Title: 2013 Holiday Letter

Happy Holidays! We hope you and your families had a good 2013 and are looking forward to an equally adequate 2014. Drop us a line sometime if you can!

In 2013, we worked hard, but we got to play a lot too. We managed to visit Seattle for the first time since Ginnie was 2. Ginnie’s still talking about her Moose Tracks ice cream cone she got at the Seattle Center. We did the touristy stuff we never did when we lived there (including visiting the Space Needle, the EMP, the Pacific Science Center and wandering the Pike Place Market). We also took Ginnie to the UW and got to ride the long buses with the bouncy middle (weee!). Our conclusion as a family is that Seattle is a fun place to visit too!

Amy’s sister Kristen brought her daughter, Daphne, to visit us in May. She’s super cute and a really good-natured baby. She just turned one year old this week! We’re really glad they were able to come and see us.

This year Ginnie started taking guitar lessons with a different teacher than her dad. This arrangement seems to be working better! She also started hard shoe in Irish dance, which was pretty exciting for her. She enjoys taking care of the neighbor’s cat when they go on vacation, collecting rocks, and ridding the world of ice cream one bowl at a time. Writing and drawing her own comics is still one of her favorite past-times. 

This year Neale has been enjoying playing guitar with his kid and drinking a ton of coffee to help deal with Amy’s crazy schedule. He’s learned a lot about scheduling and getting kids to events on time. He’s been doing a good job taking his bike most places, although that’s cut back in December in order to work on knitting projects. It’s kind of been a slow year for Neale.

Amy has one semester of nursing school left. She graduates in May, and over the summer she’s hoping to get scheduled to take the NCLEX (the national boards exam) and finally become an RN. She’s still skating derby and watching for the moment that Ginnie is taller than she is!

Have a very happy holiday season! 

Love,

Neale, Amy, & Ginnie