Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah to all. In the past we have written a year end letter to friends and family sharing details about our lives over the past twelve months. One year ago the Boulden Family blog was born, with the first posting serving as the 2008 letter.

Over the course of this year we've updated the blog consistently. It would seem redundant to rehash those events in the 2009 letter as those posts already exist. Erick's graduation, Hannah's successes at regional ballroom competitions and Gavin's twentieth birthday can be found in previous posts on this blog.

Rather, we would like to extend our heartfelt holiday wishes to you and yours. At this festive time of year, it is easy to get caught up in details and loose sight of the bigger picture. Making sure your shopping is done, the house is clean, travel arrangements have been made, and Christmas dinner is a big success blurs our focus.

Little more than 2,000 years ago, our heavenly father sent his son, Jesus Christ, to us through the Virgin Mary. In his short time here Jesus delivered a consistent message of peace on earth and love for all. While you're opening gifts, visiting with family and enjoying a long holiday weekend, please take the time to reflect on that message and the blessings you have received.

In closing, we'd like to ask for your prayers of comfort for Arlene Oakley as she makes this difficult journey. We'd also like to recognize Owen Simmons; we are truly blessed to have him with us.

Peace be unto you. Enjoy a great performance of Handel's Messiah.

The First Snow & Getting the Christmas Tree

Earlier this week we had our first real snowfall of the year, the kind where the flakes are small and driving. It arrived overnight with no warning and put down about 6 inches just in time for the morning rush hour. What fun.

Before leaving for work, Susan and I let Sadie outside to "see" the snow for the first time. She ran several laps around the back yard, jumping into the snow and flipping it up with her nose. It was a little like watching a kid at Christmas.

She tried to engage me in a little game of pounce as you can see from the before and after photos in this post. I guess that I was a bit of curmudgeon that day and didn't want to play. It was Monday morning though, if that makes any difference.

Yesterday, we drove up to Southwick, Massachusetts to cut down our Christmas tree. A cold wet rain was falling, soaking us the bone. Our first pass through the farm yielded no "perfect trees." A perusal of pre-cut trees was disappointing as well.

Everyone was soaked through to the bone. Finally, we all decided on a couple of trees with a few holes in them - one for Erick's apartment and one for our home. Cutting them down was an adventure in itself because the trunk was completely frozen and steamed up glasses prevented me from seeing what I was doing.

Later we slogged through the muck up to the farm house to pay for them and get a little hot chocolate. It was so warm inside, and the hot chocolate so good, that we didn't want to go back outside. Ah Christmas in Connecticut.

Tonight, we'll post the photos of the decorated tree.

A Few Photos and a Story or Two

Susan is working date night this evening at the clubhouse, Gavin's at work and Hannah's sleeping over at Sarah's house. I find myself dinking around on the computer and looking at photos.

Here's an old photo, taken in the summer of 2000 - I think. Erick and Hannah are sitting on the front steps of Bill and Marisue's home on Drexmore Road in Shaker Heights, Ohio. The other children with them are TJ, Rachel and Christian Heist. That was the summer that we moved back to Cleveland from Grayslake, Illinois. We had put our house on the market in June or July, hoping to sell it before the school year started. After a week or two of no offers, Marisue and Bill graciously offered their home to us during the transition. So, we packed everyone up and moved into Drexmore, enrolling the kids in school: Erick and Hannah at Boulevard Elementary and Gavin at Woodbury. In December our home finally sold and we were able to purchase our new home at 3316 Aberdeen Road in Shaker.

In the four or five months we lived on Drexmore, we enjoyed meshing our families together. Here's a photo of Gavin getting his pumpkin ready to carve that October. My apologies to all of the children for showing these photos; they were so cute I just had to share. Other memories that stick out that fall were picking apples and making apple betty. Marisue loved apple betty and would often sneak down in the middle of the night to grab a spoonful or two. After about the third time I made, she told me that I had to stop. Her waistline couldn't take another tray. Ah good times.

