Happy Holidays from Atlanta.  It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here almost 5 years, but the time really flies when you’ve got a full house.  Our three boys have been growing up fast and we’ve had lots of house guests this year as well, so there’s always plenty of activity at our place!  

Patrick just turned one year old this month and is becoming quite a character.    He’s a happy little fellow that’s always quick to smile and make friends with everyone he meets.  He’s also walking now and has an incorrigible curiosity that gets him into anything he can reach or climb up on.  Keeping him out of trouble keeps us all very busy.  We realized early that with three boys, Beth and I would either need to learn to play a zone defense against them, or add another player to our team.  We opted for the latter and our nanny Jurga has been with us for the entire year.  In fact, she moved in with us in September and has become a full-time member of the family.  We couldn’t have gotten through the year without Jurga and we all love her, especially Henry. 

Henry turned three in October and has become quite a character with his own distinct personality.  Anyone who’s met him knows that he’s still very attached to his terrycloth Lambie toy and takes it wherever he goes.  But he’s also got quite a temper and is relentless in his efforts to keep up with his older brother in everything he does, from playing Nintendo to climbing trees.  He’s also a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine and has a burgeoning collection to choo-choo trains.   Charlie has grown up a lot this year as well, turning five in October.  He played soccer for the first time this year, both Spring and Fall, and after spring swimming lessons, became an avid swimmer at the pool all summer.  The highlight of his summer was vacationing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with his cousins, aunts and uncles in June.  He also went to his first major sporting events with Dad this year, seeing Cal Ripken’s last game against the Atlanta Braves and the University of Maryland football team defeat Georgia Tech in overtime. 

If the boys weren’t enough, Beth has had an active year on her own as well.  In October, she completed the Avon Three Day, a 60-mile walk from Lake Lanier to Atlanta to raise money for breast cancer research, along with our good friend Stephanie Charanis.   In addition, she's continued to act as general contractor for a number of home renovation projects, including remodeling our living room and master bathroom.  But more than anything, she’s been working hard to keep our growing clan fed, clothed and sheltered in style and comfort all year.  That job got even bigger in June, when Chris’ long-time best friend Frank Strunk came to stay with us.  Frank and Chris haven’t lived in the same part of the country since the mid-1980’s, so the two of them have reveled in reverting to their teenage silliness together.  Frank is also a talented, up and coming artist and created over a dozen new works while staying with us.  Several of them are now hanging in art galleries and coffee shops in Atlanta and can also be seen on his website at www.industrialiving.com.  Frank will be moving back to Florida in January and we’ll miss him dearly.

When he wasn’t horsing around with Frank, Chris continued his consulting work at Zyman Marketing Group.  This year brought a diversity of marketing strategy projects with clients including a well-known ski resort in Colorado, a pharmaceutical company in New Jersey, an investment banking firm in New York and a building products company in Atlanta.  We’re fortunate that despite a slow economy, the firm continues to thrive, growing to 50 employees this year.  Hopefully it will continue in 2002.

Well, that's all the news for now. We hope you have a wonderful holiday and a happy and healthy New Year.  To check out news from previous updates, just click on the date you'd like to see: 

December 23, 2000 Update 

December 19, 1999 Update 

October 10, 1998 Update