It has been another busy year for our family. Preston is now 13 and in 8th grade. It may be interesting to note that he is already taller than Kanoa. Ian turned 9 in November and is in 3rd grade. While he is not yet as tall as his mother, he is growing rapidly. Ian and Preston continue with their music instruction. Ian plays piano, and Preston plays both piano and guitar. Both boys had exciting basketball seasons last year since both teams were undefeated. Spring brought baseball season for them both. Summer is swim team season, and Ian was finally able to join the team. Preston improved considerably this year and contributed by earning points for the Curtis Park Seahawks at several meets. Although the team didn't have a great regular season, they came back and won their division's Finals. Preston assisted by winning first place for 11-12 year old men's 50 meter C freestyle and by taking 4th place in 11-12 year old men's 50 meter C butterfly. While Preston no longer plays a fall sport, Ian decided to explore soccer this fall. He enjoyed it and will switch from baseball to soccer. Additionally, both boys have been attending the spring break and summer basketball camps at a local high school.
In June Preston and three other boys attended the Church of the Brethren National Junior High Conference held at JMU in Harrisonburg. They had a good time participating in the conference activities and experiencing a college campus. They met youth from other churches and are looking forward to attending events in the future. Our family had a first this summer – a broken bone. Preston and some friends were playing football after church in August, and during one of the plays he fell and broke his wrist. After spending about 6 hours at the emergency room, Preston was released with a full arm cast. An orthopedic surgeon happened to be in the hospital, so he was able to set the wrist right away. Preston had to wear the cast for six weeks, and then he wore a wrist brace for another few weeks. Preston was disappointed in the timing of this injury because he missed the church ice cream social and because we were leaving for the cruise a couple of weeks later. Other than missing the ice cream, everything else managed to turn out well. We are hopeful that this will be our only experience with this type of injury.
This summer Ian again attended our denominational summer camp – Shepherd's Spring – in Sharpsburg, Maryland. This was the first year that he could attend without an adult partner. However, since a couple of other people we know signed up as adult counselors, Kanoa decided to take the plunge and volunteer also since it was only a three night camp. Ian enjoyed attending the camp with his friends/cousins Meredyth and Davin while Kanoa enjoyed being able to fellowship with their moms Yvonne and Jerry Anne. Being the moms of only boys, Jerry Anne and Kanoa had an interesting experience being in charge of a cabin full of girls. While there was some homesickness, everyone made it through the whole camp and had a good experience. Many of the children expressed a desire to attend the full week camp next summer.
Scouting still figures prominently in our lives. Ian is now a Bear with Kanoa as his den leader. Some of the activities that he has enjoyed are the annual Pinewood Derby (where he took 2nd place overall), attending a Washington Nationals game as a prize for selling popcorn, and attending summer day camp for a week. Preston has recently attained the rank of Life, which is the rank just below Eagle. This year he was elected to the Order of the Arrow, a Scouting honor society. He attended an ordeal to confirm his membership in June. Additionally, he became Assistant Senior Patrol Leader for his troop this fall. Highlights for this year included snow tubing in February, summer camp at Camp Rock Enon in Gore, cooking two lunches for a local Habitat for Humanity project, a troop movie night, and working at the Boy Scout Christmas tree lot. Many of the camping trips this fall have been wet and rainy. One in particular was dubbed the Soggy Apple Rain-o-ree.
In addition to attending the Washington Nationals game with Ian, Preston & David attended a Washington Capitals game with some friends. We also attended a couple of UVA women's basketball games. A highlight of David's year was the 25th reunion of Brentsville District High School's class of 1984. He had an enjoyable weekend catching up with old friends. In addition to teaching Sunday school, being a Cub Scout den leader, and homeschooling the boys, Kanoa also became the Educational Coordinator for the church's Leadership Team.
We rarely mention our cat Tigger, but he bears special mention this year for the mere fact that he is still with us. One night in late spring, he came home injured and we had to take him to the vet. He quickly recovered from his injuries. Then in August he had to make a trip to the animal hospital due to a blocked urinary tract. For those who don't know, this is a life threatening condition for cats, and for a while it wasn't certain that he would survive. After the hospital stabilized him, he had to be transported to our regular veterinarian, who still wasn't sure he would make it. Eventually after a few days he was able to come home. So far he is doing well. He must eat special food and drink distilled water, and he is not supposed to venture outside anymore. He has adjusted well to the food and water, but he still thinks he is “King of the Jungle” and wants to be outside. He's a good cat, and the boys love him, so we're happy he's still here.
Our big event this year was a cruise to Canada. Our preparations for the trip began months before the actual cruise with the reading of Anne of Green Gables (well, actually, listening to a book on tape). Our immediate family (David, Kanoa, Preston, and Ian), Kanoa's mom, David's parents, their neighbors Ed and Kathy Watson, and Bob's cousin Jim left one sunny September morning for an uneventful drive up to the port in Philadelphia. The port is located on a military base and is not well suited for the arrival of thousands of people, so we had to sit in a line of cars for approximately an hour waiting for our turn to unload luggage and drop off passengers. Check in and embarkation were relatively smooth since we were able to immediately check out our rooms on the Norwegian Majesty. Although we were warned about the rough seas of the North Atlantic by a friend from church, we had an uneventful and relatively smooth sailing. Our first port of call was St. John, New Brunswick. We chose to rent a car and drive about an hour out of town to Bay of Fundy National Park. We ate lunch at a charming restaurant just outside of the park where we had fresh seafood. Then we hiked a trail to a waterfall in the park. Our second port of call was Sydney, Nova Scotia. We walked around this small town on Labor Day and visited an Anglican church. Our next port of call was Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. We rented another car and first drove out to the Confederation Bridge where we watched a video of its construction. Then we drove to the northern side of the island to visit the Anne of Green Gables Historic Site. Our next to last port of call was Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our first order of business was to walk to the Citadel above the city. It was an enlightening visit as we were able to see a different perspective of the War of 1812, for which the citadel was fortified. On our way back down to the wharf, we stopped at a highly recommended seafood restaurant, where a German tourist who had apparently never seen a lobster wanted a photo of the one we were sharing for lunch. Once back down at the wharf we visited the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which features among other things, an actual deck chair from the Titanic. Halifax was the closest port the accident, and many survivors and dead were brought there. Our final port of call was Portland, Maine. Here we took a bus tour of the city and enjoyed some of the architectural sights, but the highlight was a trip out to the Portland Head Light commissioned by George Washington. After all of that excitement it was time to return to Philadelphia and another uneventful drive home.
Our photo this year was taken in the recent 20 inches of snow we received. Kanoa is going to attempt to pursue a couple of new interests next year. She has added a Facebook profile and started a blog. If you'd like to know what we're up to rather than waiting for the Christmas letter, check out the blog at or look her up on Facebook. We hope that everyone had a merry Christmas and that 2010 will bring you blessings.
Sincerely,
Ian, Preston, Kanoa, & David
