The dawn of 2008 found the Cosola-Jacksons knee deep in a remodel. For those who don't know, we gutted our kitchen and family room and expanded out the back. We also replaced all windows, many doors, the siding, the roof, etc. All that "while we're at it" money. We wrapped up the remodel in February and are so happy we did it. Here are some before, during, and after photos. (As always, double click on photo to view larger version. Helpful hint: shift click several photos at once and all will open in their own windows.)
The front of the house with some siding removed; kitchen before; kitchen during.
Crew installing 950 lb. beam; family room barrel ceiling in progress; our makeshift garage kitchen
Various angles on the new kitchen.
The new nook; the family room; front of house in early spring, before plants bounced back.
Much of the rest of Winter and Spring centered around the usual: school, work, drama performances, band performances, and the like. Mike, Rene, Natalie, and Julia visited us in late March. We were happy to share our new digs with them. We spent a little time hiking in the hills behind our house.
For spring break, we went to Palm Springs and stayed at La Quinta. We had a great time relaxing in the lovely warm, dry climate. Not much to report on that trip...we just vegged out. Which was so needed
We returned from Palm Springs and headed into the end-of-school-year madness. Summer brought us a couple of summer of drama camps: a 5-week conservatory with the California Shakespeare Co for Drew and a month at Moraga's Hacienda doing Alice in Wonderland for Rachel.
Rachel (right) with Anya after Alice in Wonderland
We wedged in a trip to Gettysburg and D.C. at the end of July and early August. The monuments and the museums kept us pretty busy. The heat and humidity kept us slow and drenched. The kids are dying to go back, so I guess it was a hit.
Gettysburg: Canon and battlefield (canon points at second photo landscape).
Smithsonian Natural History Museum: Easter Island statue and T Rex
Lincoln Memorial (duh), and Washington Monument (double duh)
In August, we celebrated my brother Tony's 60th birthday. He came out to the Bay Area and we took him to the Cal-Michigan State football game. Sorry about the outcome, Tony. There is only so much of your birthday celebration we can control.The rest of the week we ate, visited (Terry and Wally drove up from LA), and ate some more. Tony and Carl had a great visit to Holy Spirit, their old elementary school near Travis.
Other summer stuff: playing in the pool, throwing the ball for Cleo, hanging out in the hammock, and raising butterflies. We released the butterflies on Indepence Day, which we thought fitting. Kev and Rachel went to Tahoe for a few days to visit Dave and Donna at their Northstar place. They rafted down the Truckee river and bounced behind Dave's boat on Lake Tahoe. Rachel tried the big bungee bouce thing at Northstar Village (see below). Also shown here is a picture of PeeWee sharing cereal with Kevin. If a sassier bird exists, I don't want to meet it.
School started in late August, with Drew heading into 8th grade and Rachel into 4th. Both are having a great year and enjoying their many activities. Drew is into drama, jazz band (trumpet), karate, and peer tutoring. Rachel jumped into drama, soccer, Girl Scouts, piano, and chorus. Did I mention they are busy? Somehow, Drew manages to cram in hours of Halo playing on top of everything else he does. And Rachel can watch homemade Littlest Pet Shop videos on YouTube until her eyeballs fry in their sockets. I'll chalk it up to needing down time after all their activities.
First day of school, 2008.
This Fall we tried to visit the new Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. Roughly 637,539 other people had the same idea that morning. We had to bail out but hope to get back to it soon. We decided to go the good old Exploratorium instead. Drew got to drink out of a toilet. I guess we'll consider that a success.
Brenda and Jack visited us from Nashville, this Fall. It was great to see them. We spent a day together wine tasting in Napa.
Caves and barrels at Berringer.
Berringer house; our haul for the day.
Our holidays were great. Thanksgiving and Christmas were spent at home and in Walnut Creek with Kev's family. We rang in 2009 with a group of friends in Northstar.
Cleo, Rachel, and Drew in front of our tree; Cleo savors her new toy.
Dick and Matt on Xmas Eve at the Jacksons'; Shirley, Malea, and Rachel at our house
Mary finishing up Xmas dinner; Mary's new mate tea gourd and bombilla.
Playing in the snow while waiting for the ski shuttle at Northstar.
And boy oh boy! Rachel finally got her ears pierced. After hearing her beg for years, we decided it would make a pretty nifty Christmas present. Although, in the first picture, Rachel doesn't look too sure. In the second one, she is very glad she went through with it.
In more general news, I am managing my rheumatoid arthritis pretty well. I don't have any pain or swelling in my feet anymore, and my knee is about 95 percent cured. My goal for 2009 is to make the knee 100 percent and try to make more progress on my wrists. I am sticking with acupunture and herbs, plus managing my diet, rest, and stress. I did a healing qi gong seminar with a true master back in November. It was pretty astounding. He is coming back through Berkeley in March and I hope to learn more of the forms he was teaching. I think qi gong will be an important tool in my RA-fighting arsenal.
Kev continues to work his butt off for Delta Dental. His band , Bender, continued to play a bunch of successful gigs in 2008. They have added some very good originals to their repetoire. In February, they compete in a world-wide undiscovered band competition. Stay tuned, they may make it to the rounds in Los Angeles or Austin. Heck, they could even make it to the finals in Europe.
Now it is on to 2009! We wish and hope for all the best for all of you in 2009. Stay in touch. Check back or sign up to be alerted to future blog postings. I truly hope to use this as a means to keep everyone up to date.
Love, Mary
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