Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Crossmans

We were blessed again this year and hope the same holds true for all of you as well. Here are some of the comings and goings that kept us busy in 2005.

The major change this year wasn’t with our pets, Riley’s teeth, or Quinn’s height, but with our house. We embarked on a major kitchen and bathroom remodeling project that also included an expansion of our laundry room and completely retextured/repainted walls and added crown molding. It wasn’t fun dealing with the upheaval but the results turned out quite nice. We also dealt with a series of stray cats making a “home” in our backyard, and having adopted stray kitten Ron Burgundy go lost – only to find out months later he was “adopted” by the people next door. We adopted Max the kitten in October and the kids love carrying him around the house and sleeping with him.

We wish you and yours a happy holiday season including whichever holiday is your preference. We hope you all have a great 2006!

Riley:

Favorite Far-Off Places:
Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Crawford TX, Kentucky, Capitola beach, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, Bonfonte Gardens.

Favorite Movies / TV:
America’s Funniest Home Videos (Riley’s clip was shown again this year), SpongeBob Squarepants, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Jimmy Neutron, Star Wars, Robots, Chicken Little, Kicking & Screaming.

Favorite Music:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, No Doubt, Madagascar soundtrack.

Favorite Hobbies:
Tony Hawk and Star Wars computer games, Legos, reading books, collecting flags and souvenirs from other states and countries, Chess Club, Disney theme parks, T-Ball, Soccer, Cub Scouts.

Cool Gadgets:
iPod Shuffle (second hand from Dad), Digital Camera, flashlights.

Highlights:
Traveling with Grandma and Grandpa Hargrove to Kentucky and Texas and places in between. Learned to tie shoes and lost front teeth. Performed in a school play, Academic Excellence Award, summer marine camp. Talking to animated Crush the Turtle at Disneyland.

Quinn:

Favorite Far-Off Places:
Kentucky Farms, Santa Cruz surf (okay, not a favorite), San Francisco and Oakland Zoos, Disneyland, It’s a Small World, and the Matterhorn, seeing the great white shark at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Favorite Movies / TV:
Madagascar, “Wiki Wonka” and the Chocolate Factory, Dora the Explorer, The Wiggles, Caliou, Teletubbies.

Favorite Music:
The Wiggles, singing “Let’s Get it Started,” “It’s a Small World” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” playing with various guitars and keyboards.
Favorite Hobbies: Drawing and coloring, singing, playing with Max the kitten, swimming lessons, playing with Brio trains, playing on his computer. Looking for Christmas lights and shopping at Target. Playing with friends at daycare. Pressing Riley’s buttons.

Cool Gadgets:
iMac G3, electric guitars, “driving” the family car and pressing the buttons.

Highlights:
Winning the Survivor pool one week, dressing up as a rock star for Halloween, meeting Murray Wiggle at a Wiggles concert. Eating peanut butter and jelly, chicken nuggets, and fruit and nothing else!

Julie:

Favorite Far-Off Places:
Tower of London, Downtown London, London Eye, Moulin Rouge show, traditional Parisian dinner (many courses, took a LONG time), Eiffel Tower, Disneyland Paris, and Disneyland (of course), and all of the shopping I got to do along the way!

Favorite Movies / TV:
Wedding Crashers, Amazing Race (not the family edition), Nanny 911, HGTV shows, Survivor, Lost.
Favorite Music: U2, new Depeche Mode, Gwen Stefani

Favorite Hobbies:
Scrapbooking, stamping (still with Stampin’ Up-hanging on), various other crafts, reading, and bunco

Cool Gadgets:
??? I guess my very old iPod (because I don’t have the one with video), my cell phone-love it!

Highlights:
Seeing U2 on both legs of their tour through the Bay Area, also saw Gwen Stefani, Duran Duran and Depeche Mode. Having my summer off (but not the part when I had to be up and dressed by 7:30 a.m. to let contractors and workers in), spending time with my boys, getting my kitchen back, anniversary trip to Europe. Won the Survivor Palau office pool. Trips to Disneyland.

Kevin:

Favorite Far-Off Places:
Tower of London and Tower Bridge; being the only people wandering around downtown London on a Sunday (neutron bomb style), Adventure Isle at Disneyland Paris, Moulin Rouge Show, Getting lost within 15 minutes of arriving in Paris (okay, not a favorite). Disneyland (as always)

Favorite Movies / TV:
Wedding Crashers, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Star Wars, Lost, Survivor, The Office, My Name is Earl, King Kong

Favorite Music:
Audioslave, Gwen Stefani, The Caesars “Jerk it Out,” various podsafe artists, lots of “mashups”

Favorite Hobbies:
Running a Survivor office pool, website and podcast devoted to The Frat Pack comedy actors, listening to podcasts.

Cool Gadgets:
iPod nano, Samson C01U condenser microphone, various digital cameras (had two stolen or lost this year),

Highlights:
Celebrating 10 year wedding anniversary with trip to London and Paris. Losing the annual Oscar bet, going to Ontario for the Podcasting Conference, interesting and challenging projects at work (Robert Half International). Celebrating ten years of Lip Balm Anonymous by once again not updating the site.

See all the photos mentioned here, plus bonus images!

All images and text appearing on these pages are copyright 2005 by Kevin Crossman, all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted.
Reproduction or retransmission of this material in any form is prohibited without expressed written permission.

This page last modified on Thursday July 03, 2014.