Christmas Card 2011

Welcome to the 2011 installment of the Traveling Roths' Microsoft Word Christmas Letter. If you received a card from us, or if you saw a post on Facebook pointing you here, thanks for clicking through, and taking the time to see what we've been up to this year, and what all those pictures in the collage are all about.


Winter

Too late for last year's card were the Christmas musical performances by Tristan and Zoe.  The award-wining Glenwood Elementary Show Choir performed their holiday show at several locations, all with incredible professionalism for their ages.

Tristan had a solo with the North Carolina Boy's Choir at their annual Christmas concert at Duke Chapel.

Jennifer was the maid of honor at her best friend Tiffany's wedding in Atlanta.

The rest of the winter was pretty quiet.  Dave spent another week in England for work.  Here he is at Ice Bar, London.

And Zoe turned 11.

Spring

With spring comes Spring Break.  Jennifer and the kids traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico to see Uncle Jared, Aunt Julia, and Cousin Zane for a week.

Zoe continued running 5K races

and in June, concluded her elementary school career by graduating from fifth grade.

Summer

This is where things get crazy, as they do every summer.

All of us went down to Georgia for a long weekend.  We got to stay with Tiffany and Ceasar and their new baby Canon, and also with Dave and Michelle Wenegar for a few days.  We visited some of our old favorite places, saw where the kids were born, and even went to a drive-in movie with a bunch of Jennifer's old school friends.

Jennifer and the kids went to Virginia so see Jennifer's cousin Jeanine and Sean and their daughter, Eliza and son Finn.  From there it was on to Pennsylvania, where Tristan went with his Opa down to Maryland to join the rest of the NC Boys Choir to start their summer national tour, while Jennifer and Zoe continued on to New Jersey and New York.  Tristan, Zoe, and Jennifer all got to spend a little time in NYC - Tristan with the choir, and Jennifer and Zoe with Jennifer's friend Kathi.  They were all able to catch Tristan's final show with the boys choir in New Jersey.

At the end of the tour we all met up with the rest of the Roths at Uncle Andy and Aunt Shelley's house in Maryland.  Joining us there was Uncle Tom, Aunt Jenni, Cousins Kayley, Krista, Alex, and Ella, as well as Opa.  We had a great few days in Maryland, playing some volleyball, visiting the Udvar-Hazy museum, seeing some fireworks, and eating a lot of crabs.

After being home for a couple days (to do laundry and pack, basically), it was off to California.  First stop: San Diego to see Uncle Jordan and Sofia (and In-N-Out Burger).  We met up with Uncle Jared, Aunt Julia, and Cousin Zane at the San Diego Zoo.  After a long day of animals, we drove up to La Jolla Cove so the kids could finally swim in the Pacific.

We finished our too-brief stay in San Diego at Ocean Beach Pier Cafe for a great breakfast and some pictures.

From there the four of us made the long an picturesque journey to Yosemite National Park.  We spent the next few days camping in a cottage outside the park, and seeing as much of the interior of the GINORMOUS park as we could.  Of the many pictures we took, there's the requisite shot of the Traveling Roths with Half Dome

And Jennifer celebrated her 40th Birthday!

We continued on to South Lake Tahoe to Uncle Jonas and Aunt Nellie's house.  We spent the next week in that area, doing as much as we possibly could.  Lots of hiking and swimming and eating California Burgers and a side trip to Reno for a day.  We could've easily stayed for the rest of the summer, but we had to get back East.

We took another quick trip back down to Georgia for Dave Wenegar's "Match Game"-themed 40th birthday party, where Dave (Roth) was a Gene Rayburn-inspired host, and Jennifer was a French foreign exchange student contestant. . . . all in fabulous 70's style.

August came, and we headed up to Huron, Ohio with a bunch of our Southside Mebanite friends for a long weekend on Lake Erie at the Brouwer Cottage.  We did plenty of eating, drinking, merry-making, and got to spend a full day at Cedar Point.  And somehow in the process failed do get a decent family photo.

Summer ended, Tristan started 7th Grade, Zoe 6th Grade both at McDougle Middle School.  In early October, we spent a weekend in Asheville, ran into a few of our Southside friends, and went to the top of a very frosty Mount Mitchell. Dave spent yet another week in England later in the month, and we celebrated Tristan's 13th birthday at the North Carolina State Fair in October.

In November we took a long weekend trip up to Northeast Pennsyltucky to see Jonas, Nellie and brand new cousin Aida, who was born in South Lake Tahoe a few weeks after we left.  Joining us there were Jared, Julia, and Zane, as well as several of the local Saias.  Once again, the trip was too short.

We spent a weekend in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where Zoe ran in the USA Track & Field Junior Olympics Cross Country Championship (Region 3).  They also tried raw oysters for the first time.

And that's our year.  We'll be up in Pennsylvania after Christmas, so for those of you we haven't seen yet in 2011, hopefully we will before the year's end.  

Merry Christmas, and thank you to everybody for being part of our lives.  Keep up with us here, on Facebook and Twitter.  Happy New 2012

The Traveling Roths

Dave, Jennifer, Tristan, and Zoe

Mebane, North Carolina, USA

The Traveling Roths on Tour

The Vortex, Little Five Points, Atlanta

The summer is a busy time for the Traveling Roths, mainly because 75% of us have the summer off.  So when you have that much time to get away and see the world, you make the most of it.  So here's how we're making the most of our Summer Vacation.

