Griffith 2010 Christmas Letter

Another year. Another Christmas Letter. (Go here to subscribe for next year's letter) Wow, time certainly does fly. This my sixth year of writing electronic Christmas letters instead of cards. (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). Now instead of being a lazy procrastinator I am a in-vogue-green-save-the-environmentalist. (P.S. 258+ hyper links in this letter.)

The big news for 2010 (if you haven't heard already) is that the Griffiths are moving to Beijing in Feb 2011 (less than 30 days). Consequently this is the last post to this blog until we return (18-24 months). You can read more about what's happened so far and follow our journey in Beijing here : http://chinagriffith.com/. And now the year in review.

January

The new year began with lots of snow. Mark started out the New Year right by going for a snowshoe up at Alpental with his friend Kyle from work. The next weekend he took the kids snow camping at Alpental. Finally after several attempts Mark finally got their gear dialed in and they had a great time, even though it rained during the night, that is the way the winters are sometimes here. Everyone had a blast sledding (video) the next day. At work Mark the guys he runs with at lunch went on a run and polar plunge in Lake Washington. The water was colder than Mark expected, you can get an idea in the video of the plunge. At the end of January Mark took at off camera light class (strobes, flashes, cables etc) and learned a lot about lighting that he put to use a a friends birthday party.

February

The month kicked off with a celebration at Mark's work for the end of the planning season (where budgets are approved and the year is laid out). Mark made several trips with work to Vegas for meetings with the Zappos team, who Amazon acquired in 2009. In Vegas Mark went for an Early morning Dawn Patrol out to the Valley of Fire before meetings. The weather turned cold and with everything frozen solid Mark went on a Dawn Patrol up Guye Peak with Shon who did some amazing flips off the snow banks. Once again Mark made a video of the ascent. For Winter Break the family went to the beach, only it wasn't Hawaii it was a back packing trip on the Olympic National Park coast up Rialto Beach to Hole in the Wall. The hike was gorgeous scenery with clear skies the first day, lots of horizontal rain in the middle of the night and blue skies and sun on the hike back. Mark accompanied the scouts on the 6th annual Snow Campout, they went to Mt. Rainier where Mark built an igloo to sleep in with Miles. Everyone stayed warm despite the wind the next day everyone enjoyed the burgers on the way home. Mark ended a very successful month of mustache growing, I don't think Stac or the kids were sorry to see it go. The month ended with a meeting and party for Mark's work, Sofi's awesome bed head and Kiah participating in a big drill competition.

March

Miles finally lost his two front teeth and had a cute smile because of it. Mark finally read Born to Run, bought him a pair of 5 Fingers and started running in them. Mark took a trip to Japan with work, where he had the chance to tour the Tsukiji Fish Market again, this time he got to see the fresh tuna auction, which requires special permission and an escort. As usual the food in Tokyo was fantastic, and Mark even got lots of great work done during the day. (See video) After Tokyo, Mark visited China for meetings, since he was there over the weekend Tu took him to visit the Great Wall at Si Ma Tai, later that Sunday in Beijing they got the most snow they'd had in 20 years; the red forbidden city looked amazing covered in snow. Upon his return, Mark participated in the 1st Annual Man-Olympics competition at church where the men threw axes and footballs, pushed wheel barrows full of wood up hills, shot paintball guns and ate hot wings. (See video). Kiah competed in her last Drill competition at State at Yakima, the girls all dressed up for one number as Lady Gaga.

April

For Spring Break the family went to Kauai for two weeks. We stayed on the south shore for a week and then the north shore for a week. Mark took Kiah scuba diving for her first time, fulfilling a dream she's had since she was a little girl, she was a little nervous but loved seeing the huge sea turtles. While on the south shore the family drove out to Polihale for a perfect day of beach, surf, food and sunset. Mark went for an awesome hike in the Alakai Swamp (the wettest place on earth). Up on the northshore we stayed in an awesome house across from Tunnels Beach. We watched very sunset and Mark saw every sunrise. We met up with Dave and Laura some good friends from the Bay Area where Nark worked with Dave; they just happened to be on a babymoon at the same time as our spring break. Mark did more hiking up the Okolehao Trail and diving with some locals at Tunnels in the lava tubes with sharks and turtles. Kiah had her birthday and turned 18! We sadly spent our last day, but were blessed with an amazing sunset at Tunnels, where Sofi built a very cool hut. Upon our return Mark and Miles went on the annual spring camping trip to Ancient Lakes where they ate 4 packs of bacon and jumped in the lake. Mark took some pictures of new babies and went on a snowy late April hike with Shon. Finally after years and years of pestering Mark relented and we got a dog : Hope! To close out the month Mark took another business trip up to Victoria.

