Merry Christmas

We're busy here getting ready for the holidays. Tina's sibling are all planning to arrive today. Lots to do. Looking forward to the time off and with family.

Here is a copy of our 2009 Christmas letter for those of you who don't get snail mail.

Happy Holidays

The Voss Family Christmas Letter
2009

Here’s hoping this message finds you in light heart and good spirits!

2009 was another fun year for the family, with the focus on the kids.

Evan has gotten into baseball in a big way this year. It all started with Winter Workouts in January, Spring Ball, Travel Ball in the summer, Fall Ball and Fall Workouts. It’s a sport he has really taken to. So, when the Phillies went to the World Series again this year, Evan was really excited! Evan also participated in chorus, chimes and he still enjoys playing the trombone. Madeleine’s sports interests are a bit more diverse and all were a first this year. She joined the swim team in the summer and loved it so much that she continued indoors during the fall. She also played soccer in the fall. Recently she started to play the violin. After 2 yrs, Madeleine and her Brownie troop (and yes Tina too) did their first camping trip in June – that was fun. Both kids are playing basketball now in the winter. It’s no surprise most of our time is spent bringing the kids to one practice or another.

Tina participated in two triathlons this year. In addition Tina and I did a couple of longer distance bike rides (one 50 mile and one 77.4 mile ride) which help keep us active. The kids also did a mini-triathlon in the spring which they enjoyed. I guess you can’t start them out too young.

In March Tina and I took a 10 day cruise through the Panama Canal as well as other destinations in the Caribbean. That was very relaxing!

We took a 2 ½ week family vacation to Colorado and California. Tina’s cousin got married in Beaver Creek, CO. After the wedding, we stopped in Steamboat Springs to visit Tina’s sister Mindy. From there we flew to Southern California to see family, friends and Disneyland. The kids haven’t had the Disney experience yet. We stayed for 5 days and were able to do pretty much everything we wanted.

On the job front Tina got a promotion in the spring – EBC Trade Planner BPM. She tracks funding for her region. She works in the office and no longer at home. It’s about a 45 min. ride. I’m still working with the Best Practice group and travel a lot. Gigi has been a terrific help with the kids and this allows us to maintain our busy schedules. In addition, Tina is still doing Arbonne which she really enjoys.

On the home improvement front, we added a small pond and waterfall in the backyard as well as spruced up the landscape. It was nice to spend more time back there in the evenings (when we weren’t taking the kids to their activities).

We enjoyed Thanksgiving in Richmond visiting my brother and his family and my mom. Christmas will be spent at home. Tina’s siblings and spouses will all be here to celebrate as well as Adrian. We were happy to have him visit us at Easter too this year – making the gingerbread house was so fun. More extended family will be visiting the day after Christmas. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone!

Here’s hoping your holidays are peaceful and safe. We’re still keeping up the family blog. Check it out at www.thevossblog.blogspot.com
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Merry Tuba Christmas

The first weekend of December was also the first snowfall of the season. We were kept busy with a visit to South Orange, NJ to visit Tina's cousins and aunt. One of Tina's cousins was visiting from Columbus, OH and her aunt was in from Greenville, SC. It was a great afternoon of visiting and having the kids play together. It's great to see everyone as well as having the children play together. It made for a great day.

On Sunday, Evan participated in Lansdale's Merry Tuba Christmas. Essentially all the tuba and baritone players get together to play Christmas carols at Railroad Station Park next to the Christmas tree. Since it snowed the day before, there was a gentle coating on the ground which added to the festive holiday cheer. Hot chocolate and Philly pretzels were on hand for whoever wanted them. The concert was about 45 minutes and there were about 65 tuba / baritone players. This was Evan's first year playing. Since he got the music about an hour before, he struggled with a lot of the songs. His trombone teacher recommended he participate and assured him that it will be much easier next year. Hopefully this will become a tradition for him to play in the years to come. Ironically I took the kids to a Tuba Christmas concert about 5 years earlier. Little did I know Evan would be playing along one day. Funny how things transpire over time.

