Gosh I'm actually getting around to working on
the 2004 Bertelson
Bunch Bulletin before 2005 !!
Seems the last 2 or
more years I’ve
been so busy I didn't get to do them before the next year let alone before
Christmas. Let’s hope I get
to send it out before
2005! Newsletter gaggers may
crumple & discard now :P those that enjoy the news (good & bad!)
read on…We started 'brainstorming about our 2004 photo early on in our
ever present
quest to top the previous years photo & retain our "The
Bertelsons are NUTS" reputation.
But all
those great ideas & suggestions were shelved for future use when we
ended up slap-dab
in the path of not 1 but *2* MAJOR Hurricanes in one month.
Frances (Cat 4) followed a mere 3 wks
to the day by Jeanne (Cat 3) Thankfully we were
safe & sustained no house or structural damage. The outside
& trees suffered a lot as this years photo shows of us
UNDERNEATH the roots of a HUGE ripped up Ficus tree (by Frances) It may
not be the best, clearest photo to represent the 6 (oops 7!)
of us, but it sure represents the magnitude of what we went through.
There’s OODLES more photos of us all (&
even more of Twix!) and events that happened this
year on our family web site! –
If you do visit bertelsonfamily.com J Please sign the guestbook to let us
know you were there J
Twix (foxleatwix.com -
yes she has her
own web site) is spoilt
rotten by us all & still an only pup; foxleafarm.net produced mostly male pups this
year, but I am 1st in queue for the next Red Female pup, who
will join us all with the name Foxlea’s M&M Strawberry Twizzler aka
Twiz (foxleatwiz.com)
M&M #1 Matthew aka Matt. mrbm1.com
on the
web. He’s now 2 mths away from turning 16, when he is officially
(in USA) allowed
to drive a vehicle I’m STILL not quite ready for
him to be behind the wheel of a
car, but we did finally cave & let
him get his restricted license just
this Nov, which he must have for
a full year before he can take
the real test. He begs daily for us to
let him drive
everywhere we go. But it’s all in vain as Nil’s
truck is too big for him to manage & I’m just too
nervous to let him drive my van. We need to fix the Volvo for
him - early 2005 project! He only went to Dreyfoos, High
School of the Arts for 1 yr & is now back at
Trinity with the girls. He has a paying job there in
aftercare, is called Mr Matt & is a hit with
the kids he ‘watches’ cos he’s a big kid himself
& so plays with them. He still loves music,
especially the Guitar. 
M&M #2 Melanie Kate - aka Mel. She’s 13.5
now
officially
a
‘teenager’
& is she
ever living up to it! Actually she’s really great
& so fun to be around. mkbm2.com
on the
web.
She is just
gets more & more beautiful every day. When
people say that she looks like me, I take that as
a HUGE compliment. She’s a beauty, both inside
& out, but such spunk! That spunk can get her in a
wee bit of trouble at school, guess she
got more of my
traits than just looks! Despite odd detentions for such
infractions as ‘talking’ or ‘out of
order’ she continues to do well at school
both academically
& socially. She still likes to hang out with Mum
on occasion,
but her friends are her life, including
spending ages online IM’ing them
all at once, in fact she
gives me a
run for my money on speedy multitask typing!
M&M #3 –
Madeline Grace,
aka Maddie, she’s mgbm3.com
on the web.
Now almost 9
yrs old.
She’s still
obsessed with Twix & finds it impossible NOT to pick her up all the
time. Twix’s will always vocally express her disgust at
this! Such noises! Maddie continues to excel in
school with all A’s leaving both Bob (FIL) &
Nils’ wallets emptied out after her report cards come
home! Her & Kenzie vacillate from being buds
& playing well together to announcing they LOATHE one another &
NEVER EVER want to see the other one
again as long as they live (oh yes, Drama
queens are
plentiful in this house!) The “Hovel” is still a sea of
clothes, toys, books & mess but
Maddie’s tried harder this year to keep
it neater & tidier. She says it’s
so hard when you have a
messy younger sister who’s NO help!
