Doesn't it seem like time is moving faster? I can’t believe it has been over a year since I last wrote a web page! I looked back through my pictures to think about what we have done this past year and I realize there is so much to share.

Going backwards in time, Neil and I spent a wonderful seven weeks on the mainland December to January visiting his daughters, my family, and many friends. I started the trip in Ohio for 5 days in the SNOW! I would like to say it got me used to the cold but actually I don’t think I ever got used to the cold in the seven weeks. I spent wonderful time with my Dad and his wife Jane in their lovely home, and I got to see many cousins, aunts and uncles at the Kreischer Cousins Christmas Party. In California, Neil’s daughters were on college break and we stayed with Mailea and Greg in Rohnert Park where they are seniors at Sonoma State. Ari, a junior at UC Santa Cruz, came up for 2 weeks and it was a big slumber party in the one bedroom apartment. Then we all headed out to spend the holidays with the rest of our families. Neil and I stayed with my Mom and Bill in Ridgecrest for Christmas and New Years. We traveled to Baja, Mexico, in mid January with Mailea, Greg, Mark and Terry (Greg’s parents) for five days to see the Gray Whales. We really enjoyed the trip and the time together (and celebrating Mailea and Greg’s one year anniversary with them), but we recommend you come to Hawaii to see the Humpback Whales for the Hollywood performances! We spent our last week in Santa Cruz seeing Ari’s place and in Rohnert Park with Mailea and Greg before heading back home to warm Hawaii.

My mom married Bill Campbell on September 28 and they are happily settled in his home in Ridgecrest. A few weeks later she celebrated her 70^th birthday. I flew to California for the party. My Dad flew out from Ohio at the same time to see his “kids” (at the time, I didn’t know I was going to Ohio and California in December and they didn’t come to Hawaii this year.) We had a great time all being together. A major activity every day was packing up my sister Melanie and her family for their move to Washington DC area. Will, Melanie’s husband, accepted a job as Public Safety Director for the Naval District Washington region. The family moved Thanksgiving weekend driving three huge U-haul trucks cross country with one being driven by my mom and Madison (my niece.) They are settled in Waldorf, Maryland.

Speaking of 70^th birthdays (I mean 29 again), Neil’s mom Jean celebrated hers the end of February. She requested having dinner made for her by her “men” while she I went off for massage. Well, she actually made the sauce and wrote down the recipe for the meatballs. Neil and Morley proceeded to expand the recipe to “octo”balls (8 spaghetti legs from the meatballs.)

This past June, my great-nephew Quentin moved back to Maui with his little sister Sophie, his mom Vajra, and his stepfather Peter. I am lucky to get to spend time with them. We have adventures, play in the park and the pool, play baseball and lawn golf, and play at the beach. As you can imagine, I have lots of photos of Quentin and Sophie so you can browse as you are inspired.

We also had Neil’s nephew, Keegan, and nieces Gillian and Kalli, visiting Grandma Jean and Morley in the front house over the summer. I think they were in the ocean almost every day while here, and we had many adventures with them. Their mom Cindy came out for their last week here for more Hawaii adventures.

One adventure was boogie boarding on our new boat! We surprised ourselves and bought a 14 foot inflatable boat with our friends Roger and Wanda Stephens. We still have our underwater scooters but our new toy can get us a little farther out for more dive adventures! Neil designed and built a dive sled to snorkel behind the boat for a great view of reefs. I try to put some dive photos on the web site that you can get to from my home page.

Still back in time, in March Mark and Terry Pierce (Greg’s parents) came to Hawaii for vacation. We introduced them to diving and they loved it so much we went five times during their visit.

January 15, 2005, Mailea and Greg got married at the Dancing Horse Ranch in Paso Robles California. It was a great celebration and party. They have had a wonderful year together and as I mentioned before, we got to celebrate their first anniversary with them.

You have already heard my mom got married and Melanie’s family moved to Washington DC area. Other family news is that Jason returned from Iraq safely last year, and he got out of the Army just this month. (We are thankful he did not have to return to Iraq as originally slated.) Pamela and Chris are busy with his ministry and life in Lawndale, California. Dad and Jane bought a new Toyota Sienna and love it. Dad is President of his Rotary Club this year and he still works part-time delivering construction supplies. I got to go with him on one of his runs in his big 18 wheeler driving through little Ohio streets; impressive! Neil’s sister Cindy and her husband Bob are building a horse farm in Iowa and Cindy is teaching an online law class as well as her fulltime position as a prosecuting attorney. Neil’s Dad Wilbur continues as Sergeant of Arms for the Iowa State House of Representatives.

We continue to love visits from friends and family when you come to Maui. We would love to see you again!