for her second knee replacement this month, and was discharged today as I write this, to go home.  She should be ready to Cha Cha with dad in a couple of months.  She is home recovering nicely.  Denise and Jimmy are getting ready for the Big Vacation, as they will be joining us in late February for 2 weeks in Hawaii. 

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

DECEMBER 2008

Do you know why this is remotely funny?  Because all comedy has a certain amount of truth to it.  This year, JUST SAY NO to Political Correctness.  You cannot be Politically Correct and Intellectually Honest.  Every year gets more and more out of control.  I'm sure many of you have seen the story of our Politically Correct Governor Commissar Christine Gregoir's decision to allow the Atheists to post a Christian Hate poster beside the Nativity and the Menorah in the Capital Rotunda this year.  As a result Washington State was the laughing stock of the world, as she received thousands of angry phone calls from around the world.  JUST SAY NO!  The only way this insanity will ever stop is for the silent MAJORITY to get off their asses, show some testicular fortitude and speak up.  The bottom line is, America is a FREE nation that was built on the precept that we are ENDOWED BY OUR CREATOR with UNALIENABLE RIGHTS.  We are NOT granted these rights from a monarch or any man, but from a Supreme Being, and NO MAN has the authority to take them away.  SPEAK UP and be heard.  Don't go along with the B.S.  Be controversial.  Don't you think the Founders of this great Nation were VERY controversial?  Just think what the Constitution would read if it was created in today's politically correct environment.  How sad that many of us are not willing to stand up to keep the torch of freedom alive.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to my Christian Friends and Family

HAPPY CHANUKAH to my Jewish Friends and Family

Happy Kwanza to my American Friends of African decent

The rest of you have a nice day, but DON'T ask me to change the name of my Holiday!  Its NOT Snowflake Festival, Winterfest or Holiday.  It is CHRISTmas, and Jesus is the reason for the season.  Period.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

NOVEMBER 2008

Fall is definitely upon us, as we go out and clean up all the fallen leaves.  After 2 hours in the yard blowing leaves, it was depressing to look up and see that there were still more on the trees. 

With the election finally behind us (thank God, I can't take another TV ad), it is time to move on.  Andy's advice for the next couple of years:
    - Sell your stocks and buy gold.  Gold will go up 25% in the next month or two.
    - When gold hits $2000 per ounce, sell your gold and put it back in the stock market.  The DOW should be down to 5000 by then.
    - Buy a gun while we still have a 2nd Amendment.  If you already have one, buy a few more.
    - Pay off all your debt that you can, credit cards, cars, etc.  We are in for a few tough years.  Remember Carter and the 12% inflation, 21% interest rates?
    - Pray while you are still allowed to.

You can tell how excited Wall street was about Obama; it has gone down on average of 300 points or more every other day.  Oh, and why when gas went to $4.50 per gallon all you heard was "its Bush's fault", but now that gas under $2.00 per gallon and the lowest it has been in 5 years, you don't hear a peep out of the media?

Thanksgiving was quiet in the Valrosa home.  We went out for dinner with Helen and Jim and then to the movies.

The day after Thanksgiving, it was off to Cancun.  Our friends Dennis and Roanne invited us to join them for a week in their condo in Cancun at the Royal Sands Resort.

They have a lovely 1400 sq foot 2 bedroom condo unit, on the ocean.  We had a great relaxing time and are thankful we were invited.  This is the third trip to Cancun for us; our first was our honeymoon and the second was our 10th anniversary.  The weather was great, low 80s and mostly sunny.  Since we were there before there was not much motivation to do any sightseeing, so Andy mostly wanted to sit and relax and unwind from the job, and get started on a suntan before we head to Hawaii with Denise and Jimmy in February.  Yes, the Lord has blessed us and we do count each and every one of them and never take them for granted.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

AUGUST 2008

Where did summer go?  I'm not sure if it even came yet and it seems to be nearing the end.  We in the Northwest have been suffering from major effects of Global Warming this year.  It started in the winter, when it was extra cold for  a longer time and we paid about 20% increase in our heating bill!  Now in the summer, the Global Warming was gotten extra bad here, with temperatures barely making it to 70!  Hey Al Gore, what the freak are you talking about?  In case you are a little slow, of course I am being sarcastic.  We have had a very cool summer and Al Gore is a moron.

Grace's sister Nancy came out to visit us.  She will be here for 6 weeks.  We hosted a dinner for Attorney General Rob McKenna this month.  It was a huge success, although we could have fit a few more at the table.  The menu consisted of Baked Clams, Stuffed Mushrooms and Eggplant Parmigiano for the Antipasto, Caesar Salad, Manicotti, and then Beef Sorrentino for the main entree'.   All these recipes can be found on this website for you to try, just click on the "Family Recipes" link.  Click the thumbnails below to see a larger picture.

Work is the same, Andy continues to make his monthly ritual to Orange County CA, and Grace continues to work at the Sleep Study Center of the hospital.  Becky has been visiting with us very often now, that she has her nametag on the door to her room.  She has done a wonderful job of keeping our property weed free and full of flowers, which is just fine with both of us.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JULY 2008

Seems like we waited so long for summer to arrive and now we are thinking that it is half over already.  Independence Day was pretty quiet for the most part.  Becky came down to stay with us, so on Friday, the 4th, Andy made BBQ salmon with all the trimmings for dinner.  We didn't even go into town to watch the fireworks this year.  Saturday we did another BBQ and had Bill and Renee Burnett join us, for 2 racks of the most awesome ribs.  We've been spending a little extra time cleaning up and making the outside look extra good, as we are hosting a dinner at out home in August with the Attorney General, Rob McKenna.  More on that next month, we will let you know how it went.

Andy spent $145 to fill up his gas tank, which was enough to last one week!  After doing this for 2 weeks in a row, it was off to the car dealer.  He bought a new Hyundai Sonata to drive back and forth to work. At $4.00 per gallon, this will save him $250 per month, which is nearly the entire car payment.  We will now sell our Ford Aerostar van, which we have had for 18 yrs, since the Hyundai will comfortably carry 4 passengers, and is big enough to pick up 2 people with luggage at the airport.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JUNE 2008

April showers brings May flowers??#!?  Not this year.  April showers brought May Showers which brought June showers!  Hey Al Gore, how bout some Global Warming.  My freaking heating bill is through the freaking roof!  Global Warming = Junk Science = BS.  Summer is definitely SLOW to arrive this year.  Probably the most eventful thing that happened this month was that Andy go to go on a 10 day business trip to New York.  Yes, and it happened to be Father's Day weekend that he left, and the place he was working was about 20 minutes from his dad's house.  In addition to long hours and lots of work, he got to spend some good quality time with friends and family.  He arrived the night before Father's day and stayed at his sister Denise's house. There, he surprised his dad when he showed up for Father's day dinner.  The day after arriving, he had a dinner date with cousin Laura.  Then, he also got to spend allot of time with Lori, his only friend from from high school, who lived 3 miles from his hotel.  A couple of drinking sessions during the week followed by a BBQ on the weekend.  The last weekend before going home, he spent the day at cousin Alex and Gina's place.  A great day with the cousins.

Our friend Becky that recently moved back from Iowa has been spending lots of time with us.  We are so happy she is back and we get to see her often, not to mention, there's not  a weed left on our property, she had pulled every single one of them and planted lots of flowers for us.  She has also been good company for Grace.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

MAY 2008

Summer is rapidly approaching and eagerly anticipated.  The sauna is now open for business, no shoes, clothing optional.  Our friend Becky moved back to the area from Iowa (do you really know anyone from Iowa?).  She has spent a couple of weeks with us this month which was great, as it kept Grace company during her recovery from last month's surgery, plus she loves gardening.  She mercilessly pulled every weed on our whole property and planted some flowers for us to enjoy!  Wow.  Grace is recovering nicely from her surgery, and went to work 2 half days the last week of the month. 

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

APRIL 2008

April showers bring May flowers.  We are heading for a Botanical Gardens this year!  Actually, we have had some real nice weather early this year, with temperatures approaching 70.  Not bad for April.  The nice weather motivates you to go out and catch up on yard work and other outside projects; started mowing the lawn, clean up the outside from winter blow down (see Earth Day), and of course the Sauna project.

Earth Day - celebrated in April each year, we call to mind and embrace our environment.  I for one celebrate EVERY year by returning to Mommy Earth something that it has give to me.  I do this each spring by cleaning up all the winter blow down, all the branches, leave and stuff that Mommy Nature blew to my lawn and yard during the winter, and I put it all in a big pile, set it on fire, and return it all to Mommy Earth in the form of smoke and ash!  Please don't think that I am environmentally insensitive, I just get some relief by making a mockery of the religion of political correctness and the environmental terrorists that are destroying this country. 

I won't bore you with work, SOS, no, not a signal for help, jus Same Old S_ _ _.   Of more importance was Grace's trip to the hospital this month.  As you know, she had a partial hysterectomy a few years ago, and the doctors that are still PRACTICING convinced her to leave her cystic ovaries in, as they were still "working".  Well, they continued to cause problems so she went in to have the "other half" of the job done.  Unfortunately, they were so covered with cysts and attached to her intestines that they could not remove them via laparoscope, and had to do a C section, so she has a few weeks of recover in front of her.  So far so good.

Sauna project - is nearing completion.  This past weekend, the interior was completed less the bench and floor.  The CD player, lights and all the interior tongue and groove cedar boards were completed, along with building the door and installing it.  Still remaining is to build the bench, the floor and run the power from the circuit breaker panel.  Just another weekend or two.  Click the thumbnail below for a larger image.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

MARCH 2008

Spring has sprung!  You can tell cause global warming is upon us, except in the southern hemisphere.  I don't know about you, but I think my heating bill this past winter is proof that global warming is another invention of Al Gore, and I am still waiting for scientific proof that it exists.  In the meantime, my heating bill keeps going up.

Not much new on the homefront.  Our friend Becky just informed us that she is moving back to WA from Iowa, which is good for us, as we will get to see her more than once a year now.  Grace was busy upon returning from Mexico, working nearly every day.  Andy's job continues to be crazy, and retirement is really looking good, though still too far away to touch. 

The next project at home has started.  The Sauna.  It will be 4' x 6.5' interior dimensions, with Far Infrared heating panels.  The Far IR saunas have many more health benefits of a traditional sauna, plus the temperatures are typically less than 150 degrees as opposed to 200 degrees of a traditional Finnish sauna with the hot rocks. It will be out on the back patio, which required a 5 ' extension, beside the hot tub.

 
Click to enlarge

On a sad note, we lost cousin Joe Tangredi this month, with no warning.  Such a sad time, our hearts pour out for Laura, Christina, Adrian and Joey and our prayers are with them and Joe.  Andy was in Orange County CA when he got the call, so he few our of LAX to NY for the funeral.  A very short trip filled with too many emotions.  A thought . . . why do we cry and mourn. . . is it the selfish part of us that is mourning for ourselves?  If we are truly believers, we would be celebrating that he has gone on to that perfect place that we all hope to spend eternity.  Easier said than done.  RIP Joe.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

FEBRUARY 2008

Well, this was certainly the month of travel.  We returned from Orange County at the start of the month.  Then, Andy made a last minute decision to fly to Florida for 2 family parties.  Aunt Judy and Uncle Tony celebrated their 50th anniversary on Friday, Feb 8, as well as Uncle Tony's 80th birthday.  Andy caught the redeye into Miami arriving Friday morning.  It was good to see those cousins, aunts and uncles that made it down from New York and Orlando.  Then on Saturday, he drove up to Orlando with Denise and Jimmy for another 50th anniversary of cousins Annie and Frank Knauf.  There he got to see many of the same cousins plus the Knaufs and Simplicios.  Annie and Frank's son Roy did a wonderful job of putting together a beautiful event, despite his ongoing battle with cancer.  We continue to pray for him and hope that his upcoming bone marrow transplant will hold the solution we wait for.  Please go to Recent Photos page to see some of the pictures from these two parties.

