Merry Christmas Family & Friends!! 
Thanks for surfing on over to our website to see what went on with us in 2005.
We spent last Christmas in PA/NJ and Cleveland. We first went to visit Rob's family. His dad and sister Margy live in Yardley, PA and his sister Tudy and her husband Jeff live across the Delaware River in New Jersey, just north of Trenton.
We stayed with Tudy and Jeff in their beautiful house on 14 acres. Their son Phil (who had graduated from the Air Force Academy in June, 2004) and his wife Jess were unable to be there. However, their other son Steve was on leave from his Special Forces training at Ft. Bragg. It was great to see him and for him to be able to relax for a week or so from his very arduous training. As you can see below, Linda had a great time with their dogs Timmy and Tres.
Tudy & Linda help Timmy and Tres try on their new coats
Click the picture to see more photos of last Christmas at Tudy's house
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On the 26th of December we left and went to visit Linda's side of the family in Cleveland. We flew to Cleveland and visited with Linda's mother, her sister Kitty, and Kitty's daughter Jennifer and her family. Rob got to shovel snow and did all the driving in the slippery stuff. We visited Linda's mother in her nursing home a number of times. At age 87 she was doing fairly well, but was rather frail and not enjoying her life in the nursing home very much. She always thought she would soon be getting better and would be able to move in with Kitty when her new house was completed.
While there in Cleveland we went to visit a local Chevy dealer. For a couple of months we had been considering getting one of the new Corvettes. About every 7 to 10 years Chevrolet revamps the Corvette. Up through 2004, the C5 (5th generation) was being produced. The 2005 Corvette was a totally new model, so it was designated the C6 (6th generation).
Well, while just looking and shopping, the dealer made us an offer we couldn't refuse. They wanted to get cars off their lot to avoid paying taxes on inventory they had on January 1st. So, on December 29th, we got “Sunny” the Daytona Sunset Orange Metallic 2005 C6 Corvette!
On January 1st we drove home (almost exactly 1,000 miles) in 14 hours straight. We had planned to stop ½ way to Daytona, but the car was so comfortable that we just kept on driving. We got about 27 miles/gallon on the way home. The Corvette is so fuel efficient that there is no “gas guzzler tax” on it.
Linda went back to work in January and Rob, whose vision will never allow him to fly commercially again, continued in his “disability” status while waiting to officially retire in March, when he turned 60.
We had our good friends Ed and Butch visit for Bike Week during the first week of March. Ed came down from Alabama with Marryann, and Butch came up from Miami. We had the usual good time going down to Main Street to see all the activity. We especially enjoy seeing the Budweiser Clydesdales. We also went to the Ocean Center to see all the new Harley-Davidson models and accessories.
Click the picture above to go to the page that has Bike Week pictures
In February, we went back up to Cleveland to help Kitty move into her new house. Since her stroke in 2004, she was unable to climb the stairs in her old house and had been living with her daughter. Kitty's new house was under construction when we visited over Christmas, so this visit was to help her move all her stuff from the old house to the new one. She hired a moving company for all the heavy furniture, but Rob made about 6 or 7 trips back-and-forth (30 miles one way) with the car packed full of all the small incidental things. We gave Kitty a garage door opener for a moving-in gift, and Rob spent the last night installing it.
In March during Linda's spring-break, we had planned on a ski trip. However, the week before spring-break, Linda's mother got sick and was transferred from her nursing home to the hospital. We were changing our plans so we could go up to see her when we got word that she had died. We went up to Cleveland for a very nice memorial service attended by many of her family and friends. Linda's mother, Louise, was 87 years old. She left a wonderful family of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
When we got back from Cleveland there was still about ½ of spring-break left, so we hopped on a flight for Salt Lake City, Utah and got in a couple days of skiing at Alta and Solitude ski areas.
Click Linda's picture above to go to the page with our ski trip pictures
In March Rob turned 60, the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots. He officially retired from Delta on April 1st. He had always thought he would hate it when he had to retire from flying airliners, but with TSA security hassles and the turmoil in the airline industry, Rob was happy to leave the flying to the younger pilots.
Rob had a friend that was furloughed (laid off) from Delta who was a ground school instructor in a commercial pilot flight training program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona. In the summer of 2004 Rob was considering talking with the department that was doing that training, and while looking at the job postings on the Embry-Riddle website saw that there were also a couple of positions open for professors in the college programs at the university. They were looking for instructors with doctoral degrees, but said that a retired airline pilot with a master's degree would be considered. He sent in a resumé.
It wasn't until May of 2005 that they contacted Rob, but when they finally did they invited him to come in and interview for a professor position. After several interviews and a session where Rob taught a sample class, he was offered a position to begin in the fall semester as a Professor in the Department of Aeronautical Science in the College of Aviation.
Click the Embry-Riddle logo to view info on the university
(best done by "right clicking" and then selecting "Open in New Window")
Click on Rob's picture above to go to the Faculty Directory.
Select the proper letter of the alphabet and the Daytona Beach campus to find his entry
(again, best done by opening in a new window)
Linda finished up with her school in the end of May and we relaxed during the month of June.
In the beginning of July we traveled back up to PA/NJ for a reunion of Rob's family over the 4th of July. We stayed at Tudy and Jeff's beautiful house north of Trenton, NJ. Rob's sister Julie and her son Benjamin came in from Los Angeles. His sister Addy came up from the Tampa area, and Addy's son Bayne (doing his PhD in Philadelphia) came with his girlfriend Brooke. Steve had another break from his Special Forces training and was able to be there for a couple of days. And, of course, his sister Margy and her daughter Caroline, and his dad were there. That was almost the entire clan.
While we were there, Tudy got 3 horses. We all enjoyed seeing the horses getting used to their new home. Tres the boxer had died, so they got Timmy a new playmate - Maggie, a very cute little chocolate Lab puppy.