Speaking of good times. This last photo is current. Sadie had her first bath a few weeks ago. She's growing so fast, I can hardly believe how little she was just a few weeks. For the record she loved the bath. Splashing around and playing with the suds. Tonight it snowed, a wet heavy snow. Sadie had a great time outside chasing snow flakes and generally being a little nut. I think she's about 55-60 pounds now and five months old. A little large for a lap dog, but don't tell her that. I hear Susan pulling in the driveway, so I'm going to sign off now.

Cool Thanksgiving Holiday

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year. The long weekend offered an excellent opportunity to connect with family and recharge one's batteries.

Driving in from Cleveland, Ohio, my parents arrived Wednesday evening in time for dinner. On Thanksgiving Day, we watched the Macy's parade, the Detroit Lions', and the Dallas Cowboy's games on television while dinner cooked. Everyone pitched in this year in the kitchen, making it extra fun. Gavin and Erick made buttery-almond carrots and set the table; Hannah cooked the green beans and two types of dinner rolls; Mum mum cut the apples and threw together a yam & apple casserole; and Grandpa made the mashed potatoes. It was a real team effort. During the cooking, Hannah and I got into a spatula duel using pot lids as shields. Pretty cool. We finished the day by watching Miracle on 34th street.

On Friday we celebrated Hannah and Mum mum's November 15th birthdays by going out to dinner at Amelia's American Bistro in Simsbury. As we were getting ready to go out to dinner, Susan snapped the really cool photo (top paragraph) of the three kids. Evangeline and Sarah Moore joined our motley dinner party. Erick modeled a flat bread mustache for us. Returning home after dinner, we opened presents and wolfed down cake & ice cream before watching Jim Carey's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

On Saturday, we took my folks up to see the town fireworks during Simsbury Celebrates - the traditional kick off to the holiday season. It was a little cold, so we parked behind the cemetery at the top of Plank Hill road. This gave us the perfect vantage point to see the fireworks from the comfort of our car. Mum mum and grandpa left on Sunday morning for the long drive back to Cleveland; life around the house slowly returned to normal. Sigh, back to work. We'll look forward to seeing Marisue and Carolyn for Christmas.

New York City Trip

Last Monday, Susan, Hannah and I made an educational/enrichment visit to the Julliard campus in New York City. We completed a nice tour of the school, learning more about the music, drama, and dance programs offered. At this point, Hannah is just in the information gathering stage. She knows that she wants to dance and get a solid education. Whether she'll want to dance for a career is undetermined.

Adjacent to Lincoln center, Julliard is just a short walk from Central Park and the wonderful homes on Central Park West. After the conclusion of our tour, we stopped at a local deli and purchased subs (heros), sodas, and fresh tomato and mozzarella salad before walking to Central Park. Once inside the park, we found this cool rock outcropping to be an excellent place for our little impromptu picnic.

Following our picnic, we hopped the subway for Ground Zero. Having never taken the subway before, we didn't get it quite right. Rather than reaching Ground Zero, we found ourselves in Chinatown. As we walked, Susan and Hannah were continually assaulted by women hawking knock-off purses, clothes, and wallets. "You want Gucci?" repeated over and over and over again. We eventually walked our way to Ground Zero.

About Ground Zero: Susan and I had visited the site about one year after the attacks. New York was a different place then. Soldiers and concrete barriers were everywhere. Today, fences erected as a safety precaution make it hard to see too much from the ground. One can still get a pretty good bird's eye view from the Winter Garden in the nearby World Financial Center. I am amazed by the sheer size of the footprint. Those two buildings were absolutely massive. The current construction project to build the memorial is enormous.

For more information about what they're building at Ground Zero, check out this site.

Erick & Evangeline Rent an Apartment

Well, it's finally happened. The first of our kids has moved out; Erick and Evangeline moved into an apartment on Saturday afternoon. The two have been a couple since September 2005, dating all the way through High School and into college. Evangeline is a great young lady

The apartment is cute. Located next to a large home on a hill in Simsbury, it offers panoramic views. We tried to get good photos of the view from the main windows, but the light was uncooperative.

