Happy Holidays!  

2013 was the year the boys ‘discovered’ Star Wars and became obsessed with everything related to that universe.  From light saber duels throughout the house, recreating Star Wars vehicles and scenes with Legos, devouring related books and stories, and epic Lego Star Wars III video game sessions, we may need to start looking for help with this addiction.  

Thankfully Torin and Ronan continue to cultivate other interests.  For Torin, playing soccer, basketball, and piano.  For Ronan, progressing in Taekwando and chess club.  With all these activities we’ve officially hit the taxi parent stage of life and finally became a two car family, bummer.  Now if only a company would hurry up and deliver the self-driving car to the masses.  Bonus points if you can communicate with the car via your smartphone, “Ok Google, pick up Ronan at Taekwando and deliver him home”. 

“Rieke is for Ronan” where he is now in the 1st grade and loving the independance.  Torin started a new school in the fall, Class Academy, where he has been assigned to the 5th grade and is facing academic difficulty for the first time.  Its nothing he cannot handle but is having to work hard and focus.  We believe the adversity is fantastic because learning how to fail gracefully is as important as learning how to succeed.  

Jamie has taken a new position this year as the Science Educator at Rieke Elementary.  In this role she is developing a science curriculum that meets required academic standards while hopefully sparking student interest.  One project that was written up in the local newspaper had the students investigate energy costs to create units of protein for various foods.  It concluded with a tasting of roasted mealworms (kind of nutty) and cookies prepared with some mealworm flour.  Jamie’s project to create an outdoor classroom space at Rieke was completed this year thanks to the help of a few sponsors and many volunteer hours.  Teachers in all grades have taken to the outdoor classroom to cover topics in geography, ecology, and zoology.  Its also an excellent spot to sit on a log and just read.  

Matt took on an expanded role at Schrodinger this year that includes more travel.  Multiple trips to the east and west coast were fun and a great chance to catch up with old friends in the industry.  A trip to India though was the highlight.  Matt will be attending ACS meetings more regularly now so if you’re planning to attend give a holler and we can get together.  

Trips to Florida for Matt’s sister’s wedding and California for the funeral of Matt’s Grandfather continued our travels.  We also got out more locally with an amazing trip to Olympia National Park which is a site we’d recommend to everyone.  Matt also took the boys overnight backpack camping in the Mt. Hood Wilderness and came back alive with only minor trauma from wasps (there is a wasp season here - who knew).  But perhaps the most exciting event this year was we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.  

 

We hope you had a great 2013 and wish you the best in 2014.

Matt, Jamie, Torin, and Ronan