2009

Way Back to 2009, with a picture link that proves to everyone that nothing ever dies on the Internet. Let that be a lesson for you kids.

Merry Christmas, 2009

We hope you all had a happy 2009. As the last year of the ‘00 decade, we are happily looking forward to this New Year when we will usher in the 10s (of course consisting of the Tweens from 2010 through 2012, the Teens from 2013 to 2019 and followed by the Colleges from 2020 to 2024 or 5 or 6, depending on how good a time you have in 2020-24). The ‘00s were dubbed the Decade from Heck (or something close) by Time Magazine’s editorial staff (who were clearly trying to avoid having to dub it “The Naughties”). Looking back in retrospect, lots of bad things happened to the world, we had a rough patch for 7 or 8 years, President-wise, extremism got more extreme and common sense seems to have been in hiding for a while. Personally, though, I had wonderful jobs which all turned out pretty good, married my lovely wife, got a super-terrific daughter, had a super-terrific son, built an awesome house, had tremendously good vacations and holidays and experiences with wonderful family and friends. If this was an awful decade then I hope all our decades are this awful personally, but maybe let the whole world share in the good stuff next time around. Of course this whole discussion is academic, since the Mayans will be destroying the Earth in December of 2012. The upside of that being, of course, that there’s only three more of these Christmas letters you’ll ever have to wade through.

It’s been a busy year again, activities-wise. We haven’t been on many vacations this year and fewer business trips so we won’t have the travelogue you’ve come to expect from my Christmas letters. I was going to make up a list of trips designed to make the jauntiest travelers among you green with envy, but I decided to take the high road instead. We went to Arizona last December, too late to make the last card, and had fun with Mom, Ron, Chad, Sharon and Sawyer. We’re going again this year over Christmas to see the new addition to the family and catch a few days of sun in the winter. We also all went to OBX again, and had a great week in Corolla. For Spring Break, Jean and Aly went on a road trip out to Columbus, OH (I know, I promised not to make you jealous, but they really went). Aly had a dance competition there that wrapped up her year on the Hip Hop Dance team. They got some shopping in and generally painted the town red. A good thing, since most of Columbus is a sort of sooty grey color with dingy accents.

Business trips took me and Jean a few places. I went out to Seattle for work for a few days, and down to Dallas, where I got to hang out for a night with cousin Matt. He’s got an awesome place and I was lucky enough to come in bat season, which is much cooler than it sounds when you type it in a Christmas letter. Jean went to Denver and Atlanta for work. She also took the kids to San Francisco to visit “Aunt Belize” with nanny Emily. Louise organized a wonderful side trip to Monterey, and they loved the world famous aquarium there (Jack still pretends to be a jellyfish). While they were out there, Rob headed down for a few days with Dah in Columbus, GA, a much less gray Columbus than one finds in Ohio. Jean also had a little jaunt down to Georgia for a spa weekend with her good friend, the CC the Clown, aka Aunt Lisa.

Speaking of which, Jack had his 4th Birthday this year. CC the Clown, came and did her magic (figuratively and literally) for Jack’s little birthday get together. The theme was monster trucks and Jean made a fun Monster-truck cake with trucks literally smashing into the cake. Aly turned 14, the year where she’s arithmetically 2/3 of the way to being able to rent a car. Her birthday party was a Twilight themed get together with friends (including yucky boys) in the basement. The blood-red punch and Red Velvet Cake were delicious. Jean worked the surprise party with two of Aly’s friends and she almost didn’t get there, it was such a good surprise. In the end, everyone had a great time and only three people were bitten (but the consensus was they were brooding too much and had it coming).

Everyone was crazy with activities this year. Aly did dance for the first part of the year, then switched full bore into lacrosse. She played on a team for the summer and did really well, particularly for having never played before. Her team took first place in the league, and she got better and better throughout. I’m really proud of her for sticking with a new sport that is very challenging and physical. Quite a departure from dance, since rarely did the other dancers carry sticks when she checked them. She’ll be trying out for the Stone Bridge JV team which plays in the spring. She also remains very interested in music. XM Satellite Radio calls on occasion asking if they can borrow some of her MP3s. She had her first “real” concert with her BFF Megan and Megan’s cool Mom. They went to the all day Mayday Parade concert at the 9:30 club. Yes, another generation now goes to the 9:30 club. Boy, am I old. She also did her first real school dance with a group of friends, one of which was “kind of” her date. Which reminds me, I’ve taken up reloading and gun-polishing as new hobbies.

Jack finished up his spring at the Little Gym, and played soccer in the summer and fall. Jean was the assistant coach on his fall squad (the Fireballs). The kids were very cute and it was more basic skills clinic than actual games, but they had a great time and napped well after. Jean has been involved with local community organizers in a school redistricting fight. Our community goes to a very good high school, Stone Bridge, and being the northern-most high school in the county, it makes logical sense for Lansdowne students to continue attending there. Stonebridge is overcrowded; any reasonable adult would examine the facts impartially and conclude Ashburn Farm to move to a different school, because they are a bunch of poopy-heads. Anyway, Jean spoke at a bunch of meetings (and on Public Access TV!) and worked on the (actual) issues and made a big contribution. The board just voted to keep current students at Stonebridge, meaning Aly will stay through her senior year and not have to move!

Jack will have to go to a different high school, though, but we’ll worry about that one a little while later. For now, he’s happy at the Golden Pond School. He went from a 3-day “Monkey” to a 5 day “Zebra” this year, the little grown-up, attending school from 8 to 11. Jack’s had three nannies this year, starting off with Nanny Megan who had been watching him since he was a little tyke. In the spring, Cousin Emily from California came to be Nanny Emily for the summer prior to heading off to grad school at Georgetown in the fall. We then found Nanny Emily 2.0, a college student from just west of here who is doing great with Jack. He’s been lucky to have such a great set of people to love him and take care of him and we’re grateful to all of them. He’s still into a lot of the same things: trucks, books, games, trucks, books and also cars and trucks. He’s got a great imagination though, and all of us have a lot of fun with him at this age.

Jean’s also been a volunteer at Jack’s school, working on the events and fundraisers they hold each year. She’s been busy working at Accenture on one of the global business operations teams. She’s doubled the size of her team this year and got a really nice rating (and bonus) from her bosses. She still enjoys working from home but with the video conferencing they have now, she’s actually able to see all the people around the world she’s worked with for the last few years in the virtual flesh. On some days she’s meeting with the UK, Japan and India, so the sun never sets on Jean’s meeting schedule.

So what am I up to? Eh, the usual. Jack and I had our first campout this year. I was grateful to have the time with Dah and family down in Georgia. I’m hoping to find some time to get my cartoons up on the Internet this coming year. Other than that, the carpool is fun and making email safe for democracy is its own reward.

We sure hope you all have a safe and happy 2010. From all of us to all of you, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love to you all,  Aly, Jack, Jean, Rob, Buddy and Biskits

''PS: The pictures on our card were taken by a friend, Carey Kunkle. You can see more of us, as usual, on your Internet machine at www.alyandjack.shutterfly.com ''

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