Merry Christmas 2016
Dear Family and Friends,
As this year draws to a
close, we are thinking of all our friends new and old and how much we have
enjoyed our interactions during the year.
We hope you are happy, healthy, and enjoying this joyous Christmas
Season.
Our year began on a New
Year’s cruise out of New Orleans with Karen and her family. We all had a great
time, but it ended too soon. John drove the children out to California from
their home in Texas for their spring break from school.
The kids enjoyed the hot tub and shopping expeditions.
Liberty, Trevor, Payton and
Taylor came down at the end of January for a fun-filled day with us at Knott’s
Berry Farm. We all enjoyed the
rides and shows. See them gold
panning on the left.
Friends Troy and Geri
Goodspeed joined us in Palm Desert during May for a few days of rest and
relaxation. We had fun at the
Indian casino and swimming pool.
In June, all of our
children and grandchildren (except for Kevin who lives in Odessa, Ukraine) came
to Maui for a vacation with us.
Pete and Katie stayed for two weeks and each of the other families stayed for a
week staggered over the time. There
was zip lining and parasailing, dining and snorkeling, swimming, a luau and
relaxing in the sun. Trevor turned 10 while we were there. Right is Ethan with
his Coconut. Center is us with
five of the grandkids after a dinner at Cheese Burger in Paradise in Lahaina.
Missing
from the picture are J.T. and Ethan.
Katie’s sister, Chris, flew
out from her home in Minnesota to attend the 50th reunion of Girl
Scout troop 107. Katie and Chris had a great weekend in Santa Barbara going
whale watching, having massages, and attending two dinners with the other Girl
Scouts from the troop. It was an
amazing reunion.
Karen’s family drove out
from Texas in July for a three week visit.
They were very busy visiting John’s family and friends and going to the
beach. Karen had to fly home after
a week because she is a very busy psychiatric nurse.
She likes it a lot, but works many double shifts and long hours (as many
as 84 hours in a week).
Pete was in charge of the sheriff volunteer security force at our Concerts in
the Park and did a wonderful job as always.
We both volunteered on several laundry runs and various other activities
with the sheriff volunteers. Pete
was just honored as the Volunteer of the Year for Industry Station. It was a
well deserved recognition of all of his contributions.
On Pete’s birthday in July,
he wanted to spend the day Seadooing.
So we took our boats to Long Beach and rode around in the harbor area for
a few hours. It was too rough out
past the breakwater, so we came in and had fun looking at all the boats and
houses as we toured the waterways.
In
August, we flew to Budapest to begin a seven week journey.
Kevin joined us in Budapest and we enjoyed three days of his company
before we sailed on the Scenic Jade river cruise up the Danube and Rhine to
Amsterdam. When we arrived in
Amsterdam, we flew to London and boarded the Caribbean Princess ship for a 29
day cruise around the British Isles continuing up the coast of Norway, making
three stops in Iceland and stopping in Boston before debarkation in New York.
There were so many highlights of these cruises that it is impossible to say what
was the best part. Left is our pet
reading Katie’s Kindle.
Unfortunately, Katie had to
hobble all around Europe using a cane.
Just before leaving home in August, she was diagnosed with severe
arthritis in her left hip. It has
been challenging to say the least.
Hip replacement surgery will be in April, 2017.
After our return from
Europe, we drove to Albuquerque for the International Hot Air Balloon Festival.
We attended four events, watching hundreds of balloons ascending into the air
above us, a beautiful sight.
Pete met Jennifer’s and
Liberty’s families at the Los Angeles zoo in November, and treated them all to
an exciting and adventurous journey through the animal kingdom.
In November, we had a quiet
Thanksgiving at home with friends Laura and Richie Ohara.
Troy and Geri Goodspeed spent another nice week in Palm Desert with us in
late November, relaxing and playing Parcheesi.
Pete tries to get together
with his amateur radio friends in Santa Barbara as often as possible for their
lunches at Petrini’s Restaurant.
Katie began playing cards
at the Hacienda Heights Senior Center this year and plays for 4 hours on
Wednesday and Friday afternoons when we are in town.
This friendly group plays Caliente Canasta with six decks of cards. We
both have enjoyed several activities at the center.
We saw a great example of
Beautiful garden in
Alexander having fun
Katie, Taylor
and Payton
Hungarian horsemanship
Europe
at the Maui Marriott
with pet
Alligator at
in Budapest
beach
Marriott pool
We anticipate John, Kaitlyn
(12), J.T. (16), and Alexander (7) Moore spending their Christmas vacation with
us at our home this year. We hope
to see Jennifer, Hugo and Ethan Gutierres (8) along with Liberty, Trevor (10),
Payton (8) and Taylor (8) McCormick during the Christmas Season for fun, food,
and gifts. We love spending time
with family and hope that you all have the chance to be with your loved ones as
well. Please check out
Bickerdike.US > Christmas Letters to see
more pictures and these in color.
