Marti has been enjoying freedom from work to pursue many household and personal projects as well as being a full time mother. Eric, now 7 years old, is doing well in the first grade and Jay, just turning 2, is mommy's big helper. John continues his work at Yale and we are all healthy and happy. It has been a bitter-sweet year, with somber notes between our usual wild adventures.

The year got off to a somber start in January with Marti at her fathers side in Denver. Fred's health had been declining for a long time, and Marti made the tough choice to move him to a hospice. We believe it helped to ease his final days and he slipped away in peaceful surroundings shortly thereafter. We were so greatful for the loving support of Marti's aunt Trudy and uncle Jim, who provided physical and emotional support, despite Jim's own health problems. All three daughters (Marti, Anna, and Nina) and their families flew in for the memorial service, where many friends came to remember his life despite a winter storm.

In April we traveled to Utah and Arizona. We were fortunate to arrive in Salt Lake just after our friends Mark and Jeannie Grazier had a baby. Eric got to play poker with the old computer science gang and managed to lose a lot less than his father! Later Grandma and Grandpa Peterson joined us for hiking in the Escalante area and Zion. Then we visited Tucson (thanks to Wendy and Debray for a place to stay) and saw many old friends. John took Eric climbing in Cochise's Stronghold where Eric did his first bivouac.

Over the summer we had had a couple of very welcome visitors. John's brother Alan and Brad Deirschow, the son of Marti's cousin, flew in from Denver. We went camping in New Hampshire, then down through Boston and New Jersey to Washington D. C. (thanks to Risa and Sandy for their hospitality!). We also went kayaking on a local river (even Alan!). Brad (13) is becoming a very accomplished rock climber and climbed with us in New Hampshire, Connecticut, and the Gunks. By the time he left we was flashing up difficult climbing routes (5.9) without even slowing down.

John's parents fortunately continue to enjoy good health and remain very active with their travels and volunteer work. This year they celebrated their 40th anniversary and the whole Peterson/DeVries clan converged in Nebraska in August for the occasion. We had a great time visiting all of John's relatives in the Cortland area. Cousin Fred was a wonderful host and helped Eric make wooden guns that both boys continue to treasure. The best part for Eric was visiting Uncle Wilfred's place, where Eric got to play with all of his `big kid' toys, including REAL tractors and construction equipment.

After the reunion, we traveled to the Black Hills in South Dakota with John's brother Doug and our friend Jeff for some climbing. The highlight was Eric joining us in climbing Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Eric is the youngest climber on record to have climbed to the summit! He even got to sign autographs for the tourists. When we returned to Connecticut the local paper published an article about his climb; this led to an invitation to speak at the Rotary club. Eric did very well in his first public speaking engagement! He demonstrated climbing techniques using Barbie and Ken dolls tied together with a red shoelace.

Just before we were to drive back to Connecticut, we received sad news from Denver that Marti's uncle Jim Deirschow had died. Jim had been the executor of Marti's dad's small estate, and had been concerned about some of the troublesome aspects in his final days. Such dedication we can never repay. We were able to attend his memorial service and see his family.

Marti is filling her days with many new activities. She is enjoying her time with the kids and has been working with Eric's class as a room mother and working on home repair projects. She has also been working with Habitat for Humanity, a group that builds affordable housing for the needy. She is now the Volunteer Coordinator, and soon to become a member of the board of directors, as well as rolling up her sleeves and actually helping to build the houses. One of the two houses she has been working on is done now, and has two families in it. She has been able to put her climbing skills to use keeping volunteers safe as they put siding up on the three story houses. Fortunately she had equipped some of the workers with ropes and harnesses the day when the scaffolding collapsed; the ropes caught the workers and there were no injuries.

John continues to work on the Haskell project with Paul Hudak. The project continues to be funded and their Haskell system is being used around the world. The highlight of the year was finding out that the new programmer he hired from Scotland, Alastair Reid, was also a rock climber - yet another excuse to sneak out on warm afternoons.

John, Marti, Eric, and Jay.