Merry Christmas
Season's Greetings Everyone.....We had a great year....Although it was not quite as adventurous as 2004....We still had a couple surf adventures and a jam packed year....On an extremely sad note we had to put Shad down in August.  He was 12 years old and had a tumor on his spleen....Xrays also showed some spots on his lungs...so the best thing to do was to put him down... given his advance age.  Shad was an exceptional dog....Ever since he was a pup Shad would faithfully go out and get the paper...I remember once when I was building the house and Shad and I were living on top of the garage....I went to a lifeguard reunion and I had a bit too much to drink and got home in the wee hours of the morning...I let Shad out around 6AM or something and then just crashed.  I woke up... at like 11 and looked out the door... there was Shad with something like 6 Sunday papers that he collected from down the street...all I could do is drive down the street and throw the papers out the window....hoping that they would be found by the rightful owners.    He was the kind of dog that you could just let out the door and not worry about him running off (at least no more than a block)....he knew his job was to protect the house ...as a matter of fact....if we were home and we let you in then everything was cool....but unless he could smell the family blood if you ever came to the back slider door and we were not home he would greet you with the hair standing up on his back, growling, his teeth showing and his gums turning white....Look out!!!!!   Shad seemed to understand every word that was said and in some cases I thought that he could read my mind.  Shad loved driving in the truck, the beach and the ocean.  He would swim out to me when I surfed....no matter how big the surf was... povided he could make it out past the shore break . He would spend the whole day on the beach in Hatteras if we would let him and 99% of that time would be spent in the water.  People who ever got to know him... loved him and in many instances resulted in those very same people buying a Lab pup of their own.   Shad also sired, 2 litters... 20 pups with his favorite female down the Street..."Britta"...who also sadly past away this year.  On black Friday....the girls finally got me...to check out some Lab Pups listed in the paper....so we picked up Sparky....the little dog ...above..... dancing around the Christmas tree.  Kate Selected and named Shad...So this was Kallie's turn to chose the pup and the name. Scroll on down below as we recap some of the happier time of the year......2005.

 
 
Easter in Hatteras
Yes this was the second year in the row that we spent Easter in Hat....and we had a great time.....The ocean bottom is always changing in Hat and this was a good year..... we had some awesome waves right in front of the house.  It's nice not having to drive and the crowds were minimal.
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Montauk In May
We all cruised down to "The End"....Montauk Long Island....You can't go any further East at least by land.  We stayed at the Atlantic Terrace Motel which was right on the beach and provided us with some really awesome waves.....it was short boardable right out front and some really tasty longboard waves up the beach.  The Dewald's.[Mike...Kev(WhatZup!)...and Karen.]....Katie Spag(NK)....Mike Spagnolo joined us.....we had a great time...great waves...great food...good friends.  Kallie was swimming in the pool...she is really a fish.   Unfortunately Kallie contracted a Kidney infection and the end of the trip was a roller coast ride of high fevers in the 104 degree range...just when we thought it was all over...a fever would flare up again....Man it was scary.  We made it back home to Jerzee in record time.
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Surfing
As per usual we did a bunch of surfing this year....most of it at 110 Street in Stone Harbor....North Wildwood did not break as well as it did in 2004...Hey I never had a chance to launch the Sailboat.  Kate is killing it as usual and Kallie's surfing is really coming along.  Di....even took the Walden Epoxy longboard and spent 2.5 hours one afternoon surfing...and it looks like this is going to continue in 2006.


Competition-wise we did pretty good:

ESA Regionals(Montauk)
KT took Third Place Jr. Women
TL took Second Place Legend Longboard

Brendan Borek
TL took Second Place Long Board Senior (age 26 and up)
TL took Fourth place Short Board senior(age 26 and up)

Nuns Beach(10th Annual)
KT took Second Place Jr. Women
TL took First Place Legend Long Board (Age 30 and up)
TL took Second Place Short Board (Age 30 and up)
TL took Second Place Classic Long Board (All Ages Men/Women)
Kallie Novice Award

Eastern Surfing Championship(Cape Hatteras)
TL took Second Place Legend Longboard

Eastern Surfing Association/South Jersey District 2005 Overall Results
KT is First Overall -- Junior Womens
TL is First Overall -- Legend Long Board
TL is Third Overall -- Short Board (Grand Masters)


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Kallie Events
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Kallie SkateBoarding/Halloween
Dance Recital/Pre K Grad/First Day Kindergarten
First Baby tooth to go!!!/Pee Wee Soccer  
Birthday Bash at Wonderland Pier......6 years Old
 
The 10th Annual Nun's Beach Surfing Championships
This is our favorite surf contest....it's so much fun...all our friends are there...and it's for a good cause.... the Sister's of Villa Maria

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Kate came over to wish me luck in the Classic Board Final --all boards had to be pre-1967.  Some Dude came over and took our picture then handed me a Black and White photo on the beach a couple weekends later.
The 2005 Eastern Surfing Championships
We had great time at the 2005 Eastern Championships this past September.  Katie Spagnolo(aka "NK") joined us and we really had a great time.  Caught some really good waves right in front of the house with minimal crowds.  Warm water, light winds, blue skies, fish leaping out of the water and great waves...it was like heaven.   Ruxton, John Barrie, Sean, and Kyle Abel did a couple surf sessions at the house...it was fun.

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SparkaNova Sharky Hoover Tequila (Aka Sparky)
Kallie's Choice Puppy

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Born 25 SEP 2005
 
*****  Crazy Teenagers  *****
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Santa Claus
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Surf Sessions
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Other News
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 Aunt Bernadine is doing great and has recently started back in Real Estate
Kate was instrumental in getting a surf team established at Middle Township High School and the ShoreBreak DVD has been released
TL is still writing songs and is an active member with the Cape May County SongWriters (  www.CmcSong.org )
TL also submitted a song called "Just One Look" to VH1 song of the year in May 2005 getting an "Honorable Mention" ....  http://www.songoftheyear.com/winners/runnerups/052005r.htm
Bruce Springsteen---The Spagnolo's(Mike and Patty) treated us to a Bruce Springsteen concert at Boardwalk hall in Atlantic City on 13 Nov 2005....we had such a great time...Diane are I both really big Bruce fans....so four couples went....Mike and Patty Spagnolo.....Tom and Kathy Hilligas.....Anthony and Cathy Monzo...We started with dinner at PK Changs in AC which was really awesome it's a family style meal so we got to sample a lot of different dishes...the Mongolian beef was superb...I bumped into Mike May a local AC surfer who was also attending the concert...we all then walked to boardwalk hall....the place is awesome....Bruce killed it... the sound was awesome...What a night....many, many  thanks to the Spagnolo's.
TL's Nephew Rick's 2005 Christmas Card.....Rick, Tina and Chloe Leonik.......Look's like Rick is turning the big 40 in January....Hey Rick...Happy Birthday....Dude
Big Congrats to Uncle Chris and Aunt Donna who tied that big knot on 24 Sep 2005.  Di and I were married on the same date...many moons ago.
TL's  God Child Kayton Merzejewski...Look's like Fred and Sandy have another Baby on the way for 2006 and a baby boy to boot....awesome ...BIG CONGRATS
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