Warm regards for a happy holiday season. Ours is especially warm (and,
sometimes, wet) this year thanks to the newest member of the Crossman family.
Riley Robert Crossman was born on March 15th, weighing a shade
under 7 lbs. Both son and mother were and continue to be healthy. Yes, Christmas
will be different this year. Of course, much of our lifestyle has changed as
well.
Riley now weighs 16 pounds and can blab with the best of the them. He sits up by himself and has taken after Mom by rocking every chance he gets. It remains to be seen whether he will take after Dad by "rockin'" when he gets older. Riley was baptized at Christ the King Lutheran Church on October 4th, and we have enjoyed going to Church on a regular basis.
Julie spent a satisfying summer with Riley. They were kept busy with Gymboree, Baby and Me, and the F.U.N. Mother's Club. Julie has enjoyed meeting new friends (with babies in the same age group), and really enjoyed her brief stint as a "stay-at-home" Mom.
Once school started, Julie went back to Fremont's Warwick Elementary School which won a California Distinguished School award and up for consideration for a National Blue Ribbon award. Now teaching first grade, Julie has become a Mentor Teacher and is kept busy with meetings galore! Julie is enjoying her very own classroom that is decorated to only her specifications.
Julie continues to excel in home decor. This year, she painted one wall in our living room fire-engine-red and another with a gold diamond pattern. We also painted the exterior of our house (twice, it's a long story...). Her next project is our bedroom.
Kevin experienced some new things this year professionally. In May, Kevin took his first honest-to-goodness business trip, presenting information seminars in the SRI offices in Boston and Washington D.C. He finally got to see the Computer Museum and the original Cheers bar in Boston! In November, Kevin made a presentation at the Internet Librarian Conference in Monterey. He talked about designing the graphical user interface for an internal database for SRI employees. He continues as an Information Specialist in the SRI library and has worked extensively on SRI's internal Web site.
At home, Kevin continued to live the Web lifestyle by expanding on his various Internet projects. Tongue-in-cheek site Lip Balm Anonymous continues as strong as ever; this year, Kevin extended his 15 minutes by appearing on two Australian radio shows and doing interviews for several newspapers and a Canadian broadcasting show. The year ended with Seventeen magazine's expose on balm addiction.
The new project this year was The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai, a Web site devoted to finding the utmost tropical drink experience. He also became even more entrenched into the lounge music scene. This has been something Kevin has been interested in for a while, but this year practically all of Kevin's new music purchases were either Swing (both classic and revival) or Exotica (Martin Denny/"tiki" music). Perfect music for a Mai Tai!
By the way, this is the interactive version of our holiday letter. You can email us at kevin@kevdo.com or julie@kevdo.com.
Some of the interesting places we visited this year were the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Sacramento, and Burbank (don't laugh, that's where Kevin's friend Craig lives. It's actually a pretty nice part of L.A.). Julie and Kevin also took a few days off from parenting to unwind in Las Vegas (not a good place for children). We stayed at the Treasure Island casino which was great. We sure missed Riley, though. Thanks to Grandma Bonnie for an extended babysitting gig. Next year we have our hearts set on Hawaii so that Riley can play in the sand (and that's the only reason we want to go to Hawaii too... the sunsets and Mai Tais have absolutely nothing to do with it).
We certainly wish you all a happy holiday season, no matter what your chosen form of celebration is. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Solstice, and above all a Happy New Year.
