Thornhill Drive Weekly

So Isabella’s real birthday isn’t really until February 9th but a couple of upcoming long weekends were in the way, and she opted for an early celebration. She had invited the whole class plus other good friends to come bowl at Belmateo. It was fun to see the boys and girls together again, and all got along great. The one-hour bowling in the disco light was followed by pizza and some pretty crafty sundaes. Isabella got spoiled and received fantastic presents – Pia followed us home to assist and keep track of the gift list.

John’s dad was supposed to arrive from Denmark in time to celebrate with us, but snow put a stopper to that and we picked him up at 8:00 pm after he’d been San Francisco-bound for 24 hours. We all slept very well. Spent the day today at the Tutankhamun exhibition at the De Young museum. Great exhibition – must have been amazing to discover the grave and see the 600 pieces that followed the young king to his afterlife. Delicious lunch at the Cliff House and exercise at the pier in Pacifica watching crab fisherman and daring surfers.

Last weekend was spent in Carmel together with one of Isabella’s friends: Phoebe. We enjoyed that the rain had not followed us and spent the morning at the Monterey Aquarium. Still amazing and it’s nice that the membership means we can take it in small bits. Still, time flies when in company of seahorses and a parking ticket greeted us outside after we had passed the two hour limit. Oh well…

Wishing all our readers a wonderful week!

Thank you to the ones who sent of a note on January 5. It’s always good to hear that you think of Lyne and us.

Isabella is recuperating under the covers as John writes this. Must have picked up some bug while eating cup cakes, muffins, candy, ice cream and everything else that comes with a birthday. Olivia’s oldest daugther – also Isabella – celebrated her 12th birthday at Benihana on Friday. All but John went to see “The spy next door” afterwards. Sounded like lots of fun.

We had Pia visiting yesterday and after Isabella’s riding lesson we all went to Laurel Street Arts. The girls painted a mug and a dragon. We’re picking them up next week – can’t wait!

John took pictures while Isabella was riding so the Range Rover could be listed on AutoTrader. We’ll post a link should anyone be interested :-) The Golf is a great to drive and so far we’re still under $100 gasoline (diesel) for the month despite daily trips to San Francisco. Yay! As strange as it sounds the insurance is actually cheaper with two cars. Go figure.

Neighbor had an attempted burglary yesterday during the day. They never got in but yanked the screen off the window trying to see if it would be an easy entry. We’ll keep our eyes open and doors closed for a while. Hopefully they will only be able to hear Moses and not see his tongue and wagging tail, so they come by here.

Sunday Olivia had invited us up to the city to see Cirque du Soleil’s Ovo. Impressive acrobatics! We spoke to some of the ushers doing the intermission and learned that some of the performers are so young that there’s on on-site school where-ever they travel. Also puts a limits on how late they can perform. Time for bedtime story…

Intense week at Dolby but things are on track and the ticket to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is booked. Will be good to be back there after skipping last year. No word of where the contract is going. Probable won’t know for another month. So far it’s fun and a good challenge with all the new stuff to learn.

Today it’s been two years since Lyne lost her battle with Breast Cancer. Not a day goes by without us thinking about Lyne, but January 5 will always be a day that belongs entirely to her.

We have updated her memorial site with images sent to us from friends and family – www.lynepilon.com

In moments not thinking directly about Lyne our thoughts go out to people with friends and families in similar situations, and we hope you will keep some of the organizations dedicated to fighting any kind of cancer in mind when you have funds to spare.

Christmas 2009 was celebrated at Olivia’s house. Isabella prepared quite the meal for Santa and his reindeers and not all milk, carrots and cookies were gone the next morning. So nice of Santa to share! Lots of presents under the tree and Santa had been kind enough to leave Isabella what she had on top of her wish list. She’s typing away on her laptop and it taking care of virtual cows, pigs and dogs.

We all went for a hike before dinner and John must have picked up an unexpected visitor along the way. He woke up with a tick buried half way into his body. Tweezers removed most, but the creature’s head was still stuck inside. The urgent care clinic was closed, so he ended up at Sequoia Hospital. In’n'out and no big deal but many thoughts to a fellow photographer was just out three months due to lyme decease.