The After Thanksgiving / Before Christmas Lull

The Thanksgiving weekend was pretty fun this year. We did our traditional drive down I95 to Richmond to visit my brother, his family and my mom for the weekend. It has been said, it's not about the destination, but the journey. This trip is more about avoiding traffic jams along the way. I think after all these years we figured the best times and routes to get to our destination (there and back) relative backup free. That being said, the destination was great. We had a terrific dinner and spent the rest of the weekend taking walks, taking the kids roller skating and enjoying a relatively drama free visit. They are the best kinds.

Now that we're back, it's time to get ready for Christmas.

The decorations are up, however a few decisions had to be made, do we go with the new-fangled aluminum trees that are all the rage or stick with the more traditional green with faux snow?

I decided to go "green" if you will.

Once that decision was made, I had to think of stocking stuffers. Santa had a suggestion, but I thought I would pass.

Next, the gifts...

Autumn Fun

It's been a fun Autumn so far.

The weather on the East Coast has been pretty rainy. Or I should say that the weather has been good, except on the weekends when it has been rainy. This curtailed a lot of Evan's baseball games and his season was abbreviated. It was still fun the weekends they were able to play.

Both of the kids have gotten into their respective instruments this fall. Evan still plays the trombone and we've started private lessons. In addition he is learning the baritone. Madeleine is really liking the violin. We bought her one at a silent auction last year and was waiting for her to start lessons to give it to her. She was excited to receive it.

Madeleine's fall swim season is on full swing. So far so good. We had to keep her from a meet last weekend as we thought she may have fractured her elbow. It turns out that everything was fine.

Halloween was pretty fun. The Jack-o-latern above is courtesy of Evan. Evan was Scream and Madeleine was a football player. The weather cooperated and it was pretty pleasant. There were even treats for the parents along the way. The neighborhood is pretty self contained and everyone pretty much knows everyone so it's good to walk around and see everyone before we hibernate for the winter... or the next snowstorm.

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving. We're heading down to Richmond to see my mom, my brother and his kids. Tina's brother, who lives in NC is planning to meet us there.

My Long Lost Cousin Alex

A few months ago, I got an E-Mail from an Alex Levin from Sweden. He was writing to see if we were related. It turns out that Alex has been researching his American relatives for a few years. My mother's father was Swedish and his father came over from Sweden in 1892. Alex was interested in reconnecting with his American relatives. The last time the American and Swedish families were in touch was the 1930s. Through some digging around the confirming some facts it turns out that we were indeed related. This came from a part of the family I knew nothing about. My grandfather never talked about his family and we never asked. It was most interesting to learn about this facet of my family.

The biggest question I has was how does a Swede come up with the name Levin? The story was the Nils Levin's (my great - great grandfather) name used to have the last name Olafsson and didn't want a name so common so he changed it. I heard this story and Alex had a similar take so that helped confirm the connection.

Alex and his wife, Caroline came to the States last week. They spent some time in New York and they passed through Philadelphia in their way to Chicago and Cleveland. Tina and I met them in Center City last Tuesday. We took them around the city and did the typical touristy things (Liberty Bell, Constitution Hall...). During lunch Alex shared with me some things he brought from Sweden, including a photo album he gave us outlining details and photos from Sweden. It was fascinating to see all this information. The tour ended with Alex and I driving through North Philly which houses the parts of the city you don't find in the guide books. I think Alex liked this part of the tour most of all as this is something you would never find in Sweden.

It was a very enjoyable visit and we look forward to continuing to keep in touch.

