We are in the house 1 year today

Hard to believe. Nov 29, 2019 we had everything moved into the house and Nov 30 we spent our first night in the new house. Much has changed since then. The country has been dealing with an out-of-control pandemic. We have a new president and vice president elect. And we have landscaped a good deal of the yard. Below is a picture of the front from 1 year ago followed by today. 

Front of the house on moving day. Note weeds and no planting

A year later; note the parking area in front and lots of plants

We hope that everyone had a safe and enjoyable thanksgiving. We give thanks for family and friends and wish we could visit. Hopefully, with a vaccine on the horizon, we look forward to returning to the mainland by May--given that we can get the vaccine here on our out of the way island. 

Our oldest grandson is a National Merit semi-finalist. We hope that this will open up lots of scholarship possibilities. Keeping our fingers crossed. He and his sister have been going to school part of the week and studying remotely the rest of the week. Although they are still able to swim, swim meets are currently out of the question. Again, perhaps sooner than later, they may be able to return to the sport they both love.

Our youngest grandsons seem to be thriving doing school remotely in NY. Music is a big part of their life and we got to listen to the 10 year old play piano, guitar and sing which he did for a recital. They grow up so fast. The boys got to watch their guinea pig give birth to 2 healthy babies. Great excitement. 

Hamilton keeps us energized. He is such a lovely, smart dog. We drove to Volcano Village and he slept in our lap all the way home. A great traveler. He does love to explore and we are working on various commands which he is learning to follow. Obey is not the right word for him, more like cooperative. And, he and the cat are finally getting along--they both sleep on the bed with us. 


Our daughter, Kimberly, has completed her masters degree while working full time. A super feat. And our son, Toby, has been accepted to an executive MBA program which begins in January. Our adult children still make us very proud parents.

If you haven't watched it, we recommend highly Queen's Gambit. A wonderful story. Mike and his oldest grandson have been playing correspondence chess over email and enjoying it. However, for Mike, seeing Queen's Gambit brought back his love of chess from his youth. You probably don't know but he started the chess club at his high school. The scene where the heroine is a passenger in the car being driven by her chess coach and the two are playing blindfold chess--telling each other moves without a board, all from visualizing the board in their mind's eye--was moving. As a teenager, Mike and his friend used to play blindfold chess. They would write their moves on a blackboard with no physical chess board. He did not know other people did that. Anyway, he joined chess.com and has been taking the lessons and playing games. Watch out: you too may become addicted.

We miss everyone and wish the vaccine was here already so we could see all of you in-person and give big hugs. 

Love

Judy and Mike





Location: Kailua-Kona, HI, USA

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