John Adams is now available on DVD. I highly recommend it, and not because Ian is in the background.

Here are a couple screencaps with arrows so you can see Ian.

 -- Jean

Big, big milestone:  IAN graduated high school!  He was actually 11th in his class - oh wait - Jean in now telling me that this usually refers to academic standing, not alphabetic order of actually receiving his diploma - in that case, never mind!  But seriously, we are very proud of him, and glad that he made it through one of the best high schools in the country with an advanced diploma.  He plans to attend John Tyler Community College (just a few miles from here) in the fall.  Announcements got out a little late, but you can always email congrats / etc. to him.

I can't believe our vacation starts on Weds. We finally sat down and mapped out where everyone from our family is going when this summer, and you can now officially declare us to be CRAZY!  Need evidence?  Check this out http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=114106351805788001854.00044fbe0bcf959561526&ll=42.682435,-92.724609&spn=33.890538,76.992188&z=4

(OK, you're right, that also proves we're geeks....)  If you see we're gonna be in your neck of the woods and we haven't planned to meet up yet, by all means drop us a line so we can hook up.

 Gotta go go go....

Tom

The family hiked Berry Hollow over Memorial Day, trekking over two miles up the mountain and then back again. I didn't get many pictures, but they'll give you an idea how beautiful the views were.

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The Clover Hill High School Band teamed up with the Navy band to give a concert. First the band played, then the Navy band, and then both together for an enthusiastic rendition of "Stars and Stripes Forever." Go see Ellen in her band dress.

 
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Exchange students and host families attended a farewell party at a stunning private home situated on the top of a hill overlooking a river.

The owners' hospitality was as big and grand as the house. Over twenty teenagers and their host families jumping in the pool, hamburgers and hot dogs and pot luck, talking and mingling and music -- even a Nerf rocket fight. Everyone had a lovely time, and many of the kids said goodbye. I got fewer pictures than I should have, but they're uploaded for you to look at anyhow.

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Finally, some pictures of Ian from his Senior Assembly. Held in the high school gym, it served as a warm-up to the real thing for the grads. I got to practice taking pictures from a bad vantage point in terrible lighting. The results aren't fabulous, but at least it's proof that Ian was there. Mercifully short, the ceremony gave teachers an opportunity to recognize students for scholarship in specific classes. The principal gave awards for attendance. Ian got an award for his work in Japanese class. This week, he got to teach Japanese class during senior take-over day, so I guess now we'll have to call him Mr. Anderson. 

The weather's heating up, so stay cool, people --

-- Jean

Capital One shot a video of me as Volunteer of the Year and put it on the front page of our internal web site all last week.  I couldn't turn around without somebody commenting about it.  I was all set for filming when I got there and met the camara man and techie.  We then waited about 20 minutes, mostly with me under the lights, and sometime during that time I managed to mess up my hair (and nobody bothered to tell me!).  Oh, and all that time under the lights, I ended up with a migraine not too long after we finished; guess I'm just not cut out for stardom, thanks, Mom!  Anyway, thought I'd subject you guys to it as well. 

Click here to download the 5 MB .wmv file.

Off to Atlanta at 10 AM on Sunday for the community service conference.  Sailing has been going well this year; I came in 4 out of 12 on the last race day, pretty good for me.  Guess I'll have to pull a Tonya Harding on one of the top guys so I can get a trophy....

We will be in AZ for during June, and ME during July.  If you want to hook up, send us an email and we'll send you more specific plans.

Tom