2012 Holiday Letter to Family & Friends

I know people say this all the time, especially as we get older, but I just cannot believe how fast this year has gone by! Again, this year my blogging went by the wayside...until now of course. I have managed the occasional post to Facebook, and Gary even joined Facebook this year! It does make it easier to keep in touch and see what everyone's up to. But when I finally sit down to the blog, I really do enjoy it, so don't give up on me!

2012 turned out to be a pretty low-key year for all of us... not too much going on, which I think has actually been a good thing! Willie spent the better part of the year in Hawaii working and exploring the islands. He also traveled to Alaska and to northern California, and was here visiting with us for a few weeks in October. He is spending the holidays on the east coast, so we will miss having him with us this year. But Willie is doing just great, traveling and enjoying life to the fullest.

James spent the first part of the year at home with us. He continued his college classes at Mira Costa and worked part-time with Gary. In mid-October, he decided to make a big move, and bought a one-way ticket to Hawaii. He is living in Maui with his older sister and her family and got a great job working at one of the big resorts there. He likes it a lot and seems as if he will stay there for a while, so unfortunately, he will not be with us for the holidays either, which will be a first for us not to have the boys with us at Christmas :-(  We will miss them both! But hoping to see them soon in the new year.

Kelly is doing great and was busy as ever this year. She played soccer all year, first in pee-wee, then arena soccer and in the fall graduated to a local rec league. She has greatly improved and seems to enjoy it more and more (especially when she has friends on her team!). 





We began to host hula dancing lessons here at our house and by March we ended up with 14 little girls in class and practicing a routine for their school variety show. They were so cute and a huge hit! 

Gary & I took Kelly to Disneyland for her 7th birthday in June. She was thrilled to stay overnight in a hotel with her new luggage from nana & papa. We spent all day at the park and had so much fun! She went to several camps over summer including "Beach Kids" which is the predecessor for Junior Lifeguards, Dance camp and Gymnastics camp. She read about 30 books over summer, all from the "Fairies" series by Daisy Meadows. She began 2nd grade this fall and is thriving and excelling in all subjects. She is getting so big and brings us joy every day with her happy, humorous and loving heart.

Gary's business continues to do well. Just when things seem to start slowing down, it gets busy again, so work has overall remained pretty steady for him. He still talks of retiring from the phone work someday soon, and is always in search of something new to pursue. He expanded the garden this year, and it absolutely flourished this summer with over 25 different fruits & vegetables! He is currently turning the soil and prepping it for another good harvest in 2013. 

In March, Kelly stayed with nana & papa, and Gary & I got to take a long weekend trip to Vegas with Gary's brother and some friends. We stayed at the Rio and had a fabulous time! Summer was really nice here this year and we had warm water early in the season, so he spent quite a few afternoons and weekends at the beach.




My work in real estate has also continued to be good - My branch office and agents finally felt the full effect of the market turn-around this year, although it was slow. We are poised, ready and excited for success and growth in 2013. In June, my father went in for a "routine" surgery, but had complications during and after, which has left him in the hospital for the last half of this year. He has gone through a lot of ups & downs in his recovery and is still struggling at the writing of this. While it is all heading in the right direction, it has been a very long road for him and all of us supporting him. Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and good thoughts - please keep it coming as we still have some work to do to get him home and fully rehabbed. Although dad, work & Kelly has been my primary focus this last half of the year, I managed to fit in a Sprint Triathlon in October, and was really pleased with my time! I plan to do it again in 2013. Kelly & I also took a week long trip to the east coast for Thanksgiving and had a great time visiting a bunch of our cousins, aunts & uncles.

We hope that you all enjoy your Christmas holiday season with your family and friends and are able to reflect on and appreciate all the blessings of your life, especially in light of the horrific and tragic event in Sandy Hook last week. Life is so precious, and we are grateful every day for our family and all the wonderful people in our lives.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, 
Happy New Year and God Bless!