They have done did a nice job setting up a home. As you can see from the photo, the kitchen is a little small but should suit them. The main room is roomy enough for a bedroom area on one end and family room on the other. That's my bald head in the photo with Erick watching the Waterboy on Sunday.

I must say that it is weird having him move out. I think back to changing diapers, playing catch, coaching baseball, and chasing him to do his homework. Ah good memories. We're excited for them as they take this next step in their lives.

Harvard Ballroom Competition - The Simmons Get Good News

Last Sunday, Susan, Hannah and I set out for Harvard for the Harvard Ballroom Competition. Leaving at 8:30 am, we drove for about 2 hours: just in time for the 11:00 am start. Hannah's friends Sarah and Danny drove with us.

Prior to that, a group of eager young ladies had descended on our home for coffee and last minute practicing at 7:oo am. Watching how much energy they had made me feel even older and grumpier than usual.

Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, and others we present. Simsbury High School was one of only three high schools that fielded teams.

Hannah danced Bronze Swing, Rumba and Foxtrot with Saira: the young lady in the video that I posted earlier. she switched to another partner for the Waltz. I'm sorry I can't remember her name, but she's featured in the picture here. Hannah received call backs for all of the dances except the Waltz, made most semifinals and placed in the Swing and Rumba. We're happy for her.

The next competition will be held at Yale on November 14th.

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Many of you know about Owen Simmons. For those that don't, here's the run down. Owen is my cousin Andrea's son. He was born with HLHS, hypoplastic left heart syndrome (1/2 a heart) and has made it through 2 open heart surgeries. He is currently in heart failure which is managed by medications until he receives the gift of a new heart.

Owen and Andrea have recently been to Stanford, for what they thought might be hospitlization leading up to a heart transplant. However, they weren't sure that Owen was strong enough to make it through surgery. Carson, Andreas husband, remained at home in Arizona to with their daughter Kamryn.

As it turns out, Owen's heart is stronger than they thought, and he was released from the hospital. Looks like Mommy and Owen will be at home for Halloween. For the complete story, check out the Simmons Family Blog here.

Take care Simmons family, you are in our prayers.

Sadie meets the water

Two weeks ago, Susan and I took Sadie for a walk down to the Farmington River. We wanted her to splash around and go for a swim. She's a Labrador after all.

Well she wasn't too sure about the water. She went to the edge, drank a little water, dipped her toe in and flopped around on the muddy bank. Didn't even chase the people in the canoe drifting by. Maybe she'll grow into it eventually.

The picture attached is of the old bridge over the Farmington River, that serves only foot traffic now. Volunteers from the community maintain the flowers and plants that you see. We needed to cross the bridge to get to a place where we could easily descend the bank.

More to come soon.

UCONN Ballroom Competition

Hannah competed in the UCONN Ballroom competition last weekend at the University of Connecticut. This was, I think, her first competition dancing at the Bronze level. It was also the first time that she didn't lead every dance.

Hannah and her partner, Saira, are jiving in the semifinals in the video below.

Allow me to explain a little about these competitions, for those of you who don't compete or don't have children competing in them. They are all day long events, typically starting at 08:00 am and wrapping up about 12 hours later with an awards ceremony. This means that Hannah gets up around 3 am, to shower, primp and power slam coffee before connecting with her team at the school around 5:45 am. When the day is over, they're just pooped. This time around Hannah danced in shoes that were slightly too small with resulting blisters roughly the size of Montana. I carried her inside around 8pm. Gritty performance.

September 27, 2009 Draft Blog Posting

It is almost the end of September, and I have not updated the blog since July. A slacker, perhaps. I had intended to post a new entry after returning from the cottage in late August. We had a nice time visiting with family in Michigan. Located in The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore, the Jillson cottage is a nice retreat. While there, I played a few rounds of horrible golf and visited the Cherry Republic with Susan and the kids. Erick's good friend, Derrick Magnun came along and was a good sport. He even survived unscathed the nearly famous Peanut Butter war at Dearing's grocery.

