Merry Christmas everyone!
Our little family comes into
sharper focus each year. Interests, hobbies and activities cause us some
diversion for a while, but then most are discarded like the daily newspaper
(remember those?). We have moved on past the swing-sets, painting and musical
instruments, but in their place have emerged some deep and abiding interests.
Most of them have to do with Smart phones, of course.
Emily has taken to distance
running with gusto. The Cross country team enjoys a unique, easy camaraderie,
and they took second in the Empire League, qualified for CIF, and then made it
to the finals! We can see the self-assurance Emily has gained as one of the
leaders on the team.
Claire has two main passions,
girl scouts and soccer. The friendships are paramount to her, but she did
achieve a self-proclaimed ‘life-long goal’ by being selected one of the
All-Stars. I am, of course, immensely
proud, and do not even notice the additional Saturday requirements of AYSO
refereeing, every week, two games, irrational and belligerent fat men stalking
the sidelines. (And those are just parents—the coaches really behave poorly!)
As far as Jenn and John
go;...there is nothing to see here folks, keep moving, keep moving. One year
older and fatter, and not much else. How about them daughters, huh?
We had a really fantastic year with the larger family.
In March, Kathy Geise arranged a house for all Jenn’s side
(Paul, Stephanie, Alex, Holly, Rich, Joe, Susan, Tori, Evan, Ken, Kristin and
us)in La Quinta, where we had fun playing in the pool, celebrating a milestone
birthday, cooking, eating and maybe a little drinking together.
Claire and Holly went to Washington DC on a “Road Scholar”
tour once school let out in June. While in Arlington, they referred to the
white monolith as the Lincoln Memorial, and it stuck for a time. The tour guide
tactfully pointed out the mistake and agreed that a statue of Washington on top
would make it easier to remember.
We had two huge July events. With my parents, we went on a
ten-day cruise to Alaska. We saw Mendenhall glacier from kayaks, rode in a golf
cart powered by sled dogs, and walked around Butchart gardens after a truly
memorable van tour of Victoria on Vancouver Island. If you need to know where
the Dollar Tree is in Victoria, we
know. We exited the van about halfway back and hiked through downtown Victoria.
At the end of July, we went back to Wisconsin to my parents’
new cabin. My brother’s family met us there, and we had a great time spending a
week with him, Carolyn, Emma, Josh, Kedzie, Camden, Natalie and Magdalen. My
dad and I went to battle with a huge pine tree. There were heavy losses on both
sides, but we emerged victorious. The girls, Jenn and I were able to float the
Namekagon in tubes with the McKenzie-Gillems, and finished off the summer at a fish
fry with the Ryders.
Our tradition in November is to camp with seven other
families (Kims, Blums, Johnsons, Jows , Zeemans, et al.) in Joshua
Tree—beautiful stars at night and excellent rock scrambling during the day.
We spent the night of November 7th, election
night, at home in absolute shock. Who foresaw this?! Naturally, we wish him all the best. But
still, how could my best friend since childhood get elected Mayor of Garden
Grove?! Why? What were you thinking?
Emily will be driving soon, and this is Claire’s last year
in middle school. I’d better start doing more with my years.
All the best,
The Leebs