Before all this we exchanged gift with Pia, Bella, and Adriana. Isabella later drove down to Carmel with them. John and Moses joined the next day and we enjoyed three days in the company of Olivia’s parents, Olivia’s sister, one of her brothers and their families and Coby the family labrador. We drove out to the ocean with Adriana and Isabella. Cold water but good times regardless.

Thanks to the many who have sent us Christmas cards and notes – and cookies – over the holidays. Much, much appreciated!

Christmas evening is almost here and Isabella is pretty patient. Maybe because she got a head start last night. We had dinner at Olivia’s house together with her brother Dave and his family. Twelve of us exchanging secret santa gifts to the ones present – no pun intended. Isabella’s secret santa wasn’t there but someone had made sure there was a present anyway. John received a goat from his Secret Santa (Jillian). It was instantly was passed on to an African village and named “not dinner”. Very cool.

Thursday brought Isabella’s Christmas performance. Her classroom sang together with the fourth graders, so it was quite a bunch. Excellent job. Once more Isabella’s drawing was selected as the covers for the program so we all had good reason to be proud.

John’s working from home. Partly because Isabella is already on her Christmas break (until January 4), and partly because he’s fighting a cold. No fun! In between the writing we’re looking for a new car. The Range Rover is too thirsty and with the 2x tax breaks we would get this year, a new and greener car would almost(!) pay for itself. Anybody for a souped up Range Rover Sport? We might list it on AutoTrader and try to sell it ourselves. But so far it’s hard come to agreement with the sales people at five different Volkswagen dealerships – the state of the economy seems to somehow have escaped them all.

In other news: Moses had a manicure and pedicure yesterday. And a hair cut and shampoo. Looks great and smells almost too clean. He’s definitely ready for Christmas. Little does he know that Amazon messed up “Santa’s” order, and the chewable toy monkey will not be here in time. Nothing a cookie can’t fix.

We wish all our readers a Merry Christmas. Hope you will have a wonderful time where ever you are. Our annual Christmas letter is still inside our heads and not on paper, and looking at the calendar we’re not entirely sure when we’re going to write it.

Isabella, John & Moses

As it has happened most years the last few weeks in November and the first couple of weekends in December is focused on Lucia singing. For Isabella, that is… She sang at Ikea at Emeryville on Saturday in front a good-sized crowd while the staffers served lussekatter and gloegg. We stopped for lunch at Chez Maman in San Francisco after a quick tour of the Dolby offices just before the whole area got flooded by a water main break.

Sunday was in the traditional setting at the Swedish Hall in San Francisco. There was 55 kids in total – one of the largest groups yet. Isabella stood next to the Lucia bride and sang along. Pretty impressive when you think of the fact that she doesn’t really know any Swedish.

On Monday Isabella’s phone disappeared at Hip-Hop but a call from the dance center two hours later reunited the two. She’s having a lot of fun at the dance center and so far it doesn’t seem to be a problem leaving San Francisco at 4:00 to get her there on time.

John had lunch duty at Isabella’s school on Friday. The rain kept the little ones inside. Must be hard to have to stay indoors – lots of energy to burn and it wasn’t an easy task the keep them at their desk until the teacher could take over.

We started building a ginger bread house yesterday. It couldn’t stand the pressure of a few M&Ms today and ended up resembling a Bay Area house after “the big one”. Not sure what went wrong, but we believe it didn’t help that the house isn’t heated during the day. Oh well, it was still munchable.

Wednesday Nov. 25 was Special Person’s Day and Isabella had chosen Carol Nicholas to come with her to Mass and to the classroom. They had a great time together and Carol once more found ways to spoil Isabella. From school straight to Washington Park in Burlingame to celebrate Nick F – one of the classmates turning nine.

We left for Carmel and a Thanksgiving dinner with all of the Bellamys the next morning after stuffing Moses with enough dry food for him to survive until midnight. The rest of us all had a wonderful lunch and dinner. Kids made it in the hot tub, while Olivia and John snuck off to the ocean and a cup of coffee. Good times. Not much traffic on the road going back and Moses, who had gotten hungry again, was happy to see John. Isabella stayed behind for a couple of days and hitched a ride back with Sandy and Jillie almost straight from Carmel to the barn. Isabella couldn’t have asked for more. Well, maybe a pair of riding boots. The new school shoes doesn’t look so new anymore, and what’s that smell?

