12/24/2009
KnLRanch Christmas Letter 2009
For both of the regular readers of this blog, this Christmas letter probably won't deliver any real 'news'. But, since readership has blossomed with the recent uptick in posting (up 18.1% over last year - thanks Google Analytics!), I thought I'd scrawl out the traditional seasonal missive for any new readers. And maybe if I post this to all the social networking sites, it'll go viral!
Last Year this time Seattle was a winter wonderland, with Snowpocalypse 2009 closing Seattle schools for a full week before Christmas. We had lots of fun skiing and sledding around the neighborhood.
Louise had 6 weeks of ski lessons in Jan-Feb 2009; we had a blast - Louise mastered Monster Alley at Summit West the last day of lessons, and we're looking forward to starting up another 6-week session (this time at Crystal Mtn) 2010! Ken didn't get to ski as much as he had hoped last season, but what else is new.
For spring break, we visited Disneyland! I had not thought much about Disney in years, and just lumped them with any other giant corporation that markets stuff to kids. But after visiting, and seeing so much of the park was how I remember it from 30 years ago (and apparently 20 years before that), and Louise had SUCH a great time ... I'm Mr. Disney Fan-Boy now. Following Disneyland, we saw Christine, Marco & Sue in Santa Monica - spent a little time at the beach, and had fun. Louise wants to visit LA every year now.
Summer flew by. Louise was in summer day-camp for a while, but then her month-plus end-of-summer adventure began. 1st, a road trip with Mom, through Spokane, Portland, OR, Vancouver, WA, - then ending up in McCall, ID. That's where I met up with 'em - for a week of fun in the sun at Payette Lake. Then ... Clay and I cut out to go to the FC-Barcelona v. Seattle Sounders game, and Louse had "Grandma Camp" for the next week and a half. This was a LONG time for Louise to be away from Seattle and her folks, and she was ready to come home by the end of it all, but it was a fantastic experience all around, I think.
The school year started with Louise's school moving to a new locations - ditching the funky, old Genesee Hill building for the fancy, new Cooper Elementary building. She's in 2nd grade (the Owl Clan), and is loving her new class - which is a 2/3 class, so there's some bigger kids in there as well. She also was able to sign up for an after-school class offered through the PTSA - Happy Song Time with Caspar BabyPants. Basically, Louise and 5 other kids would sit around with Chris Balew and make up songs. Sounds like fun, huh?
Early October brought BrickCon to Seattle, the big Lego convention that happens every year around this time. This year I signed up this year as a registered participant, which let me and Louise get into the event for set-up and some of the special events. Lots of cool things to see! After spending my 40th birthday in Guangzhou, China, I came back to Seattle, and the following weekend took a Kenmore Air sea-plane to Victoria, BC with Lisa to celebrate our 15th anniversary! It was a quick trip, but fun - Victoria is a interesting little town, and the 2010 Olympic torch relay was kicking off when we arrived, so there was lots going on. Another highlight of the fall was our Family Circus class at SANCA - all 3 of us enrolled, and we'd work on hand stands, trapeze, tumbling, trampoline, jugging, tightwire - all sorts of circus arts. Lots of fun, and a good workout! Scheduling was a big tight for all of us to get to class on time, so we're taking a break during the winter, but I'm sure we'll be back.
And now we're looking forward to 2010. As I said, Louise is signed up for ski lessons again - this time at Crystal - so we're excited about that. Feburary will take us to McCall, for a 1/2 week stay at the Cabin with some friends from Seattle. I've booked a trip to ski the Haute Route in April - the "high route" from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland - a week-long backcountry ski trip through the Alps. So ... I've got to get in better shape, so I can enjoy it and not suffer through the trip. And for the family - We're waffling back-and-forth on our late July summer vacation plans. We've got the frequent flyer miles racked up to go big - but where? Always a tough decision.
Last Year this time Seattle was a winter wonderland, with Snowpocalypse 2009 closing Seattle schools for a full week before Christmas. We had lots of fun skiing and sledding around the neighborhood.
Louise had 6 weeks of ski lessons in Jan-Feb 2009; we had a blast - Louise mastered Monster Alley at Summit West the last day of lessons, and we're looking forward to starting up another 6-week session (this time at Crystal Mtn) 2010! Ken didn't get to ski as much as he had hoped last season, but what else is new.
For spring break, we visited Disneyland! I had not thought much about Disney in years, and just lumped them with any other giant corporation that markets stuff to kids. But after visiting, and seeing so much of the park was how I remember it from 30 years ago (and apparently 20 years before that), and Louise had SUCH a great time ... I'm Mr. Disney Fan-Boy now. Following Disneyland, we saw Christine, Marco & Sue in Santa Monica - spent a little time at the beach, and had fun. Louise wants to visit LA every year now.
Summer flew by. Louise was in summer day-camp for a while, but then her month-plus end-of-summer adventure began. 1st, a road trip with Mom, through Spokane, Portland, OR, Vancouver, WA, - then ending up in McCall, ID. That's where I met up with 'em - for a week of fun in the sun at Payette Lake. Then ... Clay and I cut out to go to the FC-Barcelona v. Seattle Sounders game, and Louse had "Grandma Camp" for the next week and a half. This was a LONG time for Louise to be away from Seattle and her folks, and she was ready to come home by the end of it all, but it was a fantastic experience all around, I think.
The school year started with Louise's school moving to a new locations - ditching the funky, old Genesee Hill building for the fancy, new Cooper Elementary building. She's in 2nd grade (the Owl Clan), and is loving her new class - which is a 2/3 class, so there's some bigger kids in there as well. She also was able to sign up for an after-school class offered through the PTSA - Happy Song Time with Caspar BabyPants. Basically, Louise and 5 other kids would sit around with Chris Balew and make up songs. Sounds like fun, huh?
Early October brought BrickCon to Seattle, the big Lego convention that happens every year around this time. This year I signed up this year as a registered participant, which let me and Louise get into the event for set-up and some of the special events. Lots of cool things to see! After spending my 40th birthday in Guangzhou, China, I came back to Seattle, and the following weekend took a Kenmore Air sea-plane to Victoria, BC with Lisa to celebrate our 15th anniversary! It was a quick trip, but fun - Victoria is a interesting little town, and the 2010 Olympic torch relay was kicking off when we arrived, so there was lots going on. Another highlight of the fall was our Family Circus class at SANCA - all 3 of us enrolled, and we'd work on hand stands, trapeze, tumbling, trampoline, jugging, tightwire - all sorts of circus arts. Lots of fun, and a good workout! Scheduling was a big tight for all of us to get to class on time, so we're taking a break during the winter, but I'm sure we'll be back.
And now we're looking forward to 2010. As I said, Louise is signed up for ski lessons again - this time at Crystal - so we're excited about that. Feburary will take us to McCall, for a 1/2 week stay at the Cabin with some friends from Seattle. I've booked a trip to ski the Haute Route in April - the "high route" from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland - a week-long backcountry ski trip through the Alps. So ... I've got to get in better shape, so I can enjoy it and not suffer through the trip. And for the family - We're waffling back-and-forth on our late July summer vacation plans. We've got the frequent flyer miles racked up to go big - but where? Always a tough decision.