Arriving home on Monday the 11th, just in time to start packing for a week of vacation, to Puerto Vallarta Mexico, where we met Grace's sister Nancy and Jerry and our nephew Eric  for 8 days of relaxation.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect; sunny and 80 deg every day!  We stayed at the Grand Mayan resort, which is actually located in Nuevo Vallarta.  The resort was spectacular, except for a few glitches in the service.  It is about a 20 min taxi ride to town, which costs about $16 each way, so you may want to consider renting a car if you plan to spend much time away from the resort. 

 Tequila Graziella      Don Andres        Pancho Pistola     
                             

                 DO YOU KNOW ANY OF THESE PEOPLE??  (click on picture to enlarge)

A video clip of Pancho Pistola in action, drinking shots of Tequila.  Click here This is an 18 meg file so it takes about 3 minutes to download with high speed.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JANUARY 2008

Another year gone, another year here.  Can you believe its been 8 yrs since the "Millennium meltdown chaos" that never happened.  Andy celebrated being 31 yrs old again on the 22nd of this month.  On the work side of things, Andy made 2 trips to Orange County this month instead of his usual one, but the good news is that Grace went with him on the second trip for a week, from Wednesday till the following Tuesday, where we  celebrated our 21st anniversary together.   We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at a lovely Brazilian steak house, and then a few drinks at the hotel lounge.  Grace got her day of pampering at the Spa, and then a couple of days of shopping while Andy worked.  On the Saturday and Sunday, we drove to Palm Springs, where Grace's cousin's from Chicago have a house that they snowbird at for the winter.  Can you believe it rained most of the weekend in Palm Springs, which is in the desert!

Since the 22nd is Andy's birthday and also the anniversary of the Roe vs Wade Supreme Court decision, we went to our state capitol where the annual Pro-Life rally is held.  Our church, like many, rent a bus and go to this very important event, where we ensure our legislators know how we feel about those sensitive, but important issues, of abortion, assisted suicide and the likes.  While some may attempt to rationalize the humane reasons for mercy killing, the bottom line is, it is just that, and the 4th Commandment states "Thou shall not kill", so for us Jews and Christians we should recognize that it is a sin, and we should elect officials that are not going to legislate against the teachings of our faith.  It is also a slippery slope and I for one do not want to give our government the ability to end life.  Just think, after we have Socialized Medicine and our country goes broke, what better way to cut costs then to not have to keep people alive.  Sounds like George Orwell's 1984?  Don't be naive.  As for the abortion issue, every year on my birthday I celebrate that my mother chose Life.   Andy arranged a special meeting with both of our legislators and our Attorney General for our busload from church as well as a group of home schooling parents.  Nearly 5,000 people were in attendance on the capital steps for Life, while the other side had less than 50 across the street.  The numbers speak for themselves in this case.

Andy got an early start on spring cleanup on the property, so this should free up some time in the next couple of months to work on some other projects that have been planned, such as stamped concrete on the path on the side of the house, as well as building a sauna outside near the back patio on the side of the house.  More to come.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

DECEMBER 2007

A politically correct holiday greeting:

By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms:  This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal.  It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

NOVEMBER 2007

Thanksgiving time has come again, and I know that no matter how bad it may seem at any moment, we can always find something to be thankful for.  Let me help you, just for a moment.  First, we thank our Lord that we are even here to be able to read this.  We are thankful that we have all of you, our friends and family.  We are thankful for our health, cause no matter what may be ailing you at the moment, it COULD be worse.  We are thankful that we live in a free country, where you can go to sleep at night with reasonable faith that you will wake up still a free American.  We are grateful that we had the ability to eat dinner last night, and breakfast this morning.  Still need help?  If so, time to stop whining and time to thank God.

We flew into New Orleans and spent 3 nights there at the Hilton Riverfront.  Highly recommended hotel, excellent service and facilities, just a 5 block walk from Bourbon Street, and 1 block from Harrah's casino, which, I will say, was generous to help me continue my NEVER LEAVE MY MONEY BEHIND record.  Yes, I ALWAYS taken money home from the Craps table from EVERY trip to Vegas, Reno, Cruises, and now New Orleans!  Knock on wood.  The morning after arriving, we met our friends Tom and Nancy, who live on Whidbey Island in the summer and snowbird in Louisiana in the winter.  Being from the area, they spent the day with us showing some of the sites.

There was nearly no evidence of Katrina in the downtown area of New Orleans, other than the lack of tourists.  The outlying areas which are lower below sea level still are struggling to recover, but i wonder how much of this is either self imposed or due to mismanagement or corruption.  Bourbon Street was very quiet.  The elevated crime rate since the hurricane has deterred tourists, and you can blame the local government for not taking charge and stopping it.  I did, for the first time, exercise my second amendment right in a state other than where I live.  Food was excellent and plentiful in New Orleans, especially if u are not fussy and like seafood and spice.  Do not plan to continue or start a diet when there.

See our Recent Photo page for some pics from this trip.

We are also thankful that we were able to take a vacation this month and spend Thanksgiving with our friend Sandra, and her 2 daughters and family in Pensacola Florida.    They, as all we met in the south, were highly hospitable, and treated us as their own.  There were 3 deep fried turkeys ( delicious) and one oven roasted bird, plus all the trimmings.  Dinner was followed with pecan pies and more dessert than all of us needed to eat.  I limited myself to 3 slices of pecan pie and a piece of cake that Sandra made.

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The girls are getting big, and so sweet.  Gracie is now 4 1/2, and Amanda is 15.
    
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On our way out of town, we met other friends, Dave and Karen, for breakfast and a 3 hour visit.  We are looking forward to another trip to the area and would do it the same way, spending several days in New Orleans and then visiting in Pensacola.  Thanksgiving is behind us, and we know that no matter what, we all have many things to be thankful for.  Now we roll into the Christmas  season, which brings to mind another and a most important thing to be thankful for, as we celebrate the birth of our Lord. 

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

OCTOBER 2007

Well, the driveway is done.  Thank God!  This is it for this year.  Maybe next year I will do 5 more pours, which will bring it out the last 200 feet to the road.  What you see below was 10 pours, about 4,000 sq ft and 64 cu yds of concrete.

click to enlarge

This winter I may do some work on the path on the side of the house.  I bought a new set of stamps that are shaped like random circular stones, and will pour this a little at a time.  More to come on this new project.  With the fall upon us, we have been preparing for some upcoming trips.  For Thanksgiving, we will be flying to New Orleans for 3 nights, and then drive to Pensacola Florida to spend the holiday with our friend Sandra and Keith and her 2 daughters Amanda and Gracie.  We may also take an excursion to Orlando to visit some of Andy's family if they are going to be home.  We will be staying at the Hilton on the River in New Orleans.  As they are trying to promote New Orleans since Katrina, airfares were very cheap, $290 ea round trip from Seattle. 

Andy made his monthly ritual trip to Orange County CA for a week.  This time I was down there during the bad fires that you all heard about.  Here is a picture I took while driving to work on monday morning.  This fire was just a mile or so from the office, in Irvine.  It was very smokey and the wind was blowing at 50 mph.

click to enlarge

 Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

SEPTEMBER 2007

Can you believe its been 6 years since that day when those cowardice bastards killed 3,000 of my brothers and sisters!  I am still as outraged today as that day, maybe more.  My outrage has extended beyond those that I am convinced will ultimately pay the price, if not in this life, in the next.  I am outraged with so many of those that would say are my fellow Americans.  Those that are not smart enough to separate their feelings toward one or two persons  elected by a majority Americans that got off their butts and voted, from the facts and issues at hand.  They are blinded by the bullshit that is fostered by the mainstream media and the Hate America crowd, and cannot think on their own and understand what has really happened. 

Of course, I'm sure they would say the same about me.  And that is one of the great things about America, they have the right to say it.  Hey, I worked on the Bush campaign for 6 yrs and I am the first to speak up and tell you what I so disagree with and where I think he has gone wrong, starting with the lack of securing our borders.  President Andy would have put troops on the north and sound borders before sunup on September 12th, and there they would remain with orders to shoot to kill.  The number one responsibility of the Federal government is to secure the borders and protect out country from ALL enemies, both domestic and non-domestic, to enforce contracts between individuals, and protect citizens against crimes against themselves and their property.. 

This brings me to my second point of contention with our President.  A formal declaration of war should have been made immediately when we figured out who did this.   And with that would  come the implementation of the laws regarding sedition, which only apply "during a time of war".  Then, we need leaders with the balls to enforce the laws regarding sedition that were passed years ago; specifically, you shut down the Hate America speech, the anti military rhetoric, the extremely left wing bias of the "news" and quit the brainwashing and re-education of the brainless minds of mush that is so prominent in this country, thanks to the accomplishments of our government run education system, where 60% of high school graduates don't have a clue of what the founding fathers of this country wanted for us (just read the Federalist Papers).  Try teaching the Bill of Rights and the true meaning of the founding documents of this country.    As Dr. Milton Friedman said, "Assumption of responsibility by government does not require that education be delivered in government run institutions, just as government food stamps need not be spent in government grocery stores.  Education spending will be most effective if it relies on parental choice and private initiative - the building blocks of success throughout our society"  Bet you lunch that NO public school in America is teaching that concept.

For those of you that need a reminder :

OK, off my soapbox.  Denise and Jimmy came out to visit us for a little over a week this month.  While Denise was dealing with the cast on her foot from her fall two months ago, we still kept the agenda full. for them.  We spend a couple of quiet and relaxing days at Mount Rainier in a cozy B&B and then went to the Puyallup fair, which is the biggest fair in western Washington.  There, they got to experience a real rodeo, which would be a new experience to most people from The Bronx.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

AUGUST 2007

Can you believe the summer is nearly gone?  Where does the time go?  Well, much of the same with us. 

Grace came home August 1st, and took a few days off to get back into the groove, then she went back to work.  I took a day off from work and got one more pour done on the driveway.  Thought it would be the last one, but it was about 750 sq ft, which is too much to do in one pour, so I split it and did one that was 450 sq ft, and that leaves only one small pour left to go.  The last one is kind of in the corner, so we were able to now start using the drive and garage again and get this last one done at my leisure, but soon.

Denise and Jim will be out to visit us on the 31st, for a week+.  We always look forward to having friends and family stay with us (hint).  Denise's birthday will be while she is here, so hopefully we will do something fun.  We plan a trip to Mt Rainier for 2 days, staying at at B&B one night, and then a night in Tacoma so we can go to the Puyallup Fair on the way back home.  This is the biggest summer fair in western Washington, complete with every kind of booth you can think of and lots of live entertainment, including real rodeo.  Its been about 8 years or more since we were there, so it should be lots of fun.

Of course, the monthly ritual trip to Orange County CA took place August 19th through the 23rd.  The Embassy Suites has become like my second home now.  It was hot when I first arrived, about 100+, but then cooled down to a comfortable 85-90 the rest of the week.  At home, we have had a relatively cool summer, with temps about 10 degrees below the normal.  Must be global warming?#!? 

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JULY 2007

  OK, you aren't gonna believe this.  So as you read in June, I really lucked out and got to go on this business trip to Italy the same time that Grace was there, working just 15 kilometers from the town she was staying in.  Well, a week or so after I got home, I got a call from the boss on Friday afternoon, asking me to get back on the plane to Rome on Sunday!  Can you believe it?  A second trip.  So of course I went.  Didn't get to do any touring this time, just worked 15 hr days, from when I arrived on Monday till Friday, then half day Saturday.  Spent the rest of Saturday at the beach with Grace and then Sunday with Jerry's family.  Monday Grace flew back to NY and I flew to LA for a business meeting.

The driveway project is nearing completion. 

         
Click to enlarge

This second trip to Italy was a bit disruptive, as I planned to take a couple of days vacation and finish it, but now it will have to wait till next month.  Can't wait to drive on it!  Not much else new for now.  Getting the house back in shape after Grace had been gone for so long.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JUNE 2007 

What an exciting month!  As I mentioned last month, Grace was heading to Italy in June, with her sister Nancy and Jerry.  Jerry's family is in a little town on the beach called Sabaudia, about 1.5 hr. drive from Rome.  Just by a stroke of luck, an opportunity for a 2 week business trip for Andy came up late June.  Guess where to??  You guessed it, Italy!  So now I got to fly Business Class to Rome on Boeing.  I would be working at a lab doing some testing, about half way between Rome and Sabaudia, where Grace would be staying!  So, when I arrived Grace was touring down near Amalfi, so I stayed at the Hilton near Rome for the first few nights.  Then, I transferred to a hotel called La Duna, on the beach in the same town of Sabaudia that Grace was staying in.  It was about a 45-60 minute drive to work each day.  Then, for the last 3 nights, we both went back up to Rome to the Hilton again.

