Boy, it's a tough one to try and figure out what to report to our Friends and Family. In the first instance, many of you were involved in out adventures this past year. In the second instance, a lot (but not all) would gave seen a fair amount of it Facebook.. That being said, not everyone is on FB and this also gives us a chance to preserve an annual diary for the girls when they grow up. So sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Although the journey there never gets to be “fun”, being there always is. There’s a great holiday spirit in Bangkok, the weather a little milder and the traffic a little less frantic once the NYEve-ers leave town. Gabby gets on well with Nana and there’s enough new places to visit and eat (even right our neighbourhood) that it’s generally pretty relaxing. There’s things for Matt to fix around the house, family get togethers for Jeab and the girls, and meeting up with many old friends like Danny and Nita in town. The was the obligatory Christmas meal at a hotel with the British Club gang and the always salubrious Boxing Day Bash hosted by the Duckworths. We spent a much less active but none the less wonderful New Year's Eve and Neww Years Day with Tor, Struan and the girls.

Matt knew going out that there was to be an announcement within a few days of coming back to Louisiana and a start date of Feb 1st. Many of you have simply said “Move? Again?”, and yes, it is more that a little tiresome and disruptive but there is some method to the apparent madness. As much as we very loved living and working in the Covington area, we knew that it was going to be the last place Matt worked. It was in some ways a development assignment for Matt and it was with this realization that we would move eventually anyway, that we could embrace the opportunity. Not only were we going to Houston where we already had many friends from around the world (3 of our Covington gang of families were either there or going to be), but it also meant that we didn’t have to pull Calliana out for High School which she was planning to start in September of 2019. The job was an interesting challenge too for Matt whereby he acts as an internal Executive Search Agent for key leadership roles all over the globe. Knowing that this too would not be a long term assignment, we were comfortable to move because the opportunities for Matt’s subsequent job to be in the same location were much higher. That being said, we really had a great network of friends in the community and not just from work. Jim and Michele, our immediate neighbors had become an integral part of our loves, especially for the close bond they had developed with Gabby. Hila and Sean, also from our development, were the first people to welcome us there and were still a regular part of our social network. The Williams Family, via Callie’s friend from Junior High School, Maddie, had likewise become a prominent and much appreciated part of our weekends.

Still, giving the shrinking job opportunity set for Matt, we steeled ourselves for yet another  move and all the things that go with that, like……….. house hunting. The good news was that Matt’s new job could be worked from Covington with several trips back and forth to Houston for a few months at least. We were able to combine things like Matt’s band gigs, Route 2 66 (that he plays in, not his, to be clear) and other business trips with house hunting. By the time we physically moved by the end of May, we’d have seen 80+ properties in the 4 main areas we liked that were a max 20 mins from Matt’s office downtown. All we were waiting for was Callie to get placed in her new high school. That turned out to be quite a story in and of itself. Private schools are very competitive and public schools draw from the catchment area where you live (and a bit more variable in quality). In fact, we almost missed the deadlines for many of the places she wanted to try and had stringent testing and interview requirements for the private schools. Our plan was to make a final decision on the area to buy once we landed a school but timing was going to be tight. What she really wanted to do was get in to the Houston High School for the Visual and Performing Arts. This is a public 4-year high school downtown (so any of our areas would essentially have been ok) but it was audition only and super-competitive with only 200 slots open for freshman out of thousands of Houston-area applicants. Callie had to convince them that as an out-of-stater, she was competitive. First step was to submit material on-line. In her case, she wanted a Creative Writing specialty so it was samples of short stories, essays and poems. She made that cut and was invited back for an entry audition. 2 photos given in exam-like conditions in Houston and 45 mins to write a short inspired by each photo. She made that cut so next (yup, back in Houston again) was an interview and a group environment with other short-listed kids (about 60 for the coveted 25-30 spots up for grabs). While we had the nervous wait to the middle of March we found out that she was accepted in to the other private schools so we had a back up but we knew that what see wanted in her truest self was a slot in this school. For us the pressure must have been immense. It was like trying to get in to a great university, yet you were only 13 and it was High School. She took it all in her stride and was delighted to be accepted around March 14th. We were so very proud of her, now we have  weeks to get a house in that school district or it would all be for nothing. Like Callie, we also had a back up plan so while as a family we continued to look at houses, Matt took a 3 month lease on an apartment downtown and that was enough to set up our residence for the school district.

