Greetings
to everyone once again from Kettering! It is hard to believe
another year has flown by, as they seem to go all too quickly! It
is fun to take our turn to tell our stories and recount our year in the
Newsletter!
The
BIG NEWS for us this year is: We are becoming Grandparents!! That
news is wonderful for us and we are looking forward to these events.
I’ll let Holly and Bryan tell their own stories of this super news,
but lets just say……that Grandma and Grandpa are ecstatic!
It
finally happened as we scheduled! I retired from Montgomery County
on July 31st, 2006. (Rusty and Holly decorated the room for the
farewell party with 'Say Goodbye to Bill' ads that Rusty and
collected from the newspaper a few years earlier.) Rusty and I are
finding we really like being retired and are enjoying ourselves
more and more every day. The important thing is to stay busy doing
the things that you like that are important to you.
Rusty
still maintains herself as a “resource” to her former department
at Kettering Breast Evaluation Center by working a couple days a
week based upon her own schedule. She likes that approach to
keeping busy doing some outside work.
My
little business “ArchitecturePlus” is doing well with plenty
enough work to stay busy and to add a little extra income. I am
currently the contract Plans Examiner for the City of Eaton, which
includes all of Preble County, looking at permit documents for all
commercial work. I also am doing architectural design work on a
more limited basis for a varied group of projects around the area.
Rusty
and I decided to volunteer for the Victoria Theatre Association
working as ushers for the live theatre productions that go on at
several venues in Dayton. We recently ushered (and got to see for free)
the play “AIDA” at the Schuster, and have ushered many other
performances as well. We find that it is a fun thing to do and
allows us to see live theatre in exchange for our time. A good deal
for us.
This
has been another year of exciting travel for us. In September
of 2006 we celebrated our retirements by taking a fifteen-day
guided tour of China. We traveled to Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Suzhou,
Guilin, and Hong Kong. These were thoroughly enjoyable cities
many of which were full of smog!! An amazing amount of
construction was seen in every city as well. We visited
Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City; had a rickshaw ride
through the Hutong area of Beijing; climbed The Great Wall of
China; saw and enjoyed the Terra Cotta Soldiers; took a
four-hour river cruise down the beautiful Li River; ballroom danced
with the morning exercise groups of Chinese people at several
cities; enjoyed the wonderful French Concession area of
Shanghai (where our group of traveling American friends had
dinner in a German restaurant listening to a Chinese singer
doing County/Western songs!!); went up to the observation deck
of the 1560 foot tall famous Oriental Pearl Tower; saw the great
harbor of Hong Kong where Rusty went up the tram to Victoria Peak ;
Rusty had a sampan ride in Hong Kong harbor (I got sick in Hong
Kong and missed both); saw many wonderful gardens and
fantastic new and ancient Chinese Architecture; and ate way too
much Chinese Food! I am currently working on creation of an
hour-long digital movie of this truly memorable trip!
A
week after returning from China, Rusty and I drove to Colorado
to visit Bryan and Leigh in Boulder. We used their condo at
Silverthorne as a “home base” to also drive to visit our scenic
national parks including Colorado National Monument; then off to Utah
to see Arches and Canyonlands. We now have our National Parks
Senior Passes that are a great bargain since they only cost
$10.00 and are good for the rest of our lives! Bryan and I
played golf at Fossil Trace, which is a new and exciting course
in Boulder. We also had a surprise snowfall 5 inches deep on
October 17th! As usual, Bryan and Leigh are wonderful hosts who
created another memorable visit!
Our
spring cruise this year is a 7-day cruise to the Southern
Caribbean, visiting Aruba; Curacao; St. Maarten; and St. Thomas that
sails in and out of San Juan, Puerto Rico and leaves on February
25. Two new ports of call creating new excitement for us!
On
March 6, I will be have hip replacement surgery for my old right
hip, which has been badly visited by Mr. Arthur Itis, once again!!
Well, that is it for now,
Our love to all,
Bill and Rusty
Things
are crazy for us right now, as we prepare to head to Kiev on March
12 to adopt children, hopefully a sibling pair. We'll spend about a
month in the Ukraine before the process is complete and we can bring
our kid or kids home. The last few months have been a frenzy of
getting their room ready, child-proofing the house, working hard
for our jobs to not make the upcoming 2 month break for the
adoption process as obvious to the National Institutes of Health
(where the grants that pay our salaries are from), and enjoying our
last few weeks of non-parenthood.
Bryan's
research is investigating why people get Type 2 diabetes, which is
very exciting right now as we have some great data being produced!
I won’t bore you with the details – but only 2 other labs in the
world can do what we are doing – and hopefully our data will help
promote better pharmaceutical agents to prevent and treat Type 2
diabetes. Leigh is also producing some really exciting data on the
physiological differences between different types of pre-diabetes.
Not much is known about pre-diabetes. So her work will hopefully
direct better therapies to prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes in
this high risk group.
We
traveled quite a bit for work again which is not as exciting to
talk about, and took a memorable vacation to Aruba to relax and try our
hand at scuba diving and windsurfing. We also tried this crazy idea
called “laying on the beach and doing nothing”. It was fine for a
few hours, but after that it was a touch boring. So instead we
snorkeled, ran, dove, swam, etc… it was a fantastic trip.
Last
fall we also took a trip to the Canadian Rockies to see the fall
colors. It was breathtaking taking in Lake Louise (pictured here),
Lake Moraine, Banff, etc… the colors were hard to describe surrounded
by the sharp peaks of the Canadian Rockies. Leigh called it the
"Bergman Boot Camp” because our idea of fun was to trail run and
mountain bike our way through the parks. That way we saw so much
beautiful scenery more quickly, and while exercising at the same
time. We also went caving in Canmore which was a really fun
adventure!!!