Driving was an interesting experience.  There is no adherence to any laws, but yet oddly enough, I felt safe driving.  Speed limit was 90 kilometers per hour (approx 55 mph), but most people drove at 160+ km/hr (about 100+ mph).  Lanes mean nothing, as it was typical to find 4 cars abreast on a 2 lane highway, plus a couple of motorcycles squeezing in between, with just 5 feet between while going 100+ mph!  While passing, crossing a double solid line, oncoming traffic would yield to you while you were in there lane passing!

Since this was a business trip for me, I did end up putting in some very long hours.  One night till 3AM.  Several 15 hr days.  But Grace was off touring with the family, so it was not such a big deal.  It was great to make new friends at the lab I worked at in Pomezia, called the Instituto Giordano.

  Out to lunch with friends from Giordano lab.  Luigi was our waiter. On the left, Aurora, Don (from Boeing), Gianluca.  On the right, Alberto, Giovanni, and Andy
click to enlarge

 I did get to tour Rome the first weekend with a colleague, then the second weekend with Grace. On Saturday, we took a tour of the Vatican that the Hilton management treated us to.  Yes, it DOES pay to be a New Yorker and bitch when they don't do something right.  They missed my wake up call one day and I was 1.5 hrs late for work, so when I complained to the manager, he promised to do something for Grace and I when we returned on the second weekend after leaving the beach hotel, so they set up the tour and comp'd us.  We got to see the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica.  The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is just amazing!  It is almost impossible to believe that it is a smooth ceiling, as the painting of Michelangelo will have you believing that the ceiling is a 3 dimensional work of art!

                             
Coliseum                    St. Peter's Church    The Sistine Chapel        St. Peter's                St. Peter's Square      The Catacombs          Trevi Fountain

 On the last day before leaving, our friends Vincenzo and Franca, who live in Rome, came home from their vacation in LA early so we could spend the day with them. 

     Our friends Vincenzo and Franca at their home
click to enlarge

We toured the Catacombs, St Paul's Basilica, and some of the other local sites like the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain (Three Coins in a Fountain) with them.  Then we spent a lovely evening with them at their home; great food, great company!

Don't forget to look at the rest of the photos on "Recent Photo" page.

I will be returning home on July 1, and Grace will remain for a few more weeks, taking a trip down to Calabria to visit the family.  When I get home, I will be hoping for some cool weather so I can finish the last 3 pours on the driveway, before it gets too hot this summer.  Maybe squeeze in a bit of fishing too.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

MAY 2007 

DRIVEWAY UPDATE - Pour # 6 is complete.  That leaves just 3 more for phase one of this project.  That will complete approximately 125 feet of driveway in front of the house, from the circle to Bianca's kennel.  Here is a pic of this last pour.  Click on it to enlarge:

The next pour will be to the left of what you are looking at here, down to the garage door.  Then, two more pours in front of them and that's it for this year.  Next project that is waiting to be started is the sauna.  That will be built outside, as an extension to the house, just beside the living room accessible from the patio near the hot tub.  Original plan was to work on it while Grace was in Italy the month of July, so it would be done when she got home (too late to make changes or stop the construction), but now I'm not sure how soon I will start it.

Grace is looking forward to June, when she will be flying to NY to celebrate Aunt Anita and Uncle Louie's 50th anniversary.  After 5 days in NY, it is off to Italy for a month with her sister Nancy and Jerry.  She will be staying in Sabaudia, about  an hour south of Rome, with Jerry's family, with an excursion to Calabria with Nancy to visit their family.  If I am able to, I may take a week or so of vacation and meet them there.  After she returns to NY, cousin Mathew will be getting married, then she will come home.

Grace has started working at the new sleep study center that the hospital opened.  It is right in town so it saves her 15 minutes of driving, plus it is a change from what she was doing, which is always nice.  Andy has been way too busy at work.  As you know, Boeing's new 787 airplane has turned out to be a hughe successful seller, with over 700 airplane backlog sold before the first one is even built.

Well, a short one this month.  Next month we will have much more to report.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

April 2007 

April was a busy month.  Of course, there was Andy's monthly ritual trip to Orange County, which, for the most part has become very routine and non-eventful.  As you know, he goes down every month for a few nights typically for meetings and or testing of the new airplane systems and equipment.  Of course, April brought us Easter, which for everyone has different meanings.  For some, it is jelly beans and chocolate bunnies.  For some, it marks the end of whatever they gave up for the past 40 days, so now it is time to splurge and make up for it.  For most of us,

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (Jesus quoted by John 3:16)

    The image of Divine Mercy.  Google Divine Mercy if you don't know this story and the promise that goes with it.

April also brings a break from the winter weather, and that means it is time to pick up on the driveway project I started last year.  The 5th pour was done, which completed the circle part of the driveway.  This also marks approximately the half way point, with about 1600 sq feet complete.  The next section will require cars out of the garage, till the completion of the project, so I will be looking for a few consecutive good days, so I can make a pour a day and get this done expeditiously.  Here are a few pictures of the completed circle.  Click on them to enlarge.

Becky was here from Iowa visiting her family, and  came to stay with us for a week.  We enjoy having visitors, so we welcome them and enjoy sharing our home whenever you want to come.  Lots of spring clean up this time of year, planting flowers and recovering from everything that blows down during the winter.  Must have piled 100 wheel barrels full of branches and junk to burn over the course of a couple of weekends.  But it is worth it, cause now you can sit back and relax, looking at all the beauty and gifts that God has blessed us with.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

MARCH 2007 

Well, as you read last month, Kona is our favorite spot in Hawaii, so we bought another time share there at Kona Coast Resorts, which is also our favorite resort there.  2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1400+ sq feet, with all the luxuries of home.  Click here to see http://www.shellvacationsclub.com/GetResortScreen.event?fac=36 .  We look forward to now being able to spend more time there.  Kona Coast Resorts is situated on a lush golf course, on the Pacific Ocean with a great view.  The master bath is all in the same marble we have at home, with a shower and a large Jacuzzi tub.  Can't wait for our next trip.  Wanna come with us?

Looks like Grace will be making a trip to Italy this summer, with sister Nancy and Jerry.  Andy bought her a ticket to join them for a month long trip.  Job permitting and fares affordable, Andy will try to join them for 10 days in July if possible.  Work continues to be a zoo at Boeing.  While Boeing receives record orders (over 500 of the new 787s are on backlog before the first one is even built), there are already rumors of cutbacks.  Management just doesn't get it. . .  you don't cut back before you catch up.  And right now, we have record orders and haven't even gotten the first on built yet.  Oh well, not to worry.

Back at home, the weather is finally becoming conducive to pouring concrete again, which means back to the driveway project soon, (see Archived August 06 newsletter for photos).    Hopefully Andy will pick up where he left off before the winter and get this project done so he can start the next one - the sauna. 

I am actually at 36,000 feet at I write this, on my way down to Orange County again for my monthly ritual for 4 nights.  Hope all is well with you and God Bless all of you.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

FEBRUARY 2007 

Well, February brings the annual Lincoln Day Dinner, a tradition held throughout the country to commemorate our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln.  This year we got to go as attendees, instead of having to do all the work of organizing it, as we did the past 4 years when Andy was Republican Party Chairman.  It was much more relaxing, to say the least.  Andy was recognized at the dinner and presented an award for his time and dedication of the past years, and Grace was recognized for tolerating and supporting him during that time. 

Spring has sprung, and we will be resuming the work on our driveway that was started late last year (see August 06 in the archives).  With four pours complete and six left to go, it should be finished up well before summer hits, so Andy can get started on the next major project - The Sauna!  All the repairs are completed from the December wind storm that put a 100' tall hemlock tree on our dining room roof, taking out the gazebo roof on the way down (see December 06 in the archives), and damaging the chicken coop and rose garden.

The highlight of February was our vacation to Hawaii, one week in Kona, on the Big Island, and one week in Kihei in Maui.  Grace's sister Nancy and Jerry joined us for a lovely 2 weeks.  It was nice to have Nancy and Jerry join us, and hopefully, they had a great time too! 

Andy, Grace Nancy and Jerry                                    The Painted Church, Kona

Believe it or not, one night we attempted to go to the top of Mauna Kea, a 14,000' tall volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, and we could not go up cause the road was closed cause of snow and ice!  We did make a trip to Volcano National Park and toured the crater of one of the other smaller volcanoes, which is still active.  We also walked thru an old lava tube.

        Inside the crater                                Inside a lava tube

We stayed in a condo called Paniola Greens in Kona.  It was OK, but we would not stay there again, as it was not as nice as what we own or are accustomed to.  In Maui, we stayed at the Maui Hill, a very nice resort in Kihei.  We also saw a great play called 'Ulalena, which was a performance showing the heritage of Hawaii and the Myths and cultures associated with it.

Maui Hill Condos                    At Ulalena Play                    Maui Sunset

Kona remains our favorite spot in Hawaii, and maybe someday we will be blessed to buy a condo there so we can spend more time there, especially when we retire.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JANUARY 2007 

We brought in the New Year with a New Years Day brunch at our home.  Invited were the Tarragon Place neighbors, along with Bill and Renee Burnett.  The menu included Quiche, eggs with cheese, Italian sausage, bacon and bagels.  A great way to start a New Year, good food, champagne and friends! 

All the damage from the December storm got repaired.  We had the insurance take care of the house and gazebo, and Andy repaired the chicken coop and the rose garden areas.  We had a week long of 15-20 degree weather, obviously a result of Global Warming ?????  As soon as we get some REAL warming and the temps get back around 50, it will be time to continue and finish the remaining pours of concrete in the driveway.  After that, the next project will be a small extension in the back corner outside, near the hot tub on the patio. . . a Sauna.  It will be a combination traditional Finnish dry sauna and a FAR Infrared Sauna..  The Finnish sauna gives you that high temperature, for when you really feel like working up a good sweat.  The Infrared sauna has superior health benefits. 

On the 25th, we celebrated 20 wonderful, glorious years together.  Looking forward to the next 75!

I also got an email from our Attorney General, Rob McKenna, inviting me to lunch.  Of course I took the afternoon off and had a very enjoyable couple of hours with him at a local restaurant in Anacortes called Adrift.  Rob is a true gentleman and I think he will be going places higher than AG.  Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Work is the same, busy as all heck and very stressful.  Looking forward to our vacation at the end of February.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

DECEMBER 2006 

Happy Birthday Jesus.  Oh, I hope I didn't offend anyone, but that IS what December 25th IS about.  Contrary to modern day progressive thinking, it is NOT Snowflake Day, or Winterfest.  Nor was it invented for Macy's, Nordstrom's and Sac's, although they all should be very grateful for it.  As every year goes by, I find myself being less and less tolerant of the whole concept of political correctness, and all the distorted realties it portraits.  I was happy to hear that this year Walmart was allowing "Merry Christmas" to be displayed in their stores. 

You may have heard about our bad windstorm we had the week before Christmas.  Wind gusts approached 80 MPH.  It delivered us an unwanted gift - a 110' tall hemlock tree feel, hitting our gazebo and landing on the dining room roof.  It was pretty scary, very loud, and hopefully something we will never experience again.  The insurance inspector came and did is appraisal and now we are getting bids from a couple of contractors to do the repairs.  Here are some pictures - click on the picture to enlarge it

For Christmas, Grace and I got a 2 bedroom condo in Sun River Oregon, near Mt Bachelor.  We were supposed to go with our friends Helen and Jim, but unfortunately their cat "Bags" has cancer and they didn't want to leave him home alone, so just Grace and I went.  The condo was very nice, weather was pretty good until our drive home.  We hit a blizzard while driving over Mt Hood.  The road condition was white out, snowing and blowing.  We made it home safely.

