Dear Friends and Family, Emmaline has been studying holidays of the world at school. She and I have been researching Japan’s holidays. Their most important annual holiday is their New Year celebrated during January 1-3, called shogatsu. Instead of a Christmas letter this year I’m going to write a shogatsu letter…this has nothing to do …
Author Archives: deanorolls
Christmas Letter (2002)
Dear Friends and Family, Our year has been pretty boring by comparison…no new kids, no new house. This is the first Christmas letter that did not contain news of one or the other. Gran and Golfball sold my old house, does that count?!?!? For some reason they found it time for a change, they had …
Christmas Letter (2001)
Dear Friends and Family, I took a lot of flack over last year’s letter, in case you don’t remember it was four pages of some of the most heartfelt emotion ever laid down on a page. Comments went in all directions; here are the most common ones along with my response to each: “Thanks for …
Christmas Letter (2000)
Dear All, I finally understand why people write letters, or at least why I must. My lovely wife loves children more than anything. I share her love of the little monsters except for when I start thinking about financing each one’s college experience. My friend Charles Schwab tells me it is going to run me …
Oregon – Family Trip 2016
Throwback 2016! We flew into Portland and headed to Hood River, OR on the Columbia River. We went hiking on the Indian Creek Trail and I ate blackberries from the hillside. The next day we visited Multnomah Falls (we hiked to the top of it), Vista House, and then over the Bridge of The Gods. …
Cumberland Mountain State Park (Crossville TN)
Cumberland Mountain State Park (in Crossville, TN) was our first stop on Emily’s Fall Break. I almost lost her (not really) at the very beginning of our 12th RV trip (when our trailer unexpectedly shifted while unhooking). Molly came up from Chattanooga to join us for an afternoon (in between class/work). We hiked around the …
Continue reading “Cumberland Mountain State Park (Crossville TN)”
Spring Break 2016 at The Moorings
Throwback 2016! Spring Break! Paddleboarding, Casey’s eating, Easter egg hunting (with at least one grumpy teenager), very windy bike riding, bike riding with no hands (like a BOSS), beach walking (also very windy), pool swimming, and golf carts with the batteries run down?!?
Cumberland Caverns (and Rained Out Rock Island State Park)
I had a weekend trip all planned out at Rock Island State Park. Nature didn’t agree with my plan and unleashed a monsoon on us. We had to change our plan and Emily suggested we go to Cumberland Caverns. Cumberland Caverns was 1) dry and 2) awesome. It was a very large cave and had …
Continue reading “Cumberland Caverns (and Rained Out Rock Island State Park)”
Dumping Iron: P. D. Mangan
There are a few books you read and when you are done you think… Life-Changing! I’ve had Dumping Iron by P. D. Mangan (a guy I found on Twitter) on my reading list for a long time. Christopher Smith (another guy I found on Twitter) recently prompted me to move it to the top of …
Seattle, Washington
Throwback 2017! We finished up our tour of northwest Washington in Seattle. We took a ferry on the way from Port Angeles to our hotel in Seattle. We toured the Washington campus (so far no grandchild has opted for that college option). We toured the Boeing factory (no pics or video from that…top secret). The …
DeanoRolls (@deanoroll5) 