So let get the downs out of the way. We lost 2 good people this year.

Shortly after our returned from Nuevo Vallarta with our friends Mike and Barbara Morton, Mike took ill. It took a month or so before the diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer was made. By early Sept. he was gone. Mike was always quick witted and loved by everyone who knew him. He will be missed.

Last month I received the shocking news that my 1st cousin Dale had passed away. Dale gave me my first big girl haircut. She was at every family function while I was growing up. She was a tiny peanut of a women who always had a smile on her face. She has left a whole in our cousin get togethers.

Now that I remembered those that we’ve lost, let go onto more happy topics..like births! Our little granddaughter Harper Ella Jean Katz was born to Nick and Ashley on May 12th. We gathered up the whole CA clan and flew in 3 days after she was born. Because we couldn’t get enough of her, Danny and I flew back to Macomb again in Sept. This way we also got a few days to bond with little Hayden. We even got to help him pick out his Halloween costume. This trip also allowed us to see Lani’s dorm room and meet her friends.

We celebrated Jackson’s first birthday in May. Now 6 months later he is still a bundle of joy and energy. Learning his first words is a wonder to see, but him always coming to his grandma and grandpa is priceless.

Luke went back to AZ in June so that he could get a job. This along with a new church house to stay in, allowed him to start the clock ticking on his AZ residency. He’s working at the Outback Steakhouse as a server. The downside is less time when he comes to visit, but the upside is the bundle he’ll save on tuition at ASU starting next year.

Lani did come home for summer, but by the beginning of August she was ready to go back to her school routine. Holding down 2 jobs plus a contributor to the school newspaper, she definitely is busy.

All the kids will be home at one time or another during the holidays and for this we are very thankful. Danny’s and my joy is the journey we take together. Our children, grandchildren and our travels, make life a joy to live!

For this trip, we took Tim, Elyse, Jackson and Luke. Through shuttle ride to LAX, a 3 hours flight and another 3 hours on the road from St. Louis, not rain, dark of night, or exhausted babies could stop us. Actually, Jackson was an enthusiastic traveler. And since Hayden would barely come to me last Christmas, nothing can replace him running thru the parking lot with his arms up, saying “Grandma” and hugging me. I guess the video conferencing really helped! We enjoyed going outside and “mowing” with two little plastic mowers. We blew bubbles, and played with his water activity table. (Yeah, guess who got soaking wet. Uh no, it wasn’t me. I’m faster than he is.) Then Hayden learned how to say “Unca Luke”. He proceeded to push and pull Luke in the wagon. The park was a big hit and I finally got do what all grandma’s like to do: buy my grandson a treat. I know it’s a small thing, but he was finally old enough to us to take him and let him pick out a little candy. Since we only get to see him twice a year, this was a small thing that was pretty special.

There were many more great moments in between, like Jackson and Hayden meeting up again. Since Hayden only turned two in January, and Jackson will be 1 tomorrow, it meant more this time around than at Christmas. I’m sure we would have had a great last day too, except almost all of us came down with the stomach flu… a really bad bug. It kept us in bed the entire last day. I was supposed to bake cookies with Hayden and “mow” more, but that will have to wait for the next trip. Can’t wait to see newbor Harper when she’s 4 months old!

We’ve been back for a week and the kids will be leaving to go back to school. We’re already counting down the days to May, when we will all make the trip back to Macomb to see the newest addition to the family – little Harper is set to be born on May 10th! Can’t wait to meet her!

Thanksgiving was especially joyful this year as it brought some of my kids back home. Lani had been away at school in IL since August. Luke had been away at school in AZ but had been home about once a month. Having them both home at one time was wonderful. Meeting Lani at the airport, we had arranged for Tim, Elyse and Jackson to meet us at In N Out in Fullerton as a surprise. Lani didn’t notice until well after we walked in. I don’t know who was happier – her or her brother and sister-in-law.

Luke came in Weds night and it allowed us to meet his buddy Tanner for the first time. The night before Thanksgiving holds it’s own tradition for us: it’s the planning night for our annual Beckett Ct. Christmas Progressive party. We always meet at Lynne’s house. We said a quick hi to Luke and Tanner and told them to meet us at Lynne’s when Tanner’s father comes. Turns out Tanner’s dad spent a good hour with us, eating and laughing. What a nice first meeting!

Needless to say, the week flew by. We had Thanksgiving at our house, did some Black Friday shopping with the kids, baked, and decorated the tree, all in one weekend because by Saturday, it was back to IL for Lani. On Sunday afternoon, Luke left…so it was back to just Danny and me. Now we are looking forward to Luke coming back in on Weds, and Lani on Sat as they both start their Christmas break. They’ll be here until mid-January.