She awaits Matt
turning 18 so she can get her own room!
M&M
#4 Mackenzie Joy -
aka Kenzie is now 7.5, mjbm4.com
on the web.
She grew taller this year but didn’t seem to get any
bigger, so she looks like a stretched out skinny Gumby!!
Still quite the little spitfire!! She gets away with
a lot being the littlest as she is quite demanding with
her older siblings! She continues to live up to
her ‘Bag Lady’ status as She never leaves home with out
it, by that I mean a bag stuffed with (for a 7yr
old) vital necessities. She’s still the musical one
& sings well & on pitch! She hasn’t yet graduated to
the stage that
Matt & Mel are at where they listen to
music whenever they are awake
& look
like they’ve got surgically attached headphones! Give
it time I’m sure
she’ll soon be
coveting an iPod too! School she enjoys most
of the time,
not the academics mind you, but fun &
friends.
Nils & Alice, both a year older than last
year, we aren’t divulging numbers anymore!! You’re only as old as you feel
& we’re both still young at heart & full of vim & vigor! The
BIG news for us this year is that we celebrated our 20th
wedding anniversary & did it in style by going to Kauai, Hawaii in Oct
for 10 days ALONE! The 2 Sept Hurricanes ALMOST put the whammy in our long
laid out plans, but thankfully everyone’s power
came back on a mere 4 days before we left. So all 5 families taking care
of our 4 kids & 1 furkid were up & functional before we left.
Kauai was truly AMAZING, a totally relaxing & wonderful trip for us both. The photos plus his & her journals are on the family web site too. Nils & I loved it SO much we’d like to retire there NOW, but everything is wildly expensive there, unless we win the lottery it won’t happen (& since neither of us PLAY it, the chances are slim to none!) We really LOVED the B&B we stayed in halelani.com & hope to go back again for our 25th. The only thing we’d do differently is send Nils 5-6 days ahead of me so he can surf NON-stop & ALL day long. That way, when *I* get there, the surfboard can be put away & we can do all the OTHER fun things the island has to offer! Surfers can be a tad “one track-minded” !!
Nils year was MUCH more subdued than last yr. Only *1* boys snowboarding trip to NC in Feb. & had to pass on his annual Surf Camp & Costa trips as he was accepted into a hard core, fast track Paramedic class in May & ending late Sept right before our Hawaii trip. We’re on pins & needles right now waiting to find out if he passed the state test he took mid November. Giving him a substantial pay raise too.
Alice, well I finally left the big M after 17.5 yrs as our entire site was shut down. All 400 still here were told Jan ‘04 that by Dec ‘04 everyone would be laid off. Despite Motorola offering me a job in Chicago as well as Ft Lauderdale. I decided to decline, take a leap of faith as well as an incredible opportunity (not to mention 10 mths severance pay!) & go out on my own in a totally different direction. So fieldcottagedesigns.com was born. I will be doing Web Site Design, Logos & Graphics. I also have BIG plans for our house. I will be doing the biggest de-clutter, deep clean & simplifying project of my life. Everyone might wish I was back working a 40+hr week! I’m SO looking forward to some ME down time. I’m still singing, acting & programming at church. I also started Jazzercise this year in an effort to get fitter & healthier! I can even do more that half a push-up now!
T #1 - Foxlea’s M&M Caramel
Twix - aka Doodle. 16 mths old now & fully
grown at a
’whopping 10
lbs’
a petite little spitfire
J She ‘s provided our family more
amusement, fun, laughter & joy than we
deserve. Everyone falls in love with her the first
time they meet her She’s foxleatwix.com
on the web
& her antics & photos are
updated often. In fact the Twix POTW (Picture Of The Week) was our highest traffic web page this year.
Her web site
has even been called “The
Twix
Channel”
You can see more photos & read more news at our web site bertelsonfamily.com
love Alice, Nils & the 4 M&M’s