Well, here’s the forth installment of our annual year in review. Sorry it is so late, but with Don being stationed in Virginia now and Kelly and the kids still in Massachusetts, things have been a little hectic around here (but more about that later).

So how did the year go for us? Well, we rang in the new year at our house with Don’s parents and sister (and her daughter) in attendance. As soon as they left we were hit by a massive snow storm that dumped more than two feet of snow in just two days. Needless to say, it was a winter wonderland! Honey was severely injured in the backyard when she got her paw caught in some old barbed wire and ripped it open badly. Don had to take her to an emergency Vet during the Super Bowl game which was being played right next to the clinic at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. Needless to say, it was not an easy commute. She has healed quite well and shows no ill effects from it (Don found the wire and disposed of it).

February saw us viewing a spectacular full eclipse of the moon in the bitter cold, but other than that was pretty uneventful.

The weather continued to be cold and snowy clear into Easter and much of the rest of March as well. The end of March saw us getting the new laundry room and bathroom all plumbed in down in the basement. The improvements to the house down there have been spectacular.

In April we celebrated Don’s birthday in more ways than one. On his birthday, it was announced that he had been chosen to be promoted to Master Chief – the highest enlisted rank in the Navy. There are slightly over 3000 of them in the Navy, which has 330,000 Sailors, so he’s now in the famed “1% club”.

Just one month later Don found out that he had also been selected for promotion to Command Master Chief (which there are only 561 in the Navy!).

Unfortunately, not all of May was full of celebration. Don lost one of his crew members on the CONSTITUTION in a tragic motorcycle accident just a half mile from the ship. It was an event that not only affected Don and the CONSTITUTION family, but our entire family as well. Don personally escorted HIS Sailor home to his family in Kansas and had the unfortunate duty of presenting his mother with the national ensign graveside. It is something he will NEVER forget.

<Deep breath…big sigh…>

June came, the weather broke, and Kaitlyn turned nine. Oh, and the girls both finished school with outstanding grades. It was really a quiet month, thankfully.

July, on the other hand, was an eventful month for the USS CONSTITUTION and Don. It saw the first Vice Presidential visit to the ship in her 210 year history and Don was the one who gave the VP and his wife a personal tour of the ship.

Kelly’s parents came and visited in August while Don was busy with his fourth (and final) Chief’s events on the ship. During their visit (and Don’s absence) they helped Kelly and the kids sand, paint, and stain the front porch and back deck (no small feat given how big they are – the decks, not the people).

In September Don went to Washington , DC for a meeting with the President while he presented the NBA Championship Trophy to the Boston Celtics (the President, not Don!). Meeting both the President and Vice President in one year!!! What an accomplishment. Kelly also celebrated her 29th birthday (AGAIN!). September finally closed with us getting all the rough framing and most of the drywall done in the basement. We have now gone from a 1500 square foot basement with nothing but a concrete floor and stone walls to a utility room, laundry room, full bath, 20x20 master bedroom, 20x30 home theater, and 25x30 recreation room! The transformation has been amazing. The girls started back up in school so the chaos in the house has subsided!

On the first of October, Don transferred from USS CONSTITUTION. It was a bittersweet day as he has said that it was the best duty stationed he has served at. On the other hand, he misses being in an operational unit and is excited to be reporting to his new duty station (more on that later). Don was able to take almost a full month off and spent the time busting butt and getting the downstairs completed, including putting in hardwood flooring throughout. On the 26th of October Donovan turned four and we celebrated his birthday and Kayla’s at the same time as Don would not be home on November 1st for hers. Just two days later Don had to leave for Virginia.

Don is now stationed back in Portsmouth , Virginia (where we were at before moving to Massachusetts ). Kelly and the kids are still in Massachusetts as we can not sell our house. The housing market crashed terribly (as you know) and our house devalued by 29% over 2008. Right now we couldn’t sell our house for what we owe on it, let alone what we have put into it in the renovations over the past three years. So Don is in Virginia staying in a barracks room while we wait the market out. Our hopes are to sell the house during the summer time and get Kelly and the kids down to Virginia with him.

Don’s new duty station is the Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron TWO (MSRON 2 for short). They are a rapidly deploying, world-wide command that provides security on both land and sea to Navy assets any where in the world. Don is the Command Master Chief in charge of nearly 500 Sailors who are currently deployed in nine different countries around the world, including the Horn of Africa fighting the pirates off the Somalia Coast and protecting the Iraqi Oil Platforms.

