2025 was a pretty good year for us, political and geopolitical chaos and concerns aside. We are both healthy and active, going on multiple active vacations and going to our Orange Theory workouts a couple of times a week. John took up golf again after a 20 year pause, concerned that he was sitting around too much surfing on his devices now that he is ramping down his consulting activities. We rejoined the neighborhood Tuscawilla Country Club, which is an easy walk down the street from our Winter Springs home.

We continued to travel actively, logging seven countries outside the US: Argentina, Chile, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Indonesia and New Zealand. Two of those countries were new for John (Norway and New Zealand). Three were new for Paula (Denmark, Norway and New Zealand). Domestic destinations included the Pacific Northwest, Southwest Florida, Asheville, Boston, Charlottesville and Alexandria. This year Paula is well over 1 million miles with Delta and John is rapidly approaching 3 million miles.

Our immediate family continues to mature and prosper. Stephen and Tanja live near us in Central Florida. Matt and Stephanie are in the DC area of Virginia and Danielle is in Central Virginia in Charlottesville near the Blue Ridge mountains. Leon and Julian are both teenagers, significantly taller than us, and heavily into their academics and basketball. Leon got his driver’s license this year and Julian remains very involved with robotics. Ben is 9 and continues refining his skills as a LEGO master, and has taken up the violin at school plus baseball and swimming after school. Jack turned four in late December and remains obsessed with trains after a brief flirtation with astronauts and spaceships.

John continues to consult, primarily on activities outside the US, but is down to less than 1 day a week.

Our family continues to mature and prosper.  We spent time with everybody both in Florida and Virginia. Stephen and family are in Oviedo, Florida. Matt and family are in Alexandria, Virginia. Danielle is in Charlottesville, Virginia. For the first time in several years, we got pictures of everybody in the same place at the same time for Christmas.

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In September, Leon and Julian stayed a couple days with us at the beach.  John and Leon went out to walk the beach each morning to see what changed.  The first day, we saw tracks where a sea turtle had come ashore to lay her eggs.  The Turtle Patrol had just been there to mark the nest.  The second day we saw something very special.  The Turtle Patrol was digging up a nest that had been destroyed by a coyote, and they were surprised to discover some undisturbed eggs and a bunch of baby turtles who had hatched but had not emerged from the nest.  While Leon kept watch to make sure no seagulls were approaching, the volunteers released the baby turtles and guided them to the surf.  We hope they grow up and come back to lay eggs on our beach.

Digging up the disturbed nest

Carefully leading them to the surf — while guarding from seagulls

In 2015 we discovered more of the history of our beach town, first settled by Europeans in the 1760’s.

Here we are on the front page of the local newspaper looking like tourists:

We’re ready now for Childrens’ Day on May 5.  These are our new carp windsocks proudly flying at the beach house.  In the spirit of equality, we have three children streamers, of course.

Koinobori: Celebrating the Spirit of Boys Day

May 5th is celebrated as Children’s Day (kodomo no hi), although traditionally, this day was designated as Boys Day, or tango no sekku. Japanese families in the United States and Japan celebrate the traditions of Boys Day by displaying koinobori, beautiful carp windsocks flown outside of homes to wish sons a good future.

The carp has become the symbol of tango no sekku or Boys’ Day because the Japanese consider it the most spirited of fish—so full of energy and power that it can fight its way up swift-running streams and cascades. Because of its strength and determination to overcome all obstacles, it stands for courage and the ability to attain high goals. Since these are traits desired in boys, families traditionally flew koinobori from their homes to honor their sons.

A set of streamers usually has three or more fish. The large black one (magoi) represents father. According to a Japanese children’s song, the red one (higoi) represents the first born son. However, in modern Japan, many prefer to see it as mother. The small ones (usually green and blue) represent the sons in the family. A new streamer is added each time a new baby is born.

In Japan, Koinobori Matsuri is celebrated on kodomo-no-hi, which is a national holiday. On Children’s Day, families typically display warrior dolls and hang koinobori kites from poles outside the homes. Koinobori Matsuri is a related festival in which 800 koinobori are flown in the mountain town of Mamba in Gunma Prefecture. More than 50,000 people attend the festivities which include a bazaar where locally grown fruits and vegetables as well as souvenirs are sold. It is also popular to ride boats along the Kanna River, passing under the 800 koinobori on display. The carp fish is central to the theme of both Koinobori Matsuri and Children’s Day because it is a powerful swimmer and has become a symbol of children growing up to be healthy and strong.

We just added an SUP (stand-up paddleboard) to the family fleet.  Danielle got a stand-up paddleboard a few months ago and has been doing such exciting sounding things as paddleboard meetups, paddleboard yoga and paddleboard happy hours.  We also read that stand-up paddleboarding was great exercise and good for strengthening balance in mature folk.

We had our first Father/Daughter paddle on Lake Virginia in Winter Park.

Those of you following our website saw the evolution of an old, polluting internal combustion 1997 Chevy S-10 into a sleek new all-electric vehicle.