The Avenell Family: The Avenells have left California !?!!

Hint: Look at the owl.

Christmas Eve 2018 in Santa Rosa

FPCSR had the kids (and Cory) enact the Christmas Story. Iris was one of the animals; can you see her in the photo?

Christmas 2018 dinner was in El Cerrito with hot-pot cooking at the long table. Lai Chan's niece and her family joined the Chang/Avenell/Blankinship group for a feast.

Between December 2018 and January 2019, Iris and her Dad repainted and transformed Iris's room to more of a pre-teen room. No more rainbow (sniff! sniff!). Instead, there was a blue "hombre" effect that took several tries at achieving the right effect. Oh yeah, and Iris picked out her own loft bed, complete with drawers in the stairs. Cooool!

Winter to spring, we went downhill skiing (WITH HELMETS)and enjoyed a trip to see the elephant seals beached in Point Reyes area.

Iris created this neat effect by taking a photo through binoculars.

Iris joined the Santa Rosa Figure Skating Club In January 2019 and worked hard to pass her first "Moves on the Field" pre-preliminary test. Her coach, Choeleen L. was very kind to giver her a blue outfit to wear for the test. Iris also participated in "theater on ice" and skated at the Chrystalline competition in April. Their group used "Be our Guest" as the music and skated to first place (out of two groups).

Easter dinner included ham this year. Iris practiced hard for her piano recital at Darcy's. She even performed her first duet with Valerio P.

It was about this time that Dad (Brian) looked into a new job within National Instruments in Colorado. He had a very good interview, but we had to wait nearly two months after his interview to find out about whether or not he could transfer to that position.

Over Memorial Day weekend, we went up to Mendocino County to the Lord's Land. Instead of staying at the "Raccoon House", we rented two cabins and invited the Osmers to relax with us. It was a cool weather weekend, but that didn't stop the kids from exploring and having fun. We joined in on a bonfire of a Russian orthodox church group. We shared our smore fixings, which the children loved.

During the summer, Iris stepped up her game in Geocaching. We went geocaching around Sonoma County, near Big Bear Lake, and near Monterey Bay.

Wikiup swim club

Summer continued with a lot of water fun at Spring Lake, swim lessons at Wikiup, and "dry land" sledding at Big Bear Lake.

We met with Grandma, Aunt Diane and Uncle Craig with cousins, Shelby & Logan \(with Hannah Grace) and Patrick for a few days at Big Bear Lake. We each tried to "drive" the pontoon boat that Grandma rented.

Closer to home, Iris enjoyed a week at Westminster Woods "Buccaneer Camp" and we took a hike at Armstrong Woods. Beautiful times!

In August, we planned a long weekend trip to Summerland, south of Santa Barbara. Mom (Cindy) spent an afternoon with college friends reminiscing and talking over old times. The whole Chang/Avenell/Blankinship family enjoyed good food in the evening with wine, in addition to walking around UCSB, the Santa Barbara Mission, and the beach. One dinner was cooked by the cousins: Matthew, Grace, Noah and Iris. Spaghetti and meatballs never tasted any better. Thanks to Ah-ma for paying for the rental and giving surprise gifts (red envelope) to each of the grandchildren.

Seeing Big Sur coast again. Aaaah!

Our drive up the California Coast was lovely. We went to Morro Bay, Hearst Castle, Monterey Bay/Carmel before returning home to pack the house.

Walk around Spring Lake.

Saying goodbyes to our friends and church family was hard. However, we know we'll be back to visit. God truly blessed us with many years of friendship, fun and love. With anticipation of where God leads us, we wonder what our new life in Colorado will be like.