In November, Don found himself in Panama for several weeks while several of his teams provided security escort for a couple of submarines (odd, huh) transiting the Panama Canal . Thankfully he returned stateside in time to spend Thanksgiving with his parents in New Jersey . Meanwhile, Kelly’s parents drove in from Milwaukee to spend Thanksgiving with her and the kids in Massachusetts. It was nice having them here for a family meal at such a special time.

Immediately after Thanksgiving, Don was on the move again, this time to Kuwait where he participated in several protective escort operations within the Persian Gulf and down off the coast of the United Arab Emirates . Don completed his mission over there in time to fly back home for Christmas, arriving just an hour before a major winter storm hit dumping 18 inches of snow (in 24 hours) and completely closing everything down. We celebrated a white (and extremely cold) Christmas, but very thankful that Don could be there.

Kayla participated in the schools annual Christmas play, “A Not So Typical Christmas Carol” where she played Mrs. Kratchet and performed superbly. She also performed in the schools “holiday” concert and continues to amaze us with her talents on the trombone. Kaitlyn sang again this year in her school choir and sounded angelic (along with the other 50 students!). Donovan did the funky chicken in his bedroom for no particular reason! Don and Kelly performed as well – but we’ll not speak of that!!!

The year ended with another snow storm that provided us with another eight inches of snow so we could ring the new year in just like Christmas – white and cold. We also started our renovation of our upstairs bathroom (which he finished with Don’s Dad’s help – but that happened in 2009, so you’ll have to wait until next year for “the rest of the story”).

Well, that was our year…once again we hope this finds you happy and healthy and we wish you all a happy and prosperous new year.

Please continue to pray for and support our service men and women who are defending freedom all around the world. As we have said for many years on our website, "You don't have to support war, but please support our troops. They are our husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters and they deserve your support." Be well.

2007

Well, here’s the third installment of our annual year in review. And before you even start, we know that if Don kept the web site up to date this review would be just that, a review. But since you haven’t seen any pictures, it’s all new news to you. Hopefully Don will get some time to get the site up to date (but don’t hold you breath on that one). Anyway, we digress from the review…

All right, so where did things start…we rang in the new year in NJ at a typical New Year’s bash. It was a great time at Don’s Grandmom’s. The rest of the beginning of the year was relatively quiet (until Don got into an accident in February in the Kia). He slid on ice and went right under a truck. The guy drove off, apparently the LITTLE Kia was like a fly on a rhino. Anyway, the insurance company wanted to total it, Don spent 4 hours and $300 to completely fix it (except for painting the hood, which is now silver instead of gold).

In April, we were finally able to get hooked up to the new city sewer line they installed last year. We were amazed when they opened our septic tank to pump it and then destroy it. It wasn’t a tank at all, but a giant hole made of stacked cinder blocks! It took a couple of days but we are finally all done and ready to install the new bathroom downstairs now.

In May, Don dug up the basement to lower the level of the floor to increase the head height in the basement. Unfortunately after jack hammering all the concrete up and removing the bulkhead door with a front-end loader, Don hit ledge in the basement and had to fill it all back in! The basement will only have seven-foot ceilings now. On Memorial Day we went to the local Blackstone Parade where we got to watch Kayla perform with the school marching band. She is doing so well with the trombone. We are really amazed at the improvement she’s made. The girls both finished school having done extremely well.

The summer saw Don’s parents coming to visit in June and helping to finish the planting bed along the side of the house, complete with herbs. We also celebrated Kaitlyn’s eighth birthday. 

July started with excitement and ended in relaxation. Donovan hit his head on the corner of the wall and had to go to the hospital for four stitches in his forehead. He now joins his siblings for having a scar on their faces before age 5. Nice club to be in! After that Kelly and the kids, as well as Don’s parents, Brother and his family, Sister and her family, and Grandmother all came up to visit so they could attend the last public turn-around underway for USS CONSTITUTION for the next two years. The ship is going to be getting an overhaul and won’t be going out in the harbor again until 2010. Everyone enjoyed their ride on Old Ironsides. The end of July and we were off to the woods for our annual camping retreat. We spent two very relaxing weeks at the same place we were at last year in western Massachusetts . This year saw our normal Friday night tradition of movies and pizza extend to our campsite as well.  Don hooked the laptop up and bought some pizza and we had our Friday night movie and pizza right there. The trip was not all relaxing as we went through a couple days of VERY heavy rain. We put up so many tarps it looked like a refuge camp. But at least we were dry. 

