HOLIDAY GREETINGS 2007
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year
from the Roberts Family!
2007 was a year for settling into our new life in Elk Grove, CA! As I reflect back on the year a Girl Scout song chorus runs through my head.... "make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the others gold"..... When you move to a new place that is more than a town or two away from your old home you know your family will make the longer drive to visit but there's no guarantee your friends will do the same. We're very fortunate to have a few friends who have made the drive this year and made lots of new friends here as well. This just serves to remind us that it's the people in our lives, not the things, that make it such 'a wonderful life'!
Our settling into Elk Grove this year mostly consisted of our spring and winter softball adventures! Being new to the league Duane and I were a little nervous about coaching when we didn't really know any of the girls or families. But we didn't let that stop us and we were met with enthusiastic families who were selected on our team (the spring 12 and under draft was a very interesting process - we actually got to pick our team and select girls we'd evaluated in a try-out day). We had a season of about half wins and half loses - and were in the top two scoring teams - watch out, the Stingers will steal any base you don't protect!
From that team of great girls and families we brought five (including our two) along to join with another coach in the Fall to form the Crushers. The winter league (as it's called) was a lot of fun for Duane, Kali, Melia and me because we played double-headers on Sunday afternoons and the season started and finished with a tournament on either end. Each week in between we either played on our local home field or traveled to other cities in the Sacramento area to play on the opponents home fields. That was FUN! So much in fact that after the end of the season we learned that the Elk Grove league's traveling 14U tournament team was evaluating potential new players. Kali tried out one very cool evening in mid-December and was offered a spot on the 2008 team roster! The Roberts family will be on the road every weekend this spring and summer rooting on the Thunder! During the week Melia will have two games to play in the league's rec program. Needless to say, we'll be busy!
Back to those great new friends we've made - softball has really helped connect us with a few great families. Duane even plays men's softball in the spring and summer with one of the Dad's from our team.
Our summer was again another busy one - I call it the "P" tour summer. We began with a long weekend getaway to Phoenix where we visited with friends and enjoyed the hot Arizona sun! Two weeks later in mid-June we headed out to Philly - I was going for a conference and brought Duane and the girls along to see that city for their first time - there's lot of US history there - and we finished our trip with a weekend stay with the Harris' who moved to a Philly suburb in 2006. We followed that trip two weeks later with our official family vacation to Disneyland (joined by our friends from San Mateo, Cynthia, Allison & Roger) - truly our most fun trip to the magical kingdom with the girls yet. We all had a BLAST! We spent 4th of July in the park and watched the amazing Disneyland Independence Day fireworks.
Following our three days at Disneyland and California adventure we parted ways with our friends and headed out to discover a little piece of family history. We found our way to the Los Angeles Police Historical Society which is housed in a retired police station in LA near Pasadena. Here we saw bits and pieces of the history of the first women in the LA police dept which included Mrs. Elizabeth Feeley, my great-great grandmother on my mother's father's side. I've been trying to get to this place for years so this was a neat experience for me!
Our southern california trip culminated in a 3 day cruise which was a mini-family reunion for Duane's father's side - well, one arm of them. It basically was all of Ronnie's siblings and their families. Twenty-nine of us in all on a ship bound for Ensenda, Mexico and back. Melia and I found the Bingo game each day, Kali enjoyed the freedom of hanging out with 12+ crowd and made a couple of friends. The oddest discovery for us was the fact that the swimming pool contained salt water - weird! All in all, we were all much more comfortable when our feet were on solid ground, especially me - I swayed for a few days after we got home. I think I'll insist any future family reunion trips be on land.
Our activity-ladened summer continued with me spending 10 days in Portland (work-related training seminars) and the girls heading out to UC Davis for a week of Science/Tech camp. While we were all away Duane was left to his own devices - and bought new french doors! He's dangerous on his own!
Melia went back to school upon her return from science camp and was glad to be back with her friends. Kali, with a month still of summer vacation, went off for what is likely her last time at Girl Scout camp where she spent a week in the foothills above Sonora riding horses.
The new school year brought with it some adjustments to be made as well. For the first time since the girls began school Kali & Melia are in different schools and on different schedules. Melia is in her final year of elementary school - she's in the 6th grade, on the honor roll and a member of the school choir (finally an outlet for her vocal passions!). Melia is also a member of the school valet team - these kids arrive early a few days a week and help to greet cars as children are dropped off at the curbside for the start of the school day. True to her fashionista form, Melia refuses to wear the royal blue valet cap for fear it will mess up her hair. Guess I can't totally blame her.