On the way home, we were able to spend a few days with my folks in Cleveland before I needed to return to Connecticut with the boys; Susan and Hannah went to stay at her Mother's house before driving to Indiana pick to up our newest family member, Sadie. A sweet little black lab, who was born on July 1st, Sadie endeared herself to the family quickly. Here is a photo of the little girl on the 7 hour car ride from the breeder. She found the nape of Susan and Hannah's neck the ideal place to cuddle: never seen a dog do that before. Since her return to Connecticut, Sadie has gained about 5 pounds per week. Her paws keep getting bigger.

Hannah has started high school! She is earning good marks in the ninth grade at Simsbury High. This morning Hannah and her team had their first ballroom inter district of the year. The UCONN Ballroom competition is next weekend, as is homecoming. Hannah will be dancing the weekend away! The UCONN team asked Hannah to join them but she had already committed to the high school team. She will try to practice with the UCONN team on Sundays.

Erick is enrolled at Tunxis Community College. He and his longtime girlfriend, Evangeline have classes two nights a week. Erick also got his driver's license earlier this month. He took his written test in June but had to wait until September to take the driving part. He passed on the first try. As we were walking out to the car with the new license in hand, Erick tells me that we need to go back in an stand in line again. Why?, I ask. The DMV had marked “female” rather than male on his license. Just about no one wants to go back and stand in line again at the DMV, but our other options weren't very attractive.

Gavin is not enrolled in Tunxis yet as he simply waited too long to get the ball rolling on his transfer from Northwestern prior to registration deadline. I'm fairly certain that he plans to start up there in the spring. He is working lots of hours at Andy's Grocery Store.

Susan is still loving her job and it is going very well. Once a week her co-teacher Denise, “Nise”, comes over for lesson planning. They put out a monthly newsletter about what they are covering in the classroom so the parents are kept up to date through the school year.

Leaves are starting to change color and fall. The temperature is also falling. I am hoping to have plenty of cool New England small town photos for the next posting.

Gavin Turns Twenty

Two simultaneous posts: I know, it's weird. However it didn't seem right to put the photo from Gavin's birthday into Hannah's post. A separate post seemed more appropriate. Check out the huge candle in the cake. Dinner was my responsibility that evening; I forgot the birthday candles.

It's weird that G's no longer a teenager. While sitting down and thinking about how old we're getting (yes, that's a bald spot in the last post), I thought about how much the world has changed since Gavin came into the world. Here's a short list of things that come to mind:

• We've fought in two wars in Irag and one in Afghanistan. Except for the first gulf war, the outcomes and long term impact are still uncertain.


• There was no internet in 1989. Ok, there was a an internet, but virtually no one was using it. Personal computers ran MS/Dos or an early Mac OS. No one surfed the web. I got my first windows computer with AOL in 1995. We all sat down in the family room and cruised the web at 28.8 speed.


• Cell phones were the size of small boom boxes with huge antennas. Today, kids don't even talk on them. At least my kids don't.


• VHS was just beating out Betamax to become the standard. No one was watching movies on DVD.


• Music was purchased on cassettes, but CD's were becoming more common. Today, CD's and record stores are becoming a thing of the past. iTunes and iPods have fundamentally changed the industry. I saw an interview with Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic recently; he was announcing the closure of the last Virgin Megastore in the US.


• The Berlin wall fell, Germany was reunited and Russia became a democratic country, or did it?


• Many South Africans lived under Apartheid. Mandella was an opposition leader yet to lead the country through the truth and reconciliation process.


• Gavin has lived in Cleveland Heights, Rocky River, North Royalton, Gurnee, Grayslake, Shaker Heights, and Simsbury. He's gone to elementary, middle, high school and is now in college. Happy birthday, Gav!

I'm sure I've missed a ton: if you're motivated, add them to the bottom of the post.

Jeff

Hannah Rides, Play Basketball with Dad

Hannah has worked this summer at a stable in Granby, Connecticut. Each summer the stable holds a day camp for little children. They ride, learn about horses and generally have a good time. Hannah helps with the horses and looks after the kids.

