Ryan reports to the USMMA

On June 29, 2018, Ryan reported to the USMMA to begin Indoctrination.  It was a long road including hurdles at the Dodmerb level, but he received a nomination from Senator Bill Nelson, and Congressman Bill Posey.  Finishing up his senior year as the Male Varsity athlete of the year, littering in 4 sports, and graduating with an International Baccularate degree helped him acheive his goal of attending the institution that his dad graduated from, and his brother attends.  

                          Ryan receives recognition from Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson

 Dylan give his little bro some shoe shining lessons.  Dylan had the benefit of ROTC in high school, and a year of military prep school at MMI.  Ryan showed up with zero military experience.

 At the front gate, classic shot

Dylan catches his first ship as a Cadet

On June 29, 2018 Dylan caught his first ship with sailing partner Jack Ted Welch.  Jack Ted resides in Norfolk, which was convenient since that is where they caught the Maersk Kentucky.  His run is the Northern Europe run.  Ports include Antwerp, Bremerhaven and Rotterdam.  Coastwise on the US side, he hits Norfolk, Charleston, Fort Lauderdale and Houston.  There were initially some Maine Maritime Academy cadets which they got along well with.  In Fort Lauderdale on his first transit back, we were able to go visit him for the day.  Interestingly enough, the day he caught his ship, was Ryans first day of Indoc at USMMA.  

Scalloping in Homosassa Springs.

We finally got in a true Florida scalloping adventure.  As we were able to come up with a day to go up to the West Coast of Florida and scallop, it was quite an adventure.  Although Rachel was feeling a bit under the weather, see picture, we made a full day of it.  It was our first attempt, and I reluctantly admit that we hired a guide, since Rebecca didn’t quite trust my boating skills.  However, the girls put in a (minimal) moderate effort, and left it up to the guide and I to catch the remaining 9 1/2 gallons of scallops.  It was a beautiful day in “old” Florida.  Next year, I will be using our own boat.  

Parents Weekend 2018, for Ryan

Spent a few days up at KP with Ryan, and then a few at the Jersey shore.  It was really fun seeing Ryan, as we had not seen him since Indoc drop off day back on June 29th.  He is doing extremely well, almost unbelievably well.  I am not used to hearing people comment that KP is easy.  He is a pretty sharp guy.  I flew in Thursday morning, and showed up for lunch muster, to his surprise.  Almost as surprising to him was me joining him in Delano for lunch.  Fun times though.  Rebecca flew in Thursday night, and Rachel Friday night.  It was her first non rev experience by herself and she handled it exceptionally well, even down to an Uber to the hotel.

Parents Weekend was marked with events that were held by Florida Parents Association, as well as the school. Most importantly was being sworn in and receiving his USNR pin.

After we finished the KP festivities, we went down to Long Beach Island, NJ to hang out with my old roomie from KP, Mark Craven.  Things hadn’t changed much on Deleware Ave, right down to the kids going to the Ketch for teen night.  Our old haunt.  Also did a bit of boating, wake boarding, clamming, and went to a Catholic Church on our old 2nd street.  Memory lane.

Friends of the family in Delano

            My spot to chill from the 80s

Non rev home

Our morning out of Crete started very early at about 0400.  We were in the car by 0430 and making the hour and a half trip back to Heraklion for the Cretan airport and flight to Athens.  Upon arrival in Athens, we had a short time to get to the Delta ticket counter to stand by for the flight to JFK.  We were not cleared on this flight, or the next Delta flight, and sat for hours and hours in the Athens airport.  We also tried for Emirates, Lufsthansa, KLM, and Swiss Air.  The KLM flight to Amsterdam was the only flight out of Athens that we were eligible for that had no standbys, and no seats.  But, the attendants said if there were no shows we might get on.  And we did, seemingly getting the last 3 seats out of Athens.  We were glad for it.  That night we got to Amsterdam, and through expedia, got a room at the Crowne plaza just outside of the airport.  Too bad we couldn’t stay longer, because it was a nice hotel, and close to downtown,  however, we were only there for like 5 hours.  The next day, we got on the first Atlanta flight on Delta.  it was good to get home that Sunday afternoon, Sept. 9, 2018.  

                                Intermediate stop in Amsterdam, seat assignments on Delta

The rest of Greece

Our original plan was to fly to Santorini for the week, however, there was a labor strike going on affecting the ferry operators.  As a result, all of the flights to Santorini and the other Greek isles were full,  however, at Rachel's suggestion, we found air travel to Crete.  Not cheap, but this was the point of our trip.  So on day 2, we flew to Crete very early, and the rental car attendant suggested the wonderful South shore town of Agia Galini.  It turned out to be a great suggestion,  it was a very quaint, laid back village nestled in a multi tiered valley scape.  Lots of time on the beach, and at little seaside cafes.  We did take one side trip to Agina Tria, a Greek excavation of a 2000-3500 BC palace.  

I had to include a funny story about our beach day on the Mediterranean.  In town, we went to the tourist bureau, and got recommendations for our day trip which was to include Agina Tria, the excavation site, and a recommended beach, Kommos.  Well, surprisingly GPS was very accurate, and took us down some dirt and sand roads to arrive at Kommos.  As Rebecca and I walked down on the sand, we jokingly thought it might be a nude beach.  Well, it was, and Rachel was mortified.  She couldn’t wait to get out of there from the first second upon arrival.  She got onto her towel, and went face down for the entire stay.  It was pretty amusing.  

                                Rebecca with the village in the background, on the seawall at sunset

                                                     Greek fishing village view

                                                       At the excavation site

                                                 Hotel Petra pool on the upper level

Greece trip

On the heels of 2018 parents weekend for Ryan at Kings Point, Rachel, Rebecca and I flew out of JFK after dropping Ryan off in the City for his last afternoon of liberty from Parents Weekend.  We easily made our flight, and found ourselves in Athens.  We flew standby on Delta, and got to Athens with plans to fly to Santorini right away.  However, there was a labor strike of the ferry workers, and all flights had filled up.  We did manage to find a flight to Crete for some big buck$, and it was to be the 2nd day.  With no other plans the first day, we found a booking.com apartment within walking distance to the Acropolis.  That evening, we checked in to our apartment, a funny story, then toured the Acropolis, and ate dinner on the North side of the monument in Planka.  A nice evening, but tired.

                                                The first "modern" Olympic stadium in Athens

                                                       A view of Athens from above

                                                         Acropolis photos, totally tourist!!