May

Sofi competed in a Math Olympiad with school, her team won a ribbon in the long problem (90 minutes!) Spring began in earnest with the bleeding hearts blooming on the trail. Mark took another business trip to Vegas and did another Dawn Patrol to the Valley of Fire. Miles and Mark went on their 7th Father and Sons campout, this year was at Moses Lake where we had great food, great sunsets and good fun playing in the sand, boating on the lake and jumping dunes on motorcycles. Later in the month the young men at church put on a Potato Derby (race with cars made from potatoes), good times. Mark went on lots of hikes with Hope and the Kids, and very very wet and soggy Dawn Patrol with Shon.

June

The weather began to warm up, enough that Mark went on a run and plunge into Lake Washington at lunch. Mark and Miles went with Marc and Bentley for a hike up Denny Creek to go sliding in the snow. Kiah had her big Senior Prom date and dance. School came to a close and Kiah graduated from High School! Mark and Stacey went up to Victoria to celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary and Stac's birthday. At work Mark and a bunch of folks went on the 2nd annual Summer Run and Plunge into Lake Washington. (video). Mark took the young men on a shakedown hike up and over Denny Creek in preparation for the High Adventure later in the summer. He and John Gillmore both jumped into a very very icy cold lake. And finally Mark took yet another business trip to Vegas to meet with Zappos.

July

For the 4th of July weekend the family drove the boat up to Ross Lake. (Drive to Canada and 40 miles down a dirt road and then boat in 20 miles). We got a fair bit of rain and spent around the fire. Hope loved being outside all the time and went on a foggy hike with Mark up to Desolation Peak. Thankfully the sun came out on our last day and we even went swimming a bit before heading home. Mark went on lots of hiking in July, up to Lake Lillian, McClellan's Butte and Snoqualmie Mountain. Mark accompanied Jeff Nye and the young men on their High Adventure, hiking along the wilderness coast of the Olympic Penninsula from ShiShi Beach to Seafield Creek. This involved hiking up over impassable headlands past giant spruce, lots of fires on the beach, and of course tide pools. The Fat Smitty Burger tasted delicious on our way home. Mark's work (Amazon) moved offices to South Lake Union. And Mark finished off the month with a hike up to Mount Defiance.

August

Mark paid off his debt at work (he'd bet a co-worker that they wouldn't end up moving before July); he lost and a steak dinner was consumed. Hope, Mark and the kids went camping at Tucquala Lake, we went canoeing up and down the gentle river. Mark took more photos of babies and the family attended a work party at Golden Gardens. We loaded up the car with all of Kiah's stuff (6 huge bags) to take her to Idaho for college. We stayed the first week in Utah with Stac's folks where we saw her brother and cousins. Mark went on a hike up to the Jardine Juniper, and canoeing on the Bear River (video) and First Dam with the kids. They floated the canal in inter-tubes at Lundstrom Park. We spent a cold day at Bear Lake before heading up to Jackson Hole. Mark met Seth and Dean and they set off to climb the Grand Teton. Bluebird weather the first day gave way to rain and high winds spoiling their summit attempt, but they had an adventure and they'll be back sometime to tackle it again. After swimming at Jenny Lake to wash off the grime, Mark and the family drove to Iona spend the night at my Uncle Wayne and Aunt Marcia's, where we celebrated Sofi's 11th birthday. The next day we said our goodbyes to Kiah as we dropped her off at college and Stac cried and cried as we drove home just in time for Sofi and Miles to start school.

September

For Labor Day weekend Mark took Miles and Sofi camping at Snoqualmie Pass up Commonwealth Basin after crying protests on the trail, the kids discovered berries and they made the two mile hike up to the campsite. We enjoyed solitude among the mountains with our fire and went for a short hike the next day up to Red Pond. Holli visited and we played some mean Catan games. Fall came in force and that means the huckleberries are in force. We went for our annual picking extravaganza up at Snoqualmie Pass, we the Recklings and the Bratsmans join us. The sunset from the mountains was one of the most spectacular we saw all year. The church took their annual temple trip and the food afterwords was great as always. Mark took one last hike up Talapus in the fall colors for the end of the month and more of Sofi's awesome bed head.

October

This was one of the most beautiful falls that we can ever remember in Seattle. Mark took two days off of work two different weekends to go on some amazing hikes. One up Stetattle ridge to stare into the Picket Mountain range (video), the other was up into the Enchantments to climb Dragontail Peak (video) with Jason Brown. At Mark's work they had their fall all hands meetings and party. The family made their annual fall trek to a pumpkin patch where they saw the Sundelins, Bratsmans, Browns, Downs, Recklings and Jenkins. Mark took some family photos of the Nihipalis and the Bratsmans. Mark took a business trip to Europe and Stac accompanied him. They visited Luxembourg where Amazon's EU headquarters are located, spent the weekend in Paris, and then visisted Amazon facilities and sellers in Munich, Leipzig, Berlin and Bielefeld where Stac reunited with her German host family that she stayed with in High School over 20 years earlier. Stac and Mark came home just in time for pumpkin carving and trick or treating at Halloween.