Meanwhile, normal life continues, against that back drop of change. We bought season tickets for New Orleans Major League Rugby Team, NOLA Gold, and so had been going to the home games and watching them steadily climb to the top of the table.  Matt was still splitting time between Houston and Covington, looking at houses, practicing with the band for another concert. Callie was continuing with her piano recitals and doing well in school and Jeab was taking Gabby to various classes and fun things to do, eventually setting her up in playschool 3 days a week in preparation for PreK 3 that would be 5 days a week at Awty International School once we settled in Houston. On the first of April, the offer on a house we made in the Heights (15 mins to work/school) was excepted and a large uncertainty resolved. Now the next challenge, inspections! Also in April, Matt made his first road-trip his new role back to Pittsburgh. It was wonderful to see old friends at work but a special highlight was dinner hosted by Karen and Suk back in Upper St Clair with Bob and Mia Cooper coming over too. Little did he know that some 8 months later Chevron would announce its plans to sell that operation, essentially closing the door to one day returning to work up there. We may yet live there and certainly plan to continue to visit! Matt also got to attend on more Penguins game with former co-workers.

Easter break rolled in towards the later part of April and we decided we all deserved a proper holiday settled on a Ski Trip to the Rockies. It had been several years since we visited Kim and Darrell in Denver and they very generously offered to host us in their weekend ski home up in Dillon. At the same time, our friends the Williams were heading up there too to stay at Keystone. Let the good times roll! An amazing amount of later in the season snow meant that Copper Mtn was still popping up until closing day and it snowed on us a few times while we were there. Gabby continued to build on her skiing skills she started picking up in New Zealand in 2018 and we were able to ski a fair portion of the mountain as a group in a mix between Spring-like weather one day and new snow and nippy the next. We also had plenty of time for relaxing by the frozen lake around Dillon. One Copper Mtn had closed we switched to Arapaho Basin and skied a few days up there in the rare air with the Williams Family. Matt has to dash back for one night and a day for some meetings related to the Anadarko purchase (that many of you will know did not go through in the end) but was soon back with the ladies in Dillon to head back to the snow. Luckily the fresh snow seemed to fall mostly of an evening leaving conditions for our skiing. Perhaps the hardest thing to adjust to was the elevation at almost 12,000 feet so lifting Gabby off the chair lift and occasionally carrying her when the going got bumpy made us realise our age the first few days!

After a great trip we were back to house, which had been on the market since Feb with no serious buyers and a we needed to move by end May once school ended! At least we had the house to move in to in Houston so were now on the joyful track of sifting and culling our possessions to get ready for the move. There was some respite to all the move-related chaos when Matt took Gabby across the Causeway to visit Esther and Ian Collins who were in town for Jazz Fest at the end of April. With about a month to go, when not preliminary boxing our more delicate goods we were attending either Callie or Gabby performances in the area or starting the bitter-sweet farewell party tour. Matt had worked with a great bunch of leaders who helped integrate two BUs in his time there. They sent him off in style with a Bourbon-tasting evening hosted by Jim and Shelley. We’d always had a great time with that group so it was sad to say good bye. At the end of the school year Calliana was honoured by Madisonville Junior High School with a Good Citizen Award, a High GPA Award and most impressively, a President’s Award for Educational Excellence, as real testament to the impact she has had at the school as acknowledged by her various teachers and the Principle. We are so proud of her hard work and great attitude. To cap it off, all the seniors go and jump in the river to celebrate the end of the year. Most will go to high schools in the area, Calliana was moving on and so there were several get togethers with her and her friends.

Move week comes and it’s always a busy busy time, this time though, to add insult to injury, we all came down with a stomach virus at various parts of the pack, move out, and move in. Thank goodness we had friends like the Williams and Salvants on hand through it all! Memorial Day weekend we loaded the cats, our gear, and our family in to the two cars and took the 6 hour drive to Houston. The move in went as well as these things go (apart from Matt being the last to be ‘afflicted’) and within a week, our new home was at least clear enough of boxes to move around. TVs check! Wifi check! Beds made up check! The Heights is a good landing spot, not only for its convenience for work, school, medical, shops, but also our good friends Sharon and Keith are in the same general area and many other friends we’ve gathered from around the world within 20 mins or so. In addition, our new neighbours have young-ish children around Gabby’s age and Callie has a school friend within a 5 minute walk! Lastly, Matt can get to band practice in less than 10 minutes instead of 4 hours travel time!