Last
year Bryan did what may be his last full mountain bike racing
season. It was very successful, as he moved to the Semi-pros and nearly
won the national championships for his age group (an ex-pro beat
him). Leigh has been staying fit as well, and is eyeing a 50km
trail run as her next event.
So things are good here – now we are just preparing for parenthood!!!
Regards,
Bryan and Leigh
Usually,
I put the parents before the kids, but this time, Bryan & I
have great news to share, so I’m putting us first. What could be so
important? Grandkids, that’s what!
On
the Friday before Christmas, Tom and I found out that I’m
pregnant! (This is us shortly after we found out.) We told Mom
& Dad when they were over on Christmas Eve, and were able to
reach all of our brothers by phone the same night to share the
news. I’m currently 13 weeks pregnant, due on August 28. After a
year of trying on our own, we got help from a fertility practice.
we’re thankful that it took only a few months of non-invasive help
before we were successful.
Due
to my age (ripe old 38), we had some standard genetic testing, and
know that the baby (who Tom dubbed ‘Acorn’) is highly unlikely to
have any of those problems. So far I am also doing well: no morning
sickness, I’m still working out several days a week, and I feel pretty
darned good! I’m not showing yet, but my clothes sure don’t fit
like they used to…
Are we going to find out Acorn’s gender? No. Have we chosen names? No,
but we’re working on it. Do we know what color the baby’s room
will be? Not really, though I made a rug that everything else will
be based on.
The
other great thing that happened last year was Tom finding a
full-time position at the Dayton View branch of the Dayton Metro
Library. It was quite a journey to get there, too. Last year at
this time, he was working two jobs, shelving books at the Main
library and holding on to his job at the cable council. That lasted
until May, when he quit both jobs in order to be a sub for the
whole library system. He was able to sub for 2 different positions,
and did so at about 7 branches in all, over the summer. The job
paid much better but the hours were not guaranteed; we were lucky that
he only had a couple of slow weeks. He started the full-time job in
September, where he’s in charge of the computers (the ones patrons
use to get on the internet and the employees’ system), the
teen-oriented programs, helps out at the circulation desk, and is
the main reference librarian. The job is full of challenges and new
things to learn, but he’s doing well with it so far. And maybe
best of all—he only works two nights a week, and two Saturdays a
month, which is a whole lot better than before!
Holly
is still working at Cityfolk, for 11 years now! Once again, most
of our travels were related to her job. One new trip we took was to
Chicago, one weekend in September when there was both a Celtic and a
World Music festival going on. And a Turkish festival and some sort
of Mexican traditional celebration, it turned out. We got to stay
in Oak Park with a friend that we don’t see often enough, which was
a treat in itself. Oak Park is the neighborhood where Frank Lloyd
Wright designed a lot of homes so we were able to take lazy walks
while viewing an abundance of fabulous architecture. In fact, we
walked a LOT while we were there! We saw a lot of wonderful sights
and heard a lot of great music, and still missed a lot! We would love to
go back for a week and see more.
Our
vacation was a week spent at a cottage near Lake Michigan in the
Frankfort, Michigan area (just south of Sleeping Bear Dunes). It
was a very relaxing week, filled with rock hunting, visiting
lighthouses (here we are in front of one), hiking, sitting on the
beach…and watching the Tour de France! We have decided that we
really should plan our vacation at another time next year, so we
don’t feel compelled to spend so much time in front of the TV!
The
next few months will be busy ones, as we prepare for the arrival
of our little Acorn – but we can’t think of a better way to pass
the time!
Take care,
Holly & Tom
This
has been another year of exciting travel for us. In September
of 2006 we celebrated our retirements by taking a fifteen-day
guided tour of China. We traveled to Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Suzhou,
Guilin, and Hong Kong. These were thoroughly enjoyable cities
many of which were full of smog!! An amazing amount of
construction was seen in every city as well. We visited
Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City; had a rickshaw ride
through the Hutong area of Beijing; climbed The Great Wall of
China; saw and enjoyed the Terra Cotta Soldiers; took a
four-hour river cruise down the beautiful Li River; ballroom danced
with the morning exercise groups of Chinese people at several
cities; enjoyed the wonderful French Concession area of
Shanghai (where our group of traveling American friends had
dinner in a German restaurant listening to a Chinese singer
doing County/Western songs!!); went up to the observation deck
of the 1560 foot tall famous Oriental Pearl Tower; saw the great
harbor of Hong Kong where Rusty went up the tram to Victoria Peak ;
Rusty had a sampan ride in Hong Kong harbor (I got sick in Hong
Kong and missed both); saw many wonderful gardens and
fantastic new and ancient Chinese Architecture; and ate way too
much Chinese Food! I am currently working on creation of an
hour-long digital movie of this truly memorable trip! 
A
week after returning from China, Rusty and I drove to Colorado
to visit Bryan and Leigh in Boulder. We used their condo at
Silverthorne as a “home base” to also drive to visit our scenic
national parks including Colorado National Monument; then off to Utah
to see Arches and Canyonlands. We now have our National Parks
Senior Passes that are a great bargain since they only cost
$10.00 and are good for the rest of our lives! Bryan and I
played golf at Fossil Trace, which is a new and exciting course
in Boulder. We also had a surprise snowfall 5 inches deep on
October 17th! As usual, Bryan and Leigh are wonderful hosts who
created another memorable visit!
Our
spring cruise this year is a 7-day cruise to the Southern
Caribbean, visiting Aruba; Curacao; St. Maarten; and St. Thomas that
sails in and out of San Juan, Puerto Rico and leaves on February
25. Two new ports of call creating new excitement for us!
On
March 6, I will be have hip replacement surgery for my old right
hip, which has been badly visited by Mr. Arthur Itis, once again!!
