Whew! Now that the Christmas rush is over (we had ten people for a week, plus 16 for Christmas Dinner), we can sit down and catch you up on how we've been doing. The past year has been full of family, traveling, school, and work.
Whew! Now that the Christmas rush is over (we had ten people for a week, plus 16 for Christmas Dinner), we can sit down and catch you up on how we've been doing. The past year has been full of family, traveling, school, and work.
Last summer we attended a wedding in Londonderry, Northern Ireland to celebrated Mike’s niece’s marriage -- Courtney married Richard, whose family is from that area. We had the fortune of spending four days of celebrating with the extended family, renewing old ties and making new ones. Afterwards, we toured Scotland in a Volkswagen bus, camping in highland meadows, and exploring the rugged coastline. It was unusually wet but we loved every soggy minute. As the rest of the family flew home, we left Ali behind where …
Ali spent the rest of the summer working at a camp for children in the foster care system in England … she got a chance to visit old friends and had a lot of stories to tell from her camp escapades when she came home! In the meantime, Ali has been chilling at UC Davis and has made a little home for herself with four other girls - making home-cooked meals every night - and even cleaning! Their apartment has become a hangout for their friends. She is majoring in Community and Regional Development and thinking about a double major in International Relations. She is very involved with campus crusades. Overall the kid is doing alright.
Elyse is now 15 and has finished her first semester of sophomore year. She played varsity tennis and is playing soccer for the winter season. She’ll be in the school musical, Annie, where she is going to be a singing, dancing orphan! She was elected to the Jefferson Award Committee that reviews and presents awards to students with outstanding contributions to community and the society. Elyse has had her first of many driving lessons and can’t wait to get out there on the road. We suggest caution for you innocent bystanders. She will be going through the Capt. McKenna Driving school passed down from her grandfather, the fighter pilot, so, in the end, you should be safe from Elyse’ highway antics.
Ian, 13, is finally a teenager and is enjoying 7th grade. On our last family winter vacation he was introduced to snowboarding and has fallen in love – with boarding, that is. He is active in the boy scouts, and is on soccer, volleyball, and basketball teams through the year. He enjoys learning new tricks on his skateboard and doing jumps off his home made ramp with the neighborhood kids. Last summer, he learned to crew for sail boats on the bay. Oh! And video games. Did we mention video games?
Mary continues to work doing home health. She has had a number of interesting cases, with details you wouldn’t want to share at the dinner table. We all have a great vocabulary of medical terms now! She has enjoyed walking, growing her tomatoes, and playing the violin with friends from church.
Mike has is now working at Yahoo! as an internationalization architect. The work is rewarding, the commute is a bear, but he can ride his bicycle to the train station or take a free shuttle to silicon valley, and avoid driving. He “works” at home on Fridays. His biggest hobby is remodeling the house, room-by-room. Mike and his “assistants” are almost done with the basement, now turned into a media room. Last spring he taught a 16 week class, “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement”, at our church.
Our retired guide dog, Mandy is unlearning her training, mostly with the boy’s generous help. Kathleen, our old grey cat is 19 now, and walks like an old arthritic lady. The rest of our clan is made up of a skittish cat, “Chipper”; Ian’s fat lazy rat, “Remy”; Elyse’ turtle, “Squirt”; and an international student or two.
With all our Love,
Mike, Mary, Alessandra, Elyse, and Ian