The Ride Across Jersey

On Saturday, Tina and I and another couple rode the MS 150 ride from Cherry Hill, New Jersey to Ocean City. Our ride was 1 day, 77.4 miles. You can ride both ways, but since this was our first ride, we thought we would take it easy. It turns out that the ride wasn't that bad. New Jersey is relatively flat so there weren't any killer hills to contend with. The only real challenge were the two bridges that you need to go over right at the end. Since there were over 7,000 riders, there was never a point where you weren't riding with a cluster of riders. Since it was a "ride" and not a "race", the pace and group were pretty relaxed. Along the way there were several rest stops where you could rehydrate and get something to eat. They also had DJs. It was a pretty festive atmosphere. The weather held out for the most part. Forecasts earlier predicted rain all day. We started out dry and ended dry. It rained for about 20 minutes which was pretty refreshing. After riding 73 miles, the killer hills were at the end. It was a lot of fun in addition to it being a fundraiser for a good cause. We already signed up for next year. Who wants to join us?

Soccer, Swimming and Baseball... oh, and School

The day after Labor Day was the first day of school for the kids. Evan was going into 5th grade, Madeleine in 3rd. This was the first year that both the kids had male teachers. A lot of change. We were worried that there would be a school strike, but non-binding arbitration kept that threat at bay. So far so good with the school year. Evan is in concert band and Madeleine will (hopefully) be starting violin this year. Nobody seems interested in the piano.

Madeleine had a fun and eventful soccer season. She seemed to like playing defense and especially being the goalie. It was a fun time for her. Right now she is starting fall swimming. She has practices during the week with meets starting in November. She practices at the high school which is close by.

Evan is in the middle of fall baseball and goes to baseball clinics on Fridays. So far their record is 1-1. In fall ball, they move the kids around more so Evan is able to try more positions. It's a little more relaxed league so the ability to try new things are increased.

In July we had a pond / waterfall installed in the yard. We had a space right out the dining room window and thought it would be nice to have while sitting out on the patio. In addition we moved the grill off the deck and put chairs in its place. The problem with adding a pond / waterfall is that now we need new chairs, a firepit... We'll wait until the spring for that.

We had a visit from my mom in August. She was supposed to go to Ireland, but plans changed and she was here for a couple of weeks. She had a nice visit.

Oh, today is Tina's birthday !

Evan's 10th Birthday

Evan just turned 10. We decided to go a little lower key this year. Instead of the big party, Evan spent the day with 3 of his friends. We had a sleepover with 2 of the boys the night before.

On his birthday we took them to the Cheesecake Factory and went to see the movie "Up". It was a fun time. Later that night, the 4 of us plus Jessica we went to Coldstone for some ice cream.

The best part of the day later that night Tina, Evan and I sat in his room looking through baby pictures. We have a small photo album in his room with photos up to 6 months old. Evan wanted to stay up until 10:41PM, which was when he was born. We were saying that his next milestone birthday, 20 will probably take place when he is in college. He'll most likely be starting his junior year. The time is going way too fast. We just want to enjoy the time we have as much as we can.

Meanwhile, the news on sports...

Madeleine is really enjoying soccer so far. She likes defense and being the goalie. The focus at this age is to build the skillbase and not focus on scores. Right now that's a good thing.

Fall ball baseball practice is underway. The first games start next week. Stay tuned !

The Summer of Triathlons and Rides

This summer we have been busy with sports. Baseball with Evan, soccer with Madeleine, Tina and me biking and Tina and Gigi's triathlons.

To quickly recap:

Evan's travel baseball had 3 tourneys this season. We were on vacation for 1, but Evan made the other two. Their record was good and a fun time was had by all. Next for Evan... fall baseball.

Madeleine just started soccer. She plays in the 10 and under league in Towamencin, the town next to Hatfield. Technically they don't keep score in this league... and technically it's a good thing. This is more of a learning league and everyone has fun while learning the game. This is Madeleine's first year with soccer. She decided not to do cheerleading in lieu of this. She seems to be liking it very much.

Tina and I did a ride a couple of weeks ago. It was called the river to river ride. Tina did the 25 mile option while I did the 50 mile. We both finished which was good. I learned the hard way what happens when you depleat your electrolytes. I was 2 hours into the ride and as far from home as possible when I started getting muscle spasms. It turns out that I sweat all the salt out of my body and it wasn't getting replaced. Another rider stopped to give me some salt and I made it back OK. A lesson was learned and overall it was a good time.

