- Thanksgiving 2011
Sharon, Laura, and Robert made a quick trip to Whidbey Island to spend Thanksgiving with Dominique as well as Sharon and Charlie
- September: Nisqually Wildlife Refuge
The Nisqually Wildlife Refuge is a wonderful, quiet spot along Puget Sound between Tacoma and Olympia. It is one of the more important stops on the west coast migratory bird flyway. After a century of being used as a farm with a dike preventing the Sound from creating the kind of estuary that was historically present, a few years ago the government demolished the dike and restored the Nisqually River delta to its former state. There's a nice several mile walk into and on top of the delta.
- August: Wedding Week!
The first week in August was a wonderful and joyous week for the whole family! It began with Lisa and Alisdair's arrival, followed shortly thereafter by the arrival of Alisdair's family, many of Sharon's brothers and sisters, and then guests. The wedding and reception were held in Point Defiance park along the Tacoma waterfront. Robert and Sharon hosted a brunch on Saturday, and then Sharon's siblings were here for several more days enjoying the Pacific Northwest!
- July: Trip to Sequim
In late July Robert and Sharon took a quick trip up to Sequim, on the Olympic peninsula. It's a very pretty part of Washington! The walk along the lake behind one of the dams on the Elwah River happened just a few months before the dams on the river were removed in order to restore salmon habitat.
The B&B we stayed in, as you can see, has a very imaginative look. It was fun!
- May: Lisa and Alisdair visit
- Quick Trip to Ellensburg, WA
Robert and Sharon took a quick trip to Ellensburg, WA (eastern side of the Cascades) for their 35th anniversary. We were the only ones in this 1910 house that now serves as a B&B. We also took an interesting trip to the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute
- Solstice: Trip to Boston
Robert, Sharon, and Laura travelled to Boston to spend a week with Lisa. Alisdair was there only a couple of days, as he was jetting off to India. We also spent some time with Namhi and Sokhi.
- Miscellaneous 2010 pictures
- Thanksgiving Trip to Whidbey
Laura, Sharon, and Robert headed to Whidbey to stay at Dominique's new house in Langley. It's a charming, recently renovated old house overlooking the water.
- Garden throughout the year 2010
- September: Lisa's visit
Lisa took an extensive trip to the West Coast to attend several weddings (and to be in one of them!). She also stopped by Tacoma for several days as well attended her 10th year high school reunion. As she flew home out of Portland, Sharon and Robert joined her for a night there.
- August: Quick Trip to Whidbey
Sharon and Robert took a quick trip to visit Dominique on Whidbey Island. They enjoyed a beautiful visit to a beach with Sharon Emerson and the dogs.
- July: Trip to Carmel
Sharon and Robert flew to San Francisco for a visit with younger brother Chris, his friend Karen, and step-sister Sanghi. They all drove down to Chris and Karen's new cottage in Carmel, a lovely small city along the northern California coast.
- June: Trip to East Coast
Sharon and Robert flew to Ohio to visit Sharon's family (lots of them!) and then drove to DC along I-68 through western Maryland, a less-travelled route that the family often took when living in DC and traveling to Canton. After a few days visiting friends (and Lisa and Alisdair, as well as meeting his parents), a short plane ride took them to Boston, where they continued their visit with Lisa and Alisdair and spent time with Namhi.
- Compendium Album–Summer 2010
- March: Anniversary Trip to Bellingham
For their 34th anniversary, Robert and Sharon travelled to Bellingham, WA and stayed at the Anderson Creek Lodge B&B. They also stayed there two years before for their 32nd anniversary. The B&B is outside of Bellingham, nestled in the woods. One of the attractions is the llamas that are being raised there.
- December: Lisa and Laura visit at Solstice
- Miscellaneous 2009 pictures
Pictures taken throughout the year that don't fit anywhere else...
- November: Thanksgiving Trip to Sequim
2009 was the first year since 1996 that we didn't spend Thanksgiving on Whidbey Island. We stayed in a nice B&B along the Strait of Juan de Fuca
- Garden throughout the year 2009
- September: Lisa's Visit
Lisa came to visit for a few days in mid-September. Sharon and Lisa went to the Puyallup Fair for the first time in many years!
- August: San Juan Islands
Robert and Sharon spent a few days on San Juan Island, taking the ferry from Anacortes on the mainland to Friday Harbor. They stayed in the States Inn Ranch B&B, with cute alpacas!