November

The month brought Movember Mustache contest at work. Miles turned 7 and celebrated with his friends at Chuck-E Cheese. Snow came to the mountains and to Issaquah. Mark celebrated his birthday with a solo hike up at the pass. We had snow for the Thanksgiving Turkeybowl which was great fun. (The adults won). We celebrated Thanksgiving close to home with the Chamberlains. Seth visited and Mark and he snowshoed at the pass. Mark and the kids spent a fantastic day at the Seattle Center and the month of mustache's and November came to an end.

December

Mark took a house hunting trip to Beijing with Shari while Stac recuperated from surgery back home. Mark and Shari spent 4 lovely hours at a police station due to a misunderstanding, thankfully everything ended well. They looked at many many apartments, but the work paid off as they found a place near ChaoYang Park. Mark returned in time for the church Christmas Party and the annual Santa photos. Mark had a Holiday work party with his team and walked to work in an attempt to make his 1000 miles. Kiah came home for the holidays and we went on the Christmas Boats on Lake Washington. We had a wonderful Christmas, making potato donuts and a lovely Christmas Eve dinner with the Rennies. Santa came at 5:15 am on Christmas morning and we lounged all day in P.J.'s. Mark spent all day and night writing this letter and now off to Utah to visit Stac's folks.

Miles
Miles finished up kindergarden and started 1st grade in 2010.  Its easy to forget sometime that he's only in first grade since with his late birthday he is 7 and is already taller than everyone in his class.  He loves on pop-tarts especially the chocolate covered fudge ones.  Every morning he makes his own lunch : a peanut butter and home-made blackberry jam sandwich.  He said he doesn't know what he'll eat when he is in China and won't have the home-made jam.  His favorite thing about 1st grade is recess, he has really picked up on numbers and reading, we always catch him sounding out words he sees around him.  He loves Hope, every night she sleeps with him in his bed.  His favorite toys are Legos (of all kinds, but especially Star Wars), Bionicles, Transformers and Bakugan.  He loves camping with his Dad and family. He can set up and take down a tent by himself and get his bed set up. He is looking forward to living in China because he can eat dumplings every day and his new school has a pool.


Sofi
Little Miss Contrarian. She'll take the opposite side of an argument just for the sake of being contrary to the other side. She'll argue and belabor the point.  She argued with her Dad on a walk that carrots and chocolate were alike. Her first point : "one thing they both have in common is they don't go good together."  As you might guess then she can be stubborn and she's been known to egg her brother on, though he is getting big enough that he can pretty much take her now.  She has her own unique style, she got a super tall pair of converse boots this year she loves wearing around. She is a great little reader. She started Jr. High in 6th grade this fall and has really matured with her homework, keeping herself organized and on track.  She still loves all things creative, drawing, making and even some sewing. She loves to cook, she made bread all by herself this year by following a recipe. She made the potato donuts this year, and can still cook a mean risotto by herself.  She's excited to go to Beijing because we get a driver for the first month to orient ourselves, there is a climbing wall in her new school and every Jr. high student has their own Mac (which Santa delivered).

Kiah
Kiah completed her senior year in High School and graduated! She was active in the student council and drill.  She was accepted to BYU-Idaho and was so excited to set out for college this fall. Dad managed to fit all her stuff in the car as the family drove her up to Rexburg.  She lived in the dorms her first semester and got a job as a security guard.  She mostly works in the library, has a cute uniform she has to wear and hasn't had to tackle anyone yet.  This pays for her books and her food and expenses while she's in college.  She did well in her classes and went on a bunch of dates, though it makes Mom and Dad nervous to hear some are with 21 year-olds who are returned missionaries. The family enjoyed having her home for the holidays. She "took" Dad's Subaru back with her to Rexburg and she is moving out to an apartment for the winter Semester.  She is excited for the family to go to Beijing because it means she gets to visit during the summer, have a China adventure and eat lots of yummy food.

Mark
Since I write most of this news letter and take most of the photos you can pretty much tell what I've done this year.  Still loving the outdoors, and loving photography, you can see my favorites of 2010, 115 out of the 1986 photos I posted and the 1000s I took.  I've read more books this year than last, thanks in part to the Kindle, which I've mostly read on the iPhone app, which I have with me everywhere.  My favorite book this past year was the Team of Rivals, I read all 700+ pages on my iPhone and I cried when it ended and I even knew that Lincoln died.  I am excited for new horizons at work and in our family life as we move to Beijing.  Everyone is welcome to come visit, we have room to accommodate guests.  Follow along here : http://chinagriffith.com/journal/?page_id=2

Stacey