New Years was typical.  We usually stay home and watch the ball drop in New York, which is 9PM our time, so we don't have to stay up so late.  New Years Day we do a brunch at our house and invite the neighbors over, a nice gathering of usually around 12 people.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

NOVEMBER 2006 

I am writing this from 38,000 feet, reroute to Seattle from New York via DC, on what has become my least favorite domestic airlines, although they all are beginning to suck quite honestly.  Can't wait to use up all of my United frequent flyer miles so I don't have to fly them any longer.  First disappointment was that they don't let their first class passengers use what used to be "the first class lounge", but is now a club that you have to pay an annual membership to sit in.  What a bunch of BS.  Then, when we landed in DC, I left the plane for 20 minutes in between flight legs, and when I returned to my seat, I noticed someone had stolen my book from the seatback pocket!  I was the last on off the plane, so the only ones that came back on were the workers that "tidy" the plane in between legs.  Here is the funny part.  I had 2 books, only one got stolen.  They stole the one about "A Godless America", and left the one about "A Seekers Guide to God".  Is there some Irony there?

Anyway, Grace went back to NY a month ago to visit her sister Nancy, who is doing much better with her mystery fever that has plagued her for 4 months now.  I flew in last week and stayed 8 days, spending the first half of the week at my sister Denise's and then a few days up at Grace's sister Nancy's.  Definitely need to fast for about 2 weeks when I get home after a week of NY pizza, pasta and Thanksgiving dinner.  My advice to avoid post holiday depression is to NOT weigh yourself for 2 weeks after a holiday, to give yourself time to get back to where you were BEFORE the holiday:)

Our friends Becky and Randy flew in from Iowa to spend the week in New York.  I would say they had a great time and we enjoyed showing them around the "neighborhood".  Thanksgiving dinner was at Nancy's, with about 26 people in attendance.  Two 24 lb turkeys were served, along with all the trimmings.  I was full after the antipasti, but managed to squeeze in some turkey with fresh cranberries.  I even managed to maintain my exercise routine to a 66% level.  I worked out 2 days in the week; normally I do 3.  Not bad for a holiday week away from home. 

Grace will come home on Wednesday, then Andy goes to Orange County for his monthly Boeing ritual next Sunday for 4 nights.  Christmas is nearly upon us, with the winter weather arriving already.  There is talk of snow at home this tonight, with 2 days of cold and then back to the mid 40s.  We'll see if they get it right this time.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

OCTOBER 2006

There is a God in this world, I am here to tell you.  And if you pray to Him, He will hear you.  Andy is improving with his recent health issue with the anxiety attacks that have been plaguing him, with the help of our Lord Jesus, who WILL talk the burden off your shoulders if you humble yourself and ask.  Trust me.  No meds required to sleep since Sept 27th, since the Creator is much more powerful that that which man creates.  I don't mean to pontificate, but I owe it to those that I love to tell you the Truth if you don't already know it.

Andy did a fourth pour of concrete on the driveway project, with about 5-6 more to go.  Take a look at August Newsletter for some photos.  Hopefully, with some dry weather in the early winter months, he will be able to complete the project before spring, so he can start the next one!  Yes, the Sauna.  Its already designed and ready to be built, outside beside the hot tub, on the side of the house, as soon as the driveway is complete.  It will be a 3 person sauna, combination traditional hot rock (Swedish style) and FAR Infrared, which is the latest in technology and has many health benefits.  You'll have to come out next summer and try it.

Monthly business trips to Orange County continue, as Boeing becomes a very busy place to work.  The new 787 Dreamliner, which will have the latest cutting edge wireless Inflight Entertainment System in it that Andy's group is working on, has a huge backorder.  If you order one today, you can have it delivered sometime between 2011 and 2013!  This is great for the company, and great for America.  Just think about something:  just 1 Boeing wide body jet costs $150 million  or more.  How many Toyotas does Japan have to import to offset that?  Every jet we sell to another country has significant impact on our trade deficit.

Well, we are looking forward to next month's trip to New York for Thanksgiving holiday. 

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

SEPTEMBER 2006 

Well, as you can see that I missed a newsletter or two, life has gotten hectic once again.   September was a tough month for us.  While on his regular monthly business trip to California on Sept 10, Andy had a problem while going to sleep one night.  He ended up driving himself to the ER at one of the local hospitals and spent the night.  The EKG and all the cardiac enzyme blood tests came back negative.  He stayed for the remainder of the trip, but after he came home, the following Sunday, the 17th, he had another experience and went to the ER again, with Grace.  EKG, blood tests again, etc, all came back OK.  The next day, he saw his regular doctor, and got scheduled for a stress test and some more blood tests. Having to lighten his load, he immediately resigned his position as Republican Party Chairman, as well as Executive Board member of the Washington State Republican Party.  This was very difficult, as you know it is his passion, but it is now time for someone else to pick up the load.  He is also working on shifting workload at the office around.  There were a few traumatic events that may have lead up to this on Sept 10, but not for internet viewing. 

One very disappointing result of this was that we were supposed to go to Italy for 14 days with Andy's father, Celia, Denise and Jimmy, leaving on Wednesday the 20th.  When we got home from the hospital the morning of the 18th, we decided it was best not to leave the country until we knew what was going on with him, so we cancelled our vacation to Italy and the family had to go without us.  Later that week, he had the stress test and the doctor said it was perfect.    With that, and as suspected, it was concluded that he was having Anxiety attacks.  He is still having problems sleeping, and about every other night has difficulty sleeping and has to take medication (Xanax) to get to sleep.  We think he is improving, however and we pray to God that each day brings him closer to recovery.

We did manage to take a couple of days to go to a local spa for 2 nights at Semiahmoo Resort  http://www.semiahmoo.com .  It was a very nice couple of days and we tried to relax and pamper ourselves with massages, facials and pedicures. 

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

AUGUST 2006 

August brought one more month of excellent weather, as is so typical in our area for summer; Sunny, 75-80 degrees every day.  We had 3 days of rain so far all summer!  Main attractions for this month were that Andy finally started putting in our permanent driveway.  It is dyed, stamped concrete, made to look like Ashler Slate.  The first part being done below is the circle.  It is hidden enough so all the learning mistakes won't be so visible from the front of the house.  The process is you first form out the area, put all your reinforcement steel in place.  Then, you pour the concrete.  After floating it smooth, you cast out the dye, which is a dry powder.  I used 2 different colors plus a third color in the release compound (keeps the stamp from sticking), to give it a more natural look.  Then, you "float" the concrete once more.  Then, you start making your impressions with the stamps, which are 24"x24", and pound them down into the concrete while it is still plastic but not too wet.  See the thumbnail below, click on it to enlarge:

So far, about 1050 square feet is done, with about 2400 square feet to go.  That will complete phase 1, which is from Bianca's kennel to the front of the house including the circle.

Not much else to report, other than working very hard to keep the tax collectors happy. 

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JULY 2006

July was a great month, filled with perfect weather visitors from afar.  Becky and Randy came to visit from Iowa for a few nights.  We are hoping that they may move to the area some day so we get to see them more often.  We did a little of the tourist stuff with them, but mostly just relaxed on the property and spent quality time together. 

We also had a visit from the Memoli's.  Dominic and Ann grew up with Grace in the Bronx, and now live in Maryland.  They went on a cruise to Alaska with their 2 children, and on the way back, spent 4 nights with us before flying back home.  We also enjoyed their company and hope that they come to visit again and spend more time her next time. 

Andy also had the pleasure of going to a lunch with Newt Gingrich.  Whether you like him or not, you cannot discount that the guy is extremely smart and a great speaker.  He got to talk with him for a short while before and after the lunch, and got a picture taken with him.  When asked if he will be running for President in 2008, he basically said he has made no decision one way or the other. 

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JUNE 2006 

June brought with it a special birthday.  On June 7th, Grace was once again 31.  We celebrated in Las Vegas, along with sister Nancy & Jerry, nephew Eric and his cousin Jennifer, Sandra and Keith (from Florida) and cousins Anita and Chuck (from Texas).  We arrived on Wednesday and stayed till Sunday.  Since our flight arrived the same time as Sandra and Keith, they surprised Grace at the airport.  We then proceeded to the Paris Hotel.  While checking in, Eric and Jennifer met us in the lobby.  Grace didn't know that Anita and Chuck were coming, so they met us in the elevator lobby just prior to dinner.

Dinner was at the Eiffel Tower restaurant, atop the hotel, with a spectacular view of the strip.  The food and service were excellent, and dinner went on for 3 hours, after which time, we all went down to attempt to take some of the casino's money.  We saw 3 shows, Celine Dion, Danny Gans, and a Folly, with lots of beautiful breasts!  Andy didn't want to go to that one, but Grace forced him :)  Everyone went home with some of the Casino's money except Nancy. 

You can see some of the pictures on the Recent Photo page.

Then, like all good things, they come to an end.  Back to work, the monthly trips to California, the yard work, the housecleaning.    We are looking forward to the first week in July, cause Grace will be going to Vancouver BC to see an Il Divo concert on the 3rd, and Andy will be participating in celebrating freedom on the 4th.  Stay tuned.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

APRIL 2006 

Well, the highlight of the month was my meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney.  The VP came into town to fundraise for our Congressional candidate.  The tickets for the lunch were $250 per person for just the lunch, with the VP as the guest speaker.  Then, for $2100 per couple you can add a photo with the VP.  For a mere $10,000 per person, you could sit in the private roundtable meeting with the VP.  Well, 3 days before the event I got a phone call inviting me to be a guest (free) at the roundtable!  AWESOME!  There were just 7 of us in the room, me and 1 other VIP, plus 5 business people that paid $10K for the ticket.  The Vice President walked in and we all stood up.  He came around the table, and shook hands with each of us, one at a time.  Then the 8 of us sat down at the table in a small room with the door closed.  He said he didn't want to give a speech, but wanted us to go around the table, introduce ourselves, and tell him what is on our minds!

The conversation went on for 1 hr and 10 minutes.  Totally unrehearsed, any topic was fair game.  My focus was on immigration and the borders.  He listened very attentively to all of us and our issues.  It was an experience to be remembered.  Then we got our pictures taken with him and had lunch.

After that, anything else we did this month would be boring.  Work, a couple of plays at the theatre, and a business trip to Orange County. For Easter, nephew Eric came out to visit with us for almost a week.  We went out for dinner with our friends Helen and Jim, for a quiet evening.  Other than that, Andy is preparing the driveway to start on his summer project that was described in the March newsletter.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

MARCH 2006 

Hello again from God's county :-)  We has some interesting events this month.  Weather has been crazy.  Lots of warm sunny days, then a windstorm that blew down another tree.  Luckily this one didn't hit anything and is out of the way, so no need for immediate work cutting it up.  Spring cleanup is upon us, that means lots of picking up of all the branches and junk that blew down during the winter, piling it up.  I usually save it for Earth Day, burn it all and return it all to mommy earth, some in the form of smoke and the rest in the form of ash!

The time has come to finally get serious about doing some paving in the driveway.  We have talked about it for years, and never quite got to it.  This will be a major project.  Phase 1 will be from Bianca's kennel to the circle in front of the house.  This is about 3500 square feet and about 150' long.  While Grace preferred to hire someone, the price quoted for the type of drive we want is ridiculous.  It would be nearly $40,000 for that section, and then another $60,000 to complete it to the road (Phase 2).  Needless to say, we are not spending that kind of money on a driveway, so Andy will have a spring/summer project.  We are doing stamped concrete, which will look like slate when completed.  Here is an example: 

Just click on the thumbnail photo to enlarge it.  We will keep you posted as this project progresses.  It will be done in sections. So far, we are just starting the preparations for drainage.  We will select a color and order the pigment.  Then we may get started next month with some actual concrete pouring.  Anyone that is bored and has nothing to do is welcome to come out and help!