- June: Lisa and Alisdair's visit to Tacoma
Lisa and Alisdair visited for a week in early June. Laura had been home for a month or so after returning from Ecuador & Colombia and before heading off to Brazil in July. Chris and Karen joined us for a wonderful but brief weekend.
- May: Trip to Eastern Europe
Robert and Sharon travelled to Eastern Europe for two weeks. The first week was part of an exchange program with a Polish school in Świdnik, and the second week they travelled to Krakow, Vienna, and Prague. There is so much difficult history in this part of the world, spanning many centuries, with the 20th century being among the most challenging. The traveling display they saw in Warsaw, "Coexistence," seems to be a fitting theme for the trip.
- February: CWA Winterim trip to Costa Rica
Sharon and Robert, along with Charles Wright teacher Annie Senner, led a student trip to Costa Rica. It was the 2nd trip to Costa Rica for Sharon and the third for Robert. Laura joined us for a few days, flying up from Colombia to do so. Her arrival was a very nice surprise!
- January: Trip to San Francisco
Sharon and Robert traveled to San Francisco over the New Year's Day weekend. Brother Chris kindly let them stay in his apartment. Sanghi had recently moved to the Bay area, and Lisa and Alisdair were out there so that Alisdair could have a job interview! It was a quick but wonderful visit!
- Miscellaneous 2008 pictures
Pictures taken throughout the year that don't fit anywhere else...
- December: Winter Scenes
In the Pacific Northwest we typically do not get much snow...usually there is at least one light snowfall each year, often in late December or early January. The winter of 2008 was very different! More snow fell in 2008 than in any year since we moved to Tacoma in 1996.
- November: Thanksgiving trip to Whidbey Island
Ever since moving to the Northwest in 1996, Robert and Sharon (and often Lisa and Laura) travel to spend Thanksgiving at MooseRidge
- Garden throughout the year 2008
- October: Trip to Canton
Sharon and Robert travelled to Canton for a family reunion to celebrate Sharon's sister Shirley's 50th birthday. Lisa came in from Princeton, and Laura, who took a month off from her South American adventure to get some US R&R joined us as well. It was the first time since January that the four Camners had been together. It was also the first time in a couple of years that we had gathered with the Cammel clan.
- August: Quick Trip to Portland
Robert and Sharon took a quick trip to Portland over Labor Day. Robert's stepsister Sanghi was living there, and another step sister, Sokhi, came out for a visit.
- July: Trip to Ecuador
Sharon and Robert travelled to Quito, Ecuador to visit Laura (Laura went to Quito in mid-January) and to visit the Central Highlands of the country. The entire trip was in the Andes (Quito's altitude is above 9000 ft!). After flying into Quito and spending several days there, we rented a car and travelled north to Otavalo, north west to Mindo, south along the Panamerican Highway through Ambatos, Riobamba, and on to Cuenca. We flew back to Quito and were quite moved by visits to two museums displaying the work of the Ecuadoran artist Guayasamin.
- June: Lisa's visit
Lisa and her friend Alisdair visited us for a week. After a few days of hanging around town, we took a several day trip around the Olympic Peninsula. It was the fourth time for Sharon and for me, but Lisa's first time to Olympic National Park. We stopped at Hurricane Ridge near Port Angeles, took a walk at Marymere Falls (a favorite walk for Robert and Sharon), and spent two nights at a bed and breakfast near Forks. We visited the Hoh Rainforest, went to Rialto Beach and ate at a seaside restaurant in La Push.
- March: Trip to Anderson Creek B&B in Bellingham
For their anniversary, Robert and Sharon spent a couple of days at this wonderful B&B, featuring llamas!
- December: Solstice visit
Lisa and Laura came home for the annual Solstice celebration. Brother Chris and his friend Karen joined us for a few days.
- Garden throughout the year 2007
- Miscellaneous 2007 pictures
Pictures taken throughout the year that don't fit anywhere else...
- September: Visit to Northampton, MA
After graduating from Wesleyan in May, Laura went to work on an organic farm in Northampton, Massachusetts for a few months. Robert and Sharon visited her, and Lisa came up from Princeton as well. We had a wonderful time in western Massachusetts, where we stayed in a B&B that had been converted from a very old mill.