Click on the picture above of Maggie and Timmy to see 4th of July pictures
Tudy's son Phil was deployed by the Air Force to the United Arab Emirates during August. He is a squadron maintenance officer and went over for about 2 months and came back safely in the fall.
Steve had a 4-day pass from his Special Forces training and came down to visit us in Daytona for a long weekend in August.
Linda and Steve during his visit to Daytona in August.
Steve and Rob get ready to drive down to the Randall Knife factory.
Steve and Rob drove down to Orlando and visited the Randall Knife factory. Rob has an extensive collection of Randalls, and has given Steve a couple. The museum at the factory is fantastic! There are thousands of knives - Randalls and other manufacturers as well.
Here is one of my favorites. This is my limited edition "Vietnam Veteran" Model 14.
Steve has a standard Model 14 that is just like this one, but not from the numbered, limited edition run.
The Model 14 has a 7-1/2 inch blade from 1/4 inch thick stock.
This is my Randall Model 16 Special Fighter. Linda and I gave one like this to Steve last Christmas.
The Model 16 has a 7 inch blade.
We also had a visit from our great and long-time friend Roy. He came up from Miami for a visit and found a fantastic 350Z at a local dealer.
He drove it home!!!
Roy and "Blue Max", his gorgeous 350Z
Linda started back to work in the beginning of August, and Rob started going in to his office at Embry-Riddle to prepare for his classes which began in the end of August. The fall semester was very busy for Rob. He had to get ready for his classroom presentations, and prepare tests and handouts, as well as grading homework and tests. Fortunately, he'll be teaching the same courses starting in January 2006, so it will be a lot easier the second time around!
Well, we were very fortunate this year - NO HURRICANES!!! At least not in our area. Katrina and Rita ravaged the Gulf Coast and damaged our friend Ed's house in Alabama. As a police officer, he was very busy working 12 hour shifts 7 days a week for a couple months. Wilma was scheduled to hit on the weekend of Biketoberfest. Our friend Butch works for a police department in South Florida and couldn't get off because his department was preparing for Wilma to hit the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area - this is the first time in many years he hasn't been to Biketoberfest. So, for the first time since we've been here, we had no company visiting over Biketoberfest.
Steve finally finished all the very difficult special operations training required to be awarded his Green Beret as a Special Forces trooper. His specialty training was as an Engineer/Demolition NCO. He completed that in the beginning of November and began the last part of his qualification - Arabic language training. He will complete that 6 month course in May 2006, and then go to his assignment with the 10th Special Forces Group near Stuttgart, Germany. I have a feeling that's just a stop on the way to visiting other interesting places!
In November we went down I-95 about 170 miles to visit with our good friends Jean and Bill over Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal and hope everyone was able to enjoy that time with family and friends.
Jean, Linda, and Bill at the Thanksgiving table
Bill had cereal the next morning. He's pretty particular about his bananas - the slices and the peel!!!
We hadn't eaten enough on Thursday and Friday (yeah, right!), so when we were driving home on Saturday we stopped to eat at the Dixie Crossroads restaurant. It's in Titusville, about 25 miles south of our house. Here's Linda sitting with some of the shrimp that their menu is famous for. We had 'em for supper!!!
Delta filed for bankruptcy in the fall of this year and found they could save a lot of money by ceasing payments to retirees. A lot of retirees lost most of their monthly retirement pay, but so far Rob hasn't lost any retirement income. Fortunately, even though retired, some of Rob's monthly annuity comes from the disability fund, which is a little better protected from bankruptcy. As it progresses, however, we expect the company will try to completely terminate all retirement and disability payments and Rob will probably lose most, if not all, of his monthly retirement from Delta. Oh well, maybe his college professor job will have to last longer than he had in mind when he first started it!
Rob's office at ERAU. I've got my Coast Guard flight helmet,
Army Cav hat, and Delta Captain's hat on the shelf, and lots of Pan Am and Delta books and airplane models.
But I think I need some more stuff on the walls!
Spruce Creek had its annual Christmas Parade (better known as the "Toy Parade") again this year.
Here a few photos of the various "Toys" all decorated for Christmas.
Here are some planes all decorated.
A RED Cadillac!!!
A row of nicely decorated cars ready for the parade
A '56 Chevy & A '57 Chevy (Golfcart, that is!)
Here's the car that Santa rode in. It's a '47 Chrysler "Woody" with real wood trim.
Behind the Chrysler are the motorcycles all decorated for the parade.
This Gingerbread House won the Golfcart Division prize for best decorated golfcart.
There's actually a golfcart under there somewhere!
A beautiful Chris Craft - they don't make boats like that anymore!
That entire hull is wood - no plastic or fiberglass on this old beauty!!!
We were entertained at the Country Club by the "Spruce Creek Choristers".
Our friend Susan, who is a guidance counselor with Linda, is a member of the choir.
They sang a number of beautiful songs, culminating in a wonderful rendition of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus". Below are several pictures taken at the event.
Susan getting ready to perform!
Linda with Rob & Linda with Susan
CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS IN FLORIDA
Mr. Rudolph & Mrs. Rudolph Our "package" mailbox
Santa flies 'round-n-'round in his Biplane Our 9 foot high tree
Santa has another airplane The Rudolph Family guards the front door
CHRISTMAS 2005 IN CLEVELAND AND THEN PENNSYLVANIA/NEW JERSEY
We will be visiting Linda's family in Cleveland for the first part of the holiday season. Then we'll go to visit Rob's family for the second half of the holiday.
Well, that brings you up to date on what went on with us in 2005. We hope everyone had a wonderful year and that 2006 brings happiness and prosperity to all!
Merry Christmas 2005
and have a happy 2006!!