Nick, Ashley and Hayden will be flying in a couple days after Christmas. At first we weren’t sure they were going to come, as Nick kept hesitating. By September we found out why…they were pregnant again! Ashley is due the same date as Elyse was this past year – May 17th. We look forward to finding out whether we’re having another grandson…or if maybe, just maybe, we can buy pink dresses. So if you’re keeping score, starting in 2007 we’ve done wedding, wedding, baby, baby, baby!

We look forward to the holidays, including spending New Year’s Eve and Day with good friends. Super Bowl Sunday we will be walking/running the Huntington Beach Half Marathon. March is back to PV, and May we will be in New Orleans and then Macomb for the new baby. In June, we will do the Rock N Roll half marathon in San Diego. September we’ll be back in Macomb for Parent’s weekend, but not before we go to Nashville and then to KY to the Corvette Museum. Can’t wait for another year!

From our house to yours we wish you and yours the best holiday season possible!

On the 9/24 – 9/26. we visited Luke on the ASU Parent’s Weekend. I’ve finally posted pictures of Luke, his roommate Zak and their dorm room. I also have Luke and his Air Force ROTC uniform. We’re pretty proud of his goals, and wish him all the love and support to reach them. We hope that 4 years from now finds him with an Air Force Commission.

On 9/30 we hit the road with PCC and 6 cars, headed for Albuquerque, NM and the Balloon Fiesta. Andrew, Kathleen, and their friends Lake and Kathy met us up there. We overnighted it in Flagstaff, coming and going. That gave us 2 days at the Fiesta. Gail brought her friend Elle with her. Elle just happens to be a balloonist, so we got quite an education. We also found out, that just as you pack your clothes, you need to pack your wine! Ok, we’ll know this from now on. What a great time we had with this group.

Starting with a flat tire on Bob and Linda’s car, everything that went wrong turned into good times. Who would have thought that searching for a tire for a C4 Corvette would be such an adventure. Ending up at Mad Dog’s would not have been first choice on my list, but what great food and talk with the locals. Getting up at 4 am is not my idea of a good time, but going to the Gondola Club and watching 500 hot air balloons take off was awesome. The Gondola Club brought us special parking, great viewing spot, flush toilets (oh yeah!) and a great buffet. Did I mention open bar???

The evening session in the Club brought us a storm that literally almost blew us away. No evening glow of balloons, but wonderful food and company including another couple we just happen to meet when they pulled up in a Corvette. Seeing their Texas license plate made great conversation for Andrew and Kathleen. They sat with us through dinner and we found out they are an retired Air Force couple. Add in unlimited Margaritas and no storm or wind could dampen the evening. Fireworks at the end made it worth staying as well.

Sunday morning was another early wake up call. We were part of a car show taking place at the Fiesta. We had to wait behind a little hill to wait for the balloons to go off, but we didn’t miss a thing. Instead we got a totally different view of them. Add in other people owning classic cars, and again it was a great time. Driving up onto the field was special in it’s own right. I kind of like having people getting excited and taking pictures of my car. Several people posed in front of it when we were parked, and one little boy asked Danny how loud does it go, trying to get him to start the engine. That night we had to say good by to Andrew and Kathleen as they were starting their drive back to San Antonio very early the next morning.

Monday, we started our trek back to Flagstaff. Didn’t know we’d be caught up in finding a Cracker Barrel so I could buy candy. ( It started with the road bingo that Marianne set up for us for the ride going up. I never could find the Cracker Barrel on my card.) Mission accomplished, the rain kept us in the breakfast room at the hotel. Nothing like good company, wine and pizza.

The next morning we got caught in a torrential downpour. Once again it was worth it so see the double rainbow. I have never seen a rainbow from end to end. We could actually see where it spilled into the ground! We couldn’t seem to find a place for lunch and ended up again in Winslow, AZ. We found the La Posada Hotel and found out a lot of celebrities over it’s history, had found it before us. Great end to a great trip.

The following Sat. we went with PCC to the Mullin Museum in Oxnard. Lunch in Ventura was fun…visiting the bakery in the Valley on the way home – priceless.

This past Thur. we headed to Las Vegas for a short trip to our timeshare. Tony and Judy were supposed to join us, but had to cancel at the last minute. They need to fly to Chicago for an emergency. That means last night and today I have finally able to download pictures and put them into albums. Good thing I’ve caught up this far…next weekend we meet with our group to start planning our next big trip in 2012. Since it seems we have now added half marathons to our agenda in addition to traveling, Linda suggested we change our “Cruise Parties”, to “Adventure Planning Parties” – or APP for short.

