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Happy Holidays!
Love ya!
Kevin, Russell, & Piper! |
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We are sitting in the Detroit Metro airport and just finished celebrating the Williams' family Christmas with a new great-niece. Kevin's niece, Wendy, had a little girl and named her Jade Misty Shaw. She is about 5 months old, has blond hair and is as spunky as the rest of the Williams family. Kevin's sister, Darcie, is expecting another child; her first two Madison and Ethan are just the cutest bundles of energy! Kevin's best friend Jennifer came down to spend a lot of time with us at Kevin's parents home, and Russell helped Kevin';s father, Smokey, gut and haul in a deer he shot on Saturday night. Kevin loved that part most. |
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But jumping back 12 months, we have survived our first full-year in Philadelphia and here is a brief summary of some of the high points of our crazy drama-free life. |
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The first few months of the year, were spent finishing up some of the big projects in our new house. Our new friends, Jason and Derek, helped a lot and often, especially with helping Russell put the ceiling back up in the bedroom. Russell tore out the ceiling and the boys helped put dry wall between the exposed beams gaining an extra 2 feet of height in the bedroom! We love the neighborhood and have the best neighbors with Harold and Linda, Gail and Frank. Harold was a contractor by trade before retirement and has helped Russell out with so many big and little projects. They are all the best! |
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We needed a break and took our first gay cruise in February and enjoyed the Western Caribbean. It was fun and we met lots of people, but nothing much to write home about accept Kevin insists on mentioning that he beat Russell in a life-size game of chess. Otherwise, the cruise was more or less a bunch of big, theme-dance parties on a boat. Russell napped a lot, Kevin did not sleep much as you all know he loves the attention from older men! |
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We spent Easter with Derek's Family, they remind us of Russell's family and that is sort of good, but they are fun and crazy, we love them lots; both Jason and Derek and their families. One of Kevin's Christmas presents was tickets to Wicked, which he has wanted to see FOREVER. Jason surprised Derek with tickets and we all went together here in Philadelphia. It was amazing, we want to see it again! |
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In the spring, we decided to get a puppy. Russell wanted a Doberman and Kevin wanted a little rat-dog he could carry around in a handbag! We kept checking the rescue agency in town for weeks and one day we went in and knew she was the one. Our new puppy is a Doberman, Shepherd, Terrier mix and is perfect. She looks like a Doberman, has the big ears of a Shepherd and the smaller size of a terrier. Agnes (the fat cat) was not thrilled for the first several months, but is now standing her ground and has reclaimed coming downstairs. For the first week, we tried different names. The puppy was called Grace, Gretchen, Wilma, Karen, and many more that only lasted a few seconds. Kevin was homesick during this time and he typed up an alphabetized list of over 100 names. We ended up with Piper, which was not on the list. He was watching & Charmed and saw the character, Piper, do the freeze thing with her hands and it looked sort of like the dog when she jumped up at, well, anything. So Piper is it, and it fits perfectly. She likes most everyone, well except Kevin's bossy friend Donita who came to visit from Florida over the Thanksgiving holiday. |
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Trying to make the most of our new surroundings, we took several road trips to the shore, we call it the ocean, but everyone here goes to the shore. |
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Russell had a good year in volleyball and we will sum it up here and not talk about it again, much, since it is not Kevin's favorite thing in the world. Russell went to New York City and came in 2nd Place. The same team went to DC and took 2nd Place. The captain then added a star player and Russell went to the NAGVA National Championships in Atlanta and finished first. The team was undefeated all weekend. Most of the team moved up to the A division, Russell is not that good yet and stayed back in BB. Russell found a new team and went to Pittsburgh again and took 3rd and Russell also got All Star. Blu Pap, Russell's grandfather, came to see Russell play and got tackled by a player running after a stray ball. Blu Pap is still hurting a little, hope he is better soon. Russell's team captain from last year called him to play in his first Masters Tournament in NYC, the team got 1st Place and Russell got voted All Star again. Russell then went to D.C. with a new team from Philadelphia. Russell had a lot of fun on day1 but then the team struggled on day 2. Back to the drawing board! So, when Russell drove down to Atlanta for the Nationals, Kevin went to a North Carolina Beach house with Derek and Jason to meet Jason's family. They had a blast boating and relaxing on the lake all weekend and Russell drove up to join them on Memorial Day. |
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During the summer, we had several guests visit us and we were glad to spend time with Brad, Kyle, Jennifer, Donita, Troy, and Phillip. We finally broke down and gave Jason our address, but he never came to visit after he realized that Philadelphia is 8 hours away. He thought we lived in Pittsburgh. Geography was never a strong suit. Troy and Phil came for the Madonna concert and we later went back to their place in D.C. for an equally stunning extravaganza when they had their commitment ceremony in September. It was one of the most beautiful days and they let Kevin be the wedding planner in charge of making sure everything went off without a hitch, so he had fun too. We all know how he is a control freak and LOVES telling everyone else what to do!
Our friend, Marissa, stayed with us for a while and Jenna flew in for a reunion weekend. Now Marissa is back in Wisconsin and Jenna is happy near Chicago! They both need to visit more.
As the leaves changed, Kevin and Russell finally made it to Bedford to see Russell's family again and to visit the Fall Foliage Festival with Russell's sister, Christie, and niece, Amanda. Russell's Dad even walked through the festival a little! It was a really nice weekend, well except for Russell eating everything in site!
Later in the fall, was pumpkin carving time! The above picture is of Russell, Jenna, and a new friend, Tiziano, when he went to get his pumpkins for Halloween. We met Tiziano at the dog park, He has 2 beautiful Golden Retrievers. He very quickly became a close friend. It was at a rough time for Kevin when we met and Tiz was very helpful and kind. We don't see him much anymore but had to include him in the card as he is important to us. Later, we had to carve our pumpkins! Derek, Jason and Marissa sliced into some gourds and made some frightening Jack-O-Lanterns. The following weekend, we went to the Shamboo Dance party and got to know another new friend, Corey Johnson, a little better. He came with Steve McCann who was hilariously dressed as a UPS guy. Corey then started coming to volleyball, yay! He also went with us to see a musical at Temple called, Ragtime. Good times!
Then came Thanksgiving; What a week! Kevin';s second husband, Donita, flew in for a week of visiting, and Kevin's best friend Jennifer, who came down after visiting her sister, and we ALL went to D.C. to have a beautiful Thanksgiving FEAST at Troy and Phil's with Matt, Larry, Russell (other Russell). Derek and Jason came the next day on their way back from North Carolina and took Kevin and the girls back to Philly on Saturday, Russell stayed for the D.C. tournament with the Philly team.
We have not seen the Quinones family at all this year. But we talk about them all the time, in a good way of course. Jason calls on and off. Of course we miss him and his whole crazy family, including Titi, Angelique, Scottie, and Grandma.
Work wise: Kevin is still at Temple with a new Director, new President, and new Dean of Students soon and a couple Assistant Directors. With so many people coming and going, there have been too many nights where Kevin has worked 24-36 hours non-stop when a crisis occurs on campus and with so many more students. It happens too often and Kevin is working hard to learn how to better delegate. Russell is now a Personal Trainer/Life Coach and doing most of his training at the 12th Street Gym, one of the largest gyms in the city, but operating as an independent business and also doing a fitness column for www.Phillygaycalendar.com. Log on and check it out! We are out of room! Hope to see many of you in the New Year! Love and miss you all! Come visit or invite us over! |
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