- August: Niece's Trip to the Northwest
We invited Lauren Kemp (Denny's daughter), Melissa Cammel (Tom & Jane's daughter), and Melinda Grooms (Shirley's daughter) to spend a week with us in the Pacific Northwest. They flew in and out of Bellingham (3 hours north of Tacoma), which determined how we planned an interesting trip.
- July: Dayton Cammels trip to Camners in University Place
Tom, Jane, Melissa, and Mason (the "Dayton Cammels") visited the Camners in University Place. While here, they visited Northwest Trek, a wildlife refuge with free roaming animals.
- June-July: Trip to Princeton & Canton
In late June Sharon and Robert traveled to Princeton to visit Lisa and then to Canton to visit Sharon's family. While in Princeton Lisa, Robert, and Sharon visited Drumthwacket (really!), the NJ Governor's mansion, as well as the decomissioned battleship USS New Jersey
- May: Laura's Graduation from Wesleyan
Over the Memorial Day weekend Sharon, Robert, Chris, Dominique, Lisa, Jeff & Sharlene (with boys) travelled to Middletown, CT to join in celebrating Laura's graduation from Wesleyan University.
- May: CWA Tea Ceremony
Stephanie Glenn's Japanese 500 class studied tea ceremony and performed a small tea ceremony in the Charles Wright Chapel in May.
- March: Trip to Portland
Robert and Sharon traveled to Portland, OR to visit his step sister, Sanghi, and her friend Vincent. Vincent and Sanghi moved to Portland after living in New York (City) for many, many years. They found a neat place on Sauvie Island (in the Columbia river), on a farm. We enjoyed communing with the cows!
- March: Seattle Sculpture Garden
Sharon and Robert celebrated their 31st anniversary by visiting the new Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle
- December: Solstice
Lisa and Laura both visited for the holidays. The family headed up to visit Chris and Dominique for a couple of days, and then enjoyed time together at home.
- Miscellaneous 2006 pictures
- November: Thanksgiving on Whidbey Island
Our annual trek to Whidbey Island found gorgeous weather (unusual!!). It was Elsdyr's last Thanksgiving.
- November: Sharon makes squash soup!
Sharon was inspired to make squash soup! She began with a few artistic "still life" photos of the squashes she had bought for decorating the kitchen. Then the pumpkin turned into soup a few hours later! Yum!
- Garden throughout the year 2006
Robert and Sharon enjoy their gardens. With Lisa and Laura no longer living at home, about 1/3 of the back yard was converted into a orchard of dwarf fruit trees.
- September visit to Princeton
Lisa began her PhD program at Princeton in September, 2006, and Robert and Sharon travelled to help her with some of the final apartment setup and just to visit. The weather was unseasonably warm (over 90 degrees F. most days!), but the trip was very nice.
- September: Sharon's visit to Canton
In early September Sharon visited the family home in Canton.
- Lisa's 2006 Costa Rica and Peru pix
- July-August: Costa Rica
Sharon and Robert spent two weeks in Costa Rica in August, 2006. We spent the first week in Heredia (a city of about 50,000), studying Spanish 4 hours per day. We stayed with a wonderful Costa Rican family. The second week Lisa and Laura joined us and we travelled around the Valle Central, to a beach at Puntarenas, and Monteverde.
All aspects of our trip to Costa Rica (Spanish lessons, homestay, touring) were arranged by Tom Ranieri, an American from Florida with a successful tour business in Costa Rica (he lives there full time). We highly recommend his services (and his website: http://costaricanresource.com/)
- March: Woodland Park Zoo
As part of their 30th wedding anniversary, Robert & Sharon spent much of the day at the Woodland Park zoo in Seattle. It was a wonderfully sunny day, a bit cool and crisp.
- December: Solstice
- September: Headmaster's Picnic
Robert's job as a school leader involves quite a number of different roles with many different people associated with a school. He works with the Board of Trustees, with faculty and fellow administrators, with parents, alums, and students.
An annual event at Charles Wright is the "Headmaster's Picnic," a fun event for the entire school community. It serves as a good introduction to the school for new families, and is a way for returning families to reconnect after a summer away from school. It typically features several athletic contests, including a football game.
In 2005, Jennifer Rand, the Parent Association President, suggested that I help the school get into the spirit of the day with a "guest appearance" at an assembly in each division. These pictures tell the tale...
