2010

*Merry Christmas, 2010*

Well, we are just full of news and what a timely time to be able to put it in our annual Christmas missive rather than sending out all those boring change of address cards.

We are moving! This was not a decision come to lightly, as some of you know. After 45 days of hemming in the late summer/early autumn, we hawed almost every weekend throughout the fall. After a big weekend of intensive spit-balling and the running of things up the flagpole, we finally decided to salute. We are going to downsize so that we can make some big changes in some other areas of our lives. Four big changes to be exact:

Jean is the bread-winner! I couldn’t be prouder of or happier to be married to Jean, who, this year went back to work full time from her part-time status of the last couple years. She has a great team of people working with her from around the world, helps out Senior Executives (who used to be Partners like I was, although it’s humbling to hear that had I called, at the height of my power as a Partner, she’d have debated calling a peon like me back) and has been doing tremendous work in her new expanded role. She has also been working out three mornings a week at 5:30 with her new Motiv8Me (pronounced: Motiv-Eat-Me while they’re yelling at you during workouts) class, and looks and feels healthier and fitter than in a long time. With all of this, you’d think she’d have backed off on volunteering, helping with Loudoun County school politics, running Jack’s school pie sale, and planning great birthday parties, but you’d be wrong. We did lose Jean’s dad this year, just before the holidays, and that was a tough time, and thank you to all of you who supported or sent notes to Jean during this time. His services and burial at Arlington National Cemetery were both lovely, though, and the family is doing well, all considered. We are lucky to be close to Jean’s mom too. Jean AND Aly also did amazingly well with another big transition in all of our lives:

Aly is at boarding school! Starting this year, 10th grade, Aly is attending Virginia Episcopal School down in Lynchburg, VA. We had looked at private schools for Aly last year, but all decided it wasn’t time. VES was one of the schools we looked at, and the one that appealed to Aly most. Just before school started this year, we decided it probably was time for private school. There’s a lot of confusion in the county school system, made worse by the recession of course. We talked about the school situation a lot on our summer trip to Hawaii, a great week on Maui staying in Aunt Susie and Aunt Louise’s timeshare where Aly and I got to Snuba dive, Jack learned to snorkel, we took a helicopter ride, rented a Jeep, swam in a waterfall, ate a lot of awesome meals and generally poshed it up for a week. How could we face public school after the best vacation in the world? So she started down there at the end of August, and absolutely loves it. In the vernacular of the 15 year olds, it’s “ok.” She’s doing “good.” Things are “fine.” Those of you with teenagers realize that this is AWESOME!!! The school is just tremendous, provides a great support structure for Aly and the other kids there, feels very much like family. Aly’s grades have all improved except where she was already doing great. She played volleyball in the Fall semester, making the travelling team despite not having played before, and she will be playing lacrosse again in the Spring. I was asked NOT to tell you all about her dreamy boyfriend and I can neither confirm nor deny that her Mom took pictures of him in his football uniform while we were down at homecoming. Cause THAT would be embarrassing. Although it’s tough having her away from home, she is able to come back for 8 long-ish visits per school year, and she can take the train back and forth if she wants when we don’t drive down. Jack gets to see her on breaks and always looks forward to seeing her, and talks to her on the phone a lot. He’s getting older and:

Jack is almost in Kindergarten! Now a very active 5 year old, Jack is loving his current Junior Kindergarten at the Golden Pond School. We’re looking at Kindergarten at a private school nearby for next year. One of the big incentives in downsizing will be to have options to send both the kids to better schools than what the county offers here. Jack continues to be into cars and trucks, Power Rangers, his Leapster Explorer, drawing and a bunch of activities. He is taking swimming lessons, and has learned to swim by himself this year! He is taking Hip Hop dance where he’s able to work his moves. He loves music and he’s also taking piano lessons with his music teacher from school. So he’s a pretty busy little dude. His nanny Emily 2.0 has been with us all this year, and they keep each other very busy with playdates, activities, arts and crafts, drawing and everything. Dad is very proud of him and also looking forward to spending more time with him since:

Rob is going 4.0! I started with the government (officially) on December 25, 2005, so I hit my 5 year mark this Christmas. What Christmas gift does the biggest company in the world give me on this auspicious occasion? Well, when I’m 62, they’ll pay me 5% of my salary! Not a lot, but enough to keep me in cat food in my old age. The work we have done this year has been more challenging, mainly from a budget and organizational perspective. They moved us to a new office this year at Justice. It’s a much nicer building and working environment, but it’s about 20 minutes further away from home. So I’m driving 2 ½ hours a day which is not ideal. So I’m looking actively at teleworking more (which they encourage) or other ways to continue to add value while getting a better quality of life to spend time keeping up our new house, spending more time with Jack, attending to some writing and creative outlets I’ve put off for too long, camping, getting ready for cub scouts, RVing, coaching, etc. So that will be my challenge for the year, balancing work with life, adding some exercise back in, shake well, and ta-da¯, Rob 4.0.

We’ve had a really great year overall, with a lot of fun and some challenging changes, but we go into 2011, an odd year with an odd number, optimistic and refreshed, ready to take on the new year with gusto, elan or any of a dozen other crossword puzzle nouns. We hope to see all of you in the new year, and to get back to our normal exotic travelogue in next year’s letter. Until then, stay safe, have fun and have a terrific Christmas and New Year!!!

Aloha (it means hello, goodbye AND Merry Christmas) to you all. Love, **Aly, Jack, Jean, Rob, Buddy and Biskits**

*You can see more of us, as usual, on your Internet machine at **www.alyandjack.shutterfly.com***

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