Holiday Letter 2009

As we begin to wind down 2009 and I realize I'm already late in crafting a holiday letter, I do want to spend a minute and give a quick update on all of our worlds which are busy and happy.





Bob

This was a big year for Bob, he was talked out of his successful career as an independent contractor to join full time at Zoom systems. A company that does *not* sell vending machines, they are in "automated retail" thank you very much ;-).

Being the savvy person he is, Bob got in just in time for us to attend the holiday party next week. While he will miss his flexibility and casual monday mornings, he is looking forward to being part of a team again and having a nice office in the city doesn't hurt either.

Meg

I continue to work for ORCL and keep myself busy blogging professionally. My big professional accomplishment this year was getting accepted to attend the TEDActive conference next February. I'm already looking forward to experiencing that event.


Ashton

As a full time first grader Ashton is getting used to homework and spelling lists. She is an outstanding student who helps bring order to chaos wherever she goes. Teachers shake their heads as they tell us how Ashton can get her entire table in line with her plan for whatever she thinks they should be doing.

Jacqueline

Jaq is very clear in the fact that this is her last year at Preschool. She really enjoys being the "older" one there and is more forthcoming with stories from school than her sister ever was.

She continues to amaze her parents with her ability to remember things (especially those you might hope she didn't notice). She has a keen ability to piece together multiple sources of information into her own conclusions. I can only imagine what this will look like when she gets older. At age four, it's pretty impressive to watch.



We continue to be grateful for all the people in our lives, and for the blessings we have been given. Thank you all for being a part of our lives. We hope that your holiday is as richly blessed as our own.

Bob, Meg, Ashton and Jacqueline Bear

Giving Thanks

Every year we have so much to be thankful for and this year is no different. We were blessed with a house full of guests and good food this holiday.

We had a full house with Dad, Suzie and the girls, Sean (Tash's boyfriend) and Max, Caren, Isaac and Dante joining us. We also had Rebel (Tash's dog).
I must say, with all humility everything turned out on time and perfectly! Seriously this turkey didn't just look great, it was great.

Bob and I did the Turkey, stuffing and hosting, with Bob doing the lion's share of the "moving of stuff" to make room for two tables and extra seats. I managed to find matching tableclothes which was a huge bonus and with the help of Jani's extra wine glasses and a few "wrong size" forks to cover for those that seemed to have grown legs and walked away we set a table for 13.


We had wisely farmed out most of the sides, desserts and appetizers to Natasha, Judy, Suzie and Caren.

I must also give a shout out to Isaac, who took lead on being pressured about his college plans from everyone at the table as this gave lively, non-politics based conversation for everyone to enjoy (except probably Isaac but who's counting).


And finally, while Raider was not actually at the event, I had to include this excellent photo of the dogs playing together with Grandpa Bob while the rest of us where in Orlando. Isn't it great when family has so much fun together?

Orlando Extravaganza

We are just back from a fantastic Disney/Universal endurance event that the Bear clan not only met but exceeded expectations.

In addition to all the usual suspects, we also got to meet Natasha's boyfriend Sean who held up quite well under the strain of traveling with our group, even if he was not completely clear on what the colors black and red look like.

Thanks to Papa Terry we had a lifetime supply of cheap park tickets and we were all determined to get our money's worth taking only one day off to enjoy the pool. We managed to see all 4 Disney theme parks (Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Wild Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios) and both of the Universal ones.

Of course, I have a slew of interesting photos to share but decided to stick with the ones I bought from the Disney photographers since those were the only "group shots" we bothered to get. I'm especially fond of this one of Suzie and the girls. Cute!

Another favorite was this "all girls" shot of our day at the Animal Park. Speaking of girls, our girls were troopers. They did great on the flights (with connections) and were very enthusiastic about the rides. They loved the pool, trooping upstairs to see the cousins in their condo and being generally spoiled. In fact, it was only the first day that was pretty rough with them just too tired to really enjoy themselves.

Thanks Grams and Papa Terry! This was a really wonderful trip/reunion.

Halloween 09

Of course, this year's Halloween had to be a Star Wars focused one. Even Daddy was drawn into the mix as Obi Wan with Ashton as Queen Amidala and Jacqueline as Ahsoka


Having no interest in joining in the Star Wars theme I went my own way getting a Poodle skirt and accessories. You might see me in this outfit again as it was comfortable and easy to wear. I was hoping to skip an outfit all together but Ashton was having none of that and I've learned in the last few years that while masks sound like a great idea they actually make it hard to keep an eye on the kids.Grandpa Bob joined again to help with the chaos that is the Burlingame candy rush. His costume got a lot of positive comments as well with his "H1N1 specialist" name tag and the gloves came in handy for the slew of kids we came in contact with.
Not only did we give out candy but we also had adult drinks to share with the neighbors as well. In addition this year each of the girls had an opportunity to go trick-or-treating with some neighborhood friends. This was an added bonus for all involved.

Halloween continues to be one of my favorite holidays in Burlingame.

KOA Camping

Well calling this "camping" might be a bit of a stretch. Kathi and crew were in RVs and we were in rented Cabins. We were, however, really enjoying ourselves with lots of family to visit with an tons of kids to play with. Add to that a camp environment setup for kids and you have a recipe for a great weekend. Bonus points for it being so easy being between Dad's and Suzie's house in Petaluma.


It was especially great that Grandpa Bob and Auntie Linn joined us a "day trippers".


The highlight of the trip for the girls was the power cars that Kathi brought.


Both girls took several trips around the park and even managed to pick up a few strangers along the way (?!) with a random kid deciding it was her turn to jump on.

We only had to suggest a few times that riding on the top of the car and not holding on was a bad idea.

*photo credits all to Grandpa Bob since it seems I didn't take any photos this trip as my iphone was in use making music to accompany the beer consumption.

h1n1 Attacks

Yup, I guess it was inevitable but the Bear household got the flu. To be more accurate, Ashton did. The rest of us went on Tamiflu and had mostly mild symptoms but as often happens they seem to last longer in adults. For me they included a sore throat and a lot of fatigue.

At the peak she spiked a fever of 103 but seemed to bounce pretty quickly after that. The hardest part was keeping her out of school since she does not like to miss that at ALL. Here is the trip to urgent care where she was not at all thrilled with the flu test.

Fence repair - Grandpa Bob Style

As Murphy's law would dictate we had a big storm while I was away at the OOW conference and Bob found himself without a side fence.

This would be a bummer under any circumstance, but for those who are about to do a large-scale construction project next year it seems even more cosmically obnoxious to us.



Luckily, Bob realized that we had just the right person to call to help repair the fence to hold it together for one more year without requiring a whole new fence to be built.

You guessed it, this was just the job for "Grandpa Bob the Builder". He came the next weekend with tools and supplies and helped us put in temporary supports to hold the fence together. Just the thing! Thanks Grandpa Bob, we are so grateful.