Bouldenhistory.org

Yesterday afternoon Bouldenhistory.org, a website for those interested in the history of the Boulden family and its collateral lines, went live.

Perhaps I am overstating things a bit. A temporary site went live while the main site is under development. Visitors to the page today will learn that the site is intended as a colloborative venture for Boulden geneological research around the world. They will also be able to see a sample post and communicate with the web development team through the admin@bouldenhistory.org email distribution list.

Posting the notice on this blog seemed a logical thing to do as many of the people who read the blog are Bouldens themselves. So, tell us what you'd like to see. Do you have old stories, diaries, rememberances that you would like to have preserved? How about old pictures?

Send them along with your comments to admin@bouldenhistory.org

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.