Grace is planning a trip to Pensacola Florida next month to visit our friend Sandra.  She is excited to see her and baby Grace, who is now 3 going on 15 and quite sassy.  Andy may have a meeting to attend in Latina Italy, about 30 miles from Rome in late May or June.  On the political front, this month precinct caucuses were held. This is where the citizens within each county gather and write resolutions that will eventually become the basis for the party platform, and also elect delegates to attend the county convention which is in April.  Also, there is a rumor that Vice President Cheney will be coming to visit next month, in which case Andy will be sure to see him again.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

FEBRUARY 2006 

Don't think that I have nothing to do since this will be the 4th consecutive month that I have managed to get a newsletter done.  I was just procrastinating about going outside to start splitting that tree that blew down during Christmas, and thought this would be a good alternative for the time being.  We are planning a trip to Sicily and southern Italy after the summer, so Grace is considering going back to school.  The local community college is offering a course in conversational Italian, so we both thought it would be good to attend.  Unfortunately it is in the daytime, so Grace will have to go to school alone, and then come home and teach Andy what she learned!

Valentines dinner was with our friends Helen and Jim, at San Ramos Mediterranean Grill.  They have excellent Greek food.  We finished the night at the movie theater where we saw Firewall with Harrison Ford.  Good movie.

The Lincoln Day Dinner went over well.  We had 207 attend, so we broke last year's record of 200.  The keynote speaker was awesome and we were successful in meeting Andy's fundraising goal for the event.  Glad it is over though.  It takes a lot of time to put together.  Next big political event will be our county convention, on April 22. 

I was just told to get off the computer, so that means it is time to stop procrastinating and get outside.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JANUARY 2006 

Andy returned from NY just after New Years and Grace stayed an extra week to catch up on sister stuff with Nancy.  Evidently there was a windstorm while we were gone, which blew over a tree on the property.  It was a 100' tall fir tree that crashed thru the goat's pen (no - they weren't in it), cut the rose garden in half crashing thru 2 sides of the cedar lattice fencing, took out half of the fig tree and half of an apple tree.  So, guess what Andy did for the next few weekends?  The tree is finally all cut up, the mess is cleaned up, but the repairs to the rose garden and the goats pen will have to wait for the spring.

Andy was offered a job on the new airplane program - the 787 Dreamliner.  It would be doing a very similar job as he has been doing, with a new wireless version of the in-flight entertainment system he has been working on that will be installed on the 787.  While it was flattering to be considered the right person to save the day, it would have been devastating to his current group for him to leave, so he came up with an alternate proposal:  Why not be the lead for both his existing group and the new group, and split his time?  Well, senior management thought it was a good idea, although Grace still has her doubts.  Eventually, both of these groups will merge together under him as one group, so it made sense.

We have also been busy preparing for the upcoming annual Lincoln Day Dinner, which will be held on February 11 this year.  Grace is in charge of the decorating committee, so she is busy shopping and making the 25 table centerpieces, etc.  This year's diner is hoped to exceed last year's record 200 attendees.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

DECEMBER 2005 

Another year over, and a new one just begun!  As we wound down the year, Andy made his last 2 trips to California for Boeing.  Work continues to be hectic, and politics is about to start picking up in anticipation of the upcoming 2006 elections.  We attended a very nice CHRISTmas Party in Seattle hosted by Thales (the company Andy works with in California).  It was at a private club in Seattle called The Ruins. 

We went to New York to celebrate the CHRISTmas Holiday with our family.  The last time we were in NY for CHRISTmas was 1992!  CHRISTmas Eve started at Rita and Sam's in New Rochelle, where we stopped by to fill up on Hors d'oeuvres.  After that, it was off to Grace's cousin Anthony and Patty's home in Carmel.  It was a traditional Italian CHRISTmas Eve meal, with all the seafood you could possibly want to eat.  Christmas Day was at Andy's sister Denise's, Once again, there was more food than any of us needed to eat, but we did it anyway. 

On the day after CHRISTmas, we went into the City to see the CHRISTmas show at Radio City.  The Rockettes are still looking as good as ever.  The finale of the show is a live Nativity.  Awesome!  We shopped around a bit, had dinner, and stopped by Rockefeller Center. 

The next day, Denise had a get together for the family to stop by and see us.  It was good to see the cousins, Aunts and Uncles.  Our new friends, Keith and Becca came up from Manhattan to join us at the party.  We met them last August on the cruise we took to the Baltic's.  They just recently moved back to New York from London, where they had been working for the past couple of years.

New Years Eve was at the Mahopac Golf Club with Nancy & Jerry, Arlene & Kevin, and Rosemarie & John.  It was nice evening, music, drink, cigars, and more food.  Then, on New Years Day, Nancy & Jerry had a small gathering at their home (about 30), which was Andy's last opportunity to see everyone before he leaves on Jan 2.

From the Valrosa's, we wish you all a very Health and Prosperous New Year. 

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

NOVEMBER 2005 

Life seems so repetitious sometimes, which is adds challenge to writing a newsletter.  If the newsletter is repetitious, it is boring.  Just think of how you start your weekly phone calls to your family.  "Hello, what's new, nothing, same old s---."

Grace is recovering well from her surgery last month.  She has returned to working part time.  She is able to do most everything, except she still has some limitations on lifting heavy things.  The weather has changed from Indian Summer (warm fall weather) to winter.  We had our first frost and about 1/2 inch of snow, which usually lasts a few hours around town.  Its been in the mid 40s during the day.  That is pretty typical for this time of year.  Its been relatively dry too. 

Andy got called for Jury Duty, which he was excited about, since he has never gotten called since moving back to Washington.  It was also a break from the office, but then he gets to work from home a couple of hours each day, or else it would be a nightmare to catch up after being out for a week. 

Thanksgiving was quiet this year.  We went out to dinner with Helen and Jim to a local restaurant.  Couldn't see making a big mess in either house just for 4 people.  Dinner was nice, we didn't have to cook or clean any dishes!  Then we went to Helen's for a movie and dessert.

Well, that's about it for now.  For those of you in NY, we hope to see you during the Christmas Holiday.  Grace and I will arrive on the 23rd.

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

SEPTEMBER 2005 

Can you believe I found the time to get the newsletter done 2 months in a row!  After last month's cruise, this month will seem quite uneventful, although, as exhausted as I am I know differently.  This was the month to pay the piper, and get done all the things that have been on the procrastination list all summer.  #1 on the list was pressure washing the outside of the house; at least the 2 sides that didn't get done 2 years ago when Andy started it.  It has been nearly 18 years that the since we built, so it was very overdue.  Andy spent 2 Saturdays pressure washing the front and remaining side of the house.  If he hadn't waited so long, it would have taken half the time, but the wood had started discoloring from the sun on the east side of the house.  Then, after a week drying in the sun, it was time to get back on the ladder and spray the clear preservative oil.  It should be good for another 5-6 years now. 

The goats are rapidly eating the jungle away, giving us that cleared park-like look in between the trees.  Momma goat has finally told Valentino that he is no longer allowed to suck on the teat, and it is now time for him to earn his keep eating the ferns, blackberry bushes and some of the other fine meals that are available on our property for them.  The only problem is once you set those wild brush mowers loose, they will eat nearly everything in reach, even the baby trees that we planted a couple of years ago.  Oh well, guess we will be replanting next spring! 

Andy has been traveling a bit extra this month, so Grace has been a wonderful wife in supporting his business travel requirements.  After a week long trip of testing in October, he plans to stay home for a while.  Our tenant also gave us notice that they will be moving back to Vegas the end of next month when their lease expires, so it will be time to find a new renter.  Any takers?

Our friend Sandra was going to come visit with us for a while from Pensacola, but then had to cancel her trip due to Hurricane Katrina, as she was going to fly out of New Orleans.  What a mess that turned out to be!  Grace is planning to go in for surgery next month to have some of those extra female parts removed.  She is scheduled to go in on Oct 21, and should be back home about the 23rd.  Andy will get to take a few days off from work and make chicken soup for her to show his appreciation for her understanding when he has to travel on business.  Someday, if Microsoft goes back to $100 per share and splits twice more, we may get to retire.  Until then, Boeing will have to continue to take care of us.

I thought I'd try some fall colors this month for a change!

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

AUGUST 2005 

Well, we're back! 

We just got back from the ultimate cruise!   We flew to Copenhagen, where we met Andy's dad, Celia, and his sister Denise and Jimmy.  Copenhagen is home of Tivoli, Europe's most famous amusement park.   It is a city of several canals and many old buildings.

                                            Tivoli Entrance                Inside Tivoli                                 Tivoli at Night            The Marble Church            Nyhavn area

After a day of touring, we boarded our ship, the Princess Star, and set sail for a 10 day cruise to the Baltics. 

After a day at sea, our first port was Stockholm Sweden, land of the Nobel Prize, where all but one Nobel prize is given.   Do you know the exception?  After a tour of the city and a shopping spree through Old Town, the highlight of this tour was visiting the 1628 warship "Vasa".  This huge ship's maiden voyage was 45 minutes, when it sunk, due to a bad decision by the King to put some 40 extra cannons on it, which caused it to capsize the first time it tried to turn.  Hundreds of years later it was found and raised intact, and the museum was built around it. 

                                                                          Gamla Palace                       Gamla Stan (Old Town) Plaza                The Vasa Ship

Next stop, Helsinki Finland.  Quite honestly, this port, or the tour we chose, was a bit disappointing.  We spent some time touring the city, and then killed a good part of our day going to visit a small town called Poorvo, which would have been ok if it wasn't an hour drive each way. 

   Poorvo                                Helsinki Cathedral

The next stop was by far the highlight of the cruise.  St. Petersburg Russia, where Icons of Imperial grandeur shine throughout the "Empress of the Baltics".  Our tour consisted of 2 days, 9.5 hours each day of constant on the go touring.  The Russian Ballet was the tour of the first evening, after dinner.  Two days in this port which was barely enough time to catch the highlights, but it was awesome none the less.  We visited numerous cathedrals and palaces, all gilded in pure gold, and spent half a day touring many of the 1,000 rooms of the Hermitage museum, which is filled with Russian history and may pieces by artists such as Van Gogh, Di Vinci, Picasso and Renoir.  No air conditioning and hundreds of steps.   This was the cruise that was hard to gain weight on, in spite of all that you can eat! 

    Peterhof Palace                  Entry Staircase at The Hermitage     Saint Isaac's Cathedral (background)          Peter and Paul Fortress
 

Now we turn sail to Tallinn Estonia.  Most of us that got less than an A+ in social studies probably don't even know where this place is on the map.    

Till next month
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

DECEMBER 2004 

Another year over, a new one just begun!  

The early part of the month kept us busy with elections.  Yes, I did say elections.  Washington State has now exceeded anything you may have thought about Florida in 2000.  As I mentioned last month, we elected Governor Din Ross by 261 votes, then once again as we had a machine recount.   Then, the Democrats asked for a hand recount, where the election was turned.   The heavily Democrat King County found new ballots 9 times after the initial count, changed the rules of what ballots can be counted, and then included them in the final hand count.  They did this after the other 38 counties got done counting to the old rules!  On top of this, they mailed out the military overseas ballots late, so many military in Iraq received their ballot after the election was over!  Of course we know that they would have be majority Republican votes.  What an outrage.  This race is not over yet, and can go on for months.  We are seeking a revote, since that is the only way we can ensure an honest count. 

We had a relatively quiet CHRISTmas this year.  We spent the eve with friends at Helen and Jim's home, and the day at home in our PJs, watching movies and opening gifts.  The weather has been moderate (40's) and fairly dry, so Andy did a few things outside, like a new front deck at the rental.   That took a day and a half. He also did the final lawn mowing of the year, mostly to pick up the leaves that had fallen.  That left time to wash the cars and sit around relaxing, and catching up on this newsletter.

My predictions for 2005 - The Dow Jones goes over 13,000, we get some good constructionist judges appointed to the courts, Antonin Scalia gets appointed as Chief Justice to replace the retiring Judge Rehnquist, Iraq has their first democratic elections and we start to reduce troops by the end of '05.

Take a look at the thank you letter I just got!  Click here

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

NOVEMBER 2004 

OK.  2 months in a row.  Seems like things are getting back to normal (not quite yet, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel).

