2009 Edition (Vol. XII) Circulation Approx. 75

the

Pearsonfamily

Austin, April, Randy, Kyle & Autumn in our front yard. with the reindeer and Santa.

We are eagerly anticipating an Oregon win at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day!

Go Ducks!

Austin Took to New Heights

Austin (age 16) changed it up

in track this year, grabbed an

11 foot pole and vaulted

himself 9 feet 6 inches in the

air over

a pole.

At

barely 5

feet tall

himself,

we had

to buy

him his

own

pole; Randy drove Austin and

the pole on Sundays to train

with Olympic legend Jan

Johnson in San Luis Obispo.

Horse Lover Dolly

Autumn (age 15) spends much of her

summers at resident horse camp. She was invited to leadership training in the

spring enabling her to be a mentor to younger campers. Autumn moved into

the bunkhouse for the first two weeks of

summer, “holding over” between sessions rather than coming home. She then returned to Raintree Ranch for the

last session of the summer. As Autumn

says, “Raintree is my 2nd home.” And, if 3 weeks of horse camp was not enough,

Autumn ran 50

miles a week during the

summer to compete with

the high school cross country team in the fall.

Boston We spent spring break in Beantown following the Freedom Trail and touring the historic city. True to form, we dined

at the Chart House which is housed in the building that once was John Hancock’s

office. April & Randy have been frequenting Chart House Restaurants since their first date in 1984.

Historic Fenway Park (can you tell

that it was COLD?)

Austin was selected to

participate in the National

Youth Leadership Forum on Law

& Crime Scene Investigations

in July in Washington D.C. His

group even conducted a mock

trial of the U.S. Supreme

Court free speech case

commonly known as “Bong Hits

for Jesus.” The budding

lawyers took their roles so

seriously that when they were

not allowed outside to watch

fireworks on July 4th, the kids

all called home and requested

that their parents complain.

Lawyers don’t take no for an

answer.

In 2009 Austin got his

Driver’s License and grew at

least 5 inches. He is a 3 year

letterman in cross country, is

taking 4 Advanced Placement

courses and still exhibiting an

enviable love for life at Damien

High School.

Riding and Running

April gave up running in 2009

after knee surgery which put an end to her 28 years of logging

miles. Randy surprised her with

a light-weight and hi-tech Specialized road bike for her birthday so that she travels miles

with the turn of the pedal instead.

Randy has persevered in

running much to Remington’s

delight. Randy is training for a

½ or full marathon to assist Austin with his goals. It is an

amazing role reversal in the

Pearson household with Randy

running and April biking. At

the founding of the April &

Randy union in 1984, the roles

were reversed.

Sit Right Back and You’ll Hear A Tale, A Tale of a Tiny Ship

College life suits Kyle (age 19) - the late

nights, the freedom to make his own choices, the wide array of friends. Still, we were surprised when he and 2 friends crafted a boat out of cardboard boxes, plastic bags and duck tape and then set sail down the Willamette River on a stormy day in May. The boys navigated the boat with the help of stick paddles 8 km down the river until the police threatened to arrest them for boating without life vests. The TV cameraman arrived too late to capture the voyage, but he did give the boys a ride back to school.

Stroke! Stroke! And that must have been Kyle ‘s

inspiration because in the fall he joined the University of Oregon Club Crew team which required a 4:15 a.m. daily alarm, a bus ride from school to the lake for training, and a wet and tired return to school by 8:30 a.m. His 8-man team rowed along the Willamette River in Portland, in the Puget Sound and along the shores of the University of Washington in Seattle. April, a former rower herself, watched the race in Portland and managed a visit with friend Vivian Solomon the night before. The team rows in the pouring rain and in the cold, and, yes, the 4-man boats can capsize – Kyle can tell you from

experience. Quack. Over the summer Kyle interned with California Assemblyman Curt Hagman’s office during the worst of the California budget crisis.

Kyle boarding at Mammoth January 2009.

April & Autumn competed at the Delta

level in Ice Skating in the spring and

Autumn performed again in June before

dashing off to horse camp. April skated

to an old Partridge Family favorite (I Can Feel Your Heartbeat) while Autumn

chose more traditional music such as Bella’s lullaby (from the opera Il Trittico). We both brought home medals.

We Came to SK8 April’s ski/skate buddies packed their

new skate bags and headed to the Big

Apple for a 4 day weekend. The fabulous trip fulfilled Mary Norton’s dream to skate

at Rockefeller Center. An instructor there even invited us to perform in their Christmas program in 2009. Laurie Olivas

discovered black & white cookies and Karin Muth conquered all fears to see the

nighttime view from the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building. Of course,

we played tourist and visited the Statute of Liberty, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, and

Laurie, April, Mary & Karin atop the Empire State Bldg

other historic sites and caught the show Billy Elliot on Broadway. Despite a spacious suite on the 42nd floor above

Times Square, we slept little, foregoing rest so that we squeeze every minute from the day!

Lastly, the yearly count: Deer 13-Randy 0

Randy did get to take Austin to a hunter training safety course in hopes of one day having a buddy to hunt with. Meanwhile,

Randy spies many a deer while trail running in the valley less than a ¼ mile

from our home.