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| Is
2002 over already? |
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| I know we say this every year, but
it is so hard to believe that the year is already over. We made a
few resolutions -- heck, we may have even kept one or two. All in
all, it has been a good year for us. |
| In February we took off
with our friends Rick & Jason for a 2-week trip to Australia.
We had an incredible time! We started off with a week in Sydney,
celebrating their Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. What an event!
Our Aussie friends, Jayson & Dave, took great care of us and we all
made the most out of the experience. The closing parade and parties
were awe-inspiring. The entire city of Sydney makes a showing for
this festival.
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Climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge in
matching outfits
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Exhausted (and maybe a little hungover), the four of us boarded a flight
for Cairnes, the north coast vacation destination of Australia.
From there we traveled a bumpy hour further north to paradise: Turtle
Cove. Wow -- we really can't say enough about Turtle Cove. |
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| It is tucked away into a private
bay with a white sand beach and 90 degree ocean water. The staff,
the rooms and the facilities are all exceptional. From Turtle Cove
it is an easy drive to the Australian Rain Forest. We took a day tour that
had us hiking an hour into the dense jungle and swimming in a waterfall-fed
pond. It was quite an adventure. We also took a boat ride out
to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkle and deep sea dive. The seas to
and from the reef were incredibly rough, but the payoff was worth it.
Reef, the fish and the cobalt waters are all reminders of what a very special
place this world is. |
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With Jocko in Stern Grove |
April brought a new member to our household:
Jocko! Our boy was adopted from the San Francisco SPCA at the tender
age of 7 months. He is a large (almost 70 Lbs now) German Shepard
mix with a wonderful disposition. Despite a few early run-in's with
the furniture, a few computer mice (safely erradicated from the home by
our new dog-hero) and one two-way pager, Jocko has quickly found his place
in the household and even the cats, Benny & George, have learned the
tricks to peaceful coexistence. |
| Daniel's cousin, Karine, came
back from France for another visit this year immediately following her internship
with the legal department of Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee. We love
hosting Karine (hint, hint -- come back Karine, we miss you) and we had
a great time. She is a shutterbug, so it always gets us out and about
to beautiful places for her to photograph. We took her to Muir Woods
-- Dave's first trip there since 1976! |
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| Our biggest news of the year... In August,
Daniel received a cochlear implant at Stanford Medical Center. In
a nutshell, Daniel's hearing aids were replaced by an internal sound processor
and a small external microphone and processor. If you are curioius
about what a cochlear implant is or how it works, Click
Here The procedure has been a great success for Daniel and he
is discovering new things with it every day. He also has great fun
coming up with new responses to the question, "What is that thing"
asked by strangers on the street! |
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