Hoping this card finds you all in good health, we share with you our fall doings…
We had the pleasure of a visit from Grandpa at the end of September. He stopped by on his way to Hawaii and Australia with the Young at Heart Chorus. While here, we dragged him and Grams along to help celebrate Shawn and John’s 11th wedding anniversary with a great dinner at the open-air Taranta in Boston’s North End.
On October 19th, John gave it a go at the Baystate Marathon for the benefit of Worldcamps. He had a great run, finishing in 3:19:44 - good enough to qualify him as an official entrant for the 2004 Boston Marathon!
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We played a lot of soccer this fall - both Joshua and Jacob enjoyed great success on the fields. Mom and dad enjoyed watching them work hard in many games!
Halloween was a hoot - Jacob was a knight in shining armor and Joshua was Elvis (wonder where he got that idea?) - we had fun attending a neighborhood party and roaming the streets looking for candy!
In November, Joshua and John made a trip to Florida to help our buddy Charlie celebrate his 50th birthday! We were treated to some great sun and a fun time on the beaches of Sanibel. We muss our friends - but they seem to be enjoying the Florida climate - and we enjoy visiting there!!
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Thanksgiving was a busy day! It began with all four of us running the Feaster Five races in Andover. The boys had great runs in the “Kid’s K” and mom and dad both got a work out in the 5-miler - all so we could eat the rest of the day with less guilt! It was home to watch the parades and start the turkey and then the traditional backyard football game with our pals Noah and Dylan - they and their mom, Melissa, along with Grams, joined us for a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat and we all had a blast!
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Thanksgiving weekend we got the chance to visit with John’s UMASS buddy Steve Gorman and his family. We linked up at Faneuil Hall, walked in the chilly wind, toured the Boston Science Museum, and had a fun time swapping stories and learning about each other’s kids!
Things really began to accelerate around our place as Christmas drew near… We had the church fair to help with, the start of basketball season, a party to throw, cub scout events… And things we felt a bit overwhelmed.
Joshua had a solo part in the third grade holiday show, “The Share Bears”. It was a great story of sharing and caring and Josh did a great job of singing and dancing!
We again hosted our annual Christmas Party with a pile of our friends and neighbors. As has become the tradition, we collected money for charity in lieu of gifts and this year raised $1,425 for Globe Santa!! Boy do we have great and generous friends!
We didn’t pull off sending out traditional Christmas cards this year. We just got a little behind and had to pull back on a few things and just didn’t get to them. Sorry you won’t be seeing our smiling faces in your mail box - but do know that our thoughts are with you this holidayseason and we do hope that you all have a joyous and Merry Christmas!
Drop us a line sometime!
Until then… All our best for the holdiays! See you this spring!