The elections are now behind us, except if you live in Washington, where our governor's race is starting to look like Florida in 2000.  We just elected our first republican governor in 20 years, and as a bonus, he is a pizanno!  Dino Rossi.  The problem is he has been elected twice so far, and it is still not over.  He won the original count by 261 votes, and was certified.   Then, if that wasn't close enough, there was a machine recount of the entire state, which he won with 42 votes.  The only reason for the difference in the 2 counts was not the actual count, but the additional ballots the democrats found in a box somewhere, that a judge said could be counted in the recount.  Well, it ain't over yet, cause he is still the winner, so the D's are gonna ask for a 3rd count, this time by hand.   They are also going to court to get the judge to allow them to count some additional ballots they found, which were disqualified previously for various reasons.   Stand by.  This will be on National news.

Work is increasingly busier for Andy, with monthly trips to California becoming weekly trips.  Better California than Abu Dhabi! Grace is still going in a couple of days a week, making sure everyone pays their hospital bills

The rental is rented, so we are out of the renovation mode and back to the maintenance mode.  We found a nice retired couple that just relocated from Vegas.  He is originally from Brooklyn.  Small world.  

In addition to the re-election of GWB, Thanksgiving was the highlight of the month.  As most of you know, cause you may have been with us, we went on a cruise of the Caribbean on Princess Line, along with 89 other family members and friends!  We missed not having some of the cousins from Italy, but Uncle Carl, Aunt Ana, Peter and Carolina made it from Costa Rica, along with many others scattered across the country.  It was absolutely awesome!  For me, it was a challenge to remember the names of many cousins that I had hardly seen as they were growing up.  As a special surprise to all of us, cousin Anita and Chuck announced that they were gonna get married, and as long as there were 91 of us together on the ship, may as well do it that week!  So, on Thanksgiving afternoon, we had a wedding!  We wish Anita and Chuck all the best that life has to offer.

As not to duplicate a bunch of photos, cousin Roy has many pictures on the web at http://www.frk-sites.com/cruise2004/ .  I have placed our group photo, with all of us wearing our "La Famiglia Benedetto" tee shirts on the "Recent Photos" page of this site.  When I have time, I will add the names of all those in the photo.

Well, time to go back to work. We hope all had a great Thanksgiving.  I know 91 of us that did!

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

OCTOBER 2004 

We're back!  Finding something to do has NOT been a problem this year.  I can't remember when we have ever been so busy.   Not even when we were building the house, cause at least then we were focused on 1 thing. 

We have three things going on right now that has just been totally consuming all of our time.  First, there is always work (thank God).  Business is picking up for Boeing, and Andy's group is swamped.   He just hired 2 additional engineers, and is looking for at least one more.   He got a large program with Etihad Airlines.  They are a new airlines in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.  They wanted to have the kickoff meeting there in Abu Dhabi, but Andy was successful in convincing upper management that it would be better if we didn't go there at the present time.

Second major event is the upcoming elections.  Andy signed a lease for a 1000 square foot office in town, to use as the GOP headquarters.  The county GOP party has never had the resources for an office in the past, but we have had a good 2 years of fundraising since Andy has taken over as Chairman.  This office will be a great asset to help the Party get Republicans elected.  We are looking forward to 4 More Years of President Bush, we have a great chance of having our first Republican Governor in 20 years (Dino Rossi), and we must maintain our existing seats that we hold in the legislature.  This has been a 30-40 hour per week task for Andy, plus additional help from Grace.

The third item that caught us at the worse possible time is our tenant notifying us that he was moving out on Sept 30.  There is quite a bit to do at our rental home, and now that there is no rent coming in to pay the mortgage, there is alot of motivation to get it done now.  Highlights on the renovation include removing all the carpet from the living room, dining room and hall, and replace it with Pergo flooring, painting the outside and inside, remodel the kitchen and the master bath.

Well, time to go back to work.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

JULY 2004 

Well, have you been busy the past few months?  We have.   That's why we're a few months behind on the newsletter.   Here's a summary of what you missed:

Cotone has passed on to bunny heaven.   She was 5 1/2 yrs old, which is typical life span for a rabbit her size.  She is now resting beside Bianca.

Andy pulled our boat out of the water one weekend for a bit of maintenance in July.  It was time for a new coat of anti-fouling bottom paint.  Its now time to go fishing.  Our tenant will be moving out of our rental property in a few months, so now is the time to start sprucing it up.  It needs to be painted on the outside, which Andy will do before the tenant leaves.   After he moves out, we will need to replace the carpets, put a new floor in the kitchen/laundry, replace the kitchen counters and maybe put up ceramic tile in the kitchen. 

We are looking forward to our nephew Eric's visit.  He will be with us for a week around Labor Day.  We still have a few openings, but they are filling up fast, so anyone else that wants to come out needs to secure their spot soon! 

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy and Romeo

APRIL 2004 

Aloha!!

Nothing is better than a couple of weeks in Hawaii at the end of the winter.  The last week in March, we flew to Oahu (Waikiki Beach) for 8 days.  We brought nephew Eric, for his graduation gift, as he will be graduating from college next month.  Although Oahu is not our prefered island to visit, if you have never been, you must go to see Pearl Harbor and some of the other sites.  I would recommend 4 days as enough.  We stayed at the Waikiki Banyon in a condo unit, a block away from the beach.  At the end of the week, our friends Roberta and Barry came with thier family, so we got to celebrate Roberta's birthday over dinner with them.  We also got to visit our friend Dee, who used to live here with us and moved back to Hawaii a few years ago.

After leaving Oahu, we flew to the Big Island of Hawaii.  The Big Island is one of our favorite spots.  We had a wonderful 2 bedroom condo in Kona, at the Kona Hawaiian Village.  Kona is the dry side of the island, where the coffee and macadamia nut plantations are.  After showing Eric some of the sights of the island, we just laid back and relaxed.  We had Easter dinner with Andy's friend Regan and her family, who arrived the night before Easter sunday.  Then, we had to come home to reality.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

FEBRUARY 2004 

Saint Valentines Day.  One of the Holidays that the ACLU and the activist judges haven't taken away from us yet.  A special day to spend with your special loved one.  For us, it was a weekend at Simiahmoo, a lovely resort that sits on the shores of just south of the British Columbia border.  A place to pamper yourself, with a massage, facial, or whatever blows your skirt up.  Trying to keep up at work.  With 45,000 people laid off since 9-11, although we don't have a huge amount of work, we have a very small workforce remaining, so, we stay busy. 

We held our annual Lincoln Day Dinner, which is traditionally done throughout the US, in honor of America's first Republican President.  This year, we exceeded last year's record 142 attendees with 180!   Our keynote speaker, Jack Stevens did a wonderful job telling us what it was like being inside the Reagan administration.  Andy also gave a most excellent speech on our runaway judicial system.  It can be viewed by clicking here .  The theme for this year's dinner was Honoring our Military.  Several ceremonies were performed, including the "Missing Man Table" (click here to view).

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

JANUARY 2004 

There were 2 highlights this month; Andy celebrated his 31st birthday once again, and we both celebrated our 17th Anniversary!   We planned to go away to a local resort for our anniversary, but they were doing a little construction, so we decided to put it off till February.  Andy's birthday (the Washington version) was quiet, due to his recovery from the California party.  He was on a business trip that week, and the day before his BD, his colleagues in Southern Cal took him out.  Since he was 31 again, he was the oldest, as they were all 29 and under.  Sushi, Sake and Beer were served for dinner, then it was off to Sing Sing, a local club that has 2 pianos, and guess who gets to sing?  Andy was a good sport and gave everyone an opportunity to laugh and have fun.  A couple of shots of tequila and a few more beers helped. He flew home on his BD, and spent a quiet evening having dinner with Grace at one of our favorate resturants. 

For our anniversary, we went to the Chuckanut Manor for brunch.  It is a quaint, older style place, that sits on a cliff, overlooking the sound and the San Juan Islands.  Then we went shopping for a few updates for the house; livingroom lamps and light fixtures for the sunroom.  Seems like as the years go by, the celebrations get quieter.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

DECEMBER 2003 

Did you all have a Happy Holiday? Beginning in November, Americans engage in a frenzy of Holiday shopping that reaches a crescendo as Holiday Day approaches, when Holiday presents are exchanged. Homes are decorated with Holiday lights. Did you get all of your Holiday Shopping done? Did you put up a Holiday Tree this year? Did you attend your office’s Holiday Party?

Maybe you went Holiday Caroling, where you stop by the neighbors’ homes and sing "The 12 Days of Holiday" and "We Wish You a Merry Holiday" and other popular Holiday songs such as "Rockin' Around the Holiday Tree," "I'll Be Home for Holiday" and "All I Want for Holiday is My Two Front Teeth."

This year we decided to have a quiet Holiday Christmas.  On Holiday Christmas Eve, we had dinner at Helen and Jim's house.  Andy made a deep fried turkey and brought it.  If you ever make one, no more than 3 minutes per pound, or the wings will be overdone.  Holiday Christmas Day we spent in our PJs opening gifts and relaxing. 

Andy was off from work for nearly 2 weeks, but didn't get to do much of what he wanted.  We had our 5 year cold spell; it was in the 20s for about a week, so scratch any outdoor yardwork.

In case you are still trying to figure out the Holiday strikethroughs, it is my way of expressing how fed up I am with political correctness.  I have had it with the Red Diper Doper Babies at the ACLU and their leftist agenda to remove Christ from this country.  I refuse to say "Happy Holiday".   The name of the Holiday is Christmas, don't tell me to change that.  You don't have to celebrate it if you so choose.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

NOVEMBER 2003

November was a busy month, even though we didn't go anywhere.  Grace was faced with squeezing in the last of the Christmas shopping, in between covering other people's desks at work.  That means she ended up working on weekends.  We also had to say good bye to our friends Sandra & Jim, who was discharged from the Navy and returned back to Pensacola Florida.  We will miss them dearly, but look forward to us visiting each other. 

Thanksgiving dinner was quiet.  We went out for dinner with Jim & Helen, and a friend Gay, who was up visiting from San Diego.  Andy did not travel at all this month, but he has been working a good amount of overtime, to help out with some overcommittments that were made by the company.   Looks like he may have to work during the Christmas Holiday a little also.  He had a very busy month, between having to replace the pump in the septic tank, and finishing up some woodworking projects.  With the new sofa we bought this summer, our old end table did not fit, as the sofa was a little longer than the old one.  Not a problem for Gippetto - who made 2 new end tables to match the wall unit in the room.

Stay in touch, and we'll see you soon.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

OCTOBER 2003

Can you believe how fast the days pass!   I was just thinking it was almost time to write the November newsletter, when I noticed I never finished the October newsletter.  Grace had some a minor surgical procedure done (woman's stuff).  She recovered just fine.  Now we have to wait and see if they fixed the problem.  Andy had to go to Velencia California (North of LA) on business, during the California fires.  He was on evacuation alert at the hotel, as it was less than a mile from the Stevenson Ranch fire.  In fact, about 3 hours after he left to drive down to Orange County, they closed the interstate for 2 days, cause the fire came right up to it.  It was very bad, smoke and ash everywhere.

Work is hectic at Boeing.  Andy has worked weekends and 12 hour days, to help out on a high priority project that is on a critical timeline.  We managed to squeeze in a trip to the theater in Seattle, where we saw "The Flower Drum Song".  It was a story about a Chinese immigrant's struggle after arriving in San Francisco, with a love story added to it.

Well see you soon.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

SEPTEMBER 2003

Can you believe that summer is nearly over?   Did you complete everything that you had planned for this year?  I'm not sure if we did or not. 

Andy had one more major item on the "Honey Do" list for the summer.  Over the years, the seals in the thermopane windows in the roof of our sunroom had started leaking, causing moisture to accumulate in between the 2 panes of glass.  So, its off with the old, and on with the new!  Our friend Mike and one of Andy's friends from work came over on saturday to help.  We removed the 10 old glass thermopanes, and then Andy pressure washed the cedar and the roof beams inside the sunroom.  The next day he started working on putting the new glazing in.  This time, he decided to use triple wall polycarbonate instead of thermopane glass.  It is much lighter and easier to install, should last twice as long as glass, and has 50% more insulating value than double pane glass.   After he finishes this project, he plans to take a well deserved break.

