This year's vacation was spent in the Pacific Northwest - a beautiful, diverse country. We spent time at Mt. Rainier, along the coast, and in the Olympic mountains. Especially for the kids, the time we spent on the beach was probably the most fun. We backpacked in three miles, and camped just off the beach in an area protected by trees but under constant patrol by very numerous and quite resourceful raccoons.

The Olympic coastal wilderness has renowned tidal pools, and all five of us children spent hours in wondrous exploration of an intertidal 'other' world. At high tide we retreated back onto dry land where.... Dave matched wits with the relentless raccoons in a competition over our food supply, and ...... Mike, Tom, and Karen played like Lilliputians loose in a giant toy box as they frolicked in the vast jumble of giant driftwood bones. After three days of muscling logs into place they had built themselves a fine three room beach home.

As for the rest of the year, it's been busy, filled with minor medical disasters and moderate personal successes. On Halloween, Dave fought with a pumpkin and lost, severing a tendon with a knife (he's healing nicely). On our backpacking vacation, Karen ran too close to a tree and pierced the side of her face at the point that we were, of course, farthest from the car. She, too, has healed nicely, although she may always carry a momento from this trip. Tom gained braces, broke a hand in April, and broke an arm in June. Pat's advancing age dictated the acquisition of glasses. Only Mike escaped.

On the other hand, there were the positive milestones, too. Dave has released his first commercial software package, CowSense, a collaboration with our good friends, ranchers, in Nebraska. Pat has taken on the responsibility of managing the entire Engineering organization at Secure Computing. Mike's Odyssey of the Mind (OM) team last year took first place in the regional competition and received the only special creativity award among those 120 teams. Mike is also doing well at the high school and enjoys attending German camp, participating in Youth in Government, playing in regional orchestras, communicating with hundreds of people on computer bulletin boards, and talking on the phone to his girl friend. Tom's OM team also placed first in the regional competition, solving a problem using lots of little cars they built. He continues to play soccer and tennis when he doesn't have broken bones, and is doing well in a University Math program. He's our budding engineer, collecting lots of electronic toys and building things. Karen is in third grade now, active in soccer, OM, Girl Scouts, and learning all about friendships.

Our lives show no signs of slowing down. Maybe next year, we always tell ourselves. Actually, each kid did drop one activity, but we hardly notice the difference. Well, maybe next year (but that's when Mike needs to start researching colleges - Oh Nooooooooooo).