APP with start next Sunday and we have a half marathon for Feb and next June already planned. Travel might be to Venice, Greece, Peru, Australia or??? The week after that, we will be leaving for a week in Puerto Vallarta again. The Swenson’s and Sandifer’s will be joining us. The Mulkern’s will be in town as well – so we know there is more fun to come!

It sounded like a good idea at the time: I’ll do a half marathon. After all, 13.1 miles should be a piece of cake compared to 39 miles. I asked Danny if he wanted to do it with me. Say yes and you’re in. Say no and I do it without you. What could he say? He was in. He would do it to celebrate a “big” birthday. Sooo – what if any of our friends wanted to join in the fun? To my surprise, Karen, Cliff, Nicole, Monica, Carol, Don, Stephanie and Alex answered the call. (Brad and Nate were signed up as well, but ended up not being able to make it.) Wow, all those people are going to do this with us? Then why not really celebrate Danny’s birthday too!

We got up at 3:15 am last Sunday morning. Drove to Disneyland and waited around with 14,000 other people to do the Disney Half Marathon. We registered as walkers so our corral was so far back we were on Ball Ave. (To non-locals, this is far!) We didn’t even see the starting line until 6:31 and the official clock started at 6:00. All the others ended up making their way into a closer corral, so Danny and I were on our own. We met a nice gal from Alabama, doing the Disney Coast to Coast. As she put it, it’s all about the plastic blink – the medals they give. She loved the saying on my shirt: If found on ground, drag to the finish line.

And finally we were off. Disney really knows how to throw a party – even if you’re running through it. They had music, characters, bands, cheerleaders, mariachis and even hula dancers (each area had a theme). Anything to keep your mind off the fact that 13.1 miles is really, really long! After winding through CA Adventure and Disneyland, we hit the streets of Anaheim, winding around The Honda Center, and into Angel Stadium. By that time, (mile 9) we were actually on the way back to Disneyland. We caught up with the rest of the gang, minus those fast kids. Danny and I did more running than we ever did in training. I had to hold the old guy back. Save it, save it…it’s a long way, you’ll thank me at the end.

By mile 11, we’d pretty much had it with running. Walking and limping was more like it, although Karen and I did make a run for it at the end. Two show offs or just two old gals being stubborn – I’ll let you make the call. But we all did it together. Carol calls us “Forever Friends” and I have to tell you, the love and respect I felt for all of them at the moment, that was the first description that came to mind. Who else does things like this with you?

We made our way finally to collect our medals and get our pictures taken. We then went through a tent to find all the kids on the other side. We were proud of them and they were proud of us. Hugs all around. So it does get better – not only do you have Forever Friends, but all the children are part of the gang too. We talked and recouped and delayed on my part…see I have 40 people coming over to the house to surprise Danny for his birthday. He couldn’t figure out why everyone just headed their own way after such a great event. Surprise! After 5 hours of sleep, the party really didn’t end until later Sunday afternoon. Thanks to all of you who came out.

Normally after an event like this you joke and say what next? “We’re going to Disneyland!” In our case, we’ve already been there. So where are we going next? The Huntington Beach Half Marathon in Feb 6, 2011. Donald says we need to get more sense and sometimes I agree with him. Whose Bright Idea Was This Anyway?

To cope with all this, we continue to move forward and plan. We will be running/walking our first half marathon in Sept. We will also be going to NM to see the country’s largest balloon festival. Then it will be back to Mexico. We’ve already got reservations to go to New Orleans, Macomb and Chicago next year. I guess the only way to great this change of life is to keep traveling!

Tim and Elyse informed us a few days before Christmas that our next grandbaby, due May 17th, will be…another boy! The room has since been painted blue and the crib is put up. Can baby showers be too far off?

Fast forward to February. We started the month by traveling to St. Louis. Nick and Ash picked us up from the airport and we started the 3 hour trek to Macomb. We were greeted by snow. But to see that cute little boy, it was all worth it. More than once he was the center of attention, showing off his new clapping skills.

Friday we did Nick’s “honey do” list and made our way around Macomb in the snow. That night we had Debbie’s Italian beef sandwiches (yum) and of course her daiquiris. I’m still full.

Saturday night we took a drive across the Mississippi river and into Iowa, to eat at Martinins. Great view, great dinner, great martinis, great company…it’s a night we’ll remember for a long time.

Before we knew it, it was time to travel home – on Super Bowl Sunday. So much for the game. The visit was worth so much more.

