Amazingly, surprisingly, unbelievably, this is the last Christmas of the "aughts." As 2009 comes to an end, both the century (and all of our kids) will be entering their teens.
Next year Alyssa will be 19 and David will be 13.
Bret Jr. will be a teenager in 2011. Kekoa will be a teen in 2013. Nalani in 2015.
Next year Alyssa will be 19 and David will be 13.
Bret Jr. will be a teenager in 2011. Kekoa will be a teen in 2013. Nalani in 2015.
And our little baby Malia wil be a teenager in 2016.
I am not looking forward to this decade.
But alas, before 2009 comes to an end, I thought it would be nice to post a few pictures in celebration of Christmas at the Bicoy home and share a bit of news from the last year...
That, my friends, is what a Christmas tree looks like when surrounded by presents for six kids.
The tree is in our dining room, so Christmas morning began with a caravan of kids carrying Christmas presents into the living room...
Malia was giddy with excitement while Bretty tried to carry everything at once...
The kids set up all over the floor...
And the adventure of Christmas morning began!
Our first daughter Alyssa loved her gifts of socks and a sock puppet...
That young lady really loves her socks!
While I cannot quite believe it myself, Alyssa really is a young lady. She graduated from high school earlier this year and was accepted by several colleges. But as the year progressed, she decided to take some time off before going to college. She is now working full-time and saving money until she's ready to futher her education.
Alyssa had enough credits to graduate from high school a semester early which meant she got to go with me to Hawaii earlier this year to celebrate my father's 86th birthday. We figure she earned that after working so hard in school.
Over the last few years, Alyssa has also become quite a talented musician. She plays guitar and sings quite well. Have a listen yourself...
Our oldest son David may be about to turn 13, but he's like his Dad and still gets excited when someone gives him a cool toy for Christmas like a Star Trek phaser...
David is in 7th grade and has become an artist himself. He draws wonderfully well and although he says he doesn't like to paint, I have one of his wonderful paintings hanging in my office.
Like me, David likes hats. But the word "likes" does not do justice to his passion. David is a hat fanatic. And I do not use the word "fanatic" casually.
David has more hats than you can imagine, and he's always on the lookout for more. The only time David isn't wearing a hat is at school - where they are prohibited. He puts one on when he wakes up in the morning, places it on his chair at the dining room table before heading out the door to school. Then he puts it back on the moment he walks back into the house.
And every single day it's a different hat.
Ya gotta love the boy's commitment!
Bret Jr. wanted only one thing for Christmas, so of course we kept him waiting through piles of presents before he got it. You can see the sheer joy on his face when he opened his gift and found Madden 2010 for the Wii...
Bret Jr. is now in 5th grade and is quickly becoming quite an athlete. He absolutely loves playing football. Bret's favorite position is defensive tackle because that puts him right in the middle of the chaos. At that position he can use his natural talent for being disruptive!
When football season was over, Bretty was heartbroken and didn't know what to do with himself. Cari suggested that he consider playing basketball, but he just wasn't interested. But at the last minute, Bret showed up for the first meeting and that was all it took.
We thought our weeks were busy with football - but at least they only played a game once a week. It seems we're at one of Bretty's basketball games every other day!
For Christmas Kekoa received his very own set of real tools and he quickly got to work building a jewelry box for his sister Malia...
Our youngest son is in third grade and is actively participating in Destination Imagination. "DI" is a program in which Kekoa's team will compete with those from other schools using their minds in creative ways. Kekoa's team's project is to build a robot and create a story surrounding it.
When he's not using his wonderful imagination, Kekoa likes using his quick moves to run around the football field as well. He played flag football this year for the Cowboys - which also happens to be his favorite NFL team!
At Christmas, nobody likes to be surprised quite as much as Nalani.
Nalani tears into the wrapping paper like a crazy person, but she won't look down at the gift until the very last second. This makes for the most unusual pictures as she looks away from the present while she's opening it.
That's Nalani. Everything she does, she does with panache.
Our middle daughter is in second grade and is the most popular girl in class, naturally. She also loves to dance, but I think she loves the fancy and frilly outfits even more.
When it comes to opening Christmas presents, however, nobody does it with more pure joy than our Malia...
With each and every present, Malia shouts with overwheming enthusiasm, "I always wanted this!" Her reaction makes you want to keep giving her gift after gift.
Either she's the most genuinely happy person you'll ever meet - or she's incredibly devious and has figured out how to get her Daddy to give her presents. I will enjoy my paternal delusion and opt to believe the former.
Malia started kindergarten this year and was very excited on her first day of school. It's hard to believe that our little baby girl is now 6 years old!
So that was our Christmas and another year in the life of the Bicoy family.
Cari spends most of her days chasing after our children from a practice to a game to the next recital. She's talked about going back to work now that all our children are in school. But I don't have any interest in helping out with the laundry so I'm hoping she'll get over that idea real soon. Cari also still organizes her bookclub (which the kids love because it means Dad's bringing home McDonalds on those days).
I continue to have the privilege of working for the Door County Community Foundation and do some consulting on the side through my own little firm. I've also been helping my sister to document our family tree - which you'll see at bicoy.com is quite an undertaking.
We're still lucky enough to live among the shorelines, art galleries and music festivals of Door County, Wisconsin - about the most beautiful place you'll find in the Midwest.