Well, we’re getting in to June, just moved in and….we’re all off on holiday! Jeab had planned a trio with Stacy and Izzy many months ago, before we knew we were on the move. The 3 gal-pals had decided on a trip to Yellowstone, replete with hiking, countless picture taking, and bear repellent! They had as wonderful time with some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world. We’ve hardly done it justice in the few photos but we think you get the idea. Our friends Sandy and Doug Kypfer from our days in Bangkok live just outside Billings and not only met Jeab at the airport but also played host to the ladies at the end of the trip. Meanwhile Matt took Callie and Gabby off to California for a week. They started out in Oakland as guests of Matt, Otto and Anne before heading north to spend the rest of the week with Poog, Mike and Julie in Healdsburg and surrounds. A nice bonus for Matt was to meet and old chum, Kenji, from his geologist days at SDSU on the way up to Sonoma County. Fabulous weather greeted them for the tip (this was all well before the horrible and devastating fires that trashed this beautiful area later in the late summer). Poog and Mike were tremendous hosts for the three of them, enjoying the energy of Gabriella and the thoughtfulness of Calliana. Matt enjoyed the wine! They had a full schedule with Julie Sanderson meeting them at the Charles Schulz museum on the way up and then again escorting them for a lovely day at the beach at Bodega Bay, and yet again down at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival where Gabby boogied the night away in front of the band stand. Matt also took the girls for a walk in the fabulous Armstrong Woods and there were several other light gatherings and get togethers. We were sad to have to head home! Thanks again CA Fam!

Continuing the busy summer theme, Callie was no sooner home than getting on a plane and heading back to New Orleans, this time to go on a camp with her friend Maddie from school. A week later, Frances drove her back to us with Maddie and brother Blake, with tales of hiking in wet, muddy conditions, not enough sleep, so-so food, but an awful lot of fun! Matt took them all to be part of Chevron’s krewe in support of the Houston Pride rally while they were with us. But there’s more. The following weekend they would meet up with Frances and Maddie again, this time taking Sharon Shepstone with them while Matt stayed home to look after Gabby. They went primarily to watch Hugh Jackman’s sensational one man show but also had time to explore one of our favourite cities, NYC!

So if that wasn’t busy enough, we still had our annual two-week vacation to look forward to in early July. This time we were going to England and France. With Singapore Airlines doing a very competitive direct to Manchester flight, we decided it was time to take Gabby to Europe! A pretty straightforward overnighter and then a drive south to Bristol saw us with Fran and Jez by late afternoon. Long summer days meant a stroll up the pier at Clevedon was in order followed by a hunt for sea glass on the beach. We weren’t sure what we’d use if for, that came later. The weather was very pleasant the next day so after breakfast on the front with Sara Dryden and a chance to meet and get to know the delightful Eugene a little, we headed in to Bristol for the day including the great Aquarium, a stroll around Millennium and the quays and the inevitable drive over the Clifton Suspension Bridge just for old times sake. The next day, just as we had done in 2008, we boarded a flight from Bristol to Toulouse to start our week in France, once more as guests of David and Linda.

Central France in July, warm days (but thankfully not the heatwave that had just happened), rustic mediaeval villages, lots of fields of sunflowers, perfect environment for a “get away from it all” break. David (colleague of Matt’s from Bangkok times) and Linda have been keepers of a small holding including farm house and barn that shows up on Napoleonic documents since the early 2000’s and this was to be our 3rd trip there. Turned out to be our Craft Week, and what a week it was for us all. No TV, no electronics, just lots and lots of great food, drink, and crafty time. We’re not sure we can do full justice to the amazing hosts David and Linda were. The girls got to driver tractors and mowers. We made jewelry out of our sea glad. Callie and Jeab made pottery on the wheel. Matt and Gabby made impressions of leaves in to clay. Callie took a log and designed and turned a wand. Matt and Callie cut expanded polystyrene in to shapes to be used to cast Florentine Bronze (a very gold-looking alloy of copper and tin or aluminium). Matt and David cut some metal using a plasma cutter. David and Linda invited a bunch of their friends over to make Raku pottery and share art and crafts tips (as well as eat and drink!). All this and we found time to visit a town festival in Lauzerte, market day in Montcuq and an amble around nearby Bouloc. It was one of those great holidays when you think you have loads of days and then suddenly you are in the car heading back to the airport. Check out the photos of some of the things we made as a family. Priceless!

