Thanksgiving/Christmas 2012 & New Years 2013 Holiday Visit to the USA

[terry57]

Great quality family thread.

Great stuff cheers

[SEA Traveler]

Thanks Terry and CM for the complements.

More of photos from the US Holiday visit to be posted.

[SEA Traveler]

Just prior to Christmas, the whole SEA Traveler clan the included siblings, their spouses & children, some Out-Laws, and a few friends gathered at my younger sister’s house for our annual pre-Christmas get together. Here are a few photos from that event:

Mr & Mrs SEA Traveler with the obligatory photo in front of the Christmas Tree.









SEA Traveler with younger siblings with obligatory photo in front of the Christmas Tree.









Present opening time. Daughter and Grandson opening up a present with nephew and SIL in the background. The Grandson’s present is actually the annual collectors HESS Christmas vehicle that they put out. This year it was a cargo helo with a HESS Fuel Truck that fits into the Cargo Storage area. A bargain for $19.95 or what ever it is they charge. This is the second year that the Grandson has received a collectors item.











Here’s the Grandson doing Psy’s Gangnam Style dance to the U-Tube video.







And Mrs SEA Traveler getting a laugh out of the Grandson’s dancing.









SEA Traveler with nephew, nephew, brother, and SEA Traveler’s Son.

[SEA Traveler]

Mrs SEA Traveler with nephew, niece, and niece.









SEA Traveler with 10 year younger brother.








Younger sister with Greek spouse of my brother and her mother who immigrated from Greece years ago.








SEA Traveler’s Daughter and Grandson.









Mrs SEA TRAVELER saying goodbyes with GF of younger brother and younger brother and sister in the background.









Good night all and what a pleasant day with the family.

[Loy Toy]

A very happy family along with an even happier Mr. & Mrs SEA Traveler.

Thanks for the pics mate and when are you coming back? My arms almost ready for a game of golf.

[SEA Traveler]

So here we are finally at Christmas day. Again we were at the daughter’s place as she wants her Son, Mr & Mrs SEA Traveler’s Grandson, to experience the Christmas thing at their house. That means we get to sleep in on Christmas and head on down to her place late Christmas morning.
Daughter kept the event as an immediate family affair so the gathering was myself and Mrs SEA Traveler, Daughter, Son-in-Law, and Grandson, and Son and his Girlfriend.
Food and drink were plentiful, the presents wrapped and looking pretty, and the company just the way I would have wanted it.
Here are just a few photos of that wonderful Christmas day.

Presents and food are already in the car and here are Mr. & Mrs. SEA Traveler headed out on Christmas morning to the Daughter’s place.







At the Daughter’s place with Grandson.














SEA TRAVELER with Daughter, Grandson, and Son.











SEA Traveler and Mrs. SEA Traveler camped out near one of the food tables.











Mrs. SEA Traveler with the Daughter.











Grandson with Daughter and Son-in-Law.











Daughter, Son & Grandson.











SEA Traveler and Son.









I opted to exclude the Christmas Day food and gift opening photos as I think I included them in a previous thread.

[SEA Traveler]

Christmas Snow photos while Mr and Mrs SEA Traveler were in the States on holiday. These photos are @ and around the Case SEA Traveler in Central Pennsylvania, USA. Not a lot of snow fall this time but it made for a White Christmas and gave the Mrs the opportunity to once again act like a kid and play in the snow.

[SEA Traveler]

More snow photos and out and about in the area of Casa SEA Traveler in the USA.

[Loy Toy]

Looks cold mate but seems Mrs SEA Traveler is adapting real well.

[Loombucket]

Nice to see some good, old fashioned, festive family pictures. Great stuff mate and thanks for sharing. Seasons greetings to you and yours.

[natalie8]

Nice thread SEAT.

[SEA Traveler]

Thanks for the encouraging comments.

LT, with as many time and as much time Mrs SEA T has spent in cold weather climates while globetrotting with me around the world, she has more than acclimated herself to the cold weather. It is me who has the aching bones from the cold and damp weather.

Loombucket: Your right about the family thing. Heck, at this point it is the sharing of knowledge and providing insight to the Grandson that bring so much joy.

Nat: thanks and stay tuned for some more holiday trip photos in the next few days.

[natalie8]

It is me who has the aching bones from the cold and damp weather.

Me too and I don't miss it one bit.

Nat: thanks and stay tuned for some more holiday trip photos in the next few days.

Thanks!!!!!

[astasinim]

Great family photo`s SEA traveler. Looks like you`ve all had a great time.

[yortyiam]

You've got a great family S.E.A .T. Lucky You!

[Mathos]

Great Thread Sea T, good reading great photographs.

Enjoyed.

[SEA Traveler]

Last weekend the sun was out and the chilling weather gave a slight reprieve from the frigid temperatures we had been experiencing here in Central Pennsylvania in the USA. A good day for the wife and I to go out for a walk. We decided to take the 15 min drive to “Italian Lake” in the Uptown Harrisburg area. This “Italian Lake” has some memories for me as about 55 years ago when I was 5 years old, my dad used to take me to the lake in the winter time so that I could learn how to ice skate. In fact, it was the location where almost everyone in the city learned how to ice skate. There was a small concrete lodge up on the hill beside the lake where during the winter there was an almost constant fire burning in the fire place to warm the skaters during the time outs.
I regress. I apologize. It was a beautiful day and we took our walk around “Italian Lake” and the surrounding area. Here are a few of the photos of the SEA Traveler’s at “Italian Lake”

The hillside not far from “Italian Lake”







Mrs SEA T at the edge of the lake.









