Holiday Letter 2008

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

This year has been a very busy and fun year for our family…

In January, Regan turned 5 and had a fantastic tea party to celebrate. Our basement in our new house was perfect for the occasion. The girls wore beautiful dresses and Regan enjoyed serving tea to all of her guests!

In January, Doug finished his “Man Room” (which I call the theater room) with official Steelers paint and an amazing ceiling projector just in time to host the super bowl party. That room has already seen many parties, poker games and movie nights this year. And, of course, playing the wii is a lot of fun with such a huge screen!

In March, we celebrated St. Patrick’s day at M’Coul’s Pub as I was a finalist for their limerick contest. After reciting the limerick to the crowd, the judges declared me the winner… Aidan wanted me to win first place so we could get the two night’s stay at Atlantic Beach. And, I did not disappoint him!

A couple weeks later, we drove up to Pittsburgh to celebrate Easter with Doug’s family. It was great seeing the cousins having so much fun. Coloring Easter eggs, the Easter egg hunt and eating Aunt Tracy’s cute bunny cookies were the best!

In April, my sister Liza traveled to the states to visit. We had a great time shopping, going to the Heritage Festival and even organizing my bathroom and garage. What a sister!

In May, Regan and I flew to NY City to meet my sister Greta, her daughter Kadia and my mom. Greta, as well as many other vacationers from France, was excited to shop in the states since it was such a “bargain” with the USD/Euro exchange rate! We had a great time visiting them, seeing the sites and shopping…. (And, shopping, and shopping!)

Later in the month, Doug went to California for a friend’s wedding which, of course, included some fun times in Vegas with his Notre Dame friends. While Doug was away, his parents came to visit NC for Regan’s dance recital. Regan danced beautifully and enjoyed the spotlight!

Before month’s end, we took advantage of the hotel stay I won for the limerick contest and went to Atlantic Beach for Memorial Day weekend. The kids had a blast visiting the aquarium, jumping waves and digging deep holes in the sand. Aidan even took a surfing lesson from Surfer Joe!

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Pittsburgh. We had a great time going to Kennywood amusement park with Doug’s parents. It was also good to visit with Doug’s grandma. The kids sweetly held her hands. Regan, especially, loved to sit and visit with “Great, Great Regan Grandma”.

In August, the kids started school. Aidan is in the 2nd grade and Regan started kindergarten. They are growing up so fast! Soccer, baseball, basketball, dance, church school and school activities keep us quite busy!

Doug and I also went to our 20 year high school reunions this year. In August, we traveled to Dayton, Ohio for mine and in September, we traveled back up to Pittsburgh for Doug’s. Both parties were a lot of fun. We even stayed in Pittsburgh an extra day to go to a Monday night Steelers game!

In October, Aidan turned 8. We celebrated with a Star Wars Jedi Training party. Star ship flight practice and light saber training were a few of the many, fun activities at the party…

For Thanksgiving we went to Florida. As luck would have it, my parents were there over much of the same time and went to Disney with us. We also traveled down to Ft. Lauderdale to visit my Uncle Gerard on his birthday… He took us out sailing on his boat… We didn’t have much wind for sailing but the kids enjoyed driving the boat under Captain Gerard’s direction. On Thanksgiving Day, we met up with Doug’s brother Don and family at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. What fun!

For Christmas and New Years, we are excited to have my family (parents, sisters, niece, brother-in-law and boyfriend) visit us! I’m not sure how we got five people to fly from Paris, France to Greensboro, NC, but we did… And, I couldn’t be happier!

May your holidays be wonderful and bright!!

Love,
Doug, Lara, Aidan & Regan