Well well well … here we are again. I swear to get this out before Christmas Day, or at least on Christmas Day, or at least the day after … We shall wee, er. I mean , see. Wee may happen too. We are getting older, you know!
How are all of you? I have been appreciating all the cards and letters wending our way this past few weeks. Some sad news, some good news, even some great news. It is wonderful to touch base again with all of you every year. Keep those missives coming! I know some of you will be shooting off your news around Christmas Day, as we are, though some trickle in around Valentines Day. I applaud that persistence and look forward to hearing from you whenever new arrives! Hee Hee Hee
So, gee, what are we up to? Mark is currently sitting in a jury pool, hoping to have one of Ian’s trials show up on the docket so he can be excused! (Yes your honor, I am acquainted with the plaintiff’s attorney and will have to agree with anything he says. You are EXCUSED!). Wishful thinking.
Ian moved to a new firm sometime in the last couple of years, younger group than his last firm (of course all those lawyers seem young to me now!) but still aggressively plaintiff lawyers trying to right some wrongs. He has had some big cases against abusers, some nationwide. We always are surprised to see/hear his name with connections to national cases (Monsanto etc). When he is not in court, or preparing for court, or traveling to or from depositions for court, he or Candace is traveling to keep track of their kids’ activities. Aidan (16) and Nya (12) are still playing soccer at elevated levels. We don’t go to their tournaments as much as before because they take place in distant places such as San Diego, Arizona, North Carolina. My my my. (Now, I could handle a European trip!) A big difference from when our kids were young when Spokane was usually as far as we traveled for their teams! Donovan (15) is still acting, both at the Puyallup schools (which have an excellent drama program) and the Tacoma community theatre. We have been to a number of his plays; he is especially good at playing the villains from all ages or historical perspective (or fantastical – think Shrek’s Lord Farquaad - performed on his knees) Candace holds the whole house hold together while everyone (including her) heads different directions- and she is deep into making sure the kids excel at school and life. Not sure how she does it all, but built in rest periods help. They are leaving for the sun in Kauai very soon for a much deserved break. She is a terrific planner, including vacations!
Jake and Rylee are deep into raising Aliette (2 ½) in times of covid. Jake still is very very very busy busy busy at work and Rylee likewise busy busy busy with Aliette, who is doing well with lots of encouragement, invested love and energy from both, but Rylee bears much of the burden. I do remember raising three and, watching Rylee and Jake, wonder how we ever managed! Mason (16) is a junior, is still invested in choir and has a serious girlfriend (Hi Ella!). Kale (14) is still invested in baseball baseball baseball and looking forward to high school next year. He won’t talk to me about girlfriends. Hmmmm. Paige (9) is enjoying 4th grade, I think. She is just moving into that age with numerous girlfriends and all that goes with those friendship. Lately her hair has had blue ends, or purple, which suits her! She is a good big sister to Aliette when they get together.
Liesl and Nate have had a busy year. Nate quit his job at Amazon after seven (!) years. Outlasting almost everyone he knew there. He has been recruited for a number of corporate type jobs but has decided he wants out of that world. Hence he is enrolled in a Landscape and Horticulture design course – his true love, other than Liesl of course! You can find him on instagram at “forever_greens_designs” Nate is still walking the Pacific Crest trail with friends, a piece at a time, every summer. He has reached the Columbia River and I think the next year will start into Oregon and/or California. Liesl is still working as a therapist for at risk youth. She now pretty much manages the practice; she has exactly the right temperament and abilities to do so. Wonder how that happened. Cooper (14) is still in accelerated classes, playing the viola and has joined the Puyallup school theatre crowd as a stage manager. Gracie (12) is still playing the trumpet and has also joined the theatre drama groups now that she is in junior high. She usually plays 2-3 parts in the ensemble since she is one of the younger ones in the group. Memorable earlier this fall was when she was a … wait for it … SNOWMOBILE. Rmmm rmmm rmmm Their whole family hiked out to the NW Washington coast for a camping trip this summer and then finished up the season with a run across the Astoria bridge with Jake, Rylee, Aliette (stroller!) and Mark. I stayed home as we were leaving the next day for Kauai and I needed to get the house and dogs organized. Riiiigghht! Sadly, we may have to disown their family as they recently acquired a cat (Homer) to join their two chocolate labs (Odysseus and Olivia). Traitorous.
