Christmas Card 2009

Now that it's 2010, it's time to write our annual Microsoft Word Christmas Letter™ for 2009. Yeah, it's late, but since we got the cards in the mail on Christmas Eve, it's not that late, and now you have something to do for the next several minutes.

So here's our summary: The Traveling Roths 2009 Year in Pictures.

January:

What better way to beat the mind-winter doldrums than to head to sunny Florida and the kingdom of the mouse. We met up with Jennifer's brother Jonas and his newly acquired fiancee Nellie Gilmore for a long weekend at Walt Disney World, and various Hyatt properties in the Orlando area. Tristan was still sporting a very broken arm from his mishap of December 2008, but that didn't slow us down at all. We even got to meet up with Andy, Shelley, Alex, and Ella who were in Florida at the same time. How fortuitous!

In February, Zoe turned 9, and Tristan got his cast off and his pins out. You don't want to see that.

In March/April, we spent a few days at The Troxlers' house on Harkers Island.

and it was soccer season for Tristan, once again

Zoe ran two more 5K races, one of them in Mebane

In May, Dave went to yet another OJR reunion, and scored a free pizza!

We had our 4th Annual Pig Pickin' which looked remarkably similar to the three previous pig pickin's.

Tristan performed what would be his final concert with the Training Choir of the North Carolina Boys Choir

for two days after the concert, he received his promotion to the Concert Choir

Over the crazy summer, we hit the beach several times

Washington DC with Andy, Shelley, Alex, and Ella

and the cabin in the Poconos with Tom, Jenni, Kayley, and Krista (and Andy, Alex, Ella, and Opa, and without Tristan, who was at choir camp in NC)

We went white water rafting in Tennessee with Mebane Presbyterian Church

School started: fifth grade for Tristan, and fourth for Zoe.

In October we drove to Mount Pleasant, Michigan to see Jonas and Nellie get married. Jennifer, Tristan, and Zoe were all in the wedding, and I got to play photographer.

In October Tristan turned 11, and we went to the North Carolina State Fair (for the 9th consecutive year.)

In December, Zoe ran yet another 5K, and finished approximately third out of several hundred Girls on the Run.

and Tristan performed several Christmas concerts with the NCBC.

So that's the year in photos, up to the point the card was made in mid-December. You can find these and more at:

http://www.zooomr.com/photos/travelingroths/

and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelingroths/

So Happy Hannukah, Happy Festivus, Merry Christmas, Happy Dave's 40th Birthday, and Happy New Year from the Traveling Roths: Dave, Jennifer, Tristan, and Zoe

Mebane, North Carolina

USA

Xmas Letter 2008

Xmas Letter 2008

Welcome to the 2008 equivalent to the Traveling Roths' Microsoft Word Update Letter. (thanks to Snide for the term). If you're following the link on the Christmas Card, and this is your first visit to travelingroths.com, welcome. We hope you'll check back regularly, and maybe even subscribe to the feed.

It's been a year for us, so we'll give you the summary in words and pictures. All pictures are hosted on Zooomr. Check out these and others there when you get the chance.

January
We traveled to Winterplace Ski Resort in West Virginia for our first ever family ski trip. Dave and the kids snowboarded, and everybody went tubing.




February
Zoe turns eight, gets her picture published in JPG Magazine, and enjoys her first solo Big Mac. We photowalk the UNC campus and 9th Street in Durham






March
Soccer resumes, spring arrives, and so does Easter.






April
Evidently nothing happened, but we took pictures of it anyway.






May
Pig Pickin 3: Triple Figures. This time with a whole slew of Roths from four different states.




June
Jennifer spends the better part of two weeks in Senegal, and the kids take their first solo flight to Chicago.




July
Jennifer receives her Masters degree, and we take our first whole-family international trip to Morocco












August
Vacationing with the Roths in Black Mountain, North Carolina, the Saias in Washington DC, and a beach weekend at Fort Macon State Park.






August was also back to school time; Fourth Grade for Tristan, and Third Grade for Zoe.

September
Fall Soccer for Tristan, Girls on the Run for Zoe, and the Ben Folds Five reunion concert for Dave and Jennifer.


October
Our eighth annual trip to the North Carolina State Fair for the family, a trip to Las Vegas and In-N-Out Burger for Dave, and the Owen J. Roberts Class of 1988 20th Reunion for Dave. Zoe also became Disaster Girl, a new internet meme.

November
Tristan turns 10, and Dave's truck turns over 300,000 miles.


December
Zoe, with her Girls on the Run group, runs her first 5K race; the third annual Reindeer Romp in Cary, NC with a time of ~35 minutes. She didn't even break a sweat. Tristan performs in Duke Chapel with the North Carolina Boys Choir in the training choir to an audience of several hundred people. Tristan and Zoe both perform solos in the church children's Christmas program, to much acclaim.

And in case we hadn't had enough excitement for the year, Tristan, executing a sweet move at recess of jumping from a picnic table to a tree manged to score a supracondylar fracture of his right humerus, as well as a fracture of his distal right radius, or in other words, he broke his arm in two places, but at least he made points with the ladies. He spent all day Friday the 19th in the University of North Carolina Emergency Department, followed by surgery that evening. What kind of surgery? Closed reduction with percutaneous pinning; two or three pins in his elbow and one in his wrist. After an overnight stay at UNC Childrens Hospital (big kudos), he came home to start his six weeks with a fully-wrapped arm and sling. He's been a real trooper through this whole thing, and hasn't needed any pain meds since he got out of surgery Friday night.

And that's the year in words and pictures.

Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus, Joyeaux Noel, Buon Natale, [Happy Birthday] and Happy New Year to all.

Stay tuned to this space next year to see where we go next.

The Roths: Dave, Jennifer, Tristan, and Zoe.
Mebane, North Carolina, USA


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