Christmas Letter 2008

Here is the Christmas letter 2008 we sent to family and freinds (sans pictures):

Christmas 2008

We hope everyone has had a good year and this Christmas greeting finds you in good health and spirits. Highlights of the past year include attending the high school graduation ceremony for Elroy and Judy, helping them move into their college dorms, and (thanks to Uncle Michael's nagging about getting the kids registered to vote) we all voted in the presidential election. Elroy is now attending UMBC just outside of Baltimore and Judy is at Kalamazoo College (Kzoo) in Michigan. We visited Judy at Kzoo over parent’s weekend in October and look forward to spending more time touring Kalamazoo and Michigan in the future. Since Elroy is only 45 minutes away, we’ve visited him more often. Although we’re not exactly sure Elroy considers that a perk he does get free housecleaning as part of the bargain.

In May, Jane and George took a mini-vacation to Arizona to do a Rim-2-Rim-2-Rim hike of the Grand Canyon. Starting from the South Rim we ran/hiked 22 miles to the North Rim (a view from the Coconino Overlook is below) and 24 miles back the following day. The hikes out of the canyon were tough and it rained, snowed and sleeted as we approached the rims, but down in the canyon the cacti were in bloom and the temperatures were balmy. In October, we ran the Marine Corps Marathon and Jane made a new friend, Teddy Roosevelt (the mascot for the Washington Nationals baseball club who ran the entire marathon in his outfit). I won't mention our finishing times, suffice it to say we managed to beat Teddy……....I think.

As part of freshman orientation at Kzoo, Judy hiked and canoed in Killarney Provincial Park in Canada for 18 days. She came back with great stories of howling wolves at night, beautiful sunrises, lousy meals, portaging canoes and forging waist-high streams. She enjoyed it all, even the pimples and dirty hair that come with wilderness backpacking. The only mishap was the day we dropped her off at Kzoo for the program and were asked, "Do you have her passport? She'll need that to get into Canada." …Oops…we'd left her passport at home. Let's call the result, Techniques in Crisis Management 101.

Elroy worked at a veterinary clinic over the summer. He too came home with some interesting and some sad stories. However, Elroy is so allergic to most furry things that veterinary medicine may not be in his cards. At present, Elroy is focusing on Chemistry and adjusting to a challenging college curriculum but still finds time to read, re-read and re-re-read his favorite Fantasy/Fiction books.

Sadly, our faithful dog, Astro, passed away the week before Thanksgiving. Astro, like all Dalmatians, kept a close watch on his family, especially the kids, and we really miss not having him under our feet. However, our newest family member, Max the Cat, is still growing and very playful and enjoys tormenting Fresca who, at 15 years old, neither appreciates nor tolerates his attention.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Oh yeah, the downstairs bathroom finally got finished. No, not by George, by the contractor who did our porch+bathroom. It was what …8 years? Not that anyone's complaining.