Dear friends and family,

Warm greetings from Philadelphia! We have had an exciting year filled with new beginnings, a wonderful cross-country trip and lots of family time. In January we decided to adopt a cat. Jane’s wish was an old, mellow, chubby cat. We found him right away, and the 10+ year old, 20-pound Seabine (rhymes with feline) is now a cozy part of our family.  This year we also said goodbye to Scott’s mom (Momcie) after she passed in her sleep in May. We were grateful to have enjoyed a final Easter with her shortly before that. We celebrated her life at a memorial with friends and family, including her twin sister Joan, in July.

Here are some highlights of 2019

Scott started a new position within Amtrak in January. He is the Senior Manager of Major Stations & Facilities and his home base office is in Philadelphia. Despite his love for this city, this is the first job he has had based here. His new responsibilities include an overview of the largest stations that Amtrak owns with a focus on improving the infrastructure that is directly serving the passengers.  His position requires regular travel to Baltimore, Washington DC and New York, which usually happens during the regular work day, but it also includes overseeing Chicago’s Union Station, and he travels there every other month or so.

In June and July we celebrated Scott’s 10th anniversary at Amtrak with a coast to coast train trip. We had 4 nights on trains, with a couple days at each stop. We de-trained in Chicago (2 nights), Glacier National Park in Montana (4 nights), Portland, Oregon (1 night in Portland where we spent time with Scott’s Uncle Craig and Aunt Lis, and 3 nights on the Oregon coast) and Oakland, CA where we took a ferry to San Francisco and then another ferry to Sausalito and stayed 3 nights. It was the longest vacation we have taken and it was AWESOME. We all had a great time hiking in pristine nature (Glacier in MT was amazing -- sweet smells, clear air, bears and moose as we hiked! In the Muir woods in CA we walked among the tallest living things on earth), walking through great cities, splashing in the cold Pacific, taking water taxis and ferries. The days and nights on the train were restful, with time for reading, playing Uno and watching the country roll by.

This fall, both boys began attending the same school, ICS West, a charter school where Spanish is taught starting in kindergarten. We love the teachers and have made a nice community of friends there. Matthew started kindergarten this fall, two days after he turned 5. He loves it, he’s learning to read, enjoys drawing and has worked very hard to control his emotions and listen to his teachers. Peter is in third grade and enjoying and excelling in all of his subjects. He loves to play soccer so much that he broke his toe in November while kicking a ball around on his own! His Christmas wish was “a good toe” and it’s already been granted – he got his boot off last week and will be able to kick again in January.

We celebrated Thanksgiving here in Philadelphia and had a full house with Scott’s Aunt Karen & Uncle Thom, his cousins Mary & Jim and their spouses, Scott’s Dad (Bamse), Jane’s parents (Nana and Pop pop), our dear friend Scott Hatch and his parents  and our friend B and her son.  The house was full and we recounted all the blessings in our lives that we are thankful for while surrounded by some of the people we love. We certainly missed Mom (Momcie) and remember her regularly.

Jane is still working at Jefferson, leading a team of marketing managers who promote the university. The work is challenging, but interesting, and she is constantly learning new things. At the end of 2018 Jane had some heart issues, but has completely recovered and was able to fully enjoy our hiking and travel adventures this year.

We wish you peace and joy for 2020.

Love

Jane, Scott, Peter & Matthew