Andy had a meeting one weekend in Walla Walla, which is about 6.5 hour drive from home, in the south eastern part of the state.   Grace went with him to relax in the sun.  Eastern Washington get very hot in the summer, and it was still in the mid 80's in September.  There's not allot to do there, but there are many farms and wineries.  Andy caught a cold there,  and being the sharing husband that he is, he shared it with Grace when they got home.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

AUGUST 2003

Well, I guess you can tell by my missing the July Newsletter how busy life is.  Just think of what our founder's daily lives were like.  Imagine if on top of all the stuff that you have to do that keeps you busy, you had to milk the cow, hunt something for dinner and go take care of the garden.   Oh, need something from the store.  No problem, just jump on the horse and take a quick 30 minute ride!

We had a great summer in the northwest.   The weather was as good as it could ever be.  We had nearly 80 consecutive days of 70 - 80 degrees.  The last measurable rain was in May!  Welcome to paradise.  We had a great visit by Grace's sister Nancy and Jerry.  They came out from New York and stayed with us for about 10 days.  Then, they drove up to Vancouver BC (about 2 hours) and took a cruise to Alaska.  When they got back from the cruise, they came and stayed with us for another 5 days.  As I have stated before, we love to have company, so keep that in mind.

Our poor boat has been ignored for months!   Andy finally managed to squeeze in a couple of fishing trips.  Caught a 12 lb. salmon.  That gets the price of salmon down to around $600 per pound (Price of the boat, divided by the pounds of salmon caught since you bought the boat).  The biggest issue with being able to fish out here is that the seasons are very short, and they close them whenever they decide (unless you are a native American)  Native American - definition - not you and me.  They get to fish whenever they want, because we screwed them out of Manhattan island for $24.  Someday, we may all be considered equal, all Americans.

Now that our home is getting old (ha), its time to start remodeling.  This month, the living room got a make over.  Out with the old, and in with the new.  We changed the carpet to a sea foam green, and bought a new sofa, which is dark green leather.  Since the new sofa is a little higher and a little longer than the old one, the sofa table and end table no longer fit, so, guess what Andy's winter project will be this year?  Yes, he will build a couple of new end tables to match the entertainment center.

Will the Terminator become the Governator in California?  Stay tuned. . .

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

JUNE 2003

Early in the month, we went to the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, where we have season tickets, to see 42nd Street. What a wonderful play. We usually go down for a play about 5-6 times a year. Andy also finished putting in the Bamboo hardwood floor in the den. Thank goodness!

Andy had another business trip to Orange County CA, and this time he convinced Grace that she should go with him.  So, off we went for 8 days.  Grace had another birthday while we were down there!  Since Andy is 31 again, and Grace is a year younger, she must be 30 again??  We stayed in Santa Ana, but were able to get away on the weekend.  On Thursday evening, we were invited to a private reception with world famous artist "Wyland" in his studio in Laguna Beach. We got to meet with Wyland, take pictures (go to "Recent Photos"), and we bought another one of his sculptures. It will be 3-6 months before it arrives. On Saturday, we drove to San Diego, which is about an hour away.  Our friends Gay and Terry gave us a tour of the town.  We had a great day, considering the weather sucked.  "June Gloom" is what he locals call it.  I can't believe we left SUNNY Washington to go to southern California, where the sun never came out in 8 days!  On Sunday, we went up to visit Andy's cousin Maria (Ludovico) in West L.A.  We went out for dinner with her and her son Damian.  During the week, while Andy was at work, Grace worked on shopping at the local malls, and worked on her body with a manicure, pedicure and a full body massage.  Who had it better??

We are looking forward to Grace's sister and husband, Nancy and Jerry, coming to visit next month.  They will be with us for about a week and a half, prior to departing for a cruise to Alaska, and then again a week later when they return from the cruise.  The cruise leaves from Vancouver, which is about 1.5 - 2 hours from our home.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

MAY 2003

Where does the time go??  It seems like the weeks get shorter and shorter every year, and there's less time to do all the stuff you had planned.  May was a great month.  We met Andy's sister/brother-in-law and his father/wife in Vegas.  We gave his father and Celia the trip for their 40th anniversary.  It was great.  The weather was perfect, not too hot.  The shows were good, and the craps table was generous.  We saw Danny Gant, Sigfried and Roy, and "O".  As an extra treat, Andy's cousin Lorainne and John happened to be in Vegas at the same time, and also our friend Joan, so we all managed to get together.  You can see some photos we took by clicking on "Recent Photos".  They never stop building there.  If you haven't been to Vegas for a few years, its time for another trip.

The layoffs continue at Boeing.  The company has laid off 35,000+ people so far.  The say it is almost over.  I believe now that the Clinton recession is over and the economy is starting to grow, its just a matter of time till it turns around.  What we need is for people to start flying again.  Andy continues to make his monthly trips to Orange County CA.   The plan is to take Grace with him when he goes down in June. 

At the home front - Grace decided it was time to change the look in our home, so, out with the old and in with the new.  The carpet in the office is history.  Andy is putting down hardwood.  We picked Bamboo.  Hopefully, he will be done with it soon, so we can get the house back in order again. 

Andy got invited on a private tour of the USS Abraham Lincoln.  You recall that is the aircraft carrier that recently returned from the war that President Bush landed on.  Andy got to sit in the Admiral's seat up in the bridge.  There are also some photos on the "Recent Photos" page.  

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

MARCH 2003

  This, my friends, is a SINCERE man praying.

Isn't it great that we live in a free country where I can write whatever I wish, and put it on the internet, where the whole free world can see it?  YOU BET IT IS! 

The two highpoints of the month, were the birth of Baby Gracie, and the second rally that Andy organized.  Baby Gracie (see photo at Friends Photos) was born and being adopted by our friends Sandra and Jim and their daughter Amanda.  They've waited a long time for the right situation to present itself for them to be able to have another child.  Guess who the Godparents are?  Aren't we lucky.  Grace has not done anything to spoil this baby.  She would never.

Andy once again made his monthly trip to Orange County CA.  It is becoming so much part of the routine, that it is difficult to say much about it.  You fly down, you go to meetings, you fly home. 

As our troops enter Iraq to rid the world of the Butcher of Baghdad, it is important that we show support for them.   Andy organized another "Support the Troops" rally, that drew over 1,200 marchers.   It was awesome.  Andy gave a brief speech that was repeatedly interupted with cheers and applause.  Click on "Recent Photos" to see a couple of pictures from the rally.

Don't forget to pray for our troops and America's leaders.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

FEBRUARY 2003

Did you miss us??  It is obvious that we've been pretty busy, and that's why we missed a couple of months.  The amazing thing is, with all that has been going on, it still takes effort to think of what to write.

In January, we celebrated another anniversary - 16 wonderful, glorious years!  We spent the weekend in Seattle, and stayed a night at the Salish Lodge at Snoqualomie Falls.  Andy also had another birthday, he was 31 again.  Andy also made one of his monthly Business trips to Orange County CA.   He's still waiting for Grace to come down with him on one of these trips.   Maybe next time.

In mid February, Andy organized a "Pro America/Support the Troops" rally, together with the leaders of several other counties around us.  About 600 people turned out, which may not sound like much to those of you in The Bronx, but that was probably the biggest demonstration that our little town has ever seen.  The press was good to us, and gave us coverage on 4 TV stations as well as interviews in all the papers from Seattle to the Canadian border.  Things continue to decline at Boeing.  Two engineers in Andy's group were laid off this month.  In fact, just this week we found out that another 4-5 engineers are targeted for the next round.  His group has plenty of work to do, but the bean counters are only interested in the bottom line.  This results in less people expected to do the same job as before the cuts.

We had a very mild winter on Whidbey Island, unlike what our families in New York experienced.  Typical daytime temperatures were 45-50 degrees, and probably half the rain that we would normally see.  Spring is now upon us, the daffodils are in bloom, the trees are in blossom, and the April showers are early. 

Don't forget to pray for our troops and America's leaders.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

DECEMBER 2002

Can you believe it? Another year gone. Seems like every year gets shorter than the last one. Our friend Sandra's Aunt Thelma and Uncle were up visiting from San Francisco this month, so we had them all over for Linguini with clam sauce. That is one of Sandra & Jim's favorite. The recipe can be found on our "Family Recipe" page. On December 7th, Andy was elected Chairman of the Island County Republican Party. This will definitely keep him busy, as it is alot of responsibility and work if you want to do a good job, but he loves it, cause he loves America, and if you want to make a difference, you got to get involved.

The Christmas decorations went up, both outside and inside. Lighted candy canes line the driveway, a near life size Santa, sleigh and reindeers on the lawn as you reach the house. Lights on the shrubs to the front door. We cut down a beautiful 9 feet tall Douglas fir for our entertainment room and put out the nativity that Grace made. Christmas eve dinner was at our home, with Helen & Jim, Sandra, Jim and Amanda, Donna, Fred, Michael and Crystal. Home made manicotti with home made ricotta, eggplant parmigiano and cannoli for dessert.  All of these recipes can be found on our "Family Recipe" page.  Christmas at the Valrosa's was quiet. We just sat around, opened gifts, watched movies, and ate leftover manicotti! 

Now that the party's over, its back to work.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

OCTOBER 2002

In mid September, we made a trip to New York.   It was great to see some of the Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.  After a couple of days of visiting on Long Island and in the Bronx, we departed from lower Manhattan onboard the Princess for a north Atlantic cruise, along with Andy's father, Celia, Denise and Jimmy.  First stop, Halifax Nova Scotia, then St. Johns New Brunswick, Bar Harbor Maine, Boston, Newport Rhode Island and then back to New York.  With the exception of the first day at sea, the weather was great, and for those of you that have cruised, you know the food was excellent and plentiful.  Andy returned home a few days later, and Grace stayed an extra week with her sister.  Then, Andy made another of his monthly trips to Orange County, CA. 

We've been having a great Indian Summer, with daily sun and temps around 60.  Our area has had the driest October in 70 years, and the driest July, August, September and October 4 month period in 100 years!  Loving it.

Gearing up for elections, October was filled with work that needed to be done.  Operation Grassfire, a grassroots coalition that Andy is one of the leaders on, put together a fundraising dinner for our Congressional Candidate, Norma Smith.  Phone calling, stuffing envelopes and attending town hall meetings to ask the candidates tough questions.  That is what it is all about.   Want to get good people elected, get out there and work on it.  Political correctness and liberalism's attack on Liberty is destroying our Nation and our Freedom.   Don't let it happen.  Fight back.  The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Don't forget . . .  Election day is Tuesday, November 5th for Republicans.  Democrats vote on Wednesday, November 6th.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

SEPTEMBER 2002

AUGUST 2002

Well, have you forgotten?  Shame on you if you have.  Do you think Iraq had nothing to do with 911?  Are you one that thinks we should not take out Saddam Hussein?  I HOPE NOT.  Because you may be DEAD wrong.  In case you haven't figured it out yet, they want to Kill you.   That's right, they want you DEAD.  Make no mistake about it.  These radical extremist are like a malignant tumor.  It does no good to remove just a little bit of it.

Don't forget to go to our shopping mall at www.shopN2000.com/94556   Click on the 5 banner adds all the way on the right side under the word "Showcase".  The advertisers pay me every time you click on them.  If you want to pay less income tax, click on the one for NADN.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

JULY 2002

Well, the highlight of the month was Denise and Jimmy's visit.  We picked them up at the airport on Saturday morning, and drove straight to Leavenworth.  The cabin was wonderful, sitting high on the river bank, with a hot tub on the deck overlooking it.  Donna, Fred and Crystal joined us for the weekend.  We had a great time, sharing the weekend with friends and family.  As soon as Denise sends me a few of her favorite photos from the trip, I will put them up on the site.  And YES, the gazebo is finally done.  Click here to see it at our "Home Photos".  Since Andy screwed up his knee, our friend Mike (Vera's husband), came over and finished the last bit of roofing.  We got to break it in while Denise and Jimmy were here.  We hosted a BBQ and invited all the Republican Candidates and some local activists and friends.  It was a great day.   Andy gave a moving speech, which can be viewed on "Andy's Politcal Page".  All the food was wonderful, thanks to all that helped (Sandra, Denise, Grace).

