December 18, 2008
Merry Christmas,
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Our hope this year is that this letter finds you in good health and good spirits and able to enjoy the blessings of 2008. We hope the New Year will bring many more blessings to you and your family.
The girls have kept very busy this year. Mariah (17) is a senior at Eagan High School and is in the process of choosing where to go to college next year. She would like to double major in International Studies and Spanish and has applied to 7 schools, and is still waiting eagerly to hear from most of them, including the University of Denver—her top choice. During the fall break from school, we went on a college tour visiting colleges in Colorado and Nebraska. During spring break, she travelled to Spain with the Spanish club and stayed with a family in a small town outside of Madrid. It was a good opportunity to immerse herself in the Spanish language. She played soccer in the summer and still takes dance class during the school year. She has had the opportunity to teach some Spanish classes for an after school program in the elementary schools, and this summer was the craft leader for the Bloomington Parks and Rec Program. She went to different parks each day and was responsible for determining the crafts and purchasing all the necessary supplies. Needless to say, the car was usually full of bins and buckets and various “stuff”. During the school year, she works at the Oasis Teen Center at the Eagan Community Center.
Kara (14) has made the big jump to high school. She likes the flexibility of her schedule and being with so many different people during the course of the day. She is playing the clarinet in band, and is currently training for next year’s soccer season. She is going to take goalie lessons and share the goalie duties on her team. She has been doing a lot of babysitting this fall. She is our techie, always wanting the latest gear. She is anxiously waiting to take drivers education in the spring and get her learners permit.
Hailey (12) is the only one left in middle school. She is still playing the saxophone in band. Her passion, though, is soccer as she played summer, fall, and is now playing indoor soccer this winter. They play on hockey rink sized fields and they can pass and play the ball off the boards. She has been out snowboarding once already this year, and is anxious for the ski club at school to begin their trips in January and February. She took her babysitting skills tests this fall and is now starting to do some babysitting around the neighborhood too.
LeAnn has been busy working as a pre-school teacher for the city of Eagan. She has also been very busy preparing scrapbooks for Mariah’s graduation, and organizing our photos and scanning them all so we can work with them on the computer. She also works as a volunteer at United Hospital in St. Paul. She spends a lot of time bike riding during the nice weather in the summer. Her big new adventure was playing flag football with friends in the neighborhood.
Ray also enjoys bike riding, and along with LeAnn and others, rode in the RAGBRAI bike ride in Iowa again. He has taken up the hobby of geocaching this year, which is like an electronic treasure hunt. Caches, or treasures, are hidden all over the world and GPS coordinates are used to find the right location. He also went rock climbing for the first time at Taylors Falls. Ray and LeAnn also bowl together during the winter months. Ray continues to work for Advantek and has been travelling overseas about once a month.
During spring break, we went down to Phoenix and visited LeAnn’s mom for Easter. Easter dinner on the patio in shorts is quite a treat, especially considering it had been snowing in the Twin Cities on Good Friday. While there, we went to the Safeway LPGA golf tournament. Since we went on Pro-Am day, it was not too crowded and we could talk with the players and get autographs (including Anika Soremstan). We soaked up a lot of sun and kept busy swimming, golfing and eating!
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We took a trip to Nueva Vallarta, Mexico this summer. While we were there, we spent a lot of time at the pool (and saw a lot of large iguanas), but we also toured both small towns (Bucerias) and large towns (Puerto Vallarta). We went on a full snorkeling and beach excursion to one of the local bay areas. The best time we had was when we went into the Sierra Madre Mountains for a canopy adventure. We put on harnesses and then attached ourselves to zip lines that are strung from tree to tree and then let gravity do its thing. We were about 75 feet off the ground. Besides sliding from tree to tree, we walked across a rope bridge and then repelled down to the ground from the last tree.
While we were in Colorado for the college visits, we also took some time to explore the area and enjoy the mountain views of the Rockies. We spent time in the Red Rocks area and visited the amphitheatre. There were a lot of people using the steps and bleachers for workouts. Just walking up and down them, much less running, was a good workout, but then again we are lowlanders, not highlanders.
Merry Christmas,
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Our hope this year is that this letter finds you in good health and good spirits and able to enjoy the blessings of 2008. We hope the New Year will bring many more blessings to you and your family.
