Happy New Year 2005!

Happy Holidays Everyone from the Beautiful (and rainy) Santa Cruz Mountains!

We hope all our friends, near and far, are enjoying good health and the joy of the season.

For a second year, we’ve posted our annual Holiday Missive here rather than including it with our New Year’s card. We hope this spares those who are bored by impersonal family newsletters the tedium of reading stuff they either know already or do not care to know. And to those who are here and reading on—Happy New Year! We’ve certainly enjoyed your cards and letters.

So here are some quick family updates. Tristan is five years old now—a kindergartener. He is thriving at Happy Valley School where Anya (grade 3) and Sage (grade 6) still happily attend school. He loved soccer this fall, plays violin (somewhat) in the classes taught by Lisa at the school, and is on a gymnastics “pre-team” at the Santa Cruz gym where Correll and Sage train. He is an exceptionally easy-going, bright, happy little boy. He is adored by all—and is the UN-spoiled darling of the family.

Sage (11) and Correll (13) continue to train hard in gymnastics—their competitive season has just begun. They opted out of a meet in Hawaii, but will compete again in Las Vegas and throughout Northern California. They switched from their San Jose gym of the last couple years to a new gym in Santa Cruz—this has opened up much more time for them, now that they no longer have the half-hour-plus commute.

Correll attends the Pacific Collegiate School as an eighth grader. This is a rigorous school (his favorite subject, besides Drama, is Latin) where we are proud to report he is a straight A student. He has managed to train 17 hours a week in gymnastics in addition to starring in a couple of theatre productions requiring an equal number of hours’ commitment. This summer he was cast as “Doody” in Grease and this fall he played the “Captain” in Anything Goes. He will audition for “Oliver” this spring.

Sage is savoring his last year at Happy Valley School—he’s quite busy socially, but approaches school with great enthusiasm and seriousness. He enjoyed lots of time in the surf this summer and looks forward to some time on the slopes this winter. He has more or less left his violin studies behind—but is very intrigued by his science project this year: he’s comparing violin, piano and non-music students’ ability to recognize pitch. No conclusions yet—stay “tuned”.

Anya (8) had an outstanding first year competing in gymnastics—was third in her age group at Northern California State Championships and thirty-third overall, out of 340 girls of all ages. She is passionate about gymnastics and it is a pleasure to watch her in the gym. This is fortunate for Lisa, who drives her there five days a week—a forty minute commute, each way. Lisa (and Tristan) spend so much time at Anya’s gym, in fact, that Lisa has begun teaching violin there several days a week.

Calen (16) is a junior at Harbor High School in Santa Cruz, and has enjoyed taking several courses at Cabrillo College. He played club soccer this fall and is on the Varsity team this winter. He coaches gymnastics 10-15 hours a week and has managed to squeeze in a little more homework this year—though his social life seems still to be a priority. He plans to pursue chiropractic or acupuncture studies after high school, though has yet to decide whether to enroll in these training programs after two or four years of college. His favorite school at the moment is the “ Advantage Driving School.” Yikes. Another driver in the family.

Taran (22) moved to Chico, California last January after leaving his position here as editor of three community newspapers. He serves as Director of the Chico Boys and Girls Club’s summer program, and runs some of the school-year programs there as well. He just finished editing a novel for a former colleague. He intends to finish school…..though has yet to offer us a timeline!

Nikolai (24) continues to work as an Arborist for Davey Tree Company. He transferred from the Berkeley area to Santa Cruz in June after his girlfriend Kim graduated. The two of them live in the little cabin on our property. Kim works in a lab at Threshold Enterprises, a nutritional supplement company. They are looking ahead to some extensive travel, but at the moment are content to save money in Santa Cruz. We REALLY enjoy having them here—the kids still cheer when one or the other arrives home from work.

So that’s our news. Lisa is teaching many hours—many, many students, but her schedule fits neatly around the kids’. Jeff enjoyed a great business trip to Europe this fall—traveling in Europe was far more enjoyable than his daily travel to Pleasanton (1 ½ hours each way.) Fortunately, he manages to work one day a week from home. Juggling the logistics of four gymnasts’ schedules, seven kids at home, and two careers could be a bit overwhelming if we were to stop to think about it for very long. So we don’t. We’re just happy for those moments when we’re all together in one place—sharing a noisy dinner together or maybe even a ski or beach trip.

Keep those photos and letter coming. As always, we welcome visitors!

Love,

The Barca-Halls