December 14, 2010
Merry Christmas,
We hope you had a good year in 2010. Christmas is close at hand and it will be a white Christmas this year here in Minnesota as we had almost a foot and a half of snow last weekend. I was glad I got the lights checked out and put up before the really big snows came.
Mariah (19) is a sophomore at the University of Denver. She is studying International Business and Spanish. She loves the school and the Denver area. Over the summer, she worked for the City of Bloomington in the Parks and Recreation Department coordinating and conducting crafts and projects at the local city parks. Last spring break, she made a surprise visit home for Ray and Kara’s birthdays. She kept the secret from all of us, so it was a great surprise. Next year she is planning on studying abroad in Mendoza, Argentina from July to December. She is involved in the student programming board and plays club volleyball and intramurals besides keeping up on her studies.
Kara (16) is a junior at Eagan High School. During spring break, she went to Puerto Rico with the high school band, played a couple of concerts and did a lot of site seeing. During the spring, she was on the varsity golf team and is looking forward to playing again next spring. During the summer she went on a mission trip to Cortez, Colorado where they helped in the local community painting houses and providing daycare. She also played soccer and is currently playing on an indoor league.
Hailey (14) is a freshman at Eagan High School. She transitioned well into high school and has been able to keep up with added homework and activities. She was on the swim team last spring, and played volleyball for Eagan this fall. This fall and winter she is playing indoor soccer. She does some babysitting in the neighborhood and keeps a busy social life.
Ray rode his bike for 5 days as part of the RAGBRAI bike ride across Iowa during the last week of July. Even though it doesn’t sound fun, he has a great time seeing the countryside and meeting all the great people along the way. He also enjoys golfing, but never gets out enough. Ray celebrated his 20th year with Advantek this summer, and has continued to travel to Asia every couple of months. A couple of highlights of the trips this year were going to a Taiwan professional baseball game and the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
LeAnn and Ray celebrated their 20th anniversary with a trip to Las Vegas. They attended performances by Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil. They also went to the old downtown, stratosphere and walked the strip.
This summer we traveled to Florida for a summer vacation. We stayed in the Clearwater-St. Petersburg area. While there, we took in a Tampa Rays baseball game, celebrated LeAnn’s birthday, watched fireworks on the beach, went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure theme parks in Orlando, then down to Fort De Soto to explore the island and snorkel. We also spent time relaxing at the beach and by the pool.
Last weekend we celebrated Ray’s mom’s 80th birthday with a gathering of long time friends and family. LeAnn’s mom is still splitting time between Iowa in the summer and Arizona in the winter.
We have our tree up and decorated, and will be having Ray’s family over on Christmas Eve before heading to LeAnn’s sister’s house on Christmas Day.
We hope you have a great Christmas season and a Happy New Year.
Email: bloom2511@hotmail.com
