2010 Nealon Christmas Party

Hello Family - Uncle Tom and Aunt Anne will host this year's family party/Yankee Swap at their home on Saturday, December 18th. Party starts at 5:30.

We'll order food again this year and ask everyone to pitch in. This has worked well with everyone bringing an app, dessert, and/or wine/spirit. We'll follow-up with an evite so we can keep track of what everyone plans to bring.

Call Ann and Tom with any questions. Can't wait to see everyone. Jack, Chris and Jeff will be home from their studies abroad, so we'll be able to hear all their stories!

Ciao from Florence

My Italian residency has officially lasted a month, so i figured it would be a good time to update everybody on what I've been up to. The entire experience has been crazy so far, between endless amounts of homemade food and countless amounts of private vineyard wine (mom, countless is an exaggeration) it is safe to say that I am establishing quite a liking to Italian culture.

Upon arriving in Florence all of the students were put up in a hotel for the first couple nights during orientation. After a quick two days, we were immediately placed into our home stays, which has turned out to be a great experience in and of itself. My roommate and I (Billy Solano) have been placed with a 65 year old widow by the name of Mariella. She has been great, every night she cooks a homemade Italian meal for us, and even does our laundry once a week! She speaks good English, and is very involved in American politics, creating some very interesting table conversation between our little Italian family.

The first weekend of travel that my roommate and I did was to a region called Cinque Terre (5 towns) which was a very picturesque scene with five little communities built into the cliffs along the coast, we also made a stop in Porto Fino which is an Italian port full of private yachts.

The next weekend we made the trip to the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest. This was truly an unreal experience. Picture 6 million people drinking and singing for two days straight ( I like to refer to it as a big Nealon Christmas Party). Aside from the festival, Munich is a very cool city, with very good food and a unique European culture.

This past weekend, Billy and I made the trip all the way up to Copenhagen , Denmark to visit a couple college friends of ours. This was another great experience, and we managed to go to Sweeden for the day on Saturday. Denmark was pretty unique itself, mainly because everybody could speak both Danish and English, which i found surprising from a Scandinavian country. I have picked up a couple souvenirs along the way, and look forward to telling everybody stories.

Until Next Time,
Chris

Jon's new show - premieres this week

My latest project premieres this Thursday at 10PM on the DIY network.

Update from the other side of the world

Hi Everyone,
I know it has been a little while since my last update, so I figured upon my return from Spring break would be the best time to post something new. On Monday, I arrived back to Monash University in Melbourne after a jam backed 10 days traveling up and down the east coast of Australia. The trip began with a flight to Brisbane, where we spent our first day at the Australia Zoo petting Kangaroos and appreciating the many accomplishments of the late Steve Irwin ( the zoo is essentially a shrine to the man). After spending the night in a hostel, we boarded a ferry to “Fraser Island” where we swam in one of the world’s largest fresh water lakes several meters above sea level. The water was crystal clear, and reminded me a lot of a much larger, much more Australian (if that makes any sense) Long Pond in Wellfleet. The next three days proved to be the best of the trip, as we boarded two pontoon boats to the Whitsunday Islands where we hiked, kayaked, and enjoyed several beverages by the pool at the South Molle resort off the coast of Northern Australia. After a relaxing three days, our trip took a shot of adrenaline upon our arrival to Cairns, where I spent the next 4 days white water rafting, bungee jumping, bar crawling, and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. Many stories, and a very Irish tan later (I know many of you can relate), I can safely say it was an experience like none I have ever had before and will surely never forget. Despite understandable misconception- yes, I do go to school here and it is back to reality, as I am currently going through the end of semester crunch time, and beginning to prepare for finals.
I hope everyone is doing well, and am looking forward to seeing you all in a month and a half.
Talk to you soon ,
Jeff