Shortly after coming back from camping Don left on a two-week “business” trip to England . He said he was there to evaluate a leadership course and to conduct some training on the Royal Navy’s sailing ship the HMS VICTORY. Of course all we really heard him talk about (and all that he took pictures of) was sight seeing throughout England and drinking a lot of beer!!! OK, he actually did do some work over there and was actually invited to come back to teach for them. He has submitted a proposal to the Navy to establish a billet over there – who knows, maybe they’ll do it and we’ll wind up in England. 

As soon as Don got back, it was time to get to a little project we had been putting off since we moved here two years ago – cleaning up all the industrial trash the previous owners left for us hidden and buried in the woods. Don rented a utility tractor and a HUGE dumpster and we spent two days cleaning it up. He also dug a hole in the yard that was 15 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 8 feet deep just to bury all the concrete (from the basement) which was too expensive to have hauled off. The end of the month saw Donovan turning three and hitting the terrible threes BIG TIME. He loves to watch Don fixing things and loves his Norm and New Yankee Workshop. Unfortunately, every chance he gets he is taking something apart. He is very smart (or bad, depending on how you look at it). 

The girls were well into the school year when we found out that Kayla had scored so high on her MCAS (standardize test) she took at the end of the school year that she qualified to participate in study that allows 7th graders to take the ACT/SAT tests! She takes the test next January. 

Kelly’s sister Shelly came and visited again this year and just like last year, Kelly didn’t take a single photo of the visit (it’s the photos that help us put this together). Don says the only thing they did was drink anyway!

November was a big month for Kayla when she celebrated her 13th birthday. She is remarkably mature, which often gets her in trouble. Hard to explain that her mature sense of humor isn’t appropriate when directed at her parents. She quickly developed into a teenager that loves to push the envelope (and her parent’s buttons!). But we still love her enough to keep her (for now). 

By far the biggest thing to happen to us this year was on November 17th when Don picked up the newest addition to our family. We adopted a shelter rescued dog from Savannah, Georgia. She is part German Shepherd and part Chow. She should wind up about the same size as Honey and is a VERY playful puppy. The kids love her and she has adjusted very well to her new family. Honey is indifferent to her, at least until Brownie starts biting her ankles.

December came on fairly quiet but has recently made up for it all…including making up for the miniscule amount of snow we got last year. We have already gotten over two feet of snow and it looks like it hasn’t even begun yet. We have another 4-6 inches predicted over the next week and temps are in the twenties (except today when it was -1 this morning when Don got up for work, and that was without the windchill of -12). 

And so, that brings us almost to the end of the year, the end of the page, and the end of this summary. We hope this found you all to be enjoying the holiday season and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and an extremely Happy New Year. Please continue to pray for and support our service men and women who are defending freedom all around the world. Be well.

2006

Well, since so many people told us last year that they enjoyed this, we figured we would continue it. Once again, we’ll point out that if Don kept the web site up to date, this would be easier. He really has been very busy with little free time to himself. Hopefully he’ll be able to get back to it soon. OK, let’s see, where to begin…

Don’s family came and rang in the New Year with us in January. The kids had a blast playing in the snow and sledding down our hill out back. Donovan seemed to really enjoy his first major outing in the white stuff.

In February Shelly came to visit and enjoy the snow and cold weather we had here, instead of that bitter winter in Milwaukee. Soon after she left, Don went in for surgery on his right knee. He tore the cartilage pretty bad last year and had to have it removed. This is his second knee surgery and he’s hoping it’s his last, though his surgeon (who is the Ortho-pod for the Boston Celtics) was not so optimistic.

In April the construction on the sewer down our street continued absolutely wreaking havoc on the traffic. And speaking of wreaking havoc – at the end of April Shelly came back to visit. This time with a surprise – she brought Renee along with her. Kelly, Shelly, and Renee redefined the meaning of drinking, including Appletinis for breakfast on the back deck!!!

May started with Kayla getting a raging case of poison ivy and ended with us starting our front landscaping project which we finished in June. Though expensive and a lot of work, it dramatically changed the look of the whole house. This is also the time when Kaitlyn decided to try and take a bite out of the wall (with her sisters help) and busted off half of her right front tooth at a nice angle. She refers to it as her “shark tooth.” Unfortunately, because her teeth are still growing, they don’t want to put a cap on it yet. She just seems destined to have all kinds of dental problems (remember she yanked both front teeth out last year with a clothes line).