In return, her riding time is complimentary. Saturday mornings have become the default riding time. Driven to the stables by Mom, Hannah will spend several hours riding. Here's a photo of Hannah jumping. A rumor exists that Susan also did some riding, but there are no photos that exist of this. An inside source tells me that she also jumped. Next week's mission: get photos of Susan jumping.

I'm throwing in this photo of the daddy daughter basketball game. Hannah is celebrating a basket that she made from the top of the key. I've just gotten the rebound.

Hannah & Christina

In March of this year, Hannah's good friend Christina moved back to her home near Manchester Center, Vermont. While she had only lived in Simsbury for about nine months, Hannah and she became fast friends.

Early in June Hannah made the trip to Vermont (about a 3 hour drive) to see Christina's graduation and spend some quality time with her BFF. Dropping her off, and being a complete geek, I realized that there was a historical landmark on their property. Situated right next to her house was an 18th century blast furnace used in the revolutionary war era. It's worth mentioning that her home is right near the Bennington battlefield site, where Hessian soldiers were defeated soundly during the war.

I digress. After the graduation ceremony, Hannah and Christina returned to Simsbury for two full weeks of fun. The two of them palled around and generally had a good old time seeing old friends and attending end-of-the-year parties.

All photo credits go to Susan, who made multiple trips to Vermont.

Erick Graduates High School

Fighting through high temperatures and near 100% humidity, Erick walked across the stage on Saturday morning (June 26th) to receive his high school diploma. Like just about everything else that he does, he took it in stride.

Needless to say, we're proud of him. Nights spent rocking him on my knee seem as if they happened yesterday. A colicky baby, Erick seldom went to sleep easily or on time. Coaching him in little league, camping together, or playing at the cottage in Michigan are some of my favorite memories. I distinctly remember him and me throwing his cousin, Simon Jillson, high in the air and letting him splash through an inner-tube into Lake Michigan (not to worry, Simon loved it.)

Writing about how time passes in the blink of eye is truly cliche. When you're in the midst of it, it's hard to focus on the forest and not the trees in front you. Time does pass. Kids go to elementary school, then to middle school, and finally to high school. We look back and wonder where the time has gone. Love and memories are all that is left. Congratulations, Erick.

Erick is bound for Tunxis Community College in the fall; he wants to become a police officer.

On hand for the festivities were my parents, Larry and Virginia Boulden; Susan's mother, Marisue Besse; Evangeline Plattner, Erick's girlfriend, and Erick's friends Derrick Magnon and Bill Williams. I've tried to include a representative smattering of pictures. Take a look.

All for now.

Penbrook State Forest

Went for a walk this afternoon in the Penbrook State Forest. The state protected area runs for more than six miles atop Talcott mountain. The trail itself was part of the Metacomet trail, named for Chief Metacomet who is said to have watched Simsbury burn from a cave on Talcott mountain during the Narragansett Bay War of the early 1600's.

The trail goes up and down over several ridges and the climbs are moderate to challenging. Check out this photo of the trail right before the summit. If you look closely, you can see a little blue mark on the big boulder denoting the path of the trail. I had to force myself to watch every step.

Once you've put in all that work, it's only a short distance up an incline (of course) to the summit. From there one can clearly see the steeple of the United Church of Christ in Simsbury; downtown Simsbury and cemetery; West Simsbury; and the Barndoor Hills. Taking the pictures was a bit of challenge after the long hike, but the view was fantastic. Looking to the left, one can see across two ridges to the Heublin Tower, built in the 1920's. What a house.

Okay, I'm almost done with the photos. On the way to the summit, I stumbled upon Lake Louise and snapped the photo of the frog that you see here. Little guy was about two feet away just mac'n out on the Lilly Pad.


Finally, someone or several someones had gone to a number of different points in the park and created these funky rock statues. They looked kinda cool, so I took some photos. Is there any significance to them, or were they just done on a lark.

To see a large view of any of the photos in this blog, just click the photo and it will open up in separate window or tab.

Walking in Connecticut - Inter District Ballroom Competition

While browsing around the library for something diverting to read, I came across a binder called the Connecticut Walk Book. For some reason I picked it up and started flipping through the pages.

