SkaggsFamily.net
Welcome to our first online Christmas newsletter
(2009)
Taken
from our front door - Christmas morning, 2008
Last Christmas was the first White-Christmas in the 22
years we have lived in the
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12 inches on Christmas Eve |
Another Subaru Endorsement |
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Both kids are in the Children’s Choir at the
church. Rachael has soloed and done a
reading. The music director has asked
her to choose a flute-piano duet for the service this Christmas Eve. Wednesdays can be hectic, with the rush to
Sumner (30 minute drive) for Bell Choir, Children’s Choir and Faith Formation. (Teresa is teaching the second-grade class
this year.) |
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Some of the Children’s Choir kids |
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Rachael started her fourth major instrument when she
received a guitar for Christmas. She has
been so busy with sports, band, jazz band, choir, etc. that she hasn’t put a
lot of work into it, but lately she can be heard after bedtime almost nightly
strumming and singing in her room. |
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Before the end of basketball, Rachael missed a game
so she and her friend could play a flute duet in a regional music competition
for Junior High Schools. Since they
are in Middle School, they were among very few sixth-graders in a field of
seventh through ninth-graders. They
didn’t win, but they received a “competent” rating and are invited back for
next year’s competition. |
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Shortly after that, Rodger announced he didn’t want
to wait for fifth-grade to learn an instrument. Teresa said he could play anything he
wanted except drums. He chose piano so
she kept her word, leaving the task of finding one up to Donovan. He was
excited, because he had his eye on a new Yamaha pro-workstation. “No good,” said Teresa. It had to be an acoustic. I had to find a traditional instrument and
luckily enough, I managed to fall into an awesome deal on a perfectly cared
for 1986 ebony console piano, for about 1/3 the price of that
workstation. Looks great, sounds
great. Not as portable as the
Yamaha. Rodger dove into his lessons
with great excitement. He finished the
primer level by summer, and is nearly finished with level 1 already. His teacher says it usually takes a year to
finish a single level. He practices
his lessons on his own pretty well.
Sometimes he needs a reminder, but he has never said “I don’t wanna
practice” or such. He is currently
memorizing two pieces for his first recital in January. And, he also just submitted an original
composition for a national arts competition.
Miss Washington 2009, Devani Partridge, takes her piano lessons right
before Rodger and they have become good buddies. Check out Rodger’s composition with the links to the
right. (Update: He
won |
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Rodger and Miss Washington |
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Listen |
View |
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For spring-break, the kids decided to try theater
camp. They auditioned for and performed
in the junior version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Rachael was great in the role of Lumiere, the
candlestick, and was excited to be able to sing the lead for one of her
favorite Disney songs (Be Our Guest).
Rodger had a very busy time, playing a triple-role of Shepherd Boy, Wolf
and Plate.
Rodger
as “Shepherd Boy”
Rodger
as “Wolf”
Rachael
as “Lumiere”
Rodger
as “Plate”
Rachael
as “Lumiere”
They had so much fun (and did such a great job) they
decided to spend a large chunk of summer vacation doing it again. This time it was the junior version of
Disney’s Aladdin. For this production,
Rachael was a narrator and Rodger was a prince.
Rachael
as “Narrator #5”
Rachael
as “Narrator #5”
Rodger
as “Prince Baba of Ganoush”
Rachael
as “Narrator #5”and Rodger as “Prince Baba of Ganoush”
Rodger
as “Prince Baba of Ganoush”
Rodger
as “Prince Baba of Ganoush”
Rodger’s first science-fair project was his second
choice. He wanted to make something that
would shock people when they came up and touched it. He was a bit disappointed when we told him he
couldn’t exactly do that. Still, he
insisted on doing every little part of the project by himself. All dad did was find the little lights for
the demonstration.
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Rodger closed out first grade with the same honor
his sister received when she finished that grade. Student of the Month! He sure looks proud. (We’re really proud of him too.) |
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Rachael also received a big honor this year. She was inducted into the National (Junior)
Honor Society. Her dad did not get
into NHS until he was a high-school senior.
Way to go Rachael for doing it in sixth grade! |
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January
meant the start of Upward Basketball.
This was Rachael’s final year and Rodger’s first year. Rodger is a natural shooter and Rachael is
a natural from outside. She is hoping
to find a coach in need of an assistant next season so she can stay involved. |
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Rachael’s final sport of her sixth-grade year was
volleyball. It is so popular in her
school that they formed four teams just to accommodate all who wanted to
play. Unfortunately, sports in the
spring led to physical therapy in the off-season to care for an injured back. |
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Fall of 2009 brought yet another new sport to
Rachael; fast-pitch softball. Even
though she was still bothered by her earlier volleyball injury, her team
managed to go undefeated for the season. |
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Rodger had a blast with fall soccer (as usual) and
was fortunate to have the same coach (and several teammates) as in previous
seasons. |
Probably the best part of summer 2009 was spent hiking
around the Olympic Peninsula. We started
with the
The second day was spent on the Ozette Loop
Trails. There is a 3-mile hike through
dense coastal rainforest from the ranger station to the beach. It is boardwalk nearly all the way. You have to time the next part for low-tide,
otherwise the beach is impassible.
Heading north on the beach, the nice sandy part runs out quickly and
turns into rough volcanic rock covered with slippery tidal plants. Halfway up this 3-mile section, there are
some neat petroglyphs, worth the hike.
After that, the beach turns into loose rock and climbing over/under a
lot of blow-down trees. Then, once you
find the trailhead (we missed it by ¼ mile) it is one more 3-mile trek through
the woods on another (partial) boardwalk trail.
Everyone slept well that night.
On day three, the morning was spent in the Forks, WA
gift shops. A lot of really nice people
are capitalizing on the “Twilight” craze while it lasts. Everyone from the Chamber of Commerce to the
shop owners tried to make it fun for the teenage girls visiting (even if
Rachael had to point out the flaws in their interpretation of the books and
movie.) We had lunch in
The final day’s hike was short in distance, but long
in effort. From the visitor’s center at
Hurricane Ridge, the hike to the top of Hurricane Hill is only about 1.5 miles,
but you work for it in the 90+ heat. If
we had started with that hike on the first day, I never would have gotten the
kids to take another step.
Day
1 –
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Day 2 - |
Day 3 - |
Day
4 – Hurricane Ridge
Links to hiking photo albums: Day
1 -
Day
2 -
Day
3 -
Day
4
All the while we were enjoying the splendor of Olympic
National Park, Teresa was at home enjoying 109 degrees in our
non-air-conditioned house, during the hottest heat wave in the
We hope you enjoyed our extended
Christmas-card/newsletter. If you like,
drop us a line anytime.
Donovan - don@skaggs.us
Teresa - teresa@skaggs.us
Rachael - rachael@skaggs.us
Rodger - rodger@skaggs.us