Trina completed her Master of Science degree in Computer Science from USC in May. She is so thankful to Jason, family especially Tracy, her friends, and coworkers that supported her over the past two and a half years. At times, it was very stressful, but it was worth it! Thank you to the many family members and friends that celebrated in various ways. Trina just completed her 9th year teaching programming and mobile class at USC. She also helps the USC School of Social Work to manage development of apps for the Welcoming Practices project. This fall they released the first versions of their iOS and Android app called Welconnect. This app connects students and their families with useful academic and non-academic resources.
Evan is now 12 years ago and is achieving high marks in Grade 7 (despite a perhaps inordinate amount of grumbling about homework). Over the summer, Evan took 2 weeks of Java programming and one week of creating digital movies through PlanetBravo. He continues to enjoy taking piano lessons and has been playing trumpet in his middle school's intermediate band. In December, they marched down Main St in the El Segundo Holiday Parade.
Last February, the wonderful PTA at Quinn's elementary school held a Mother and Sons event called STOMP. Quinn even gave me a corsage! Then he turned 9 in March and had fun celebrating with a Mystery birthday party. He is now in 4th grade and his teacher's only complaint thus far is that he tends to get a tad distracted in class. Not surprising considering that his nickname at home is Captain Distraction. As Quinn likes to say, "My nickname is Captain... squirrel!" Quinn is now involved with Cub Scouts now, and we are looking forward to our first camp-out sometime early in 2016.
Tracy's family joined us for Easter. The cousins LOVE spending time together and still let us dress them alike.
Over the summer, our family took a vacation in Toronto to attend Mike and Gabby's wedding. Mike was one of our groomsmen, so it was fun to see him in a tuxedo again. We hiked along a creek, ate subway sandwiches in the Subway, and went to the top of the CN Tower. We also enjoyed spending time with Jason's cousins and childhood friends. We even got Jeff to go to Canada's Wonderland with us.
For our 17th wedding anniversary, we spend a weekend in Pasadena away from the boys and cats. We stayed at a really nice bed and breakfast named the Bissell House. Albert Einstein had dinners there when he would visit Cal Tech, and our room had his favorite chair. Our favorite part of the trip was visiting The Huntington Library, Art Collection, and Botanical Gardens. We highly recommend spending a day or two there.
Trina teaches with her friend Kendra. For Halloween, our families dressed up as the emotions from the movie Inside Out. Trina is Disgust, Quinn is Fear, Eri is Joy, Kendra is Sadness, Bryce is Anger, and Jason is Riley's invisible boyfriend ("I would die for Riley").
Trina and Tracy had some great adventures this year including a quick trip to New York City in January (yes, it was cold!), fooling Trina's students on April 1, running the Tinkerbell Half Marathon together on Mother's Day dressed up as Twin Tinks, and attending the Neil Diamond concert at the Hollywood Bowl in memory of Mom. Tracy is even wearing Mom's shirt that she got from his 1983 concert.
Albert Einstein once said, "Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding." May 2016 be a year filled with joy, compassion, and peace.
