Holiday Mail 2016

​Sorry for skipping our yearly Holiday mail last year, but we were all around Germany for Christmas. That way we could celebrate Tim’s 10th birthday on the 30th of December in Munich and visit Paris and London. After that Marco went to Thailand for 3 weeks with a college buddy.
 
In Seattle school, work, moving, and remodeling our new home (5228 38th Ave, Seattle WA 98126) was waiting for Christine and the Kids. In spring, we celebrated Sarah’s 8th and a little later Marco’s followed by Christine’s 40th birthdays. Almost every weekend we invited friends over for Coffee and Cake on our new garden terrace.
 
We spent the long (compared to Germany) summer break from June-Sept mostly outside in nature and in our ’83 VW Vanagon. We went to an art festival at Granite Falls, biked 200 miles (320km) to Portland, camped with friends and attended wilderness courses at Tolt River and went to summer camp at Big Lake, OR in August (Horse riding, Swimming, Sailing, Climbing, Surfing, and Hiking the PCT).
 
In September Tim started his new soccer season and 5th grade at Fairmount Park Elementary. He has two very nice teachers and math is still is favorite subject (after recess). His soccer team made second place in their group and he’s looking forward to the start of the next season in spring. Tim just got back from a 4-day overnight trip to “Islandwood” (Bainbridge Island) where he spent time with 70 of his classmates and his dad as one of the chaperones: doing nature learning about teamwork and science experiments.
 
Sarah attends 3rd grade in the same school and has a great teacher as well. She loves reading and writing and playing dolls with her friends. She also makes fabulous sugar cookies and goes to a circus/gymnastics class every week.
 
Marco left Amazon after 12 years in Nov 2015 and is slowly recovering from the pressure that kept building up. He tried many new things over the last year, volunteering at the kids’ climate organization “Plant for the Planet”, the local Food Bank, his Amateur Radio Club, and our new Unitarian Universalists church. He loves singing in the choir there and enjoys being able to spend more time with the kids.
 
Christine just started a new part-time job as a bookkeeper, still manages her coworking space and works on her internet startup “Stuffmapper”. She organizes many activities and is learning about nature connect, society and culture in her spare time. She loves to help with neighborhood projects.
 
The election of Trump was quite a shock for all of us. We are very aware of how nice we had it during the last 8 years under Obama. Our engagement for the environment and social justice causes and our wish to bring up our children as responsible citizens of the world are being tested. We are thankful for all our friends and everyone who stays positive and works for bettering the world – we see this as our mission. Having sad that, “we really do just want world peace” and a lovely Holiday and Christmas time for all of you and we are looking forward to seeing you again soon!