It’s been so long since we have logged on to tinkleflick.com that we were not really sure that it was still here! Looking back on it, Facebook, et al. appear to have taken over the day-to-day family blog/information/pictures responsibilities while good old tinkleflick.com seems to have been relegated to the once per year holiday letter. And, not even that much this year as we did not get around to doing holiday cards and the accompanying holiday letter this year (but we’re trying to catch up with what remains of Winter Break).
One of the reasons that we have been off the grid as far as our normal holiday communications is that we have been just a bit busy with our portfolio of activities. Ralph is the president of his Rotary Club, the PTA Board, and the HOA Board, he’s the “Navigator” of the Adventure Guides group (both Noah and Natalie are in it this year) and he’s on the board of a couple other non-profits. People often ask Ralph if he works or sleeps and he usually just responds “no” to both. Wendy finished off a year of indentured servitude otherwise known as president of the the Gig Harbor Co-Operative Pre-School just in time for Ralph to volunteer her to chair the biggest PTA event of the year for the elementary school. We would show you the text message that Ralph received back but this is a family website and we don’t want to get blocked for adult-only content. Despite all of this, Wendy has re-entered the workforce after an almost 9 year absence! Just go to the Gig Harbor YMCA (oh, it’s just called “The Y” now, sorry) and try to cancel your membership. You’ll get the same text message.
As we write this, we are preparing for our little Noah to turn 9! That’s right, he’s a busy 3rd grader with a few side interests that include flag football in the Fall, baseball in the Spring and Star Wars every other waking (and most every other non-waking) moment. The Lego collection continues to grow unabated and, at some point, we’ll just use it all to build an add-on to our house. Natalie just turned 6 but try to convince her of any limitations based on age at your own risk. Natalie loves Kindergarten because she has the same teacher that Noah had and has really been ready for it for a few years now. On the athletics side, Natalie is planning to embark on her T-ball career this year but she is really is a soccer superstar and plays constantly at home in the basement if it’s raining.
In addition to a few trips to SoCal, we splurged and went on a cruise this year! We were on the first positioning cruise of the Disney Wonder from Los Angeles to Vancouver, B.C. in April. While it was a bit too cold for swimming most of the time, the kids had a great time and we went under the Golden Gate Bridge (twice due to a medical emergency on board after we left the first time) and otherwise enjoyed the ride. Surprisingly, and unlike Disneyland, they did not take you for every penny you had while you were on board! We liked it so much that we booked another cruise but we’re not exactly sure when we are going. We have big plans in future years for trips to Hawaii, Alaska and other places. We’ll see.
Our family grew by one as we welcomed our dog Jake into the family. Jake is about 10 years old and we adopted him from a family who is dealing with illness. Natalie hid in her room when he first came over but now Jake sleeps on her bed. Jake is very mellow at home but among the things that he hates are: (a) other dogs, (b) any opening or closing door, and (c) the school bus. As long as he is not barking at one of these enemies, he can usually be found sleeping on Wendy’s lap. We really love having him.
While we had some good times and are all (relatively) happy and healthy, we were glad to see 2011 fade away. We are hoping for a better year in 2012. We are going to Paris in July with the Flicks and that will consume most of our spare energy after the school year. Hopefully, we will do a better job of updating this site in December of next year and we should have pictures of Paris!