June:

Georgia

     We all got to spend a few days in our old homeland, catching up with old friends, visiting some of or old favorite places, and finding some new ones.  Some highlights (in a tag cloud-style) include: Blue Ridge Brewing, Historic West End, Canon Mitchell , Einstein Bros., Buckhead, Richard's Variety , Piedmont Park, Cafe Intermezzo, No Mas Cantina, Mia Morris,  Gavin Holmes, Taqueria del Sol, Peachtree City, Dave and Michelle Wenegar, Little Five Points , Donna Holt, Taqueria del Sol (again), Starlight Six Drive-In, U-Haul, Shelton Fireworks

Virginia
      Jennifer and the kids got to spend a few days in Culpeper, Virginia with Jennifer's cousin Jeanine and her two kids.  From there it was up to Pennsylvania, and this is where it gets complicated.  Jennifer and Zoe left to see some friends and family while Tristan and Opa headed to Maryland on their way to Virginia and the start of Tristan's summer tour with the North Carolina Boys Choir.

North Carolina Boys Choir National Tour Series

     Tristan and the rest of the NCBC are on their national tour this week, and if you're lucky enough to be anywhere near where they are, stop and catch a show.  They're free, open to the public, and best of all, they are chock-full of musical excellence.  You should follow their travel blog every day.

     Saturday, June 25
          St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Annandale Virginia, 5pm

     Sunday, June 26
          St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Annandale, Virginia, 10:15am
          Knowlwood Military Retirement Community, Washington, DC, 2:30pm

     Monday, June 27
          Grace Episcopal Church, Westwood, New Jersey, 7:30pm

     Tuesday, June 28
          St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Haworth, New Jersey, 7:30 pm



July
    We (all) plan on starting the month out up in Maryland with the extended Roth family, and then back to North Carolina for a few days to regroup before heading off for to California.  That's the "big" trip of the summer, and we're all really looking forward to it.  We're also planning another trip to Georgia to participate in a Match Game-themed 40th Birthday Party.

August
     For the first time ever, we're taking a trip with our Southside Swingers group up to Ohio, to hang out with our friends at their cottage on the lake, and finally make the pilgrimage to Cedar Point where at least two of us will really enjoy the roller coasters and other rides.

And then there's the beach.  Definitely need to get back to the beautiful beaches of North Carolina.


So check back here and see what we're up to.

2011: The First Half

Since Facebook came about, I've been really, really remiss in updating my blog.  So in an effort to remedy that in one swell poop, here's 2011 so far, and hopefully, there will be more frequent posts as the year goes on.

January.

Pretty much nothing happened.  Nothing I have any decent pictures of, anyway.  It was dark, cold, and the weather was probably foul.

February

I (Dave) went back to England for the third time in a year, spending an entire month of the last 12 outside the country.  Sure it's for work, but it's always fun too.

Parliament, AKA "Big Ben"

Terry and I among a huge crowd of people in London's Chinatown during the Chinese New Year celebration

Icebar, with Margaret, Jane, and Terry

Parliament and the River Thames, in fake tilt-shift, as seen from the London Eye

 March.

Jennifer and the kids went out to Albuquerque for Spring Break to see Uncle Jared, Aunt Julia, and Cousin Zane.

April
Zoe ran in the Dogwood 5K, yet again.

May

While Tristan was on tour with the North Carolina Boys Choir, the rest of us went to the beach at Emerald Isle and Salter Path.

We got to catch Tristan's NCBC concert at First Baptist Church in New Bern.

Zoe's award-wining Gator Show Choir performed their Spring Concert

And, of course, no May would be complete without our annual Pig Pickin'!

June . . . so far.

Tristan and the North Carolina Boys Choir, Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, Training Choir and the brand new Girls Choir perform their annual spring concert at Duke Chapel

Zoe graduates from Fifth Grade, and heads to Middle School

And so the summer begins.  We're all headed to Georgia for a few days, Tristan heads out on his second national tour with NCBC, singing in Virginia, Washington DC, NYC and New Jersey while Jennifer and Zoe are in Pennsylvania.  We're all going to Andy and Shelley's for Independence Day and then in July we're headed to California.  We'll wrap up the summer with a trip to Huron, Ohio and Cedar Point with the Southside Swingers Club, plus there will probably be a few beach weekends between now and October.

Stay tuned, more travel, pictures, and words to follow.

2010 in Pictures and Words

If you got a Christmas Card from us, it looked like this.  If not, well, here you go.

So here we go, 2010, in summary

January.

It snowed.  A lot (for Mebane).  Eight inches in one storm was the most snow we'd seen since 2002, and we tried to make the most of it, despite not really having much on the way of snow toys.

February

Zoe turned 10 (not pictured)

March

Dave spent two weeks in England for work (also not pictured)

April

We spent Easter weekend down at the beach on Oak Island.  It should've been a little too cold for the kids to swim, but it wasn't.

May 

Zoe runs in two different 5K races.  Dave's 16-year old pickup dies (temporarily)  Jennifer buys a (relatively) new Honda Pilot.  Tristan mini-tours coastal North Carolina.  Pig Pickin' 5!

Jun

The first Big Saia Family Vacation at Surf City.  Tristan tours the south and midwest

July

The Big Roth Family Vacation to Alaska and Canada

August

Back to School; 6th grade for Tristan, 5th grade for Zoe

September

Dave goes back to England for another week

October

Tristan turns 12. State Fair Time!

November

??

December

Tristan sings with the Triangle Youth Ballet's production of "The Nutcracker", and has a solo with the NCBC at the Duke Christmas concert.  

Zoe runs in the Reindeer Romp, coming in 2nd for girls 10 & under, and 3rd for boys and girls 10 and under.  She also performs with the award-winning Glenwood Show Choir

Jennifer got to be the Maid of Honor for her best friend Tiffany's wedding.

And then the year took an unpleasant turn that I'm not going to get into here.

So here's to 2011!

Happy New Year from The Traveling Roths.