Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Rather than try to do a month by month narrative of our year, we’re going to try and hit the topics that are of interest to us and hopefully to you also.

The first thing that most folks usually want to know is how our kids are doing and what they’re up to. We’ve had a great year with several big milestones. In March we traveled to Isla Mujeres (near Cancun, Mexico) for Ben and Jennifer’s wedding. The setting was beautiful as was the bride. The weather was great and we stayed the following week to enjoy and explore Cancun and the surrounding area, including touring the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, diving into cenotes and snorkeling at Xel Ha. We had a Seattle reception for Ben and Jen in May, then we celebrated Jess’ graduation from Central Washington University with her bachelor’s degree. 2010 should hold Erin’s graduation from Central Washington University also, as well as Kimberly and Timothy’s graduation from Shoreline Community College and Timothy’s graduation from Shorewood High School.

Ben and Jen are living in the Green Lake area while Erin and Jess share a house in Shoreline. Kim continues to live in the University district and worked this summer for Mercer Island Parks and Recreation at their summer kids’ camps and had a great time. Since she doesn't own a car she really has the bus system figured out. Tim continues to play drums for the high school jazz choir and is dancing almost every night somewhere around town doing both swing and lindy hop. He is the president of the swing dance club he and Kim started at the high school a few years ago. We even had the chance to go out dancing with him at the Third Place Books near our house where we discovered we can’t keep up with the kids.

Next, our musical adventures continue. We continue to sing and play weekly at our church (Lake Forest Park Presbyterian) in various ways, including the worship band, the choir, the chorale and leading songs during our “traditional” service. In addition, we also have performed at a variety of local venues, such as retirement homes, Rotary events and weddings. We also get to join our friends Buck and Elizabeth as the “Second Edition” and perform our eclectic folk and other styles. It’s always fun for us and hopefully entertaining for the audience. This year included the Evergreen State Fair, the Taste of Edmonds, the Clearwater Casino, a fund raiser in Moses Lake and the Ellensburg Eagles Club.

In addition to our trip to Mexico for Ben’s wedding, we had the chance to spend New Year’s with Kevin and Heather in Lebanon, Oregon. We had a great time visiting, playing cards and laughing ourselves silly. In October we spent several days in San Francisco and Sonoma just being tourists. We had some great Italian and Chinese food, good wine and amazing Irish Coffees (at the Buena Vista).

We also got to take the sailboat our a bit more this year than last. Tim and Dave spent a week on the boat in the San Juan Islands in July along with Tim’s friend Eric. Then we traded Eric for Lynn on the weekend. We got a few crabs on that trip, then returned a few days later with Buck and Elizabeth for a few more days in the islands, including more crabs and nights in Deer Harbor watching the sunset from the hot tub. That’s living! To end the summer, Kevin and Heather joined us and we squeaked in a day trip for some sailing and more crabbing. As at New Year’s, more visiting, more cards and more laughter.

Quick update on the health front: mom’s still cancer free, grandma’s still cancer free and Lynn’s still cancer free. To assist with the research to find a cure, we stayed overnight as chaperones at the Relay for Life and even walked a half marathon.

We wish all our friends and family the best holiday season this year and we're looking for next year to be the best yet.

Dave and Lynn