From our family to yours, Mele Kalikimaka, Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and enjoy the solstice. Geez, I can't keep up with all that. So how 'bout we end the year with just a plain ol' hau'oli makahiki hou.
Bret & Cari
I am not looking forward to this decade.
But alas, before 2009 comes to an end, I thought it would be nice to post a few pictures in celebration of Christmas at the Bicoy home and share a bit of news from the last year...
That, my friends, is what a Christmas tree looks like when surrounded by presents for six kids.
The tree is in our dining room, so Christmas morning began with a caravan of kids carrying Christmas presents into the living room...
Malia was giddy with excitement while Bretty tried to carry everything at once...
The kids set up all over the floor...
And the adventure of Christmas morning began!
Our first daughter Alyssa loved her gifts of socks and a sock puppet...
That young lady really loves her socks!
While I cannot quite believe it myself, Alyssa really is a young lady. She graduated from high school earlier this year and was accepted by several colleges. But as the year progressed, she decided to take some time off before going to college. She is now working full-time and saving money until she's ready to futher her education.
Alyssa had enough credits to graduate from high school a semester early which meant she got to go with me to Hawaii earlier this year to celebrate my father's 86th birthday. We figure she earned that after working so hard in school.
Over the last few years, Alyssa has also become quite a talented musician. She plays guitar and sings quite well. Have a listen yourself...
Our oldest son David may be about to turn 13, but he's like his Dad and still gets excited when someone gives him a cool toy for Christmas like a Star Trek phaser...
David is in 7th grade and has become an artist himself. He draws wonderfully well and although he says he doesn't like to paint, I have one of his wonderful paintings hanging in my office.
Like me, David likes hats. But the word "likes" does not do justice to his passion. David is a hat fanatic. And I do not use the word "fanatic" casually.
David has more hats than you can imagine, and he's always on the lookout for more. The only time David isn't wearing a hat is at school - where they are prohibited. He puts one on when he wakes up in the morning, places it on his chair at the dining room table before heading out the door to school. Then he puts it back on the moment he walks back into the house.
And every single day it's a different hat.
Ya gotta love the boy's commitment!
Bret Jr. wanted only one thing for Christmas, so of course we kept him waiting through piles of presents before he got it. You can see the sheer joy on his face when he opened his gift and found Madden 2010 for the Wii...
Bret Jr. is now in 5th grade and is quickly becoming quite an athlete. He absolutely loves playing football. Bret's favorite position is defensive tackle because that puts him right in the middle of the chaos. At that position he can use his natural talent for being disruptive!
When football season was over, Bretty was heartbroken and didn't know what to do with himself. Cari suggested that he consider playing basketball, but he just wasn't interested. But at the last minute, Bret showed up for the first meeting and that was all it took.
We thought our weeks were busy with football - but at least they only played a game once a week. It seems we're at one of Bretty's basketball games every other day!
For Christmas Kekoa received his very own set of real tools and he quickly got to work building a jewelry box for his sister Malia...
Our youngest son is in third grade and is actively participating in Destination Imagination. "DI" is a program in which Kekoa's team will compete with those from other schools using their minds in creative ways. Kekoa's team's project is to build a robot and create a story surrounding it.
When he's not using his wonderful imagination, Kekoa likes using his quick moves to run around the football field as well. He played flag football this year for the Cowboys - which also happens to be his favorite NFL team!
At Christmas, nobody likes to be surprised quite as much as Nalani.
Nalani tears into the wrapping paper like a crazy person, but she won't look down at the gift until the very last second. This makes for the most unusual pictures as she looks away from the present while she's opening it.
That's Nalani. Everything she does, she does with panache.
Our middle daughter is in second grade and is the most popular girl in class, naturally. She also loves to dance, but I think she loves the fancy and frilly outfits even more.
When it comes to opening Christmas presents, however, nobody does it with more pure joy than our Malia...
With each and every present, Malia shouts with overwheming enthusiasm, "I always wanted this!" Her reaction makes you want to keep giving her gift after gift.
Either she's the most genuinely happy person you'll ever meet - or she's incredibly devious and has figured out how to get her Daddy to give her presents. I will enjoy my paternal delusion and opt to believe the former.
Malia started kindergarten this year and was very excited on her first day of school. It's hard to believe that our little baby girl is now 6 years old!
So that was our Christmas and another year in the life of the Bicoy family.
Cari spends most of her days chasing after our children from a practice to a game to the next recital. She's talked about going back to work now that all our children are in school. But I don't have any interest in helping out with the laundry so I'm hoping she'll get over that idea real soon. Cari also still organizes her bookclub (which the kids love because it means Dad's bringing home McDonalds on those days).
I continue to have the privilege of working for the Door County Community Foundation and do some consulting on the side through my own little firm. I've also been helping my sister to document our family tree - which you'll see at bicoy.com is quite an undertaking.
We're still lucky enough to live among the shorelines, art galleries and music festivals of Door County, Wisconsin - about the most beautiful place you'll find in the Midwest.
From our family to yours, Mele Kalikimaka, Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and enjoy the solstice. Geez, I can't keep up with all that. So how 'bout we end the year with just a plain ol' hau'oli makahiki hou.
Bret & Cari
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