The following weekend Tina did her triathlon. It was the SheROX Philadelphia race. Tina signed up with a couple of friends while Gigi was the 3rd leg of a relay team. The day started out raining. We thought it would blow over... we were wrong... very wrong. I had the kids with me with another friend and his daughter watching the race when a storm came through. It was probably the worst rainstorm I had seen in years and we were outside the whole time. Tina was on the last leg and Gigi was waiting to start her part when 60 mile and hour winds came through with lightning and torrental rains shut down the race. We were told about 4" of rain came through in an hour. Unfortunately Gigi didn't even get to start. Since there were still people on the course we didn't know where to go. Eventually we found everyone and made our way home. It turns out that the Schuylkill Expressway in addition to several other roads were closed so it made a 40 ride into a 90 ride. This is a race we won't soon forget.

The Colorado - California Adventure

The vacation was a lot of fun.

The wedding at Beaver Creek was exceptional. It was great to catch up with everyone as we hadn't seen many of the family since 2001 at Audrey's wedding.

After the wedding we drove up to Steamboat Springs for a few days to visit Tina's sister Mindy. Audrey was able to join us for a couple of days. Here we primarily did outfoor activities like biking and swimming. Steamboat Springs was named because of the natural spring in the area were thought to make the sound of a Steamboat. (No mystery there). What they don't tell you is that the spring really smell. The Chamber of Commerce call it "fragrant". "Fragrant" is accurate if you think the smell of rotten eggs is fragrant. Anyway the area is very picturesque and we were able to meet some of Mindy's friends and relax.

From there we flew out to Los Angeles. We had dinner with Tina's college friend and then headed down to San Diego. Our good friends, Rick and Theresa moved there from Philadelphia a few years ago. Our San Diego adventure included a baseball game and swimming in La Jolla Cove. We were also able to visit Tina's aunt and uncle which are the parents of the groom from the wedding the weekend before. It was good visiting in a more relaxed setting.

From there it was off to Disney. We started off with dinner at the Disneyland Hotel with a work associate of mine. We got to the part around 8:00PM and the kids couldn't have been more excited! Actually I was excited too. My last visit was in 1986. My visit was long overdue. We spent 4 additional days going to the Magic Kingdom and California Adventure. We 're looking forward to returning soon.

From there we headed up to Camarillo to visit my sister Linda and her family. We took PCH up from Santa Monica which made for a relaxing and beautiful drive. While we were up there, we took another visit to the beach as well as enjoyed some good Mexican food (don't forget the Margaritas).

The last day of our trip took us to Hollywood. We were there while Michael Jackson died so we stopped by his star on the walk of fame. It was the most touristy moment of my life. We stopped in Newport Beach for a visit and them off to San Diego for the red eye back to Philadelphia.

Overall the trip was 17 days which was the longest vacation we have taken. We made some great memories and had some great times with friends amd family.

Looking forward to... not traveling for a while !

Greetings From Colorado !

It's been an interesting 2 months ! To quickly recap:

Evan had a really fun baseball season. He moved up to AAA where the competition is a little more intense. He did very well. His team finished 2nd for the season and is currently in the playoffs.

Madeleine started with the swim team this month. So far she seems to like it. She will be attending her first meet in a few weeks.

Tina is getting settled in her new role. She had a fall in April at a meeting which required 7 stitches in her head. She was at a meeting in Orlando when she twisted her thumb and nearly pulled a finger nail off. When she went to the front desk to get some ice, she passed out and hit her head on the marble floor. The next thing she remembers is sitting in the ambulance on her way to the hospital. Fortunately she was able to get through there quickly and flew home later that day.

Tina has fully recovered and just ran a triathlon last weekend !

Right now we're in Colorado for a wedding. Tina's cousin (David, who is living in NYC) is getting married here today. We arrived late Thursday and am staying in an incredible condo. The accommodations are terrific. We were able to see all her relatives yesterday at a welcome dinner. It was great to catch up. The last time the family was together was at Tina's sister's wedding in '01 ( the weekend before 9/11). We're enjoying a long overdue visit.