That was not where is ended though. After arriving back in England, we drove around to Surrey to meet up with Simon Everidge, Nova and their two daughters Lillian and Savannah. Watching the girls growing up in these 1-2 year increments has been quite fascinating. It was really only a short stay with them but we managed to pack a full day in to Windsor including a Thames river boat trip, the changing of the guard and lots of shopping! We finished off the stay by celebrating Nova’s birthday before heading on to East Grinstead to stay with Donna, Chloe and Eloise (with a lovely stop at RHS Wisely on the way). Similarly, we have watched the girls grow in to lovely young ladies and our several evenings having family dinners with the three of them (sadly for us, Gigi was over in Italy) were an absolute joy. We had one day planned to take the train to London, mainly to go to the British Museum, but we took the opportunity to meet up with Matt’s undergrad college roommate -Julian Chafer (we think it was the first time since maybe 1991 or 1992?) and former colleague from Perth, Mike Barrett in at lovely lunch spots (Tuttons on Covent Garden). Digging even deeper back in to the friend file we met up with Neil Sherman at the British Museum and proceeded to a lovely meal outdoors at a super Italian restaurant in Marylebone near Daunt Books (in case you want to try it, La Brasseria Milanese to be precise). A long long day, with Gabby passing out on the train ride home, but really fun. All the was left was a soggy half day in Tunbridge Wells and another sunny visit to Hever Castle so Gabby could see the Queen (who wasn’t at Windsor so Gabby was a bit upset). The courtesy Gabby dropped for  Anne Boleyn would have melted your heart! Our last night was a little less glamorous but after the long drive to Manchester, a quiet night near the airport before flying home the next day was much appreciated.

Back to the boxes, more settling in, one more visit from Stacy and Avery from Covington, and the focus now was getting the girls ready for their new schools. It’s always a nerve wracking time for both parents and children even though Callie had lots of practice. Gabby actually took it all in her stride, hardly pausing to wave as we left the classroom. Callie was going to a new high school but with the clear advantage that they were all new freshmen to the first year. Callie is really enjoying the school, its style, student body, building layout, etc. But it is fair to say that the pace of learning (AP-style classes) has been a challenge for her in the subjects she holds less dear. A few hiccups and she’s back on track. In addition, Callie is still doing piano and goes to her indoor climbing youth club twice a week. Matt had two trips to California as part of his new role and after a long break, the band was practicing again after finally landing a female vocalist, Courtney, to replace Kelly who left with her family for Nigeria over the summer. Revitalized with some new songs to the set, they played their firs gig outdoors and a  neighbourhood block party in early October. Another way that has helped Jeab settle in, in addition to the many many friends we already know here, has been the Sunday morning visit to the local Thai Temple, just north of where we live. In addition to the regular Thai festivals. Gabby and Callie are in Thai lessons and Jeab is teaching conversational Thai there.

As mentioned, we have many friends here from over the years, and these frienships provided a great source for Matt’s 80’s-style Birthday Party, organizend by Jeab. The photos speak for themselves (although were n’t not sure if everyone was actually dressing up!). Thanksgiving was the next big event in our year with Matt’s sister Fran coming over from England. In addition to exploring many of the sites of Houston, we had a very cool visit of the Astros Baseball Stadium and the Christmas Zoo Lights festival. Thanksgiving turkey with all the usual additions was celebrated at home but this time we were honoured to have the Shepstone Family over to share the holiday. Fran's visit was wrapped up with a day trip to the coast to visit Galveston. In addition to the Strand, we visited the excellent offshore museum and capped the day off with a visit to Moody Gardens, specifically the Ice Land and the Christmas Lights, and a chance for Gabby to personally request a baby LOL from Santa who just happened to be there too.

So here we are again. The Christmas decorations both inside and out are in place. The Christmas parties are in full swing. Gabby made her first performance in tap/ballet and seems to have no measurable stage fright. She’d amassed quite a krewe up at the Wat too. Looking ahead, we’ll shortly be heading off to Bangkok for a couple of weeks to catch up with family and friends and recharge a little. 2020 will be another busy year on the face of it. Matt will travel to Nigeria, Angola, Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela at a minimum and Chevron will be navigating some significant changes that will be quite demanding for many. The band will kick the new year off in January as they get back to more regular gigging. Jeab plans to start a Data Analytics Boot Camp program at Rice University and Gabby and Callie will have their hands full with school and extra-curricular activities.   There continues to be a large amount of spite, divisiveness and talking past each other in two of the countries we hold dear and that is of course disappointing to say the least, but we are ever the optimists and will do our small part in increasing the peace. We hope you can all find some time to enjoy the Christmas and New Year’s breaks, reflect on your fortunes, commit your misfortunes to the delete icon of memory and look forward to an uplifting and happier 2020! Hope to see you in there, if not, by all means continue to stay in touch.

Merry Christmas, and a very  Happy New Year to All.

Gabriella, Calliana, Jeab and Matt

Houston, December, 2019

Auntie Fran at Thanksgiving

En Vacance with D&L

Going Back to Cali

Colorado Ski Trip