I’ve been trying to think of a unifying theme for our
Christmas letter this year. “The Year We Built a House with Handtools and Lived
in it for a Year,” “The Year We Cooked a Meal from a different Country Each
Night,” or “The Year We Sold Everything and Lived on the Beach in Hawaii” all
suffer from the same shortcoming—no basis in reality. “The Year We did Stuff and Things Happened” lacks
pizzazz, but is accurate…I guess it’ll have to do.
January’s highlight was whale watching off Dana Point. We saw only one whale, and that was just his
fluke, through binoculars, at 200 yards.
Not exactly the “whale rider” experience we were hoping for. But the captain opened the throttle through a
massive pod of dolphins. They hurled
themselves in the air behind the boat, playing in the wake: flips and turns and
twists. We returned cold and smiling.
Emily turned thirteen in March, a fully-fledged teen. Her plumage has undergone a remarkable
transformation. I harbor a sneaking
suspicion David Attenborough is lurking outside, waiting to make some trenchant
observation about humanity’s connection to animals in a clipped British accent.
Who hasn’t wanted to punch Attenborough in the face? Emily enjoys standing as straight as she
possibly can in order to gaze past the top of her mother’s head. Meanwhile, Jenn has enjoyed looking at Emily’s
baby pictures. She’ll look up, see Emily in the flesh, and faint. I can hardly keep her conscious these days.
During Spring Break we had two halves of the Los Angeles
experience. One day we visited the
Griffith Park Observatory with its huge, zapping Tesla coil, Foucault’s
pendulum, and live image of the sun. The
Art Deco architecture is a favorite, as is the smog-obscured view of the
lowlands. Two days later we visited
Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum on Hollywood Boulevard. Throngs of tourists, locals dressed in
ridiculous costumes trying to entice tourists to pay for photographs, and
celebrities made of paraffin were all in full display. It was all silly good
fun.
Claire’s Girl Scout troop raised money to go to San
Francisco for their Bridging Ceremony.
Previous bridging ceremonies have been conducted on five-foot homemade
bridges and on Kiwanisland’s four meter foot bridge. Clearly, traversing the Golden Gate bridge
was the next logical step. Claire pushed
a wheelchair occupied by her friend Emily Kim, who had injured her knee. We turned it into a family weekend with
Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown and Jenn’s favorite, the truly magnificent Grace
Cathedral. We stopped by Pea Soup
Andersen’s in Buellton on the way home.
Funny thing, neither of the girls likes pea soup. Now we know.
Once school let out, we had options. We visited Universal Studios Theme Park and
had a lot of fun. The tour of the back lot
is still the best part.
Emily took a
trip with her Grandma Holly through the desert Southwest.
The girls and I drove to Las Vegas to fly to
Duluth for the start of our Wisconsin vacation with my parents. Jenn joined us for the last nine days in
Wisconsin. On the way home, we spent
time with my cousin Steve Arnett and his lovely family. We stopped by Hoover Dam, and I tried to
point out the Art Deco design elements, but the heat was overwhelming.
When we returned, we learned that Emily’s
photographic entry in the Orange County Fair had won a judge’s choice award.
Jenn’s unique skill set was acknowledged by Disney when they
made her a permanent manager, not just a fill-in manager, in September. She gets to wear business casual to work (a
rare ability among Disney employees) and comes home much happier than the days
when she spent eight hours in a ticket booth…excuse me, in a vacation planning
center. We are very proud of her.
In November, we spent the long Veteran’s Day weekend in
Joshua Tree with the Kims, Blums and Jows, all Girl Scout families. The kids always have a great time scrambling
on the abundant rocks, and the adults have fun putting up tents, fetching
water, cooking, cleaning gravel out of everywhere, rolling up sleeping bags,
straightening up the tent, building fires, extinguishing burning children (just
the once), and the like. Camping is fun!
Because I said so.
We are healthy and happy and wish you the same,
Merry Christmas
