8:00 PM, Thursday Evening...

The van with John Birkey, Chad Weaver and me (Peter Shetler) made it safely here to the Star of the Sea about 2:00 PM this afternoon. And we still like each other! The boat made it here safely too. We were met by Carmen and Bruce Smucker and their kids ,who were also functioning on only a couple of hours of sleep last night! We spent the afternoon unpacking things, getting the shed open and bunk beds out, getting the food distributed to the right rooms for the week, etc. had a bite to eat, and cleaned ourselves up so as not to scare the children. Now we are waiting for the rest of the crowd to arrive this evening. We hear that their trip is going well, with an ETA of 10:30 this evening or so. If we can geta few pics, I will try to post them tonight yet -- otherwise check in first thing in the morning.

I will report that the weather is great, warm and breezy, and there was a wonderful sunset over the ocean this evening. I think I'll go wait under the palms for the fun to begin!

Around 10:30 everyone arrived safe and sound (although a bit tired and smelly, too) and VERY ready to get off the bus. They all pitched in to unload the busses and carry things where they needed to go, find their rooms, and find the beach before heading to the showers. It is after midnight now, all the kiddies are snug in their beds. 2nd and 3rd-year students and about 5 of us adults need to get up about 4 hours from now (!) so for now I will just post a bunch of pics from the trip down that Paul took, then try to get caught up tomorrow evening when we all get back from Key West. Enjoy! (Picture galleries open in a new window.)

Pics from Day 1 and 2 -- the bus trip down to the Keys.

BTW, the printer isn't hooked up yet although we have received any email you have sent. We will get that straightened out tomorrow evening too.