The SEA traveler’s at the edge of the lake.







With the bridge that separates two portions of the lake in the background.







Mrs SEA T on the bridge over the lake.





and as the sign indicates, there are lots of duck and geese that visit the lake and cross the soi at this point.







Another enjoyable day… It is the small things in life that make it enjoyable….

[somtamslap]

Nice. A merry Christmas if there ever was..

Thanks for sharing, big Papa..

[bsnub]

Cheers ST! Nice thread! You had a great holiday season I can see!

[Cujo]

It looks odd to see people wearing shoes inside.

[SEA Traveler]

Somewhat of a stressful holiday trip as there are always family issues that need to be dealt with and being the patriarch, much to my chagrin, I am always looked to resolve those issues.

None the less, we will probably be back in the US for Christmas 2013 and New Year 2014 holidays...

Slap, no problem son, always enjoy sharing...

bsnub, yes, nice holidays and getting ready for the inevitable departure back to the warmth of LOS. Wifey would much rather stay in the US but will follow me as she has followed me all over the world during my career and old habits die hard.

You are too correct Koojo. wearing shoes alone has been odd let alone having them worn in the house. I can say though that at Casa SEA Traveler's we abide by the Asian tradition of taking the shoes off in the house as we find it a lot more hygienic.

[SEA Traveler]

Today’s pictorial of Mr & Mrs SEA Traveler’s 2012/2013 holiday trip to the USA takes us to the port city of Baltimore, Maryland. In addition to being the birth town of my maternal grandmother, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is the location of the National Aquarium in Baltimore. The spouse and I wanted to take the Grandson on this outing as he enjoys the fish and sea creatures and the fact that it is only a 2 hour drive down the expressway, we decided the day trip with the Grandson, Daughter and SIL would be nice.
We loaded up the car and headed out early on a Friday so the pedestrian traffic within the aquarium would be less than during the holiday weekends.

Obligatory group photo. Wife and myself with Grandson, Daughter and SIL.











And here is one of just the spouse and myself.









Here we are at the entrance to the Aquarium.









with the Grandson on the steps leading up to the tropical gardens.











and down the steps from the tropical gardens.











myself with the Grandson with some hands on time with the tortoises.











Grandson was looking to cop a feel of the female manikin scuba diver…











The colorful jellyfish exhibit caught the Grandson’s attention.











and of course what is a trip to the harbor without a photo with a ship.






Although the wife had a winter coat with her, the wife embraces the colder weather and was more comfortable having her photo with her coat off, where as myself, being an old timer, prefer to be warm and kept my coat on.







Feeding the seagulls and pigeons outside on the dock.

[SEA Traveler]

While on holiday back in the States, I received a request from the daughter to make a wooden stool for the Grandson. So, I designed a basic wooden stool with a step and storage compartment, submitted it to the daughter for approval, purchased the wood, glue, hardware, and stain to construct the stool and proceed to begin it’s construction. I figured about 20 hours worth of work and a case of Corona were needed to complete the effort.


I did have a little assistance from the Grandson as you will see from the following photos and the work was done over a period of 3 separate days over a 2 weeks time window. The work on the wooden stool was done in the heated work area of the garage at the Daughter and Son-in-Laws home.


After making the templates for the various sections wood stool to the design specs I cut the lumber into the various panel sections as well as the support frame, shelving and kick plate pieces. I used third hand clamps to assist with the holding of the panels and support frame pieces together until I had the basic frame and panels loosely assembled.



I used wood glue and counter sunk wood screws to secure the frame and panel pieces. The following series of photos shows some of the assembly process along with the drilling of the wood screw holes, sanding the wood, and of the assistance I received from the Grandson.





































and this is what the wooden stool looked like after the 2nd days effort.

[SEA Traveler]

The next time out to work on the project, I filled in the counter sunk wood screw holes with wood putty, sanded the assembled wooded stool, stained it, let the stain dry, sanded the wood stool again with steel wool and fine sand paper, used a tack cloth to clean the sand paper remnants off the wood stool, and applied the final stain to the wooden stool.

















That was enough for one days worth of work and it was nearly finished anyways. Only the final touches remained to be applied. I went to a local trophy and plaque shop where I had a brass plaque made so that the Grandson know who it was that made and gave the wood stool to him. The stool was sturdy and should last a lifetime. Here is the finished product…

[SEA Traveler]

There is a local ski slope near to where our Stateside residence is located. It’s name is “Ski Roundtop”. Nothing like the monstrous ski resorts in the Utah, Vermont, or the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania but a nice mountain to ski on none the less. I did a lot of skiing there when growing up and the daughter did some downhill racing for the “Ski Roundtop” team back when she was in high school years ago. The mountain also has some nice mountain biking trails that I rode on years ago and often took the Son there to ride mountain bikes back about 16 years ago. All great fun.
Although the wife has been to this “Ski Roundtop” resort previously, as well as ski resorts of Vermont and Pocono mountains with me before, we always like to take the 35 min ride to the slopes when we are in town so that is what we did this Sunday afternoon. Here are a few of those photos.



and here is a look at the mountain slopes from the approach a few mile or 2 out. There are lots of apple orchards to pass through to get to the mountain resort.


















here I am catching a nap and some of the suns rays:










Mrs SEA Traveler warming up by the outside fire pit.










and here, Mrs SEA Traveler doing a little tubing.