Mark and I have had our typical scatterbrained year, at least for me. Organizing our travel has gotten harder with a clingy wonderful dog (Lizzie 11 ½) who sticks to me like dried library paste, and Alfie (8 ½) our crazy, never obedient (unless cheese whiz or other treats are involved) beast. We did manage a couple of trips, though, after having pinned down at least 2 reliable sitters who will spend the day on the couch with the dogs. (Hi Dana!). In March, we took the first flight into Bermuda we could arrange. The island was just opening up so there were few tourists and locals were happy (?) to welcome us. Lots and lots of STRONG warm wind and fun exploring. No snorkeling. It was March, you know! We had to get there through NYC as that was the only place with regular flights. Saw a couple of great plays (& Juliet and Moulin Rouge); loved the music from both as we were well acquainted with the tunes. We also visited some places we hadn’t been before. We came home and signed up for the Paramount Broadway musical subscription for this year - Dropped the 5th Avenue Theatre subscription for this year. They didn’t have any plays we liked, or we had already seen them. The 5th is struggling this year; we are not helping by leaving, though our Charitable trust did give them a big amount for the Rising Stars, the young theatre group there. In NYC we visited the ground zero museums, rode the fast elevator to the top of the new WTC for lunch and ate at all the Italian restaurants we could find within a three block radius of our hotel. Oink. Tony’s may have beat out our favorite Carmines which has become too too too touristy. Once home, we also hauled Adagio, our T@B trailer to Hells Canyon for a week of camping over July 4th with the Frankie Kinnaman family, Mark’s best friend from his grade school Pendleton years. Lovely warm spot with lots of good friend chats and boating time on the Snake river. We also attempted to haul Adagio and the dogs to British Columbia for 10 days. Three days in, the fires exploded from 24 in the province upon arrival to over 250. Two of our reserved campsites burned and the third air quality index read “you will die if you breathe here”. This gave credence to the border guard on our way in who asked if we had the fire app. “Yes, sir”. We gave up on Day 3, fled home, rapidly emptied the trailer into the car, and left for Gearhart. Trusty beach house still provides us with lots of Rest and Recreation.
The final big thing we did this year, as in every year for the past 8, was work on giving away the Dawkins Charitable Trust which we were blessed (?) with in 2015. This has been an incredible and rewarding experience for 8 years, giving to between 35 and 40 entities each year. The gifts go to mostly local charities which benefit youth, the environment and animals. Before they get their check at our December luncheon, they have to go find 3 other entities with which they can collaborate. The result has been a tight local non-profit community with land trusts working with education groups working with animal rescue, working with homeless youth, working with …. And on and on and on. We have also sponsored the local community foundation “Give Local” week each December. The first year they raised about $200,000, and this year it was $1 million. We are really proud of these groups, three or four of which have reached national recognition for what they do and how they do it – written up in the New York Times, Washington Post and National Geographic. One even has a PBS documentary – look up “Whale Dog” - Eba. Can you tell we are proud of this?! We figure we have one more full year left and then will pass the remainder on to the Community Foundation to fund Give Local for the next decade or … something similar.
Well, I am sure you have more than had enough of this bring and brag. It seems I have trouble repeating myself on an annual basis. Again, we look forward to hearing from you! Or come visit!
Yada Yada Yada
And Ho Ho Ho
Happy Holidays everyone!
Kathie and Mark
Mark and his other non-jury duty face
Cooper and the new family member Homer
Jake and Aliette
Paige and Aliette
The partial bridge race group
Jake's Kula staking a claim to a beach chair
Alfie staking a claim to Mark
Ganda and Aliette
Our home away from home - Adagio
symbiotic relationship.jpg)
Still kayaking.jpg)
Our kids and spouses.jpg)
our grandkids.jpg)
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Jake Liesl Mark Kathie Ian.jpg)
Guess who.jpg)
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Rylee Aliette and Jake.jpg)
Jake's crew.jpg)
Liesl's crew.jpg)
Liesl and Nate.jpg)
Paige and Gracie.jpg)
Ian's crew.jpg)
Ian and Candace.jpg)
Aidan Nya and Donovan