2005 At AHR
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2005 was our first full year in California; and what a year it's been! January opened with a whirlwind tour of Florida. 
First stop was Becky and Brian's house outside of Tampa, where we helped celebrate Connor's first birthday. Nick stopped by, and George had the rare opportunity of having all 4 of his kids in the same room! Then we headed east to spend a couple of days with Jean and Dave (George's parents). Finally we went north and spent a few days with Mickey and friends- the girls loved the trip and are asking how soon we'll be going back.
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In February, the girls turned 4 and we had a party with a jumpy house.
Caky and Joepa flew out for it and everyone had a great time. We also got a visit from our old buddies Louis and Karen- they stopped by for a few days to escape the Seattle seasonal gloom.
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In March, we started going to beaches and kept doing it all summer.
The girls love playing in the sand and running away from the waves. Since the ocean never gets above 60 degrees here, no one ever swims, but we have a great time anyway.
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In May, AHR got stretched to capacity when George's parents and his sister Sharon and family showed up for a 9 day visit.
We toured all over the place and a good time was had by all.
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Also in May, the girls had their dance recital.
They'd been taking lessons at Dance Attack all year and finally got to show off!
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In June, we returned to the east coast.
The girls spent 2 weeks at CCSC day camp and loved it! Taylor was named Singer of the week and Jordan earned Camper of the week. They're already looking forward to going again next year.
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In July, we discovered Bonfante Gardens.
This is an amusement park built for kids- Jordan is big enough to go on all the rides there, including both roller coasters. We had a season pass and went 6 or 7 times- and the girls never got bored with it. We've already got passes for next year.
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In August, we filled our newly refinished pool and started enjoying it.
With the solar panels, the temp topped out at about 83 degrees- not bad! The girls love it and they can both swim from one end to the other- next year, swim team!
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In September, school started again.
The girls are back at Montecito School 3 afternoons a week. They're in the same class most of their friends from last year and they think school is a blast. This is their last year at Montecito- next September they'll start in Kindergarten in Saratoga.
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October means Halloween.
Jordan dressed up as Buzz Lightyear and Taylor became Princess Belle. They loved their costumes and wore them nonstop after they arrived. This year, they finally understood the trick-or-treat concept- we went around to a dozen houses to practice. Next year there'll be no stopping them.
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Also in October, the tooth fairy made a surprise visit when Jordan lost her first tooth.
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We celebrated Thanksgiving at home.
We had 3 other families over and George cooked a soup-to-nuts feast. A great time was had by all and no one went away hungry.
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The rest of December is filled with Christmas prep.
Caky and Joepa joined us, and the girls had a Terrific time!
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A sad note- this year, Zuni was diagnosed with bone cancer.
At her age (12 years) we decided not do any radical surgery and make her as comfortable as possible. On December 3rd, we took our last ride to the vet and said goodbye to her. This was the first time in 10 years we haven't owned a dog…
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...but not for long. 1 week later, we went to the San Jose animal shelter and adopted Scooby, a lab-great dane mix! He's only a year old and 87 lbs already- he's probably going to be big…!
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| We hope your 2005 was as action-packed and fun as ours was- Let's hope 2006 is a terrific year for all of us! Happy New Year! |