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January gets the year off
to a fast start with a father-son hike (Doug) and bike ride (Brad),
Brad's belated 11th birthday party, and the big San Diego County
Schools Geography Olympiad for which both Kristi and Brad have been feverishly preparing for the last two
months. Brad is playing organized basketball for the first time
ever this winter. But perhaps the most amazing news of all is
that the Sherwood family
has a new addition: a two month old Lab-mix puppy named Dancer.
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February contains Kristi's birthday every year, and this year her
parents came out for it and all the other goings on. What was
going on this month was baseball, bicycling, piano and more. More
puppy, more basketball. We took our postponed trip up to Disney's
California Adventure theme park.
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March Madness begins with Kristi running the school's annual book
fair with her friend Gail. Little League Spring Training gave way
to the start of the season and real games. Keith and
Brad put in a lot of practice miles on the bicycles, both with the Bike
Club and freelance, in training for April's big Ride Across California.
Keith and Doug went camping in the desert with Indian Guides.
Brad's
basketball team reached the championship game as his season wound down.
And Brad was one of the MCs at the schools annual talent show.
Oh
yes, we still have Dancer the puppy.
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April had two major
milestones: the week long Ride Across California (where Brad and Keith
biked from the Colorado River to the Pacific Ocean) and the day long
Doug's Birthday (where Doug turns eight). There were also
baseball games (both Major and Little League), a Pinewood Derby, a Take
Our Kids to Work Day, and that darn dog Dancer.
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May is a crazy month every year, but I swear
it keeps getting worse. Baseball is in full swing (you would have
preferred I said "reaches
fevered pitch"?); lots of activities at school like Open House and
Field
Trips, the months of loose rehearsals give way to dress rehearsals and
finally the church spring musical, Mother's day arrives, and relatives
come to visit. We've added a dog to the mix this year: that's
new. It was so bad this year that we had to cancel out of the
month's Y Guide camp out.
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June is a month of transitions: end of
baseball, end of school, end of commitments to PTA, Y Indian Guides and
church board. It was a month of transition for Great Aunt Betty
and Dancer the dog, too. We had a very "front-loaded" summer this
year, with nearly all vacation/travel
toccurringhis month: big family vacation to the East Coast, the boys
going to Grandma Camp, and Doug going to Church Camp.
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July we caught our collective breath.
The whirlwind that was
the first half of the year has been survived, and we worked on enjoying
days that weren't overbooked. Brad took the last scheduled trip, a week
at Church Camp. Keith and Doug went camping on the beach. And we
all
got a family sail around the San Diego Bay. Hey, we could get use
to this summering in San Diego...
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August contains the unofficial end of
summer. What, you thought summer unofficially ran from Memorial
Day to Labor Day? No, as any parent can tell you, Summer runs
from the day school ends to that cherished
day when school begins again. Of course, this is a two edged
sword
for Kristi who must now start work on her school directory. The whole family is heavily involved in our church's
annual vacation Bible school which is also held in August.
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September was routine. Or at least we were able to establish
a routine. School continued to go well for Doug, Brad, and
Kristi. Not routine, but out of the ordinary, were our Labor Day
camp out in the mountains and Doug and Keith's camp on Catalina Island.
In April we attended the first Padres Friday home game of the
season; this month we attended the
last Padres Friday night game in Qualcomm Stadium ever. And as always,
church
events of some sort are part of the routine.
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October began with a weekend in the
ocean waters to the west, and ended with an extended weekend of
firestorms to the north, east and south. That's
more than enough excitement for any month, but we also made a birthday
getaway to Las Vegas, finished the school directories, and managed to
survive
another Halloween.
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November means Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving means it's our turn
to host the
extended San Diego family at our house. See what other guests
from
outside San Diego attended, too. Putting their gratitude for their
blessings
into action, Keith and Brad traveled south of the border to build a
house
in Mexico. And Keith's camera takes a Magical Misdemeanor Tour.
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December closes out our 2003 with the traditional (Sunday school
class skit, boys participating in Christmas Eve service, Christmas Eve
Talent Show, Christmas Dinner at Jeff and Chrysanne's, Brad's
birthday), the untraditional (a band concert, our first Christmas with
Dancer, a house remodel), and even a few surprises (trips to the
emergency room, an unannounced visit from Papa and
Grandma Rafferty).
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