- Miscellaneous 2005 pictures
Miscellaneous pictures taken throughout 2005
- November: Thanksgiving
Each year we head up to Whidbey Island to visit Chris and Dominique for Thanksgiving. Dominique's sister, Sharon, and her family are always part of the celebration. This year we were also joined by Sanghi and Vincent.
- September: Lewis and Clark trip
For a "half-anniversary" trip, Robert and Sharon took a trip to the Astoria, OR area. Highlights included visits to Cape Disappointment, Fort Clatsop, the Astoria tower, and Fort Stevens State Park
- August: Laura's visit home
- July: Whidbey Island
We took a quick trip to Whidbey Island to visit Chris and Dominique. We always go in Thanksgiving, and it's nice to be able to visit in the summer when the weather is gorgeous
- June/July: Canton/DC/Philadelphia
Trip to Canton, OH/Washington, DC/Philadelphia, PA
July, 2005
In late June through early July, 2005, Robert and Sharon took a trip east to visit Sharon’s family in Canton, old friends and Lisa in DC, and Philadelphia. Sharon had never visited Philadelphia, and Robert and Sharon spent two days and nights, staying in a downtown Bed & Breakfast. They flew from Tacoma to Canton, and drove to DC, Philadelphia, and back to Canton for the flight home.
Philadelphia is often called the “birthplace of America”, because the Continental Congress met there in 1775-1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed there in 1776, and the Constitution was created and signed there in 1787. Philadelphia also served as the capital of the United States before it was moved to Washington, DC.
The historic sites in Philadelphia are worth seeing!
- March: Visit to DC & Middletown
In March, 2005 we took a quick trip to the East Coast to visit Lisa and Laura. Lisa had recently started her post-college job at Potomac Books, and Laura was in her junior year at Wesleyan.
We saw two new features in DC: the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, near Dulles airport, and the US National Arboretum
- February: San Diego
Robert's school, Charles Wright Academy, belongs to the National Association of Independent Schools. NAIS holds an annual national conference, which was held in San Diego in February, 2005. The conference ended on a Friday, and Sharon joined him for the weekend.
It was their first trip to San Diego. It was a delightful way to spend a few days—in the sun and warmth, during a rather dreary time in the Northwest.
- Miscellaneous 2004 pictures
These pictures were taken throughout 2004
- August: North Cascades
Laura, Robert, and Sharon took a trip across the North Cascades highway in northern Washington. The north cascade mountains are much more rugged than the southern cascades, and the entire region is stunningly beautiful. They stayed in a condo near Mt. Baker owned by a Charles Wright board member and friend, Pam Jewson. Chris and Dominique joined them for a day or so. On the first day, they took a long walk with spectacular views of the mountain and the surrounding countryside.
- July: Boston & DC
- December: Christmas
- October: Chicago
Robert had a professional conference in Chicago, and spent a couple days with Lisa in her new apartment.
- September: Anchorage
Robert made a preliminary visit to an independent school in Anchorage for which he was appointed the evaluation team chair. Sharon joined him for a wonderful weekend in Anchorage! It was their first trip to Alaska, and the weather was crisp and cool. The natural sights were stunning!
- August: San Francisco/Redwoods
The entire family traveled to San Francisco and to the redwoods in northern California in August, 2003. It was our first trip to San Francisco, and our first use of a digital camera.
We had been once before to the redwoods, in 1993, when we took a long (four week) family trip across the northern US and to Banff/Jasper National Parks in Canada. We were simply stunned by the beauty and majesty of the redwood trees!
- Miscellaneous 2003 pictures
- Lisa's cat Iris
When Lisa was a sophomore at the University of Chicago, she lived off campus and got a cute kitten she named Iris. These pictures are from Iris' kittenhood. Iris was a truly beautiful cat with wonderful coloring. Unfortunately, as she got older Iris developed some bad habits, including biting and inconsistent litterbox use. Iris lived with Robert and Sharon for a year while Lisa was in France, and then lived with Lisa until the summer of 2006, right before Lisa left DC for Princeton. Lisa found a nice home for Iris with a woman who had recently lost her cat. Lisa checked in with the woman a while later and Iris seemed to be doing quite well, with some of her bad habits seeming to lessen.
- Miscellaneous 2001 pictures
- July: Visit to Canton