Lately it seems that we only get Christmas cards out every other year, and 2010 was not one of those years. But with the weblog and Facebook, almost everyone who's on our list gets this post anyway, so Jamie and I wanted to send out a little summary of what our family has been up to in the past year.
The year started out on an oh-so-happy note, with back to back trips to Arlington to watch our Cowboys beat the Eagles to win the NFC East, and then a week later beat the Eagles again for their first playoff win in 13 years! Add add icing on the cake, Jamie got Emmitt Smith, who was sitting in Jerry Jones' box behind us, to sign a football. Things went downhill then next week in Minnesota, of course, but it was great while it lasted.
Another highlight in the winter was a monster snowfall (I think seven inches overnight) that made for beautiful scenery the next morning. Of course Texas being Texas, it was already 34 degrees when I went out at 7 am to take these pictures, so the snow was mostly gone - literally - by noon. But it was beatiful while it lasted.
Late winter also means lots of Scouts activities - in this case I had the unique experience of having three sons building cars for Pinewood Derby and then taking all three to dad 'n Lad campout, both of which I enjoyed (most of the time at least).
A highlight of the spring was our trip to Washington D.C. with the Marshall Chamber of Commerce. Grayson was such a hit last year when we went to Austin that they insisted he come along this year as well, and he really enjoyed it. We toured the Capitol and the White House courtesy of Sen. Cornyn's office, and sat in on meetings with several departments and legislators, all of which Grayson was very patient during. He did get a bit irritated when Sen. Hutchison accused him of playing on his Nintendo DS while she was speaking to us, but he explained he was actually using the built in camera and whipped it out to show her. She was actually pretty interested in that, because her children had the older DS that didn't have a camera, which explains why she assumed he was playing. (Jamie caught the whole exchange on film - see the post here). Of course we made time to tour a lot fo Smithsonian museums, including Air & Space, where we saw the original Star Trek Enterprise together, as well as lots of other neat stuff. And then the night we got back to Texas we took Grayson to see the Black-Eyed Peas in Dallas as an early birthday present (it turns out we're pretty cool parents, apparently).
We closed out the spring with the usual busy round of spring plays and programs, and a nice bonus this year, as Grayson received his Arrow of Light before crossing over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Collin & Parker also played baseball again this spring and my firm sponsored their team, the White Sox. There were a few special moments, such as when we discovered (see post here) that Collin actually bats lefthanded and after switching him from right to left during pregame warmups, he started hitting everything they threw at him.
No summer is complete without a long car trip vacation to some miserably hot beach on the Gulf Coast, so we loaded up and drove to Corpus Christi in June for a short vacation while Jamie had her county treasurer classes. The boys and I went to see the aquarium and the USS Lexington, and then we all went to see a Hooks game, and had lunch with Litigation Section friend Kathy Snapka at Snapka's, which was also a lot of fun.
July was a busy month at the office, as the renovations on the old Hub Shoe Store had come along far enough that we were able to move my law offices from South Washington where we'd been renting space next to Matthewson's to the new offices on East Austin. My paralegal Pam Matthews and I camped out in the one enclosed room for a month or so and then we spread out into our officves as the construction moved to the other side. As I write this we're almost completely finished, but we did get enough done to be decorated for Wonderland of Lights at the end of November, and we're very proud of how the place looks.
But back to family, only a couple of weeks after making the big move, we packed up the boys for Camp Fern and then took off for a river cruise in Russia, starting in Moscow and traveling to St. Petersburg. We enjoyed it very much, and the unusually hot weather and forest fires make it a memorable time to be there.
The end of the summer was marked by a fun trip to Arlington to see the first Cowboys preseason game, after which we went to Waco and dropped jamie off for her annual spa weekend with her friends from college. The boys and I spent the next three days in a Waco hotel seeing the sights, as detailed here - and had a great time.
Fall meant back to school of course, sixth grade for Grayson and second grade for Collin & Parker, and regular trips to Arlington for Cowboys games. October was an extra-special trip to Albuquerque for Jamie and I to be invested in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which is a Catholic group chartered in the eleventh century of thereabouts to support Christian facilities and activities in the Holy Land. We enjoyed the weekend very much, including attending masses in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and being invested by Cardinal DiNardo Sunday afternoon. (We spent Monday night in Dallas when we got back for the game against the Giants but that didn't turn out so well...)
The following week we put the robes back on at Father Denzil's request for Grayson's confirmation and First Communion. November stayed busy with the now-traditional trip to Arlington for Thanksgiving, and getting the Hub ready for Wonderland of Lights. Frankly, I don't remember November or December, but my weblog says that last week Grayson spent four days in a merit badge camp at which he started the work for six merit badges (of which he already has one), including Citizenship in the Community for which I'm the teacher. We spent Monday morning in lessons at the Hub (using the big monitor to present information on our community) and then Tuesday morning attending a Harrison County Commissioner's Court meeting in the old courthouse.
Christmas itself has settled down into Christmas Eve at our house after Mass with Jamie's family, then Christmas Day with her family, and usually the day after with my family, again at our house, so we don't have to travel much, and get to entertain lots of cousins, which the boys just love.