(# 39) Horton Grand Hotel / Horton Grand Theater

Hi All,
Today my friends Bernie, Kathleen, Rene and I all went down town San Diego to see a live Comedy show "Triple Espresso" at the Horton Grand Theater, as a kind of Birthday celebration for Rene. It was very funny and we had a great time. A very fun show for the whole family. It was right next door to the Horton Grand Hotel so we stopped in there and peeked around too. It's a very nice Hotel, built at the turn of the century. I recommend the show and the Hotel. Maybe someday I'll even be able to afford to stay there :) Have a great week! Sue

(# 38 ) Biplane Ride

Happy Father's Day to all you Fathers out there! Happy Sunday to everyone else. Today Tony and I went for a Biplane ride in a 1927 Biplane. It was a lot less scary than I thought it would be in an 80 year old plane with an open cockpit. A very smooth flight(thanks to Brian our pilot), but the fumes from the engine were a bit much for me. They didn't seem to bother Tony, but his head is about a foot higher than mine so I guess the fumes disapated before they got up to him. Mikey (Tony's son) wanted to go for a flight so we got him the next best flight we could afford, the coin operated little plane in front of the Barnstorming Hanger. Our particular plane has been employed in it's life time as a U.S. Mail plane and a crop duster plane, before making it's way to Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, CA to do "just for fun flights" nowadays. Biplane wings are made of wood and fabric, so they are very light weight and glide very smoothly. The big disappointment today was the marine layer came in over the coast so we bareley got to see any of the coast line today. On the flip side, the pilot flew us near Tony's house in San Marcos, and we got to see it from the air, so that was cool. Have a great week all! I know I will, Sue

(#37) Paintball

Hi All,
Well today I tried Paintball, I went with my son Dougie and his Dad Doug(who's in town for Dougie's H.S. Graduation). I just have to say one thing, OUCH! Those crazy little things hurt. Especially if the paintballs are old and the paint is all dry and hard. I have a lump on the back of my head from someone shooting me from behind. Luckily I didn't get paint in my hair (I guess it's lucky) because it was an old hard ball that didn't break. It was hot today and I wore all this protective stuff (except the back of my head) which made it even hotter, so I think I'd have preferred to play on a cooler day. It's kind of fun, but I think going with a large group of friends would've been more fun. Playing with the ex-husband probably not a good idea, I think he was behind me when I got hit in the head (just kidding). Well, I guess I might try this again someday, but it's not too high up on the list of do-overs. Have a great week! Sue
PS Thank you Tony for being our "Wartime" Photogragher.

Catamayran Sunset Cruise picture(#35)

Parasailing Pictures (#36)

(# 34) Sint Maarten / St. Martin and ( # 35) Sailing on a Catamayran and (# 36) Parasailing

Hi All,
Well it was an awesome week! The Carribean is beautiful. We had a great time this past week. DaVee and I arrived on Sat. 5/26/06 and just arrived home today 6/3/06. It was a very long flight out and back again, but worth it. She traded her time share in Carlsbad for the week on Sint Maarten (the Dutch side)at the Flamingo Bay Resort and we had a gorgeous suite right on the beach. I think the only way it could've been nicer would be if there was less humidity and less mosquitos. But hey, nothings perfect, not even in Paradise. I got to use my passport for the first time and experienced customs (not to bad, I was expecting worse from the moaning of everyone on the plane).

We met a lot of very friendly people there. Our new buddy Yolanda, who's from New York, went out with us a lot and we enjoyed her company quite a bit. We also met Brittany and Andrew who were celebrating thier 5th Anniversary, and who let me sing back up for their rendetion of "Love Shack" at Cheri's Cafe (at must go to place on St. Maarten's). We did well enough we won a giant blow up monkey and hand clappers too! And Julius (a very cool 15 y/o) and Leda (his very cool Mom).
Another Must do on St. Maarten's is the $10 Sunset cruise on a Catamayran #35 (also never done before). The best value on the Island. It's an open bar and all you can drink for the 45 minute cruise and the Captain even let me steer the boat. The crew is great and everybody was dancing by the time we got back to the dock again. We drove all around the Island and decided the Dutch side was definately more friendly than the French side (St. Martin). We also took a high speed ferry (The Edge II) and spent a day on the Island of St. Barts / St. Barthlemy. Also beautiful there. But the French are not very friendly to Americans (anyone surprised?). We found an exception at a little cafe we had lunch at, the owner Jean Luke, he was very kind to us. His English wasn't so good, but his Cassanova translated just fine.
I also got to go Parasailing for the first time, that was awesome, and since that was on the list separately, I'm counting it as #36. We did that on the French side and the young kids who took us out were also very nice to us. We parasailed on Orient beach, the nude beach, but we opted to leave our clothes on (and wished some others had made that same choice). All in all we had a very memorable early birthday celebration! Thank you DaVee for everything, you are a truly wonderful friend and I'm very blessed to have expereinced this vacation /early Birthday's and Bachlorette party with you! You're Magnifique!