Love, 

Gary, Kim, Willie, James & Kelly

2012 Holiday Card

Funky Snowflakes Holiday

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Silent Night

I think my cousin Patty made an impression on Kelly during our visit in November! (She is getting her degree in American Sign Language) Here is Kelly signing (NOT singing) Silent Night:

It's iPad Time!

It's been on my "vision board" or "wish list" for two years now, and I finally got one! It was an incentive for the managers at my company...I achieved the goal and won my iPad, finally! Coming from PC and Droid world, I am still finding my way around it, but I love it, love it, love it so far. And look who has eagerly agreed to help me learn how to use it...

Yep, I'll be lucky if I get 10 minutes on that thing when she's around! On the bright side, I can use my smartphone anytime I want to now.

Thanksgiving with our East Coast Peeps

Between Gary & I, we have family and friends spread out all over the U.S. so when the time comes to take a family vacation, there is no shortage on options! It's been a couple years since we've been to the East Coast, and we were due. So on Nov 16th, Kelly & I hopped a plane headed to Virginia Beach, VA to stay with cousins Patty & Nathan, visit family and celebrate Thanksgiving together. We spent the first couple days relaxing, shopping, eating, laughing and celebrating Patty's birthday.

Every time we get Kelly & Nathan together, I am amazed at how well, and how naturally, Kelly & Nathan get along... I mean they don't just get along, they are great friends and seem to really enjoy hanging out with each other. They played games, joked around, wrestled, and even put together a "carnival" for all of us with "skill" games and prizes and rides (a big spin on the swivel chair!). 

He completely immersed her in the world of Pokemon and gave her a good start to her collection of cards (all his doubles!)

 A couple days before Thanksgiving, Kelly & I drove up to Annapolis for the day to visit Aunt Diane and cousins Michael and Paul, none of whom had even met Kelly. Kelly loved all the leaves and spent a good hour or two jumping in the leaf pile we made her. 

Kelly and her Great Aunt Diane

Cousin Michael, Kelly, Aunt Diane and me

Cousin Paul, Kelly, Aunt Diane and me

We spent the last few days and Thanksgiving day back in Virginia Beach and got to stay at a magnificent Beach House steps away from the sand. Aunt Lois came down from York, PA and Uncle Gary came up from South Carolina. 

All of us along with some great friends of Patty's all spent an incredible Thanksgiving day together. 

Although it was quite cold, Kelly can now say she has been in the Atlantic Ocean.... brrrr!

Kelly has asked me several times since we have been back, "mom, when are we going back to Virginia?" It was wonderful to re-connect with so many of our close family and will definitely be a trip to remember.

A Totoro Halloween

Early October, always with a little trepidation, I started asking Kelly what she wanted to be for Halloween. This year, without hesitation, she said "Totoro!" I had no idea what she said the first (2nd and 3rd) times she told me. It took a while to even get the correct spelling from her, but finally I was able to Google it and found this:

Turns out Totoro is a friendly mythical monster from a beloved Japanese book and movie who becomes an main character in the imaginations of two sisters. Kelly had seen the movie at school and was head over heels about the story and for Totoro, but it isn't widely known in the U.S. yet, so one of my first thoughts was... they probably don't sell this costume at Party City! Boy, I was right about that. I could barely find it on e-bay. And oddly I found more adult costumes (all modeled by Japanese women) than kids! 

So I waited the appropriate amount of time within which she *might* change her mind... but her answer was the same each time I asked. So I began the project of figuring out how I was going to make the costume. Once I committed to the idea, I had a lot of fun putting it together. I think I was channeling my mom who not only made all my Halloween costumes, but most of my clothes as well!  

Kim in her Genie costume, circa 1981

(I was trying to find a costume she made when I was 8, a half-angel/half-devil work of art... couldn't find the photo, but if I do, I'll get it on here!)

Well, I do think my little Totoro came out pretty good. Even though no one knew what she was, she didn't seem to care at all, she LOVED it! (and that's all that mattered!)

Kelly, Kaspian, Skye and Cyrus

Kelly & Krysta

2011 Xmas Card

Family Moments Holiday

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