I have done the Avon Breast Cancer walk for 2 years in a row, but this coming year, they’ve changed the L.A. walk to Santa Barbara. I needed a new goal to stay motivated. The kids had told me about seeing Disney half marathon t-shirts in the restaurant so I did a little research. Because it takes place the first week in September, Danny and I have decided to walk/jog the Disney half marathon for his 60th birthday. Let the training begin. We started out with 7 mile walks. Then we added in a bit of jogging. Now we stay within our 7 miles but are jogging more to decrease our time. The distance is no problem, but the event has a 3.5 hour time limit. My short legs can’t get me across the finish line without jogging some of it.

To help us train, yesterday we went with my 24 hour Fitness “gym gang” on a bike ride to beach and back. The trail takes us 22 miles, along the river bed, the Honda Center, Angel Stadium and beyond. We then go a few more miles down the beach to Mutt’s to catch breakfast. Just enough time to get feeling back in parts that are numb. It was a cool start, but turned into a 75 degree day…just perfect. Nothing like SoCal in Feb.

Next weekend we’ll be going to Tempe, AZ. Luke has been accepted to ASU and we’ll be taking a tour of the campus. We’ll meet up with Glade and Carol as well as Mark, Lisa, Butch and Judy. We’ll also get to finally meet their American Bulldogs – Luke and Lani (don’t even ask about their names).

We’ll be home another weekend and then the Corvette (YELW KAT) is taking us to Las Vegas.

In the meantime, Lani has been accepted to WIU, but is still hoping to hear from Cal Poly Pomona. Luke also go accepted to CO State Univ, but we’re hoping he’s stay closer in AZ.

Graduation is only a few months away. That will be followed by the kids turning 18. Then it’s off on our Alaskan cruise, with the best friends anyone could have. Sounds like it’s going to be a busy year!

End of year is always cause for reflection. This year we’ve certainly had events to look back on. But before we get to that, I’m long overdue for some looking forward. I’ve sent out word, but here’s the formal posting: Elyse and Tim are pregnant! Baby Katz is due May 17, 2010. We find out if grandchild #2 is a boy or girl on Dec 22nd. Our vote is for a healthy baby!

So if I look back on this past year, it would definitely be defined by becoming grandparents for the first time. If you look anywhere on the site you’ll see it covered in Hayden’s name. Although Nick and Ashley moved back to Macomb, IL this past June, we’ve been video conferencing quite a bit. It’s a great joy to see Hayden’s face light up when he sees those funny looking people on the computer. And of course our faces light up when we see him “dancing” around to Lady Gaga. They’ll be here the day after Christmas. I can’t wait to give him tummy raspberries in person!

While the economy took a turn for the worst in 2009, we’ve been lucky enough to keep working. The restaurant is slower and I took a cut in pay and in hours. Going down to 30 hours has been a blessing in disguise though. It allowed me to train for the 39 mile Avon Walk that took place this past Sept. Many Friday’s I spent with Danny, walking 7 miles. Danny had never done this amount of walking before and he found out he actually enjoyed the “walk therapy”. After getting over his griping about hurting, he found out the end result was pants that were too big for him. While the Avon Walk is in doubt for next year since it’s moving to Santa Barbara, some sort of walk/run is in the works so that we’ll continue to be motivated to train. After all, Danny turns 60 next year and he wants to prove he’s not just an old grump.

In keeping with the “we’re really not old” theme, we went out bought a 2006 Corvette. How appropriate that it’s bright yellow, since this is Danny’s favorite color. Andrew and Kathleen turned us onto their Corvette Club, PCC and the rest is history. Again, this site is full of PCC news, although I haven’t put in our last trip to Temecula or the upcoming Christmas party yet. By end of January, I’ll be turning in my leased BMW and that yellow Corvette will be seen on the 241 toll road 3 times a week. I hope the Highway Patrol will be looking the other way.

This past Sept. Luke and Lani started their senior year of high school. Both are doing good. Lani is heavy into drama and has a great set of friends because of it. Luke made the varsity soccer team. He is also already been accepted to ASU for next year. We’re waiting to hear back from the other schools that both have applied to. Keep your fingers crossed.

So life keeps moving on. Nick and Ashley celebrated 2 years of marriage this year, while Tim and Elyse celebrated one year. One grandchild this year and one next. Next year is another Circle K Cruise Year. The destination will be Alaska. I guess it’s all about the kids, grandkids and the travel. If this is growing old, I like it.

I’ve also posted just a few pictures of Hayden’s 9 month photo shoot. There are more on Nick and Ashley’s site and Facebook for those of you who follow.

Yesterday also brought us some happy news: Luke was accepted to ASU. That makes him now a college student in training. We look forward to hearing from other colleges that both he Lani applied to.