As the school year ended, Kayla had another concert and thoroughly impressed us with how far she has come with the trombone. Shortly after finishing school, Kaitlyn celebrated her 7th birthday.

The summer found us with great weather and lots of outdoor time. Whether flying kites, running in the yard, or plutching (Kelly’s word) in the little pool, it was a great beginning to the summer. As the summer wore on, Don stayed very busy with work and Kelly with maintaining the new landscape.

Don finally got time off in the beginning of September just before the kids started school. We found this awesome camp ground about two hours west of where we live. The first day we stayed at a not so good site, but were able to move lake-side the next day. The site was amazing as were the evening sunsets over the lake. When Don gets around to posting the pics on the website you’ll see just how beautiful it was. We are hoping to go back again next year. Kaitlyn had a bit of a misadventure there when she got a massive amount of tree sap in her hair. It took Kelly quite a while to get it out using hot water and a comb. We also unfortunately were witness to some massive vandalism which Kelly found and Don reported to the State Police. Such a shame that there are those kind of people out there.

Shortly after returning home, Don’s parents came and visited. Don and his Dad finished installing all the replacement windows in the whole house. This should really help with heating during the upcoming winter. Don’s hoping to get the new doors installed before the weather snaps as well.

At the end of October we were planning on renovating the upstairs bathroom. Notice I said were…that is, of course, until the wall ovens caught on fire and had to be replaced. The cost for even a single wall oven was way too much, so Don started our kitchen renovation temporarily by installing a stand alone stove/convection oven unit and completely removing the wall oven cabinet and cooktop. He also pulled down the unused soffit above the island and opened up another wall making the area between the kitchen and dining room completely open. Yeah, most of that doesn’t make much sense, but hopefully once Don posts the pictures you’ll understand.

After all that demolition and dirt, we celebrated Donovan’s 2nd birthday quickly followed by Kayla’s 12th birthday. We celebrated Kayla’s a few days early as Don had to leave for two months to go to the Navy’s Senior Enlisted Academy. This is an upper-level management school where only one percent of the total enlisted force in the Navy attend. It was a major accomplishment to be selected for it, but an even greater achievement when he graduated as an honor graduate (4 of 106) and on the Dean’s list with an average of 96.4!!!

Don was able to come home on the weekends (the school was in Newport, RI) and we had another awesome Thanksgiving with two smoked turkeys. Why two? Well, the 20 pound bird didn’t defrost in time and Kelly had to buy another one specifically for Thanksgiving. And since the other was almost defrosted, Don had to smoke that one too. With all that left over turkey, Kelly made some terrific turkey noodle soup (we still have some left).

Right after Thanksgiving, Don was quickly outside getting the lights up. This year he added 5,000 more lights bringing this years total to 15,650 lights. They are running off of two dedicated 20 amp circuits which are maxed out. When Don plugged another set of lights into either of them, they tripped the breaker. He says it just means he’ll have to dedicate another circuit to them for next year!!!

Our latest, and last significant event involves Honey. She came limping in one day after being outside and quickly worsened to the point of not being able to stand. Don took her to the Vet where they determined she had been hit by a car. She’s still recovering, slowly, but should bounce back from it. She’ll get no more alone time outside though, as she can (and apparently did) climb through the fence.

And so, that brings us to almost to the end of the year, the end of the page, and the end of this summary. We hope this found you all to be enjoying the holiday season and wish you all a very  Merry Christmas and an extremely Happy New Year. Please continue to pray for and support our service men and women who are defending freedom all around the world. Be well.

2005

We want to start this by saying this is not our idea – we totally stole it from someone else (and you know who you are – Bob and Geri). Of course, if Don were able to keep the web site up to date, none of this would really be necessary. Though the site does not really sum up the year, and writing this out helps us to look back at all the fun and adventures throughout the year and makes us thankful for what we have. So here we go…

January found us in New Jersey celebrating New Year’s at Don’s grandmom’s. As usual, it was a blast of a party. Even Donovan, at his ripe age of 2 months old, thought the party was kickin’.

In February, Don’s parents came to visit us in Virginia and were accompanied by the newest member of their family – Foxy. She terrorized Honey (stealing all of her toys and hiding them under the pool table). The fact that she is the size of Honey’s head made no difference to her.

In March, Kelly’s friend Lori came to visit us from Texas. They spent most of their time shopping and found a wonderful new recipe for quiche. Oh, and Don sported some festive bananas on his head while doing the “banana man dance.” By the way, no photos of any of that (thankfully).

