Mighty fine 4th of July spent with John Prunier and clan cruising the Pacific on the Caliber. We rolled, we ate, we fished, we did Catalina via golf cart, we saw fireworks from the bay, and we didn't even get seasick and barf!  Nothing like motoring through the ocean to clear the demons from the soul. The Wagner group was of the quality, not quantity variety and included Ace and Squeeze, Julie Balidio and Squeeze, Jo and Squeeze, Janice Char and hubcap, and John and I sans squeezes or caps. Yes, shocking as it seems, Ace and Jo actually have flesh and blood squeezes now. (Absolute sign that the world is coming to an end!) Pretty nice dudes. Julie, of course, always has some squeeze of the moment lurking around in a sick puppy lava lava spell. 
  John had zillions of sons, daughters, grandkids, in-laws and wannabee in-laws so the boat was loaded with Pruniers, none of which looks even remotely like John, and all of which look like pure-blood haoles, which is a neat trick since John Boy is happa Filipino. 
  At the pre-launch slumber at Ace's lovely but barren new pad, (no furniture yet), Belden and Squeeze BGB (Baby's Got Back) Jeannette 88 hung an extra night to party, and Ross, 75, dropped by to snarf some lumpia and tell his highly edited romance stories (the classic one where he left his fiancée in a broken jetliner on New Years eve and found himself a replacement, which Ross sees as romantic to the extreme.) 
  The next morning we took the proverbial "three-hour-tour" to Catalina, fished for a while off the island yanking in Calico Bass and Barracuda by the score, toured the touristy city of Avalon, then motored home during that magical time of the day when the sun sets, the light diffuses, and the ocean becomes deeper blue.
  Our fellow mammals the dolphins seem to love this time of evening as well as a massive school of 50 or more passed by the starboard side, leaping in unison, ten-twelve at the time, while others jumped waves and spun sideways to splash down cannon-ball style. Truly an awe-inspiring moment to see these magnificent animals in their natural environment. I've spent a lot of time in, around and under the ocean, and this was the biggest school of dolphins I've ever encountered. 
  We then anchored in the home harbor of Newport Beach for the fireworks show. Smack dab in the middle our attention was diverted by one of John's blue-eyed, blond, haole relatives waging an epic Old Man and The Sea battle with some mysterious sea creature he had hooked right there in the bay. After an rousing tug of war, which consisted of the fisherdude running up and down the length of the 68 foot vessel a half-dozen times, he finally brought the creature home. Turned out to be a massive Bat-Ray, a sting-ray cousin with a weird little bat body on the underside where the mouth is. Very odd looking. We complimented BatRay on the courageous fight, and let him go to fly the seas some more. 
  Everybody was pretty much dead that evening, that or they had to head back home to try and work the next day. The combo of early rising and Dramamine had me out before 1 a.m., the earliest I've been to bed in two decades. Both Ace and I slept until three in the afternoon the next day (unfortunately in separate rooms) then had a nice quiet Chinese late lunch - quiet except for the blood-curdling cries from the Baretta Birds outside the Vet's office behind the restaurant. 
  Mega thanks to John P for including his Wagner Family in this annual Pruiner family event, and to Ace for opening her bare but spacious home for the pre and post cruise slumber. John and Ace plan for this to be another annual mini-Ree, so next year don't miss it! (That means you Belden, Jeanette, Ross, et. al.) The dolphins will be waiting. - Dary `73 

The Darydude is eloquence epitomized as usual!  What he didn't tell you was that he was the perfect gentleman not even knocking on my bedroom door while I was recovering from some type of aspiration pneumonia from inhaling sea water while boogie boarding the Saturday previous!  (Boy, did I need that sleep!)  Getting my household goods tomorrow so people won't be sleeping on the floor for future reunions!  (or at least not all of them.)  More pics to follow to include a wonderful group Wagner pic at my barren dining room and one of Dary reveling in the beauty of the sea gulls and the "blue jelly" ocean.  John, get a page ready for me.  There's one of you primping on the boat!  BTW, Jo's squeeze is a very nice man but I probably would've won the contest with my barracuda if John and I hadn't cheated.  :::sigh:::  On to the next reunion! (Should we name our get togethers something else for a change?  They're happening with much more frequency!) 
Arlene '72

I haven't had a chance to do any real posting.  Wanted to take this opportunity to tell you what a great time John and I had.  Thanks soooooo much for the invitation.  Falcons, It would be well worth our while to get a bunch of us together and do this again some day.  What a great time we had.

We had a quick, one night mini, at Aces on Monday night.  What a riot we had listening to Ross tell his very romantic love story about how he met his wife and listening to Dary rip it to shreds.  And then, Dary entertained us with a wonderful story about how he taunted sharks in Florida, feeling so secure behind the shark nets, only to find out that there, in fact, WAS no shark net.  The mental image of Dary doing a scooby doo swim back to land had us rolling!!!!! I thought Jeanette was going literally wet her pants!!!!!  Thanks you so much Ace for letting us crash at your place the night before.

Tuesday morning, bright and early, we got up.  Belden and Jeanette, thank the good lord, made a coffee run.  I can't imagine what we would have been like without that first cup of cafeine to give us a boost.  Jeanette and Belden left for the long drive back to San Jose, and we set out for the boat ride.  A quick 25 minutes down the road, and we meet John at Davey's locker, climbed aboard the Caliber and set sail for Catalina.  John's family was a gracious as ever (Man I love those guys).  The two hour boat ride to catalina was wonderful in the morning sun with the sea splashing and the great company.  I even managed to catch a nap and not get sea sick :-).  After we got to catalina, we docked off shore and had a great time fishing.  I even baited my own hook :-)  At first I was bummed, because everyone was catching but me.  Then suddenly, a nibble!!! Man the exhileration of pulling in that first fish was great, but pulling in that baracuda was awesome!!!!  Ugly little bugers t! hat they are, they are fun to real in.  My friend, John Becker 78 (newly adopted Falcon) won the pool for the heaviest fish with his baracuda.  What a great initiation for him.  We spent two hours walking Catalina in the cool breeze and warm sunshine, then headed back for a beautiful fireworks show off Balboa Island.

Again John, From the bottom of mine and John's heart!!!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Jo Kristol 77