Christmas 1990

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Dear friends,

Once again the Christmas season is upon us. It's a little bit scary that the years seem to be accelerating for us.  The Vogt family is doing well. Nineteen-ninety was fruitful and calm for us (for a change), and we're looking forward to the new year with hope, joy, and anticipation.

The children are both doing well. Megan is ten now, and is becoming quite a pretty lady. Her time is scarce these days. She is involved in (probably too many) things that keep her very busy. On top of the usual Reeves School fifth grade homework load, she is in an accelerated program this year called "Gateway," that takes her to a different school one day a week for exposure to other topics that the regular classes don't have time to delve into, like Latin, and the Performing Arts, and deeper areas of Science. She loves it, but she's expected to do all her regular class work as well for the days she misses, effectively squeezing six days of school into five for her. She's also continuing with her piano and figure skating lessons, and she belongs to the junior choir at St. Barbara's Church as well. A daunting load, to say the least.

Audrey is eight, and is in the third grade at Reeves, and has become as voracious a reader as Megan was at her age, maybe even more so. Her teacher raves about her skills at reading aloud as well, what with her knack for voices and expression (inherited from her mother). She also is involved in Girl Scouts this year, is in the junior choir at church with Megan, and has begun piano lessons with the same teacher as Megan, our next-door neighbor. It makes it easy to get the kids to their piano lessons; we just throw them off the deck out back and they land on their teacher's doorstep!

Lynn is well. She is working for a post-partum services company called MotherCare Services. They supply home care and support for new mothers who have just returned from the hospital. It used to be Grandma who came to stay for a few weeks to help out the new parents, but with so many families so far from their roots, that isn't possible all the time, so in steps MotherCare to help. Lynn likes it a lot so far, and she gets to play with newborn babies a lot now. She tells me that's a lot of fun, but I don't remember it quite the same as she does, I guess.

Lynn's voice lessons are still going strong, and she has joined the Lexington Pops Chorus this year. No solo's scheduled yet, but she's having a lot of fun with it all. She's also having fun working with dried flowers in a little workshop we set up for her in the family room downstairs. She calls herself Ledgewood Flowers, and so far has been concentrating on grapevine wreathes and straw hats that come out looking so delicate and pretty. Give her a call if you need anything!!

I'm still at MITRE (third anniversary in August). Work has brought me to Baltimore a lot, and to Atlanta a few times, and even to Naples, Italy twice and Stuttgart once. The first trip, in June, was to Stuttgart and to Naples, all in nine days. The second trip, in October, was 13 days in Naples. We worked long hours while we were there, but we did manage one day-trip during the October visit; we drove the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento up to Naples. It was similar to the Pacific Coast Road, but much more treacherous. Drivers in Italy are crazy. They ignore all traffic lights and signs. We were getting passed on narrow roads with hair-pin turns. We'd get passed at red lights! Why we didn't see hundreds of dead bodies strewn at the sides of the roads is still a mystery to me.

Our little family took two weeks in August to drive to Colorado for a family wedding. That adventure was a definite highlight for the summer. We stopped in Chicago and South Bend to visit relatives and friends on the way back, but most of our time was spent in the mountains of Colorado. Megan got sick just before we were to head home, so the return trip was delayed and some expected stops had to be dropped. We'll have to catch those friends and sights on the NEXT trip!

That's all from here. We hope you all have a wonderful year, and may peace and prosperity be yours for 1991. Ten years left in the century, folks!

 

Love,
Lynn, Gene, Megan, and Audrey