Happy holidays again! Christmas really snuck up fast this year for us – there was so much going on in the Fall, and now it’s time for 2009! We’ve enjoyed getting the cards and e-mails already sent out, but ours will be a bit late this year due to several “time crunches”. Julie and I had a nice weekend planned to finish shopping and send out the letter, and then I went and had to go to the hospital for the weekend instead. It turns out that my gallbladder probably isn’t good any more and will be out at the end of the year or soon after, so we are just now getting to all those things we want to share with you and pass along as wishes.
The biggest part of our family’s time this year went to the marching band again. Julie and I are both involved in the Band Boosters and supporting the Style Marchers as they get ready to march in the 2009 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! It takes a lot of practice, and it takes a lot of money too – but we will be there in November with the 200+ strong band and all those floats and balloons. This past summer we had a great family vacation driving to NY and VT, with “paintball wars” on Maple Hill (VT) and even a stop at the Baseball Hall of Fame on the way back down the east coast. One of the great troopers of the trip was our dog Lexxie – we’ve had her for almost 2 years now and she is lots of fun. She’s a Rat Terrier named for Lexington Virginia (for those “in the know” about my alma mater VMI…her birthday is the same date that I became a “Rat” at VMI, and the Rat Terrier was one of Teddy Roosevelt’s favorites – a hero of mine – so it was practically FATE that she would end up with us!). She’s got pep but she also likes to lie down and nap, so she’s perfect for us.
Life in Florida continues to be good, and we enjoy having all 4 boys at home whenever it’s possible. This year we’ve had lots of fulfillment attending Ft Walton Beach First Baptist. Julie and I are part of a great Sunday School class, Christian plays bass guitar in the praise band during service, and both Hayden and Christian enjoy the youth activities. It’s definitely been a good addition to our lives. I continue as the deputy contractor lead for about 85 instructors, at the Air Force Air Operations Center “schoolhouse”, and still get to make a few trips to Vegas and Korea each year, so my travel “wanderlust” is fulfilled. This September I also flew to VT and helped my brother-in-law Jeff (and Bob the Builder) start the ball rolling toward an eventual retirement home in VT. Mostly out of fear for the winter we had the 2 old barns torn down and then built a new garage in about 3 days! Jeff really knows what he’s doing. We’ll finish the outside and continue with the land management plan until it’s time to think about replacing the old house – but that will be quite a few more years so don’t worry. Just keep watching! The rest of my time is spent (still) enjoying my cigars, a new chance to enjoy 2 new pistols (Walther P-22 & a Ruger .357), and spending time with Julie. Julie continues to substitute teach and has kicked up her “craftastic” devotion a pretty big notch at home. In addition to the really great scrapbooking she’s done, she is moving ahead rapidly with paper crafting. You can see some great pictures of the things she’s made on her blog site! She is also still enjoys singing karaoke and acting at the local community theatre. This year she was in Jekyll and Hyde – the musical.
Christian (16) is progressing through his sophomore year at Choctawhatchee HS and was part of the percussion “pit” for marching season – he made the “airplane and rocket sounds” as well as other percussion sound effects for the show “The Air Up There”. We are very proud of him and the band as they defended their Florida class 5A (large) band championship…by four-hundredths of a point! Who says there can’t be stress in a marching competition? Now he’s on to Winter Percussion and hoping for another great season with that great group. He continues to drive (fairly safely!) and has been working hard as part of the school’s “film crew” – creating videos and taping news/interviews for the daily school broadcasts…very creative!
Blain and Parker (12) are also doing great in SC with Paige. Both boys spent almost all summer with us this past year and will be here for Christmas this year. They are doing well in school and activities, which include sports and music. Both played football this fall, although Parker injured his hand during the season. Then Parker injured his finger on the playground…he is certainly active but we hope the injury cycle is over. Blain has been playing the cello and really enjoys it – including a trip they got to take to a theme park. They also got to attend a Clemson football game and have been very busy with the family in SC. This spring they will move across town as Paige remarries, but I expect we will still see them as much as busy schedules allow.
Hayden (12) is in his first year of middle school and also doing well. He keeps good grades and is very interested in science and math…we had a good time building the “Nile Delta” out of salt dough this year, and running through the scientific process to see “the effect of different liquids on Insta-snow” for his science fair project! He’s enjoyed learning and playing in the Chess Club, continues to read daily, and also started on the clarinet in the band…a very good (and fairly quiet) choice as far as Julie and I are concerned – trumpet was one of the second choices!
Julie and I wish you all happiness and thanks for the things that are good in your lives while there is so much turmoil and change in our world. We hope you all have a great holiday season and new year! You can also keep up with our activities and “surf all you want” with the on-line links below:
http://www.juliemichelle.smugmug.com/ (pictures)
www.myspace.com/karaokejulie
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1 comment:
Hey, wait a second! What about Adam's fishing trip with the most handsome and powerful Mike Chesser? That's right....Adam got schooled that day but at least we had fun.
Merry Christmas all.
The Chesser's
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