OUR
CHRISTMAS 2001 POSTCARD
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Here’s what we’ve been up to this fall!
We finished our summer with more time in the sprinklers and working around
our house. We put the finishing touches on the treehouse including the
electricity, windows, doorbell, paint, etc. and it’s looking pretty good!
At the end of the August, Grams stayed with
the boys while Shawn and John headed up to the Saco
River in Maine for the 20th annual Two Day Floating Happy Hour! As
always, it was a time of sun, water, and excess. One more, but that’s
it! Hats off to our friends Danny and Noreen who do all the planning and
organization for these - thanks guys!
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On August 23, Jacob celebrated his 5th birthday. He got a new and larger
two-wheeler upon which he is now terrorizing the neighborhood. We had
the official celebration that weekend at a swim party at the Reading
YMCA. We had fun playing games, eating cake and ice cream, and swimming
with friends in the pool!
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On August 25, John ran his first ever 5 mile race in the Showcase 5-Mile from the Ipswich River Park in North Reading. He comfortably beat his personal 40 minute goal with a result of 37:34!!
Later that same weekend we took in a Lowell Spinners minor league baseball game with Joshua’s buddy Ben and his family. The Spinners won 10-2 capping off a great night at the ballpark! Joshua will miss Ben and all his friends at the duck when he moves to a new school this fall.
Labor Day weekend was fun filled! Jacob’s buddy Gregory came for a play day on Saturday and we used the rest of that day to finish our weekend chores which gave us two days to play! On Sunday, we spent the afternoon on George’s Island, part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. We had a great time on the boat ride out watching the planes land at Logan Airport. And once on the island, we climbed and explored historic Fort Warren before sailing back for dinner on the outdoor cafe of Cheers at Quincy Market.
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On Sunday, we drove North for some Peak Bagging atop Mount Monadnock. We chose one of the less crowded trails but the summit was hopping! We flew our kite on the ridge, enjoyed lunch on the above tree-line rocks, and enjoyed the strenuous climb before stopping for dinner and returning home exhausted from our labors of the weekend!
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In early September, both boys started their new schools. Joshua got underway first with Ms. Boudreau’s First Grade class at the Batch. The first day was a little rough with lots of new routines to learn. By day three, much to his parents’ relief, Joshua had pretty much figured it out and described his school experience as “Awesome!” He’s in the groove.
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Jacob joined Joshua on the bus a few days later bound for Mrs. Grant’s Kindergarten class at the Hood. He rejoins his brother later in the day at the After School Program at the Burbank YMCA in Reading. Jacob adapted quickly to his new routines. He likes all his teachers and the fun stuff he’s learning at both school and the Y!
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September 11 came and went with little direct impact on us. Shawn’s company had offices at the WTC as well as folks from her office attending a convention at the Marriot next door. Fortunately, all of her colleagues escaped physically unscathed. As a family, we’ve tried to focus on the positive aspects of the event - the widely cooperative relief effort and the stories of heroism. We’re a bit concerned about what happens next as our country enters this next challenging phase. Our prayers are with our friends and neighbors around the world.
To get away from the Nation’s tragedies, we took to the woods in mid-September for a camping weekend at Pawtuckaway State Park in New Hampshire. We were treated to a sparkling fall weekend with cool nights and sunny days. We did some minor peak bagging on South Mt., played in the lake, poked at the campfire, and had a lot of fun!
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Joshua officially joined the Tiger Cubs this fall, linking up with Pack 731 that meets at our church. He brought dad along as a Tiger Cub Den Leader. Together, they’ll Search, Discover, and Share! John’s very happy that Joshua is showing interest in Scouts - he needed an excuse to wear that uniform again!
By the end of the summer, John was very proud to have pretty much reached the goal weight he’d been shooting for over the last 18 months or so since his doctor recommended last spring that he lose some weight to lower his blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. Now almost 80 pounds llighter, he’s in much better health and almost able to keep up with the boys! Should have gotten that warning from his Doc sooner!
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Grampa paid us a visit in early October and got to share the experience of the first snow flurries of the year! As always, the boys loved having Grampa at their place - they even showed off their treehouse to him!