Inside the book are trail details for some great hikes throughout the state. They range from the duck pond down the street to the 26 mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail that passes through the Western part of the state on its way to Maine.

Yesterday (I know - Mother's Day) Susan and I picked a trail out that starts near Barn Door Hill road in Simsbury and continues into Granby's McClean Game Refuge. The walk was awesome - we were just about the only people for miles.

I've posted a couple of photos of really cool things we saw. The first was a turn of the 20th century manure spreader; at least that is what my sources report. A small secluded pond was the second. I wouldn't have taken too much prodding for me to have stayed.

Inter District Ballroom Competition

Hannah's Simsbury team stole the show, beating out other Connecticut High Schools, at a regional ballroom competition. Standing out from the crowd, Hannah was awarded a number of ribbons.

She's enthused about dancing and does it well. Someone, and I'm not sure who, took a ton of really cool photos. I've picked out a few that I enjoy. To see more, please visit Susan's Facebook page, or contact Susan directly via e-mail.

That's all for now. Back in touch soon.

Erick's birthday, Holy Cross Ballroom, Marisue Surgery

Good evening everyone... All two of you.  Really, you know who you are. 

I've got a few interesting things I thought were blog worthy.  First, Erick turned eighteen earlier this week.  It's hard to imagine that he's actually eighteen years old now.  I remember carrying that kid around, changing his diaper, playing catch with him, and picking apples (the day he ate more at the orchard than we bought.)  Seems like it was just yesterday.

Hannah has focused in on ballroom dancing and is just kicking butt.  Two weeks ago, she got up at 03:30 am to catch the 

school bus for the Holy Cross Ballroom Competition in Worcester, Mass.  That's pronounced Wooster, for those of you not in New England.  The kids competed all day long.  I think we finally started driving home around 08:30 pm.

Without doubt, she drank the largest cup of coffee in the world before leaving.  The car bounced and vibrated down the street on the way to the school.  Wait, I'm getting off subject.  The real point is that this competition was for college students, but Hannah and her partner walked out of there with first place ribbons in Jive and Swing.    I should probably also mention that she looked beautiful.  That's Hannah there on the left.  Her friend Amber is on the right.

Susan spent two weeks in Cleveland with her mom earlier this month.  Contrary to public opinion, it was not my cooking that drove her out of the house.  Her mother has struggled with severe back pain for several years.  In late February, she had a spinal cage installed.  Susan and Carolyn hung out with her, took care of the house and helped her get back on her feet.  As of this posting, she's starting to get back out and into her routine.  We certainly wish her the best.

That's all for now.  Post again in a month or so.

January Happenings

Hello all:

It takes some time to get into the habit of blogging.   Posting our Christmas letter as a blog seemed a natural decision.  It required no printing, no paper, no postage and allowed us to embed photos. Environmentally friendly and much quicker. The impetus, and content, for additional postings has not been as strong. Having said that, I think it is better to post some news - no matter how small - than leave our Christmas letter up until July.

Last weekend, Susan and I discovered that our bank was holding a local photography competition for their 2010 calendar.  An amateur photographer par excellence, Susan decided to submit a few photos. Take a look at a few of my favorites below. If any are selected for the calendar, we'll do our best to get them out to those that want them.

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Cool Shot of Frozen Berries

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Cold Bird

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Other Happenings
As you can see from the photos, January has been a cold month. I generally don't pay attention to the weather reports, track precipitation, or look at average temperatures. The heating oil method is much more accurate. Typically, we fill our tank once in December, January, and February. March is the final fill up and usually lasts until October or November. This year, we've filled up once after Thanksgiving, two days after Christmas, and again on January 15Th. At this rate, we might need to top it off again before then end of the month. Falling oil prices make this hurt a little less. Had they remained north of $4.00 per gallon, as they were this summer, we'd have really been stuck.

In other happenings, Gavin has gone back to school. Hannah has started tumbling classes to prepare for cheer leading in the fall. As I type this, Erick sits next to me and studies for his mid term exams.

I hope all is well with you and yours.   Hope to talk with you all soon.