Annual Christmas Card

Looking back at 2014 - it will be remembered as the year of the boy.  For the longest time Cash has been our only grandson.  Well he is not flying solo any longer.  Joe and Samantha had young Ryker in May and then Eric and Vanessa had Elliot in June.  To complete the trifecta, Heathers daughter Callie had a son - Wes.  It is Heather's first grandchild.

All in all it has been a good year.  Joe got a 30 day leave from Japan and so he was stateside for an extended period.  He said it was like being in school again and getting a summer vacation.  We got to actually see young Ryker.  He is very energetic and expressive.  Some of the time was spent lazing around and we had a few bonfires. Both Joe and Sam found out who their real friends were.  Joe had one friend was like 15 minutes away in Middletown, but couldn't find an hour or two to drop in and catch up.  But he had good times with his real friends.

Chelsea's husband, Dan, is back in school. He is taking classes to get a certificate to be an employee in a jail or prison.  Chelsea is working crazy hours at a plant in Franklin.  They do packaging for all sorts of products and she does quality control. She has been getting overtime, which is good.  But the long hours give her less time to spend with her family.  Hopefully 2015 will be year where they can reverse roles.  Dan can go to work and the Chelsea will be the one in school and finish her 4 year degree.

Vanessa and Eric moved back to Ohio.  She wasn't happy with the direction that her old company was going in at the Louisville office. So she made a radical career change - she is working for a tractor dealership just North of Covington.  Eric was able to transfer to the Coke distributor in Huber Heights.  By all accounts the move was the right one. Elaina likes her new school.  Eric actually got a pay raise, and Vanessa is happy with her new position and is learning the farm equipment business.

Chad is chugging along, still doing maintenance for Montgomery County. Cash is doing OK at school - still enthused about anything mechanical.  When I visit the house - if there are any projects from school to show me, invariably he has weaved a car, a truck, an airplane into the project.  They have a big Yukon now to pull the travel trailer they purchased.  Not much time to do camping this summer, but next year should be a fun year for that.

Work is going OK for me.  5 years now at Luxottica Retail. Working on a big project that is due this spring.  So a busy winter to get it all done.  Becky just got back from a trip to Wisconsin to visit her niece.  She had an operation on her eye and needed some assistance.   It was a break from the routine for her.  We are actually going to Japan this spring to visit Joe and Samantha.  So that is the next great adventure.

The week before Christmas

Dixie might be better than I thought, although they seem to rely on one scorer in the game that I saw.   So a box and one or a tough defender might make it hard for them to score. But I can see them getting to .500 or beyond. South will probably have a winning record from the game that I saw.  But I don’t think they will be challenging for league.  Tri Village just has too much and Miami East is not far behind.  And North is a bunch of football players playing basketball.  The game I saw they had a 4 out and 1 in offense – pass the ball around the perimeter, finally throw up a forced shot and let the other team get the rebound.  Not a recipe for success.  No cutting to the basket or driving to the hoop.

My camera croaked.  It is over 10 years and a sensor went out.  When I went online to check for the value – it is worth less than $100 working.  I paid about $600 new.  So it isn’t worth trying to fix.  I found another one new online and got the camera body for about $760.  My lenses will work with it.  So this weekend I will take it out for some real pics and see how it does.  Of course on paper it is way better than the old one.  We will see how it does in the gym.

Chelsea wants to see the new Hobbit movie that just came out.  Dan is not interested in going.  With her work schedule it is hard to find time to do anything with her.  But she is off the day before and the day after Christmas.  We are thinking that Christmas eve everyone will be with family so that will be a good time to see the movie and maybe take her out to like O’Charlies, Applebee’s or something similar.  She has been working hard, so she deserves a treat.

Eric, Vanessa’s husband, got a compliment from his boss.  He has only been working at Coke in Huber Heights for only a few months – but he has impressed his boss.  He is getting a lot of hours since he is low man on the totem pole and if anyone takes off, he is likely to be called upon to fill in.  But anyway it is good to be wanted, it made him feel good that the boss took some time to talk him up.  Elaina is doing well in school and that is a positive as well.

Chad is working on my Suzuki.  A check engine light is coming on.  He tried a few things this week end, but no luck.  I told him to keep it until next weekend, that I would just drive the truck this week.  Sarah is getting some substitute teaching.  But it is sporadic.  Oh and they don’t make things like they used to – he had some problems with his car running rough.  After doing trouble shooting his spark plug wires were bad – only 10,000 miles on them from NAPA.  NAPA is usually good quality, so that is disappointing.

Joe and Samantha have a tree up, so they are ready for Christmas.  Young Ryker is getting his first tooth.  They post videos online, so it is fun to watch him develop.  Years ago there was no way to see how the kids are doing. They are still doing dental work on Samantha, but hopefully things are stable for the holidays.