Michigan Moirs Update

Hello all:

I thought I'd give you an update from the Dexter, MI clan: lots going on, so here goes:

Weather is great here today (high 60s and sunny). Can it last?

Daniel and I just came back from a four-day weekend in FL. The goal was to fish but the weather didn't cooperate most of the time we were there. We did, however, have one good day on the ocean and caught a fair number of fish (I am attaching a picture of Dan holding a big-ass Amber Jack, which is a fighting fish that took him about a 1/2 hour of non-stop reeling to get in the boat). We stayed in Chuck's beach house and managed to score very cheap air fare so it was pretty low cost. We also went into Miami to catch the Heat-Bulls game so that was fun. Of course, Chuck and Sue were gracious hosts and, in sum, we had a really good time. Daniel continues to adjust to college and I think he is doing better (his first semester grades were pretty disappointing). He is a declared Business major which, in his case, is another way of saying he doesn't have a clue what he wants to do. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he will stumble upon something about which he is passionate, but I guess we will see.

Rachel is plugging away at school and getting ready for a busy summer. As part of the Hillsdale honors program, she is going to Turkey for three weeks (paid for by the school thank goodness). They will be vistiting a number of historic sites and tracing the missionary path of St. Paul so that should be cool (we are admittedly a little nervous given the recent unrest in that country). Along with two of her close friends, she is also going to ComicCon (the big cartoon/comic conference) in San Diego for a week this summer. Finally, she might be spending another month in D.C. as part of her Hillsdale program (although at this point that is uncertain). What a traveler: she already went to Stratford, Ontario with a bunch of people a few months back to catch a 1/2 week of Shakespeare plays. Sounds like a good gig for her (although, to be fair, she really does pay her own freight on most of this)! She has pretty much decided she wants to go on to grad school in Graphic Design (ah, another generation of education over-achievers)and is most interested in the Savannah School of Design(which as chance would have it is where Chuck's son, Jacob, will be attending starting next year). Small world!

Sarah is through the high school basketball season, except the banquet where we already know she will be named Captain of the team and are keeping our fingers crossed she will be named All-Conference (the competition is very tough this year). It was awesome to have Mark, Pellie and the kids see her play (she played well and scored 14) and we had a wonderful weekend with them visiting (thanks for coming guys). She has been invited to participate in the Junior National Showcase and to participate again - she did it last year - in what is known as the Battle of the Border (where the top 100 players in Ohio and MI match up). Lots of college scouts will be at both events, which is probably ironic in that she is leaning strongly toward ending her basketball career after high school. She is now already into preparation for the varsity soccer season and continues to focus on school and getting ready to pick a college. Right now, I would say her number one choice is the Air Force Academy (although if I had a gun to my head, I would not be surprised if she ended up at Michigan). She has applied to go to the summer programs at both Air Force (Colorado Springs) and West Point. I will let you know more when we do.

Cheryl and I are doing OK. She still struggles with Fibromyalgia and has had a rough winter (BTW: Rachel was diagnosed with it as well a month ago). I am having surgery next week to have a cyst removed from my left vocal chord so keep your fingers crossed and pray for me. I am also having a problem with my right hip so I am hoping that will get better. I would describe my business as pretty slow. Tim has been great and patient but we need the economy to strengthen. I am working on a situation where we might combine with another company to get some scale. We will see how that goes (I should have a sense of how that will shake out in the next few weeks). If that happens, there is probably a better than 50-50 chance that we will relocate to Colorado within the next few years. That would obviously work out well if Sarah ended up in Colorado Springs.

Well, that's it from here. I hope you are all well and know that I love each of you. Oh yeah, and Chris is Great!

Tom