Here's To Life!

The Christmas tree is decorated, and there are even presents under it.   A wreath hangs on the door. The nativity set is out. The holiday season is here even though it feels different. What a year this has been! We had a couple of big events planned for this year — events which still happened though not in the way we had originally thought.   Paul planned his retirement for this year — in July he celebrated 35 years being with Mayer Brown LLP and decided that he was ready for retirement at the end of that month. He was asked to stay on a few more months and so retired at the end of September. He started working from home in March when everything was shut down and never went back into his office. He hasn’t missed working though he missed seeing his colleagues in person before he retired. He has spent his time since continuing to work in the yard, work on his genealogy and writing up family histories. Gail’s mother celebrated her 90th birthday in July. A big birthday celebration...

  What a fall it has been! From Paul's retirement on September 30 to Kristin's wedding on October 10 and a trip to enjoy the fall colors and visit my mother, we have celebrated. This year we really had a chance to see the changing colors of fall. Since we are both not working, we were able to take the time to enjoy the end of the warmer weather and the leaves as they were changing color. Chicago, our backyard, western Massachusetts, Cape Cod and Pennsylvania - we spent the fall enjoying each day. Because of everything going on this year, we spent a lot more time outdoors. We made one of our favorite drives in western Massachusetts on Route 2, a route we have taken many times in the summer but this was our first fall drive. We looked at the seashore in many places on the Cape. We celebrated Kristin and Scott's wedding in our backyard. We enjoyed Halloween with John, Sasha and Xochitl. We have spent time at home just doing things around the house.  The weather has been unseas...

  Kristin and Scott got married in our backyard on October 10, 2020. Anna married them. Planning began last year for their wedding and they planned a celebration at Galleria Marchetti for 10/10/2020. Kristin planned well for that day - arranging the photography, a dj, flowers, and getting a dress. Changes had to be made after the pandemic scuttled her plans - along with the plans of a lot of other people gathering for various festivities in 2020. They decided they still wanted to get married this year and hold their celebration next year. So new plans got formed and our backyard was decided upon just a couple days before the 10th. Our family was there, along with Scott's parents, Kristin's bridesmaids and Anna and Jim. The weather cooperated and we had a lovely afternoon. Anna was a wonderful officiant for the ceremony and it was a special occasion. Wedding of Kristin and Scott

So many of the trips that we have taken have been east coast oriented or perhaps south or southeastern. So at the end of this summer, Paul and I decided it was time to travel west - and enjoyed a week in Colorado! And if you read all the way through, you will find a link to many of our pictures of our trip. We drove through Iowa and Nebraska - parts of the country we hadn't driven through since we were kids. We spent the first night in Council Bluffs, IA after stopping in Rock Island for Whitey's shakes. We stopped at a Danish Winery and did a little wine tasting and buying and drove through the Danish town of Elk Horn, IA but were too late to visit the windmill and Danish museum. Having been watching the show, "Hell on Wheels" on Netflix which is a drama about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, we were interested in visiting the spot of the eastern terminus. Driving through Nebraska the next day, we decided to see if there were any wineries near where we ...

  John, Xochitl and I went to Brookfield Zoo last Thursday. We saw wombats, goats, a tiger and giraffes among other animals but Xochitl's favorite was the animatronic dinosaurs situated throughout the zoo. They roared - and she roared back. She showed her dinosaur to the dinosaur at the zoo.  We had a fun day and Xochitl was a happy little girl.

  Enjoyed a very pleasant few days with Joy and Dan at their Michigan house in August. The weather was cooperative - no rain except on the drive up. We enjoyed eating out on their deck and being near the water. A little closer to the water than before since most of their beach has eroded and the stairs from their house stop at water's edge. We took a walk through a sculpture garden in Elk Rapids on Sunday afternoon. On Monday, we explored Mission Peninsula, finding a restaurant with outdoor seating for lunch and a vineyard where we could sample a wine flight and sit among the vines. And of course, I took photos of the great sunsets taken from their deck. Thanks Joy and Dan for your hospitality! We enjoyed our getaway Photos!

Celebrated my mother's 90th birthday on July 11 (her actual birthday is July 12) with a family gathering in her backyard. We wore masks, socially distanced - even for the photo and enjoyed being together. Congratulations Mom on being 90 years young! Here are a few more  photos  from the party. Other Cape 2020  Photos

Kristin and Scott got engaged in March, 2019. They had planned an October 10, 2020 wedding. They are still going to be married on that date but we will have the big wedding celebration on October 15, 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Another in the change of plans for this year. We look forward to celebrating their marriage on 10/10/2020.

We have probably spent more time so far this summer sitting on our patio or the deck and enjoying our backyard than we have in previous summers. The biggest reason for this is that we have been home much more with nowhere to go. Both Paul and I have been enjoying watching the different birds that come to feed at the bird feeders. We have also watched a couple of rabbits and lots of squirrels. We have added more flowers to the yard and flowering bushes. It has changed quite a bit in the seven years we have lived in the house.     Backyard Photos

This has certainly turned out to be Not the Year I Expected. Last year was full of travel and special events. We traveled both to Hawaii and Greece as well as several places in the states. We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary by taking our kids to Hawaii for a week. We all had a great time. Paul and I did a group tour of Greece through our church following in the Steps of St. Paul which was inspiring and educational. We also took a trip to St. Louis, Cape Cod to visit my mother and returned to where we started our marriage in Oklahoma City. Traveled on to San Antonio and New Braunfels, TX as well. Enjoyable. We celebrated our granddaughter’s first birthday in May. I retired in June from over 20 years of working part-time at Beye School. Paul made the decision to retire at the end of July 2020. It was a pretty good year. Travel was supposed to continue this year - and we did take a trip to Destin, FL and New Orleans in January which was great - nice to spend a week in w...

Xochitl turns 2 at the end of this month. We have not seen her since the end of February and we miss her and the rest of our family. Here are photos from her 2nd year!

Click here - Best Photos of 2020 - so far!

A Little January Fun The best way to spend a week in January is not in the Chicago area. We took a 10 day trip south driving to Destin, FL and New Orleans, LA. We drove through Birmingham and Montgomery, AL on the way and  stopped at some of the civil rights memorials. One of the most meaningful one was the National Memorial for Peace and Justice which highlights the many lynchings (4400) that took place in this country between the years of 1877 and 1950. We spent 2 1/2 days in Destin, enjoying walking on the beach and using the pool at the resort as well as trying different restaurants. Drove to New Orleans, stopping in Biloxi, MS to visit the last home of Jefferson Davis. Activities in New Orleans included exploring the French Quarter, taking a 2 hour cruise on the Natchez steam boat, and sipping coffee and eating beignets at Cafe Du Mond.   The next day we visited a few plantations along Plantation Row - the Whitney Planta...

Christmas, 2019 Dear Family and Friends, Our tree is up, cookie baking has started and it is time to reflect on this year and share our happenings with you. We celebrated 40 years of marriage on May 12. We took the whole family to dinner and then at the end of June we took them all to Hawaii for a week. Our kids arranged for a photoshoot while we were there (hence the Hawaii pictures on our card) and we all had a great time seeing the sights, enjoying the sun, sand and surf. Dolphin watching and snorkeling was a highlight. We did a fair amount of traveling this year - 28,000 miles or so. Besides Hawaii, we took a trip to Greece with our church friends following in the footsteps of the apostle Paul. Amazing to think we walked in the same places in Corinth, Ephesus and Athens. The trip ended with a four day cruise on the Aegean Sea. We drove to Cape Cod with John, Sasha and Xochitl and spent a week there. We started the year with a trip to West Virginia and in Apri...