February | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December
February
For our Winter break we went to a concert called "Down from the Mountain" that was mostly music from the move "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou".
The next day, we went to Hearst Castle. We had glorious weather, and a week off from work and school. Out of the 400+ pictures we took, about 80 made it onto the website ... click here to see the pictures!
April
We lost a beloved pet this month. Luke had been a part of our lives most of the last 20 years. He passed away from congestive heart failure.
May
Mothers Day, a religious festival and Memorial Day ... May was not a quiet month for us. See the photo album here.
We weren't allowed to photograph the show, but on Cinco de Mayo, Janet bought tickets and we three took the light rail downtown and saw the equestrian version of Cirque du Soleil, Cheval. What a magnificent show! We were right down there with the human and equine performers, about 5 rows from the floor. Incredible!
June
We had to take the Beetle in for some service, and had to get a loaner
for a couple of days ... rough life -- this is what we had to drive!
Janet's beloved horse Abba passed away this month. His health had been
in decline for some time, and it was finally his time to go. He had been a
part of all our lives for almost 20 years.
On Joyce's last day of school, she and her mom went up to San Francisco to see "Les Miserables" at the Curran Theater. Here are pictures of some of the scenery they saw on the way into the city, and Joyce in the car on the seventh floor of the parking garage near the theater.
July
A good friend had a 50th birthday party, and here are the pictures
of the celebration.
A couple days later, the gals went to Orlando again, this time for a UMJC conference, and a couple days at SeaWorld. (see the pictures in Daily Journal or Photo Album layouts.)
August
Ana got her chance to rub shoulders and shake hands with the highest
execs at HP. Through her work with United Way, she participated in a
Volunteer Appreciation event that Carly Fiorina and Michael Capellas
hosted, and got their autographs. See the
pictures!
Toward the end of August we got to see the IMAX movie "Dolphins" (finally ... we missed it the first time around). The Commonwealth Club in conjunction with The Tech Museum brought the movie back, as well as invited one of the stars of the movie, Dean Bernal, to do a post-movie presentation. Joyce and Ana got to meet him, ask questions, and get his autograph. Here are pictures of Dean, Joyce, and a plastic version of his dolphin friend Jojo, who lives in the British West Indies.
"Forty Niner Faithful!"
September
Joyce (holding Spectre), on the first day of school! (... and in one month, she'll be 13 ... a teenager at last!) and for her 8th grade school picture (click pictures for larger images)
We celebrated the High Holy Days with Shofar blasts and a trip to the beach where we cast our sins into the depths.
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October - Birthday Celebrations
The 4th - Ana baked a cake for the monthly Erev Shabbat Potluck Dinner at which they always celebrate the birthdays of the month. This month there were 12 birthdays and one anniversary - the most of any month of the year! Here are some of the birthday kids blowing out the candles!
The 5th - Joyce's first Flag Girl performance for Valley Christian was this weekend. Joyce and all the rest of the girls gave a great performance. And Valley beat Bellarmine (go Warriors!)
The 6th - The girls went to their 2nd 49er game of the year. Beautiful weather, and the '9ers were meeting an old rival, the former LA Lambs :-) now the St. Louis Rams ... the '9ers wound up pummeling them. On a side note, the Giants and A's are in the playoffs. Life is good in the Bay Area!
The 9th - Joyce & Ana had a FANTASTIC Birth-day. It started out with both of them awaking early -- for Joyce, earlier than normal at 5:40AM! -- and getting ready for a fun day. Ana had scheduled to take the day off since last January, and nothing would keep her from that mission.
This was Joyce's first birthday in town in a long while, and she was looking forward to some adulation from friends at school. Ana went to school to decorate her locker -- that's the new cool thing kids do these days -- and then went on to Chez Aubrey in Los Gatos for a much needed massage. (Little Known Fact: Aubrey is a sister-in-law of Pierce Brosnan!) Then it was time for lunch. Ana splurged and got Chinese food for herself for lunch (not one of Joyce's favorites, so Ana doesn't get it very often).
Pretty soon it was time to pick up Joyce, and get homework done so they could go out to dinner and Bible Study. Dinner was a treat with "Aunt Booboo" -- they have never been to Chevy's to get sombreros and have the waiters sing Happy Birthday! so they got to this time. What fun.
[Look at the cool flamingo sweater Janet found for Ana. When she was vacationing in Nashville a few weeks back, she saw it and knew it had to come home to San Jose!]
At Bible Study, they had baked a cake and a few people brought presents. More singing of Happy Birthday, and much merriment and mirth! It was 10:45 before the evening ended for the gals, with Joyce giving Ana a giant squishy-bear-hug and wishing her a "happy end-of-birth-day." What a treasure!
[Just had to include this precious picture of Chewy, "helping" do the dishes! Chewy should have been born a water dog!]
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November
... but until then ... this is still California, and the girls finally got to take their birthday vacation. And guess where they went: Disneyland! They didn't run into any of the the World Series winners, but here are a few of the stars they did meet and the exotic locales they visited ...
Thanksgiving Joyce was with her mom, and they joined Nana, Aunt Booboo and Uncle Christian, as well as their friends from church, Yvonne and Bev & Michael, at the Crowne Plaza hotel's buffet dinner. Everyone got food that they would enjoy, and they always serve Mimosas to drink. Yum! Bev made a pie, so the crowd adjourned to Nana's for dessert. There is so much to be thankful for, and this is one opportunity in the year that we try to remember that.
December
Chanukah began the Friday night after Thanksgiving. Ana & Joyce lit their hanukiot in remembrance of the great miracle that occurred. On the eighth night of Chanukah, their congregation got together for a potluck dinner party, and several of the kids got to light all eight candles on some of the hanukiot that were brought in for the celebration.
On Aunt BooBoo's birthday, the congregation participated in a very special ceremony for our youngest participant. At one month, the first-born male goes thru the pidyon ha ben, or redemption of the first-born. Here are the pictures of young Yochanan.
They also have a San Jose Sharks vs. Anaheim Mighty Ducks hockey game to see as well right after Christmas. These are Joyce's two favorite teams, so she doesn't really care who wins (shhh, don't tell the Sharks fans!)
patiently waiting for Santa to arrive, while Yoda
keeps her eyes on the two of them.)
And for New Years Eve their congregation had its annual Talent Night and Dessert Contest. This is always a lot of fun, but Joyce missed out this year. Instead, she awaited the turning of the calendar page with her dad, and Ana stayed behind and watched the talents of the congregation unfold. There was a recap of what the previous year had witnessed, some comedy, a little karaoke, dramatic reading, more comedy, musical stylings of our budding artists, and storytelling. Then, of course, there was food! Ana brought "Ana & Joyce's Flamingo Pink Drink" which was actually some Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice, and some Apple/Cranberry Sparkling Cider, both appropriately flamingo pink. It got a laugh. Back home before midnight, to avoid the rush of drunk drivers. New Years Day Ana picked Joyce up from her dad and they spent the rest of the first day of the New Year together again.
Life is Good! and the girls are looking forward to 2003. Hope to hear
from
all of our family and friends. Blessings to you All!
Hope You Had Happy Holidays!
(origami that Ana & Joyce made for holiday greetings
& ornaments)