ENTERTAINMENT
Dancing Feet:
Aarika has always had a desire to perform. It seems that now she's
got dancing feet. She tried Ballet with the Parks and Rec
Department. And though the IDEA was always appealing to her, it was
not easy getting her to participate. Finally we tried Tap and Ballet with a
different teacher but she was still
having some difficulty. Her shy nature would not allow her to fully enjoy
the classes. Then Aarika climbed
out of her shell (read about this in singing away), and is now a complete ham on stage! She's danced in
performances at: Capitola Mall, Santa Cruz Civic, and several retirement homes.
Now that this season is over she's looking forward to new routines
and costumes coming in January.
Singing Away:
Braden and Aarika have had practice and
experience singing with their school classes. This year
after Thanks Giving, Braden and Aarika's Grandpa invited them to sing on
stage with his group (The Masters Of Harmony - 140+member Men's chorus). At
the 1,200 seat La Mirada Theater there were two sold-out
performances. Braden took the performances in stride. Aarika was timid
in the first performance, but gained confidence in the second. REALLY GAINED
CONFIDENCE and LOVED IT!
Detra was taking singing lessons and making good progress, but got discouraged
when her asthma flared up (a visit to the hospital and all). She's
still interested
though and hopes to sing with the Sweet Adelines in the coming year.
SPORTS
Kicking It!
This fall was Braden's first foray into team sports.
His under 8yr old
team THE BOMBS was a rag-tag group of first and second graders.
The first graders had difficulty making it through the after school practices
as they
had just started their first year of long days at school. They were often
found laying on the field exhausted. They won their first game in a shut-out
and
this made "coaching" the team impossible. They got creamed in their second
game, and that really brought them back to reality. For the rest of the
season they worked hard. Braden was a great
full-back, gaining confidence and skill each week.
The highlight of the season was a game won in the pouring rain against their
toughest opponent.
All other teams in the league lacked the tenacity to play in the deluge.
Throughout the season Braden proved to be a corner stone
in the defense which helped his team to be victorious on numerous occasions.
In the Cold:
Devon continues to do his annual swim from Capitola Pier to Santa Cruz Pier each
year. This year it was extended to be 6.5 miles. And as usual, he
stopped swimming during the winter and gained more than his fair share
of inches and pounds around the middle. Perhaps he'll get in the pool
sooner this coming year.
Fun:
Detra and Devon help in the childrens classes at our church during one Saturday
evening service each month. It's a joy to serve the Lord this way,
working with children.
Detra and Devon also took some Waltz and Swing dancing classes at the
1st Presbyterian church. They have started getting out on DATES
once again. (Trade babysitting - ya got to try it!)
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NEWS and STORIES
BANG!
One evening Braden and Aarika had some friends vising. Upon hearing a
moderately loud BANG, Detra and Devon went to Braden and Aarika's room
to inquire about
who was jumping off the bunk-bed. Braden very pensively said the noise
was outside. Seeing nothing disturbed in the childrens room we left them playing.
Devon noticed the fire was low and went outside to get some firewood. Once
in the driveway he noted that a car in front of the neighbors house appeared
to be damaged. His thought was that someone might have bumped his car
parked in front of our house. Walking to where he could see into the front
yard, he realized his car was missing. A closer look reveiled that the car
in front of the neighbors house was his once
Beautiful Green 1996 VW Jetta, now destroyed. The culprit left few traces.
We were able to identify the Color and type of car from the debris, but
were unable to locate the criminal or their vehicle.
Won't you be my Neighbor?
We're looking for a 3 Bedroom house to give us
some room to breathe. A nice size lot is also an option. If all goes well
you'll receive a CHANGE OF ADDRESS card sometime during the coming
year. If you see anything interesting, let us know.
Troopers:
After losing the Jetta, Devon rented a car from "Rent-A-Wreck(TM)". It was
a Lincoln Continental named "Christine" because the doors would randomly
lock themselves. He received phone calls from his children asking when
"Mac Daddy Devon in the Lincoln Town Car" was going to take them for a
ride.
Devon is a TROOPER now. His replacement vehicle is a
1990 Isuzu Trooper, purchased from a friend. It's a 4wheel drive
(know of any good offroading?)
and has plenty of room inside. Our first outing in the car was to
pickup our Christmas Tree.
The Black Book:
Devon's memories-
For as long as I can remember, my mother has had The Black Book. It's
a medium sized binder with yellow tattered address pages. The entries are
corrected, appended, stricken, and annotated to indicate the location of
loved ones throughout the planet. The phone numbers are often in the form
of TE84459 indicating a bygone era when letters were used for the first two
digits. I remember frantic searches when The Black Book had been misplaced,
and I remember admonishments to be careful with that book. In recent years
I've wondered if I should make a Black Book of my own. Being a "HiTECH"
guy I've always had my phone numbers on the computer in a file. Easily
searchable by any criteria. But something is missing when you you print up
a list of that information. I was elated when Detra brought home a "Rolodex"
card box. We have begun to add names and addresses and phone numbers to
this box. Some of the cards have been amended already. I doubt the
cards will ever show the tattered trails like my mothers book due to the fact
that cards are easily replaced when out of date or updated too many times.
But it's nice to know there's a place I can go to look at the names that
bring back wonderful memories.
Work:
Devon is working at Cisco Systems and you can send him e-mail there:
dheron@cisco.com.
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