Here's a quick summary of our events for the year of 2004.

    Just as the New Year began Dean learned he was being furloughed by United Air Lines on January 8. I called him and suggested that he and I should go skiing to celebrate that undesirable event. I flew to Denver where Dean lives in Parker and on layoff day we were zipping down the slopes at Breckenridge. Dean is currently flying for SkyWest Airlines.

Dean and Steve at Breckenridge

    Next in February we joined my brother Jan and a whole flock of nieces and nephews and Dean and Stephen (nineteen total) for a week of skiing in Salt Lake City. We all enjoyed seeing each other and doing some great skiing in the SLC area

Dean and Stephen at Brighton

   In May we received an unexpected phone call that Yvonne's mother, Ringmor had died while dozing in her wheelchair. She was 86 years old. Yvonne, Dean and I went to Sweden for the funeral. We had a lovely service and a great luncheon where everyone celebrated Ringmor's life. While in Stockholm we were able to catch up with many of our Swedish friends.

Ringmor's Funeral in Sundbyberg

    We didn't do much during the summer except enjoy our wonderful pool and backyard In August Dean and our fabulous grandchildren, Kristen and Nick visited us. They and we enjoyed the beach and local wildlife including some closeup views of manatees.

Dean, Kristen and Nick at KSC/Playalinda Beach

    This was the year of the hurricanes. We could feel the winds from all four (Charlie, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne) and were pounded by direct hits from Frances and Jeanne. Fortunately our damage was limited to the loss of a few shingles and lots of trees and branches. In the stretch of road I bike on along the Indian River 53 out of 62 docks were destroyed and many boats were smashed against the seawall. Still many roofs are covered in blue tarps.

Hurricane Frances Damage in Cocoa Beach

    Early October took us to St. Louis, MO for my 45th Kirkwood High School reunion. Several classmates had worked very hard getting the reunion going and we had over 150 attendees. At our age it is so great to revisit old times with friends from long ago. While there we also got in a few sets of tennis.

Kirkwood High Class of 1959 Don Steele, Del and Pat Campbell, Steve, Pete Wincup

    Between hurricanes we took a long weekend to visit our friend, Irma, vacation home in Murphy, NC. It is on a beautiful lake and is a wonderful place to relax. Both going and coming we stopped for a night at Carol and Charlie Dunn's home in Macon, GA, where we were treated royally.

Irma's Cabin in Murphy, NC

Dunns and Coesters in Macon

    Yvette continues nursing at Wuesthoff Hospital here in Rockledge and has her hands full taking care of Stephen and Bodie. Bodie is sharp as a tack and talking with him it's hard to think he is disabled. His paralysis remains the same in that he can only use his right arm quite well.

Yvette and Bodie

    Other notable occurrences were that Yvette suffered a severe dog bite from a neighbor's pit bull dog during Hurricane Frances. Several bad punctures on her thigh and butt. I continued to be webmaster for USNA Class of 1963 and maintain www.USNA63.org. all three of my grandkids are pretty much "A" students at the top of their 7th, 6th and 2nd grade classes. Kristen is playing the clarinet and Nick is racing his bike. Stephen's soccer team was again undefeated in league play. Stephen took up tennis and is getting really good. That got me restarted and I've been playing almost daily despite my aches and pains and arthritis. Even joined the local tennis club. Finally Stephen broke his thumb so he was off sports for a couple of weeks. He is playing in the Thanksgiving soccer tournament.

Stephen tennis

Stephen (in Black) Scoring in Soccer

    That's what happened to us in 2004. Let us hear your adventures.

Best Wishes for the Holidays and 2005
Steve and Yvonne

Steve and Yvonne