The girls have kept very busy this year. Mariah (17) is a senior at Eagan High School and is in the process of choosing where to go to college next year. She would like to double major in International Studies and Spanish and has applied to 7 schools, and is still waiting eagerly to hear from most of them, including the University of Denver—her top choice. During the fall break from school, we went on a college tour visiting colleges in Colorado and Nebraska. During spring break, she travelled to Spain with the Spanish club and stayed with a family in a small town outside of Madrid. It was a good opportunity to immerse herself in the Spanish language. She played soccer in the summer and still takes dance class during the school year. She has had the opportunity to teach some Spanish classes for an after school program in the elementary schools, and this summer was the craft leader for the Bloomington Parks and Rec Program. She went to different parks each day and was responsible for determining the crafts and purchasing all the necessary supplies. Needless to say, the car was usually full of bins and buckets and various “stuff”. During the school year, she works at the Oasis Teen Center at the Eagan Community Center.
Kara (14) has made the big jump to high school. She likes the flexibility of her schedule and being with so many different people during the course of the day. She is playing the clarinet in band, and is currently training for next year’s soccer season. She is going to take goalie lessons and share the goalie duties on her team. She has been doing a lot of babysitting this fall. She is our techie, always wanting the latest gear. She is anxiously waiting to take drivers education in the spring and get her learners permit.
Hailey (12) is the only one left in middle school. She is still playing the saxophone in band. Her passion, though, is soccer as she played summer, fall, and is now playing indoor soccer this winter. They play on hockey rink sized fields and they can pass and play the ball off the boards. She has been out snowboarding once already this year, and is anxious for the ski club at school to begin their trips in January and February. She took her babysitting skills tests this fall and is now starting to do some babysitting around the neighborhood too.
LeAnn has been busy working as a pre-school teacher for the city of Eagan. She has also been very busy preparing scrapbooks for Mariah’s graduation, and organizing our photos and scanning them all so we can work with them on the computer. She also works as a volunteer at United Hospital in St. Paul. She spends a lot of time bike riding during the nice weather in the summer. Her big new adventure was playing flag football with friends in the neighborhood.
Ray also enjoys bike riding, and along with LeAnn and others, rode in the RAGBRAI bike ride in Iowa again. He has taken up the hobby of geocaching this year, which is like an electronic treasure hunt. Caches, or treasures, are hidden all over the world and GPS coordinates are used to find the right location. He also went rock climbing for the first time at Taylors Falls. Ray and LeAnn also bowl together during the winter months. Ray continues to work for Advantek and has been travelling overseas about once a month.
During spring break, we went down to Phoenix and visited LeAnn’s mom for Easter. Easter dinner on the patio in shorts is quite a treat, especially considering it had been snowing in the Twin Cities on Good Friday. While there, we went to the Safeway LPGA golf tournament. Since we went on Pro-Am day, it was not too crowded and we could talk with the players and get autographs (including Anika Soremstan). We soaked up a lot of sun and kept busy swimming, golfing and eating!.jpg)
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We took a trip to Nueva Vallarta, Mexico this summer. While we were there, we spent a lot of time at the pool (and saw a lot of large iguanas), but we also toured both small towns (Bucerias) and large towns (Puerto Vallarta). We went on a full snorkeling and beach excursion to one of the local bay areas. The best time we had was when we went into the Sierra Madre Mountains for a canopy adventure. We put on harnesses and then attached ourselves to zip lines that are strung from tree to tree and then let gravity do its thing. We were about 75 feet off the ground. Besides sliding from tree to tree, we walked across a rope bridge and then repelled down to the ground from the last tree.
While we were in Colorado for the college visits, we also took some time to explore the area and enjoy the mountain views of the Rockies. We spent time in the Red Rocks area and visited the amphitheatre. There were a lot of people using the steps and bleachers for workouts. Just walking up and down them, much less running, was a good workout, but then again we are lowlanders, not highlanders. 
Ray’s Grandmother, Gudrun passed away last February at the age of 104. She is missed by all of us. Ray’s mom, Karren is doing well and will host Christmas Eve for the family again this year. LeAnn’s mom, Lois is also doing well. She had knee replacement surgery over the summer and spent most of the summer recuperating up here in the Cities with her 3 daughters.
Our tree is up and the smell of pine permeates the house. We have had a lot of snow already this year, with more due tonight and this weekend, so we will have a very white Christmas. Enjoy the Christmas season.
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