Dear Family and Friends!
We were very fortunate to have a wonderful year that included several great trips this past year. We hope things are well with you and your family!
 
Sean's fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Steiner, had Sean write a "persuasive letter" as part of a language arts assignment. He made the most of it; he persuaded his parents to take him along to Kauai (Hawaii) when poor Randy had the terrible misfortune of having to go there on a business trip. February is such a rough time to have to go to Hawaii!
 
Kauai, the garden island, somehow managed to exceed even our high expectations (click here to view some of the stunning photos Cathy took). Even the sand was amazing: billions of worlds made of crushed shells, broken coral, citrine and pummeled lava from the Na Pali cliffs shrouded in mists.
Everything flows in Kauai - waves, clouds, ancient lava beds, rivers, life, spirit, and Sean on his surf board. "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."
Our summer vacation found us road-tripping northward for more adventures. Our first stop was Jackson Hole to visit Scott, Kathy, Cutter and Davis Rudge for a glorious day of hiking in the Grand Tetons and dining in town.
 
We next visited Yellowstone, to see the geysers, scenery and wildlife (including Carl Love). Our favorite geyser was Castle Geyser.
We were struck by the scene of hundreds of "pilgrims" from around the world who had come to the "shrine" of Old Faithful to pay homage to the beauties and wonders of Mother Earth.
 
After being awed by the wide open spaces, the elk, the bison, the bears and the thermal features of Yellowstone, we continued northward. Our next stop was a visit with Becky, Brian, Hudson and Charlie Knott in Big Sky Montana for some billiards, darts, Moose Drool and a fabulous float trip down the Madison River.
 
Our next destination was Glacier National Park. In another place of superlatives, Cathy’s favorite spot was Grinnell Lake (above) with glacier water cascading over 2 billion year old rocks into the lake surrounded by ferns and spruce.
Sean and Randy flew to Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving and had a nice, relaxing visit there with family.
Sean is now in 6th grade at Southern Hills Middle School, whose mantra is "happy students are learning students." Sean is thriving at Southern Hills (although he enjoys chopping up ice in the small pond in our front yard with his friends even more). Sean continues to enjoy playing soccer (his Dad coaches the team). Sean's team even won the league championship in the spring, which was a real thrill for Sean and his buddies.
 Cathy continues pursuing her passion teaching evolution in ways that promote joy to people of all faiths and philosophies. In addition to creating a curriculum for her class on Exploring Evolution (through CU’s Science Discovery,) she also made a Tree of Life poster, which summarizes the family history of all living creatures on Earth. She also continues to present hands-on workshops to adults to learn about the Tree of Life, DNA and Evolution. And she promotes teaching evolution through the Epic of Evolution web site.
Cathy's greatest joy this year has been in seeing the world through the eyes of her long-time friends and gaining new friends in various communities: her family, her church, the Seven Wonders, her son's soccer team families, her neighbors, her dance friends, her science/teaching colleagues, and most recently her singing/music buddies.
Randy continues to work for the Education & Outreach Program at NCAR (Natl. Center for Atmospheric Research) - he's been there since early 2002. He works with a great group of folks there, and has been keeping especially busy this past year now that climate change is a front-page issue and the need for education on that subject is a "growth industry". Besides the trauma of the trip to Kauai in February, work took him to St. Louis (for the NSTA National Conference) in the spring and, closer to home, Denver (for a Regional NSTA gathering) in the fall; as well as to San Francisco for the AGU conference in early December. Cathy was able to join him on the San Francisco trip, while Sean stayed home and partied with his grandparents.
His alter-ego, Fly, managed to stay healthy enough to make it through three fun seasons (spring, summer, & fall) of league play with the Boulder-area Ultimate scene. He played on fun teams with good folks, despite being a gimpy old geezer.
We hope you are well and living fulfilling and happy lives!
Cheers,
Cathy, Sean, and Randy/Fly |