Gidday from Down Under: from Uncle John

Lorraine and I flew out of Logan on Mon., 9/13 at 3:00pm and arrived in Auckland, New Zealand at 5:30am on Wed., 9/15. What happened to Turesday? It evaporated into thin air as a result of the 16 hour time difference between Boston and New Zealand and due to traveling over the International Time Zone. Jeffrey flew to Auckland from Melbourne (pronounced "Melbin" by the Aussies). on Wed. afternoon to meet up with us. It was great to see him as he's been in Austrailia since July 3rd and we have been missing him alot. We spent 3 great days in Auckland. We toured the city; swam in a shark cage, (no kidding we have the pics to prove it!); saw a penguin colony (Lorraine's new favorite friends); took a ferry to an Waiheke Island (think New Zealand's version of Nantucket) which had 2 wineries, both of which were located on sloping hillsides overlooking the harbor with the Auckland skyline off in the distance - incredible vistas; and generally tried to get a feel for life in this country around the world from us. They are just coming out of the winter here so the weather is similiar to late March / early April.
On Friday, we flew to Melbourne and hooked up with Lorraine'sbrother Justin and sister - in - law Linda who are living in Melbourne for 3 years on a job assignment. They live about 25 minutes from Monash University where Jeff is studying.
On Sat. we headed for the coast and drove along "Great Ocean Road" which is about a 3 hour ride high above and along the coast line. They drive on the left side of the road here - iknd of scary when you are riding in the back seat. Very high, rolling surf almost the whole way. This area is popular with surfers and we saw quite a few at different spots along the way. Incredible scenery and breathtaking photo ops at almost evrey turn of the narrow, sometimes winding roadway. Along the way we stopped and got up close and personal with kangaroos and koala bears.We went by a few golf courses where instead of seeing a flock of geese on the fairway there would be several kangaroos of various sizes milling around - an odd but interesting sight.We stayed overnight on Sat. at a cliff top motel in a town called Apollo Bay. Again, incredible views. The outdoor balcony of our room overlooked sheep and cows grazing in lush green valleys below which rolled down to the ocean and the pounding surf - quite a sight.
This week we have spent time at Jeff's school which is about a 30 minute bus/train ride from Melbourne; spent time walking around the village Justin and Linda live in and yesterday we spent the day walking around Melbourne. The city reminded us of a less crowded NY City without the edge. There were a zillion retail stores, cafes, bars and restaurants. Very little jay walking and no honking horns.
Today we head to Sydney for a few days which we are excited about before heading home on Sunday.
Jeff is doing well. Monash is no cake walk - study wise. Alot of research and writing. He has traveled to the "Outback" and the "Gold Coast" and is leaving today for a 10 day semester break trip called "One Fish, Two Fish"which takes the group to 8 different locations (including the Great Barrier Reef) with awesome activities including skydiving, bungy jumping and snorkeling. As they say around here: "Not too shabby Mate".
As for Christo, he has landed safely in Florence, Italy and has settled in with his host family who is a 60 year old widow, whose name is" Maribella". Chris reports that Maribella speaks good english, is a very good cook (dinner every night at 7:30) who makes he and his roomate, Billy Solarno eat everything she cooks and finihes every meal with a plate of fresh fruit. We video skyped him last night. It was great to see him. He and his roomate are leaving Friday morning at 3:30am for Munich, Germany where they will meet up with friends from Loyola (who are studying in other countries) to "participate" in Octoberfest. The only glitch so far for Christo is that he broke his house key trying to open a bottle of wine (we thought we taught him the right technique?) and he is hesitant to tell Maribella.
Anyway all is well. We will post our impressions of Sydney after we get home.
That is it for now from Down Under.
We hope all is well with everyone and that when you are reading this you are having a day with "no worries mate".
John and Lorraine

Jack's sets sail!

Here's an update from Andrew:

I just wanted to send you an email with all of Jack's information for his Semester at Sea. He left today Aug 25th and has safely landed in Halifax, where he will embark on his 14 week excursion around the world on Friday. He will be returning on December 14th, when he flies home from his final port in California. He has made a blog so that everyone can see his pictures and a daily blow-by-blow of his trip. www.nealonsas.blogspot.com Also, there is a ship blog people can view as well... http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyage-blog/fall-2010/

Also, please anyone feel free to email him anytime!! jcn905@yahoo.com

Jack's ports will include:

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Cadiz, Spain
Casablanca, Morocco
Takoradi , Ghana
Cape Town, South Africa
Port Louis, Mauritius
Chennai, India
Singapore
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
Hong Kong / Shanghai, China
Kobe / Yokohama, Japan
Honolulu / Hilo, Hawaii, USA
San Diego, California, USA

Update from Callie Nealon; looking for extra "stuff" for new apartment

Hi! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. It’s going by way too fast! Anne and Tom aren’t going to know what to do with themselves come the end of it. Jacko leaves in 6 days for his cruise across the world for a couple of months… and yes, Matthew and I have finally decided to leave the nest of 50 Front and join Patrick in the city in just a couple of weeks. I’m heading to Brookline with two girlfriends and Matt is going to join Patrick in Brighton. With that being said, I was hoping to reach out and gladly take some things off of anyone’s hands. At the moment, I’m really searching for a bureau or two (the necessities, if you will). However, I am open to anything and everything anyone is looking to get rid of that may fit in my apartment! You name it, we probably need it J

If you think of something(s), please feel free to give me a call (774) 270-1006 OR email me at cnealon214@gmail.com! Thanks everyone, hope to see you all soon!

Love,
Callie

Ann Click looking for a bed frame....anyone?

Hello - If anyone has an un-used bedframe they are looking to get rid of, Ann Click would love to take it off your hands. Thanks!

A Champion Angler in our Midst

At this past weekends local Bassmasters tournament on Lake Winnipesaukee I won for the Biggest fish on Sunday. After a mediocre day on Saturday I hooked this lunker Sunday morning and spent the rest of the day tight lipped among the other fishermen until I hoisted this monster at the scale for the weigh in. my first purse in the fishing world. Here is a picture. It was a large mouth bass -5 pounds, 3 ounces.

-Joe

Hailee lost a tooth!