Warren & Sandy's Xmas Letter 2002

Text Box: Well, it’s December 23, and therefore time to start our Xmas correspondence. It is a sure sign of aging when the year has flown by so fast that you feel you just sent off last years’ greetings and it’s time again. Even more shocking is the fact that it has been two years because we missed last year Xmas letter all together. Despite time flying by, we’ve had a good year. We spent most of last January on holidays in San Diego, Los Angeles and Banff. Keiran loved San Diego and felt that a new theme park every day was time well spent. We loved the break and enjoyed being reunited with Sandy’s cousins (Gail and Ron), Warren’s sister and her family and Joyce Ng and her family. Keiran had his first experience on downhill skis in Banff at ski school and averaged about 10 feet between wipeouts. February proved to be not as much fun when Warren’s job of 12 years at SED evaporated with cutbacks. He was fortunate to find a position at IRD (International Road Dynamics) quickly and is enjoying it there. IRD supplies 90% of the Weigh-In-Motion scales in North America. When spring rolled around, Sandy and longtime friend Jacky McArthur decided it was the right time to run a marathon. This implied lots of training throughout the summer and was also a good excuse to gossip for up to 8 hours a week. Spring was also the start of “the fence” which occupied what felt like all of Warren’s free time until November. Summer weekends were largely spent at Emma Lake with Warren’s parents and many other friends! Sandy found that 6:30 training runs on Saturday mornings cramped her wine consumption and late nights. Need better planning next time... We had an early, cold fall but, so far, a very mild winter. The lack of snowfall this winter portends another dry year. This is somewhat distressing. Saskatchewan had a severe drought this past year (worst in 70 years) and even had Sandy watching the weather channel like a seasoned farmer, desperate for rainfall. The rains finally came in late fall, delaying a late crop even more, pushing harvest back to where it interrupted Thanksgiving dinner! As always we are looking forward to taking vacations. In March we plan to head to Virginia to visit Warren’s family. And finally visit Halifax and take our first summer holidays in four years. Warren continues biking (IRD is a little farther, but still quite bike-able) in all ridiculous conditions, taking pictures like a tourist with his new digital camera, coaching a bit of gym, and building wooden railway components for Keiran. Keiran has got energy to burn and never stops talking. He is currently going to preschool two days per week, takes swimming, soccer and gymnastics. He also hounds Warren to make more toys for him. A little while ago, you could see the wheels turning when he asked, “Do you think Santa knows that Dad is making all this stuff for me?” Sandy continues working about half time at City Hospital on Neuro-Rehab. She’s also the secretary for Keiran’s preschool board (with her excellent computer skills…), did finish the marathon and has returned to her usual more spud-like status. We hope this finds everyone and their families well and enjoying their good fortunes. Merry Christmas! WebVersion has hyperlinked photos. Click on them!