Joe's 50th Surprise Cruise!

The weekend of July 19-23, in honor of Nick's younger brother, Joe, turning the BIG 5-0!, we surprised him by joining his family for a 4 day cruise to Cabo! Nick's older brother Tom and his wife, Veneta drove to our house on Thursday morning, and then the four of us drove to San Diego, where we boarded the Carnival Elation Cruise ship and walked up to an unsuspecting Joe while he and family were eating!! Joe's jaw dropped a mile as he was shocked and surprised to see the four of us standing there.

Laurel had planned the whole event last Spring. Joe never had a clue. He didn't even figure it out, when one day about a week before we were to set sail, his oldest daughter, Breanna let it slip that her "Aunt Veneta was so excited about the trip she'd been packed for almost 2 weeks!"


This was the first vacation the three brothers have taken together and we all had a blast! From left to right, sitting, Laurel, Joe, Breanna, Marissa, me (Karen), Nick; standing Tom and Veneta. Weather was great, food and drinks abounded, and lots of fun was had by all! The only thing missing, or rather people missing, were the boys' older sister Sibbie and her hubby Tony, and of course our kids (Nicole, David, Alex, Thomas and Amalia). Maybe next time the whole Pavone clan will be able to go. Everyone is talking about a next time, especially Veneta who really enjoyed herself!

"AB DIVING" with the Nance Family

For Father's Day weekend, (June 14-17, 2007) Nick and I flew to Sacramento, where our good friends, Emily and Dave picked us up and we all drove to Fort Bragg, about 3 1/2 hours northwest of Sacramento. We spent the weekend camping and "Ab Diving!" with our best camping buddies, Lynn and Rick Nance and family. For those of you who aren't sure what "Ab Diving" is, it's free diving for abalones at the lowest tide, among the coral reefs almost before dawn, in almost freezing ocean waters--about 55 degrees or so.

The Nance family has been "Ab Diving" for over 25 years and have always invited us to join them. But the fact that is so far north (between Mendocino and north of Fort Bragg), it just wasn't feasible till now.

Everyone dove except me--wasn't sure I could do it (but Lynn assures me if she can I can!). I did go watch the second day--almost froze my buns off as I sat on the shore watching from quite a distance. Maybe next time we do, as Nick enjoyed it so much we will most likely go again next year!

Nick rented his gear-everyone else had their gear, which includes, booties, gloves, wetsuit, 7mm thick!! a head hood (or whatever it is called), weightbelts, an inner tube floatie that holds the abs once you find them, a knife to pry the abalones off the coral reefs/rocks, and a measuring device, which measures the abalone--they have to be 7" and "Click" the device in order to keep them. They got up at 5 am! and were diving by 6:30 am!! Almost everyone got their limits, of 3 each.

What a fabulous weekend it was! Hanging with good friend, camping, relaxing, talking and more talking! We were sad to leave on Sunday afternoon and fly home. We had a delicious Abalone dinner on Friday nite., the highlight! There's nothing, absolutely nothing, like fresh abalone!! Yum yum--it melted in your mouth.
THANK YOU NANCE FAMILY! We love you guys!!