Kali entered middle school (7th grade) with ease. She's got funny stories to share almost daily about her teachers or the immature behavior of the boys in her social science and math classes. Let's pray she continues to view boys as immature for a few more years! Kali is enjoying an expanding perimeter of her area to roam - a couple of days a week after school she and a couple of friends walk around the block from school to Jamba Juice before heading home. So far this has given me a handful of additional gray hairs (paranoid Mom syndrome) - can't imagine what I'm in for when she has a drivers license.
This year also has brought two big changes in our pet combiniation. We came to Elk Grove with three cats last year - Michelle & Jennifer (now 9 year old siblings) and Cupcake. In late summer we lost Cupcake to a drive-over (she got hit by a car). That was a VERY traumatic experience! But it gave cause for the girls to begin again in earnest their lobbying for a new pet - a puppy! We finally gave in to their incessant begging and began the research to determine what kind of dog to acquire. After lots of internet research, a day at a dog show, and talking with trainers, we settled on a breed - the American Eskimo - and decided on the mini size (up to ~20 lbs.) Duane found a breed in Kansas who would have a litter ready for adoption in mid-Dec and we took the plunge!
On Dec 18th Duane and I went up to the Sac airport and picked up Uno! He's a bundle of white fur and lots of energy. And of course we are the ones getting up in the middle of the night to take him out for a potty break - hope he starts sleeping through the night before too long!
And finally, as we wrapped up the year, we were host to a number of our immediate family for Christmas dinner this year. With my mom up in Alaska to finally spend a Christmas with my brother Dave, we took on the task of hosting Christmas dinner. To borrow my sister Debbie's assessment, "it was a six fork dinner!" (If you watch the blog for Duane's restaurant reviews, you'll know what she's talking about.)
We've been blessed with a healthy and happy 2007 and hope you and yours have been equally blessed! Wishing you a wonderful 2008!
Margaret, Duane, Kali & Melia
2007 was a year for settling into our new life in Elk Grove, CA! As I reflect back on the year a Girl Scout song chorus runs through my head.... "make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the others gold"..... When you move to a new place that is more than a town or two away from your old home you know your family will make the longer drive to visit but there's no guarantee your friends will do the same. We're very fortunate to have a few friends who have made the drive this year and made lots of new friends here as well. This just serves to remind us that it's the people in our lives, not the things, that make it such 'a wonderful life'!
Our settling into Elk Grove this year mostly consisted of our spring and winter softball adventures! Being new to the league Duane and I were a little nervous about coaching when we didn't really know any of the girls or families. But we didn't let that stop us and we were met with enthusiastic families who were selected on our team (the spring 12 and under draft was a very interesting process - we actually got to pick our team and select girls we'd evaluated in a try-out day). We had a season of about half wins and half loses - and were in the top two scoring teams - watch out, the Stingers will steal any base you don't protect!
From that team of great girls and families we brought five (including our two) along to join with another coach in the Fall to form the Crushers. The winter league (as it's called) was a lot of fun for Duane, Kali, Melia and me because we played double-headers on Sunday afternoons and the season started and finished with a tournament on either end. Each week in between we either played on our local home field or traveled to other cities in the Sacramento area to play on the opponents home fields. That was FUN! So much in fact that after the end of the season we learned that the Elk Grove league's traveling 14U tournament team was evaluating potential new players. Kali tried out one very cool evening in mid-December and was offered a spot on the 2008 team roster! The Roberts family will be on the road every weekend this spring and summer rooting on the Thunder! During the week Melia will have two games to play in the league's rec program. Needless to say, we'll be busy!
Back to those great new friends we've made - softball has really helped connect us with a few great families. Duane even plays men's softball in the spring and summer with one of the Dad's from our team.