Sunday was Lucia choir time. Isabella was lucky to be invited to sing on a CD that Young Scandinavians Club will put on sale next week. We spent much of Sunday at Studio 880 in Oakland, hoping to see Green Day since it’s their hangout. Didn’t happen but the girls and boys sang beautifully and we can’t wait to hear the final tracks. Karin, who again volunteered to run with the choir, has done an amazing job with the kids. Many of who doesn’t speak any Swedish.

This week has been fairly quiet. We’re back in early drop-off, late-pickup routine and don’t get to see each other as much as we could when John was at school at 3:00. Oh, well – First Republic Bank is happy and that’s probably not too bad for a while… The week did bring a planned checkup at the dentist for Isabella. No cavities but more flossing needed. Today is the car’s turn for checkup. No work on its health yet. Somehow the brake pads are always in need of changing… Oh, and no sign of the Christmas decorations yet. Maybe this weekend…

Isabella is also getting the final paragraph. Fully deserved after she Monday started a little flea-market in school. She profited $4.25 after a couple of days selling erasers and sharpeners, benefitting Breast Cancer Research and Sharks. The combination has brought a few smiles here and there but the school backed up around her idea. Today’s collection in church will be donated to the two. With a majority towards Breast Cancer Research she was told. Way to go, Isabella – traces of Lyne for sure.

Back by popular demand – Isabella’s wish list:

Clothing:
Clothes from Justice
Roller blades
Uggs
Sneakers
Riding pants
Riding Crop
Cowboy hat from Olsen Nolte Saddle Shop

Travel to:
Australia
Hawaii
New York
Phinda Game Reserve (South Africa)

Misc.
Make a speech in front of the President of the United States
Bean bag chair
Duffel bag
Adopt-a-shark
Macbook laptop
Apple tree in our backyard
Dinosaur bone (fossil)

Books:
Emily Windsnap and the monsters from the Deep
Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist
Emily Windsnap and the Siren’s Secret
Emily Windsnap Fin-tastic Friendship Book

Philippa Fischer’s Fairy Godsister
Philippa Fisher and the Dreammaker’s Daughter

The Encyclopedia of Sharks

Chasing Blue (Canterwood Crest)
Dragon Rider
Coke or pepsi

Webkinz
Signature Golden Retriever
Brown Arabian
Citrus Dragon
Jack Russell Terrier
Mocha pup
Peppermint Puppy
Polar bear
Pterodactyl
Rainforest Boa
Shark
Signature Timber Wolf

November 20 was the deadline for Isabella’s “Native Americans” report and she added to it every day after having done research the previous weeks. Longest report so far and she had to write about ten different subjects. Job well done we believe and the kids were rewarded with a new assignment once they had handed in the work…

Isabella slept over at Phoebe’s last weekend. She had a great time but ended up with some kind of stomach flu at the very end. She slept three hours once she was home and quickly turned as good as new. She’s back at Phoebe’s early December for a birthday slumber party. It’s great that they get along so well.

John spent part of this week in UK and Denmark after a short impromptu trip that started only four days ago. The job situation finally changed and lot of patience and hard work paid off. He’s starting at Dolby tomorrow on a three-months contract (with intent to hire). As it happened there were 1-2 other opportunities at the same time, but careful consideration made him choose a contract aiming to help Dolby expand in the mobile market.

John landed in Copenhagen Friday afternoon and flew back to the Bay Area Sunday after seeing Agger Sr. and many but not all friends. Stopped over in London on the way to Europe and met with a new colleague leaving John with information enough to make him dizzy ;-) Isabella and Moses have been spoiled in Olivia’s company.

We have started to look at combining two households into one and had a quick meeting investigating what the house on Thornhill Drive would sell for. We decided to hold off until early spring. While the market seems very good right now – there’s only one house for sale in the area around us – it hasn’t made the prices jump up much. But the tax credit seems to be working and our house is perfect for first-time buyers. We’ll see. We’ve spent a considerable amount of money on upgrades and we’re obviously aiming at getting some of those investments returned.

The editor is very jetlagged and tired, so it’s lights out!
We wish all our readers a Happy Thanksgiving!