Christmas letter

December 25, 2014 or “”looking at 2014 through gelato colored and wine FILLED glasses Dear friends, 2014 has us moving forward, maybe, typical for the Bauer family...lots of playful joking, often at the expense of ourselves, lots of newly invented things and lots of travel idiocy included. First, new things: We have a new Granddaughter! Paige Marianne Bauer was born to Jake and Kim on January 22.

Around the same time, since they would be sleep deprived anyway, Jake and Kim also added a new puppy, Kula (an English crème golden retriever)

There's some of that idiocy. Mason and Kale kind of like BOTH the new things. Next, Ian and Candace moved to a new house in Puyallup (3 blocks from Liesl and Nate) and soon got two new kittens. Finally, as if the our new house weren't enough, we designed and built a new 1500 square foot apartment over the shop (come visit!) and a chalkboard stage and karaoke theatre for visiting grandkids and friends.

The kids have all tried it out. I suspect Mark sneaks up there to try it out in his underwear like Tom Cruise, but have failed to catch him in the act. All grandkids are dancing on the stage above! Unlike the rest of us, Liesl and Nate have more reasonable things to report. Cooper and Gracie are growing more fun with each day and still cute as can be (say the grandparents) They both love pre-school and Cooper will be attending all day kindergarten next fall. Cooper has become a Lego construction fanatic. He is very adept at constructing monsters, buildings, planes and other assorted imagined items. He is very very good at this. Do we have a budding engineer or architect in the family? Time will tell.

Gracie is still a very (very) quietly self assured strong willed little girl. They both love to cuddle (at times) and we enjoy them when we get a day together. Nate's job at corporate Starbucks continues to provide him with opportunity to advance and the commute by train is pretty good compared to car travel. Liesl is still practicing psychotherapy in Olympia two days weekly and her calendar is packed, a very successful business. Doesn’t she look professional?? Uh, professional psychotherapist that is!

Nate played elf and delivered presents last night Ian's new job (well, new last year) in Seattle is going well and he has had big successes with some important cases. He has been on the local Seattle NBC news a couple of times. Very weird to be getting undressed for bed and hear him speaking out of the TV. He crosses paths with Nathan on the commute train some mornings so they are enjoying their close Puyallup proximity. Candace is enjoying her retirement from the law and the three kids are certainly benefitting from lots of attention from parents and her efforts at teaching them what the schools don't.

All three are bright and active. Donovan is in kindergarten, Aidan in 1st grade and Nya in pre-school/day care a few days a week. Aidan is becoming all boy and is crazy about soccer; he is also a great big brother and led one team of the grandkid scavenger hunt this Christmas. Donovan’s sweet smile (on the right) shines through his high activity level and competes with this mischievous eyes; he is focused on art at the moment and quite productive when placed in front of a piece of paper with proper utensils to fill it in.

Nya is all about Disney and Disney princesses; she also is very strong willed and quite the athlete in her tutu/princess gowns. The family takes an annual cruise on a Disney ship and they are really looking forward to the next one in February (Caribbean). Kim and Jake have been very busy this year with a new baby and a new puppy. Paige bears a strong resemblance to her brothers (in activity, intelligence and looks) and is just now starting to get around to messing up their toys, Legos and train sets. The best is yet to come, boys!

Mason is full out sports crazy and can quote many different statistics, some I didn't even know anyone could keep track of. He got a tackle dummy for Christmas from us so as to try to protect Kale and Paige, neither of whom look like they need much protecting!

Kale is also very into sports and tackles as hard as he takes, and also likes to build things - Legos and trains rate high.

Kula likes to destroy things or dig really big holes in the yard...heh heh heh - been there and dealt with that. He is also a great water dog and wreaked havoc with our annual duck races in our stream. He is of English heritage (think stockier and shorter nose). He will be a fantastic dog once he matures a bit and is less muddy. Jake has been focusing on his work, triathlons and marathons. He completed the NY Marathon last month and is aiming at the Roth Triathlon in Germany next summer. Mark is envious of his speed, physical capabilities, and surgical skill. They still enjoy practicing together. Kim, well she has been more than busy with baby, puppy, 3 boys (Jake!) and so on, but still manages to run her businesses and take part in her own races. Admirable mom and woman combined.

Mark and I have been trying to decide what we want to do when we grow up. We each got new associates at work (Michael Elm with Jane and JackJack for Mark, Heidi Magaro for me with Garth, Lane and Brody) Great great additions! We therefore have each cut back to 3 days a week and seem to be filling our two extra days off with shopping, traveling, and having fun with our new house. It’s expensive to retire partially!! We took the attic of the shop and made it into a really cool art/music studio/apartment. Now if only one of us was just artistic or more musical!!! I am able to get a bit more exercise in with the extra days off. I swear the weight gain must be more muscle....HA!!! Mark still works out an hour or so a day and looks like he did in high school - no, he looks better - lucky me - porn for women of a certain age. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could all be better like that?!!

We took off in September to "adventure sail" on the Croatian coast. Took Sarah Lux with us…nice to have your personal physician along! We were supposed to be sailing on a catamaran, kayaking, biking and hiking. Weather was beautiful, but no wind. Put the sails up for 10 minutes and had to take them down. We biked and hiked through national parks and kayaked around a few different islands off the Dalmatian coast and further north before ending up with 2 days in Venice. I enjoyed looking at the world through gelato colored glasses 2-3x daily…there’s that weight again.

No, George Clooney didn't invite us to the wedding, but everyone else was there! More details and some pictures of the trip can be found below. We also found time for a few trips to Gearhart and a visit with Majken in Phoenix after one of my meetings. Also, siblings, nieces, nephews and lots of friends came to our and the Judah's joint annual summer party; this time it was Mardi Gras in July.

A Dixie land band, oysters from our beach, jambalaya, costumes, snow cones for all, and idiocy was fun for all. Cooper especially loved the face painting and my brother and sister made it north for the fun.

We also had a Christmas Day cookie exchange as we used to, for those who find themselves needing a break from the Christmas Day hubbub, or need to be busy while family is elsewhere. We find this house perfect for big parties and try to have one often to let it fulfill its special purpose. Three so far this Christmas. Lots of fun!!! Finally, our family of dogs still consists of Gunner and Zenyatta. They are sweet dogs. Gunner likes to watch the elk out our beach window and Zenya likes the attention of being groomed.

Pet me mom!!! What would we do without them!?? One last picture of all the grandkids…what would we do without THEM!??? LEFT TO RIGHT: Donovan (6 ½), Kale (5) with Paige (1), Mason (almost 8), Aidan (almost 8),Nya (almost 4), Cooper (5), Grace (31/2)

Have a great holiday and please come visit. We have an empty apartment waiting for someone to mess it up! Love from all of us. Kathie and Mark, Gunner and Zenyatta (Think Kenya with a bit of Seinfeld on the end))