Spring in Virginia had us all outside watching and listening to the amazing thunderstorms that we have missed since we left in ‘97. Of course, the thunderstorms are not worth staying in Virginia for, so off Don went to look for a new house in Massachusetts after he was selected to be the new Command Senior Chief on the USS CONSTITUTION in Boston.

We went back to Jersey in April to celebrate Kelly’s mom and dad’s anniversary in Atlantic City. A lot of fun (and a lot of Appletinis) was had by all!!! It was a great time, though I think there is a hit out on Kelly’s sister Shelly for making fun of the mafia.

At the end of May we headed off to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg for one last final fling in Virginia before we thumbed our noses at the state and headed back north. But before we could go, Virginia had to exact one more toll – both of Kaitlyn’s front teeth. Seems you should not pull on a clothes line and let it snap back up into your face. Whammm…both teeth gone, still hanging from the line!!! She’s all right now and someday she has a career in the hockey industry. OK…the dentist said she’ll be all right in a year or so when her permanents come in.

Not to be out done by Busch Gardens, we spent a day in June at the attraction of attractions in New Jersey – Clementine Park. Don’s dad’s work had a party there. It was a great time, especially the water park – it was unbelievably hot that day. Just before leaving we celebrated Kaitlyn’s 6th birthday.

After we left Jersey, we headed up to our new house in Massachusetts. Don found a wonderful place in a very quiet rural town. He commutes 68 miles each way to Boston, but says it’s worth it for the house and location (and price, man is Boston expensive). He bought a commuter car, a Kia Spectra, when diesel prices went through the roof. He still has the truck, but uses the car for work. Even with the high insurance, car payment, and gas – it’s still cheaper than when he was just driving his truck (imagine that: 17 miles per gallon diesel at $2.80 vs 32 miles per gallon gas at $2.18).

In July we went back to Jersey again (man we spent a lot of time there this year). This time was for Don’s grandmother’s 75th birthday. The ENTIRE family was there – wow there are a lot. It would have been nice to have them all follow us back up to our new house and help us unpack.

In August we started on the renovations to the house, including new front windows and a sliding glass door out the back (to a deck we would later build – watch that first step!!!).

The kids started their new schools in September, both riding the same bus to and from. We continued with the house, putting in over 600 feet of split rail fence (Kelly laughed about the fact that using a Bobcat in the grass during the rain turned our front yard into what looked like the remnants of a monster truck rally). Don’t even mention to Don the fact that he got the Bobcat stuck and had to pull it out with his truck. The rain ended up filling in a lot of the post holes and we wound up digging most of them back out by hand anyway. The fence was finished and we moved on to building a front porch and starting the back deck.

October saw us celebrating Donovan’s first birthday. At his turning 12 months, pork-o-potomus was wearing 24 month clothes and had a whole mouth full of teeth. Then with the fall rain, we discovered we had an indoor swimming pool – in our basement. So everything else was put on hold as we jack-hammered and dug up a French drain on the inside perimeter of the basement wall.

November brought Kayla’s 11th birthday and colder weather. We quickly realized that if we didn’t get working on the back deck we wouldn’t get to it until Spring. So we put the French drain on hold and built most of the back deck.

Why most? Well, on Thanksgiving day we got our first snowfall – 4 inches and we haven’t been without snow on the ground since. Oh, and the smoked turkey was great again this year, along with Kelly’s amazing recipe for “Yum Yum sweet potatoes”.

So, the back deck sits ¾ completed and the French drain, about half. There’s still well over 6 inches of snow on the ground from the last storm that blizzarded in 13 inches of snow (yes I made that word up, no not snow, blizzarded, pay attention). Now that the holidays are here, Don is busy with his 11,000+ Christmas lights and Kelly busily decorating the house. The girls have both had choral recitals at school (which were video taped and may some day be used against them). Kayla is amazing us both with her progress on the Trombone (not sure why she picked it, but she’s good at it). Kaitlyn’s front teeth are finally coming in, just as she was getting offers from the Bruins. Donovan is up to 7 or 8 steps and has developed some sort of a new language, it may be based on some ancient Greek dialect, that’s now extinct. Or maybe it’s just baby jibberish, we just don’t know.

And so, that brings us to the end of the year, the end of the page, and the end of this summary. We hope this found you all to be enjoying the holiday season and since this is the 21st of December and we are just writing it, that you had a Merry Christmas. We wish you and yours a very Happy New Year. Please continue to pray for and support our service men and women. Be well.