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

JUNE 2002

Summer is here!  Are you having fun yet??  Andy made his monthly trip to Southern California.  Anyone who thinks business travel is exciting needs to try it for a while.  It gets old and is generally a pain in the butt.  The Gazebo project continues.  The "kitchen" cabinet and counter are done.  Andy made a 5 foot long cabinet out of Cedar.  The counter top is installed and the sink and hot water heater are done.  All that is left is to hook up the water supply.  Maybe next month, as soon as he finds someone to dig the trench, 40 feet to the hookup point.  Any takers??

Romeo is turning into quite the challenge.   Either he is not a smart as Bianca was, or we don't remember how long it takes to break them and teach them.  He still does an occasional wee on the floor, but he has stopped crying at night.  Soon we will start some obedience training. 

Denise and Jimmy will be out in July.   We are looking forward to their visit.  We plan to go to Leavenworth WA the first weekend when they arrive.  It is a small Bavarian Village nestled in a mountain valley, resembling Switzerland.  You can see a slide show on Leavenworth at www.leavenworthetc.com/PORTAL.HTM   .  Check it out!  We rented a beautiful cabin on the Wenachee River (you can see it at www.natapoc.com ).

Andy attended the Washington State Republican State Convention, where he is an Ex-Official Delegate.  He was asked to speak to the delegation of 1,000 from the podium, to present the Party Platform, which he took a part in writing.  The entire convention was broadcast on TV, so we recorded it.

Till next month -
Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

MAY 2002

Well, May has come and gone.  Didn't get half of what we wanted done.  The Gazebo is nearly finished.  Still remaining is to put the shingles on the roof, and install the counter and sink.  Andy made 2 cedar tables, one seats 8 and the other seats 6.  He started to make the chairs, but then decided that it would take the rest of the summer to finish, so we ended up buying 14 chairs.

Eric came out to visit, from D.C.  We always enjoy when he comes.  The first weekend he was here, we went to the wedding of our friend Anna (see her picture on the Friends Photo page).   AND - we got a new puppy!   His name is Romeo.  A toy poodle.  Standby for more.

Love,
Grace, Andy, Romeo and Cotone

APRIL 2002

March just flew by.  Got the taxes done (hurray!!).   Still working on the gazebo.  Got the floor and roof framed.  Need to do the roof shingles, decking and railing.  Look for a photo later this summer.

April is the month for the Republican County Convention, which Andy was a delegate for.  It is an all day event, held every 2 years, where the party platform takes roots.  In June, it is off to the State Convention, which Andy is an Ex-Officio Delegate, because of his position as State Committeeman.  He really enjoys getting on the convention floor and debating the issues.

Most definitely the highlight of April was our trip to Reno.  Andy received an invitation to attend a private reception with Charlton Heston.  Needless to say, we immediately made reservations.  Reno is only a 1 1/2 hour flight from Seattle.  We left on Thursday, 4/25.  On Friday, we attended the Opening Ceremony of the 131st Annual Meeting of the NRA.  The theme was American Heroes.  In attendance were several New York City police, EMT and Firefighters that were there at ground zero on 9-11.  Entertainment included the country group The Oak Ridge Boys.  Following them was Lee Greenwood.  A very emotional event.  Later Friday evening, we attended a VIP reception and Dinner.   We got to meet Charlton Heston for a short while, but since we were attending a private reception with him on Saturday, we didn't bother to take pictures.  Heston appeared to have aged allot, was quite thin and appeared to not have much strength.   He is now 78 years old.  When we returned to the hotel that evening, we ran into Lee Greenwood in the casino, who was also staying at the Atlantis. 

Saturday afternoon, after the members meeting, we attended the private reception.  We were very disappointed to find out that Heston was ordered home by his doctors.  Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President, spoke to us and said that Heston was truly sad that he wasn't up to it.  We were promised another invitation in the future to a reception that will be held in our area, after Heston feels better.  Later that evening, we attended a Ball, where Senator Zell Miller (Georgia) was the keynote speaker.

All in all, we had a very nice trip.  We hope Mr. Heston a quick recovery and many more years to come.

Until next month -

Love,
Grace, Andy, and Cotone

MARCH 2002

Well, as you can see, its been another one of those busy months.  You can tell because I didn't get to do a February Newsletter, and the March Newsletter is late.  The hard part is remembering what happened 1 month ago.   Sometimes I can't remember what I did yesterday.

As Boeing continues to lay off people, work continues to be busier for Andy.  He makes a trip to Orange County California every 3-4 weeks.   Probably in May he may need to go down for a week or two to do some testing on a new system.  We had the craziest weather in March.  Just as all the Tulips and Daffodils sprang out of the ground, we had a week of cold weather with snow!  Very unusual for here.  Andy was surprised with a visit from his childhood friend Bobby Bono, who grew up together with him on the same block.  He was on business in Seattle, so we had him up to the house overnight.  It is good to keep those old relationships going.

Grace made a trip to New York the end of the month.    She spent some time with her sister, and then they made a trip to D.C., to spend Easter with our Nephew Eric and Grace's friends Ann and Dominic.  Eric continues to attend school at American University, and spends most of his free time staring in amateur theater.  While Grace was gone, Andy made a quick 2 day trip to Southern California for business.  What a pain in the ass the airports have gotten to be.  Takes all the fun out of flying.

Well, its time to get back to building the gazebo (and doing taxes).  Till next month

Love,
Grace, Andy, and Cotone

JANUARY 2002

Well, we had a few major events this month.  First, Andy celebrated his 31st Birthday again, on January 22nd.  We also celebrated 15 wonderful, glorious years married, on the 25th.  We went to the Big Island of Hawaii, on the Kona Coast.  Its about a 5 hour flight to Oahu, and then a 30 minute hop to the Big Island.  It was just wonderful.  We love the Big Island.  We stayed at the Kona Coast Resort, in a 2 Bedroom Condo.  It is just gorgeous.  We didn't do too much, just relaxed.  Since this is our third trip to that island, the only touring we did was to one of the coffee plantations.  We visited Andy's favorite art gallery, Wyland Gallery, where Grace thinks he may have bought something that he is not telling her about.  We'll see in a couple of months.  Don't tell her when you talk to her, or you'll ruin the surprise!

Well, I'll keep it short this month.  Talk to you soon.

Love,
Grace, Andy, and Cotone

Bianca  4/27/89 - 12/09/01

DECEMBER 2001

As we entered the month of December, we were struck with a yet another very sad event.  Our Bianca, stricken with cancer,  went to doggie heaven.  We miss her so much, as she was family.  Although we will never forget the countless great times and all the happiness she gave us, the sadness of her loss is still hiding all the good times.  She was laid to rest beside the Elena & Carmine Memorial  Rose Garden, on the west side of our property.  Pictured above is Bianca and Cotone under the Christmas tree last year.

We went to Seattle the first weekend of December, to participate in our annual Holiday events; a play at the 5th Avenue Theater, a visit to Westlake (Central point in Seattle that gets decorated for the holiday), and the next day at the mall.  Andy went to Southern California on a business trip for 2 days.   With the new assignment he is working, he will be going down every month.   Another trip is planned for mid January, with dinner at cousin Maria Ludivico's home.  She lives just north of LA. 

We plan to have a relatively quiet Christmas.    Christmas eve will be at our friends' Helen & Jim.  They just moved into a lovely new home just south of town, with a lovely view of Oak Harbor.   Christmas Day will be at The Powers' (Sandra, Jim and Amanda).  Then, on Thursday after Christmas, we will be celebrating with our dear friends Yvonne and Gene, who live up near Bellingham.

Andy is off from work till after the New Year, but unfortunately, he won't be able to catch up on Salmon fishing, as the season is closed.   Hopefully, he'll get a chance to go out on the boat and do a little crabbing.   There are also a few small woodworking projects to finish up on.

We wish all of you a Blessed Christmas, a Happy Chanukah, and a healthy and prosperous New Year.  Dow 12,000 - here we come!  I want to leave you with a few thoughts below:

~~~25 ways we're different this Christmas~~~

1. Last Christmas we were thinking about all the things we didn't have; this Christmas we are thinking about all the things we do have.

2. Last Christmas we were placing wreaths on the doors of our homes; this Christmas we are placing wreaths on the graves of our heroes.

3. Last Christmas we were letting our Sons play with toy guns; this Christmas we are teaching them that guns are not toys.

4. Last Christmas we were counting our money; this Christmas we are counting our blessings.

5. Last Christmas we paid lip service to the real meaning of the holidays; this Christmas we are paying homage to it.

6. Last Christmas we were lighting candles to decorate; this Christmas we are lighting candles to commemorate.

7. Last Christmas we were digging deep into our bank accounts to find money to fly home for the holidays; this Christmas we are digging deep into our souls to find courage to do so.

8. Last Christmas we were trying not to let annoying relatives get the best of us; this Christmas we are trying to give the best of ourselves to them.

9. Last Christmas we thought it was enough to celebrate the holidays; this Christmas we know we must also find ways to consecrate them.

10. Last Christmas we thought a man who could rush down a football field was a hero; this Christmas we know a man who rushes into a burning building is the real one.

11. Last Christmas we were thinking about the madness of the holidays; this Christmas we are thinking about the meaning of them.

12. Last Christmas we were getting on one another's nerves; this Christmas we are getting on our knees.

13. Last Christmas we were giving thanks for gifts from stores; this Christmas we are giving thanks for gifts from God.

14. Last Christmas we were wondering how to give our children all the things that money can buy- the hottest toys the latest fashions, the newest gadgets; this Christmas we are wondering how to give them all the things it can't-a sense of security, safety, peace.

15. Last Christmas we were thinking about all the pressure we are under at the office; this Christmas we are thinking about the people that no longer have an office to go to.

16. Last Christmas we were singing carols; this Christmas we are singing anthems.

17. Last Christmas we were thinking how good it would feel to be affluent; this Christmas we are thinking how good it feels to be alive.

18. Last Christmas we thought angels were in heaven; this Christmas we know some are right here on earth.

19. Last Christmas we were contemplating all the changes we wanted to make in the New Year; this Christmas we are contemplating all the changes we will have to make in this new reality.

20. Last Christmas we believed in the power of the pocketbook; this Christmas we believe in the power of prayer.

21. Last Christmas we were sharing /spreading/listening to gossip; this Christmas we are sharing/spreading/listening to the gospel.

22. Last Christmas we were complaining about how much of our earnings went to pay taxes; this Christmas we comprehend that freedom isn't free.

23. Last Christmas we valued things that were costly; this Christmas we value things that are Holy.

24. Last Christmas the people we idolized wore football, basketball, and baseball uniforms; this Christmas the people we idolize wear police, firefighter, and military uniforms.

25. Last Christmas "peace on earth" is something we prayed for on Sunday mornings; now it is something we pray for every day.

There is one thing we must always keep in mind, "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE".   The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance . . . Thomas Jefferson

Love,
Grace, Andy, and Cotone

NOVEMBER 2001

Can you believe that Christmas is almost here??   Where has the year gone?  Fall is upon us.  The rainy season has started, the days have gotten shorter. 

Andy has been busy at work (so what else is new).   He will be going to Orange County California monthly now, at least till the end of the spring.  Grace has also been catching up at the office.  Andy bought a new truck, a Chevy Silverado.  Bianca is recovering from what we think was a severe bout of depression.  A few weeks ago, she seems to have lost her hearing.  As a result, she became very depressed, probably scared and confused, not understanding what was going on.  She seems to be recovering now, although her hearing is definitely impaired.

Thanksgiving was quite at the Valrosa home.  In fact, we weren't home.  We did it easy this year, and went out for dinner with Jim & Helen Bremner, and Tara (a friend from Seattle).  We had a lovely dinner at Charlie's Restaurant, near the water in Anacortes.  Afterwards, we went to the movie and saw Spy Game.  No mess, No dishes, No pot and pans. 

Pray for America, our President and leaders, our military.

Love Grace, Andy Bianca and Cotone

"WE WILL NOT TIRE"
"WE WILL NOT FALTER"
"WE WILL NOT FAIL"
George W. Bush

God Bless and Protect us all

 
Lord, give us the strength to stop our tears

    IF YOU LOVE AMERICA  -  VOTE REPUBLICAN ON NOVEMBER 7th