2008: we hiked our first marathon, climbed mountains, built things, tore others down, found more ways to eat local, learned new technology, made new friends. Greetings to all, near and far.
2008 was an eventful year in the neighborhood, what with two visits from the local SWAT team, one massive conflagration, and a house-leveling explosion. Family news happily cannot match that, but we had our share of milestones.
Quincy continued her involvement with theatre onstage in Talk Radio (she and Stu also constructed the set) and as a techie in Beauty and the Beast (no photos were allowed...). She was also in the LCHS Showcase Marching Band, which had a very long season since the football team won the state championship! Other Quincy highlights are here, and include a month-long trip to Germany to visit her GAPP partner (her blog about that travel is here). We sadly come to the end of our era of exchange students: the ones we hosted were great kids.
Jacob continued swimming last winter, spring, and summer and filled the spring with academics and preparing for college. He graduated from Las Cruces High School in May and celebrated with two weeks in Thailand. In August, Jacob started college at Willamette University: he enjoyed his first semester and learned, importantly, that kids from small-town New Mexico can hold their own with kids from top high schools from around the country. He really liked his courses, and next semester he will be a teaching assistant for the biology course he just completed. He is also on the Willamette swim team.
Because of Quincy and Jacob's travel plans, this was the first year in many that we had no family summer travel. But Stu and Mel did get away to Cozumel, Mexico, to celebrate 25 years of marriage. Of course, while we were away, a wildfire came within a mile of the house and kept Jacob awake and on watch. Our December travel to Florida (picture, above, in the Everglades) was excellent -- warm and relaxed, with excellent food and beautiful scenery.
As for Stu and Mel? We are still both at NMSU and active in the community. Stu continues his research and service but is best known on campus as the Beer Guy. He is a local soccer ref, the go-to guy for stage and marching band set pieces, and the brewmaster for the Erasmus B. Dragon hiking club (no hiking club should be without one). Melody has colleagues who are experts in the uses of social media and keep trying to drag her into millennial forms of technology (see most amusing example here). In July, she started commuting to work on her reliable Fuji (older than some of her colleagues) and has enjoyed getting to know the local cycling landscape. If the ride home is an uphill grind, the ride in is a downhill thing of joy!
We have lots of room and invite anybody wanting an escape from the cold to come visit. Or gain foreign relations experience: You can see Mexico from our front yard!
Best wishes to all for a great 2009.