Our summer was again another busy one - I call it the "P" tour summer. We began with a long weekend getaway to Phoenix where we visited with friends and enjoyed the hot Arizona sun! Two weeks later in mid-June we headed out to Philly - I was going for a conference and brought Duane and the girls along to see that city for their first time - there's lot of US history there - and we finished our trip with a weekend stay with the Harris' who moved to a Philly suburb in 2006. We followed that trip two weeks later with our official family vacation to Disneyland (joined by our friends from San Mateo, Cynthia, Allison & Roger) - truly our most fun trip to the magical kingdom with the girls yet. We all had a BLAST! We spent 4th of July in the park and watched the amazing Disneyland Independence Day fireworks.
Following our three days at Disneyland and California adventure we parted ways with our friends and headed out to discover a little piece of family history. We found our way to the Los Angeles Police Historical Society which is housed in a retired police station in LA near Pasadena. Here we saw bits and pieces of the history of the first women in the LA police dept which included Mrs. Elizabeth Feeley, my great-great grandmother on my mother's father's side. I've been trying to get to this place for years so this was a neat experience for me!
Our southern california trip culminated in a 3 day cruise which was a mini-family reunion for Duane's father's side - well, one arm of them. It basically was all of Ronnie's siblings and their families. Twenty-nine of us in all on a ship bound for Ensenda, Mexico and back. Melia and I found the Bingo game each day, Kali enjoyed the freedom of hanging out with 12+ crowd and made a couple of friends. The oddest discovery for us was the fact that the swimming pool contained salt water - weird! All in all, we were all much more comfortable when our feet were on solid ground, especially me - I swayed for a few days after we got home. I think I'll insist any future family reunion trips be on land.
Our activity-ladened summer continued with me spending 10 days in Portland (work-related training seminars) and the girls heading out to UC Davis for a week of Science/Tech camp. While we were all away Duane was left to his own devices - and bought new french doors! He's dangerous on his own!
Melia went back to school upon her return from science camp and was glad to be back with her friends. Kali, with a month still of summer vacation, went off for what is likely her last time at Girl Scout camp where she spent a week in the foothills above Sonora riding horses.
The new school year brought with it some adjustments to be made as well. For the first time since the girls began school Kali & Melia are in different schools and on different schedules. Melia is in her final year of elementary school - she's in the 6th grade, on the honor roll and a member of the school choir (finally an outlet for her vocal passions!). Melia is also a member of the school valet team - these kids arrive early a few days a week and help to greet cars as children are dropped off at the curbside for the start of the school day. True to her fashionista form, Melia refuses to wear the royal blue valet cap for fear it will mess up her hair. Guess I can't totally blame her.
Kali entered middle school (7th grade) with ease. She's got funny stories to share almost daily about her teachers or the immature behavior of the boys in her social science and math classes. Let's pray she continues to view boys as immature for a few more years! Kali is enjoying an expanding perimeter of her area to roam - a couple of days a week after school she and a couple of friends walk around the block from school to Jamba Juice before heading home. So far this has given me a handful of additional gray hairs (paranoid Mom syndrome) - can't imagine what I'm in for when she has a drivers license.
This year also has brought two big changes in our pet combiniation. We came to Elk Grove with three cats last year - Michelle & Jennifer (now 9 year old siblings) and Cupcake. In late summer we lost Cupcake to a drive-over (she got hit by a car). That was a VERY traumatic experience! But it gave cause for the girls to begin again in earnest their lobbying for a new pet - a puppy! We finally gave in to their incessant begging and began the research to determine what kind of dog to acquire. After lots of internet research, a day at a dog show, and talking with trainers, we settled on a breed - the American Eskimo - and decided on the mini size (up to ~20 lbs.) Duane found a breed in Kansas who would have a litter ready for adoption in mid-Dec and we took the plunge!
On Dec 18th Duane and I went up to the Sac airport and picked up Uno! He's a bundle of white fur and lots of energy. And of course we are the ones getting up in the middle of the night to take him out for a potty break - hope he starts sleeping through the night before too long!
And finally, as we wrapped up the year, we were host to a number of our immediate family for Christmas dinner this year. With my mom up in Alaska to finally spend a Christmas with my brother Dave, we took on the task of hosting Christmas dinner. To borrow my sister Debbie's assessment, "it was a six fork dinner!" (If you watch the blog for Duane's restaurant reviews, you'll know what she's talking about.)
We've been blessed with a healthy and happy 2007 and hope you and yours have been equally blessed! Wishing you a wonderful 2008!
Margaret, Duane, Kali & Melia
posted by Margaret and Duane @ 12:06 PM