October 6, we all attended the wedding our old buddy from Xenergy, Ian Chin and his sweetheart, Amy. The wedding was a great time with a fun reception at the New England Aquarium where the boys had a blast at the special “play room” set up for the reception!
John ran another five mile race on October 7 and improved his time for the distance by over two minutes with a Personal Record result of 35:19. This was his kind of race - the finish was at a pub that served free beer and a buffet lunch for all of the runners! How can you beat that for motivation?
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In mid-October, Joshua and John took off on a cub scout overnighter. They hunted salamanders, made candles, sang campfire songs, ate s’mores and generally got dirty. Not clear which of them had more fun. On the same weekend, Jacob and Shawn participated in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer benefit walk along Boston’s esplanade. Both of them survived the walk - even making it over the bridges that terrified their walking companion, Zack the wonderdog! (As in “I wonder if that dog will cross the bridge?”)
October 20 was a play date reunion with some of the kids’ friends from Puddle Duck. The kids had fun climbing through the Imagination Station and sharing snacks while the parents swapped school stories!
On October 21, John ran the Baystate half-marathon. He’d set a pre-race goal of 1:40 for the 13.1 mile course. He felt great on race day, though, and, despite a relaxed early pace and having lots of fun on the course, he turned in a personal victory result of 1:38:07!! He had so much fun, he’s committed himself (or should be committed?) to run the full 26.2 miles in the inaugural Washington DC Marathon in March! (Shawn swears he’s not the man she married!)
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Halloween was fun this year! We had one of Joshua’s cub scouts buddies, Erik, and his folks join us for trick or treating. Erik and Joshua were dueling vampires while Jacob chose the blue Power Ranger for his costume. Too much candy was gathered, of course!
Shawn’s updated Bio was the featured in the “Expert Profile” for November on her company’s website. She’s doing really well in her job and we’re all quite proud of her!
On November 9, we had a gaggle of good friends over for an ostrich dinner. A little wine, a few veggies, and some steaks from a large, flightless, African ratite and you got a grand time!
The next night, we helped our buddy Charlie celebrate his birthday. Charlie’s had some health issues but he seems to be on an upswing lately. We’re all praying it continues. We had fun catching up with him, Cyndi and Tom and Janet and enjoying a great Thai meal!
Shawn’s been loosing weight and developing her running as well! And, primed with the incorrect but faster bird, she ran the “Run Your Turkey Off 5k” race on November 11! She shattered her personal goal of 0 minutes with a result of 26:59 and even took home a trophy as part of the winning team in the women’s open team competition! Wow!
That same morning, John ran the 15k race and finished with a carbo consuming result of 1:07:38 - more than 20 seconds ahead of his goal! And… The boys both ran the kids 1k race and won medals for their participation! What a fast family!
The boys and John had the Veteran’s Day Monday off. They paid a visit to Puddle Duck, participated with the Cub Scouts in the town’s Veteran’s Day ceremonies, found the Bessie’s Point geocache, and generally had a fun time!
We were home for Thanksgiving day and it was a busy one! Shawn and John began the day in Andove (one town North from our home) for the Feaster Five running races along with about 7,500 other folks. Shawn ran the 5 kilometer and and John the 5 mile race. No records were set (Shawn: 28:42, John: 36:03), at least in part due to starting well back in the crowd (that’s our story and we’re sticking with it!), but each got a pie at the finish and knew the exercise would make it a lot easier to have a guilt-free turkey dinner later in the day!
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Then it was home to get the food cooking and Shawn and the boys, along with Grams, to settle in for the holiday parades! Our friend Melissa joined us with Noah and Dylan for the big dinner and the traditional Thanksgiving backyard football game. Despite the excess, we had a wonderful day!
We spent the remainder of the holiday weekend completing our Christmas shopping, beginning the decorations, attending a bowling birthday party, and just enjoying the extended time off. We finished off at the annual Advent fair at our church where we ate too much candy, helped decorate, made ornaments for our home, and had good fun with our friends!
We’ll be off to Florida on Christmas day to visit both Papa and Grampa and probably take in an amusement park or two. You’ll be able to read about all of that in our next postcard! Until then, have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the winter!
