WOW, what a whirlwind! I'm happy to repprt that I did survive the LI Lighthouse Challenge weekend But I'm still trying to dig out of the mess it left behind in my house.

I want to give a BIG THANKS to everyone who participated, joined us on the cruise & purchased merchandise. Rough numbers so far show that we've topped the $1000 mark for the donation back to the lighthouse groups from the cruises & merchandise sales.

The orders were still coming in this week through the website and all merchandise is still available. Most orders shipped already & I'm trying to get the last of them out to all of you in the next few days.

Even though I think it was the busiest 4 days I've EVER had in my life, I had SO much fun meeting you all. The enthusiasm of this group is unbelieveable & so contageous. The birthday cake line was the best It was well worth getting covered in icing! lol
To top off that first cruise night, I found out that I got my first cover pic with my Cedar Island pic on North Fork Magazine! Captain Dave had a copy of it on board & let me have it. Hopefully it will get the word out a bit more about the restoration efforts.

PHOTO REQUEST: If anyone has "people pics" from the cruises, I'd love to have copies to post to the website. You can send them to nbahnsen@lighthousetshirts.com

Again, thank you all for helping to make our first challenge a huge success & raise money for our lighthouses. We're already brainstorning ideas to improve some things for next year.

When I get a chance, I'll post some of my lighthouse pics from the cruises.

Nancy,

It was great to get together with you and the rest of the LI Chapter's crew- Bob Muller, Bob Scroope, Diane Mancini, Chap Chatman, Mike Seewald and the rest who's names escape me at the moment.

Congrats on the cover- based on the photos you showed me it's well deserved. They wers just great looking photos - especially of Cedar Island and Fire Island.

You all did a great job. I want to thank you again for arranging the cake for Esther & Fran birthdays. It was so much fun doing the assembly line on the cake- and I didn't get too much icing on me although my camera got a big glob right on the lens. I didn't forget- I was just giving you some space to decompress a bit from the experience.

I'll send you a couple of photos I have- although most don't have identifiable people in them. Lighthouse Wackos tend to prefer photos of the lighthouses without those darn people in the photos.

Dennis

I had the BEST time on the cruise. I got a little worried when I turned around and saw the captain next to me taking pictures. I guess there was some kind of auto pilot. And yes I do remeber everyone yelling when we got to Cedar Island for those kids to get out of our pictures. We like our Lighthouses minus people.
Thank you for the cake I ate it of my coat all the way home.
Fran

Nancy, the cruise was the best part of the Challenge. Time to relax, see lighthouses, and visit with friends. Thanks for your hard work to put it together, plus everything else you worked on to make your first Challenge a success.

Do you have a number on how many people completed the Challenge, yet?

And, that birthday cake was delicious.

Joyce

Joyce,

I'm glad I had time to talk to you on the cruise. You cleared up one possible problem with the MD Challenge for me.

I can never rmember your real name though- I kept telling people Bonne Bert on the Forums and they gave me a blank look- especially if they had no idea what the Forums are.

I'm going to practice remembering your real name for September.

See you in September at Turkey Point bright and early!

Dennis