This is the beginning of a 17 day adventure for us. From here we're off to Steamboat Springs to see Mindy, Tina's sister. From there it on to 9 days in Southern California which includes baseball, wineries and Disneyland.

That's all for now !

So What's Been Going on the Past 3 Months

I've fallen off the blog wagon. Every intention to keep this up at least weekly fell apart. It started in February when not much was going on. I thought... what is there to write about? From there it got busy. No excuse, but the USA Today version of recent events will bridge between blogs.

Here is a quick update over the past few months:

• Tina got a promotion ! After several years of calling on Weis Markets, Tina was offered a position in her company's regional office. She reports to the Region Director and her job is to find funds that can be re-deployed throughout the organization. She has been in the role for about a month and likes it. The biggest chalenge is getting out of the house in the morning. The office doesn't fully appreciate the sweatshirt / shorts / jeans attire Tina was able to wear at home.
• We took a cruise. Tina and I took a 10 day cruise to the Panama Canal. We sailed out of Miami and visited Haiti, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica and Grand Cayman. The weather was great and it was a lot of fun. The highlight for me was going through the canal. We got to the locks around 5:30AM (early morning), went through, turned around and went back out. It's amazing that the engineering designed 100 years ago still work as well not as it had then.
• Baseball season has begun. This started on Saturday (4/18). The weather was great and Evan won his 1st game. (We won't discuss what happened Sunday). It's going to be a fun season.

There are lots of fun things going on this spring so I'll make a stronger effort to keep the blog going.

It's Basketball Season

We're settling into winter here in Philly. We finally had a few snowfalls and the kids were able to go sledding in the neighborhood. Various activities have been keeping us busy this month.

Basketball started a few weeks ago. Both Evan and Madeleine are playing this year. Evan likes it and Madeleine really likes the sport. Her height and assertive nature is coming alive on the court. She seems to do better in sports where she is active all the time.

We took the kids to their first "nice" restaurant a couple of weeks ago. We went with another family into Center City for the evening. We started out at "Lucky Strike" bowling lanes. It's a newer place designed to look retro. All the kids really enjoyed themselves.

From there we went to dinner at Bookbinders, which is a Philadelphia institution. It turns out that, quite coincidentally, Koch (one of our group) dined at Bookbinders 52 years to the day there. Koch went into the Marines that was where they had their last civilian meal before they went into boot camp.

The kids behaved pretty well. Fortunately there was a kids meal so we didn't have to serve them lobster bisque or ahi tuna. There were some kid friendly selections that they were happy with, The Nintendo DS games brought by all were extremely helpful to keep them occupied so the adults could talk. Also, the restaurant was pretty quiet and we were away from everyone else so they passed.

The winter is starting to get a little long, but at least we're still not in Syracuse. Winter never seems to end there.

It's 2009

The break between Christmas and New Year is coming to an end. It was a peaceful time and we got a to do a lot of fun things. The weather was colder, but there wasn't any snow so the outdoor winter activities did not occur. We took a day to visit the Franklin Institute and see the IMAX movie Grand Canyon. It was a good time and the kids had fun.

New Year's Eve day Tina and I took in an early dinner in Center City. We did this last year and are turning it into a tradition. We'll make a reservation for 3:30PM (before the New Year's Eve parties start) to talk about the current year and toast the new year coming. We'll get home by 7:00, just in time to spend the evening with the kids. This year initially we were going to have some friends over, but were invited to another neighbor's to celebrate. So, we took our party across the street to another neighbors and celebrated there. It was good to see people we don't ordinarily see during the winter.

The break also included a trip to the movies to see "Marley and Me". My company's products "Dog Chow" and "Puppy Chow" were featured in the movie so I was interested to see how they were featured. The kids didn't really understand why I got excited when I saw the Chow on screen. Not that I would expect them to.

Here's hoping you have a rewarding and prosperous 2009 !