John is still with the Haskell group at Yale. Get your free Haskell compiler at http://haskell.org! The latest project involves using Haskell to control robots. Maybe one day Haskellized robots will rule the world. Right.
Marti has been doing a lot of volunteer work. She still helps at Eric's school, volunteering in the library and assisting the teachers and students with computer work. She is also active with the PTO. Marti is also doing a web page design and has a small but growing list of customers.
Eric is doing well in school, despite his repeated claims to the contrary. His best subjects are math and science. Creative thought and a gift for storytelling come easy; creative writing is more of a stretch. This year Eric started playing the trumpet. He refuses to practice unless John plays his trombone with him. They're both improving rapidly! Eric's new reading interest is Sherlock Holmes (which he prefers we read to him, small wonder!) We're over half way through the complete collection of Holmes stories. Eric enjoys basketball at the YMCA, and flying (but not building) model rockets.
Jay seems eager to start school next year. Lately he has been doing "homework" after school along with Eric even though he doesn't have to hand it in to anyone. He's spends a lot of time on the computer - we're always having disputes about whose turn it is. Jay has become a big fan of Calvin & Hobbes: we've been reading them almost every night and he's memorized many of his favorites and "reads" them to us. Jay is learning that Mom may find Calvin amusing, but wouldn't dream of letting Jay act like him. Jay's friend Jeff Greenfield honored Jay by making him a ringbearer at his wedding this September. Eric was a groomsman and they both did a fine job. As you can see in our card, they both look very handsome in their tuxes.
We've been up to the usual outdoor activities. Eric is getting better and better at kayaking. He's taken a rolling class and is almost able to roll up. Both of the boys have been climbing a lot this year. Eric is now a real climbing partner for John and Jay is getting over his fear of heights and climbing higher and higher. We bought an "Alley Cat" for Jay, a bike with no front wheel that attaches to the seat of another bike, making a bicycle built for two (or, in Jay's case, one and a half). This allows us to go on some fairly serious bike rides as a family, with Jack (the dog) running along beside us. This winter we're hoping to teach Eric how to do telemark turns on his skis.
This spring we took a trip back to Utah. Alastair Reid joined us and was a great help with the kids. Jay is becoming quite a hiker: he made it all the way up Angel's Landing in Zion. Eric got to do his first overnight river trip, the San Rafael with Jay Lepreau and his son, Frank. Rolling in the mud was Eric's favorite part, but trying to wash it off in the cold river wasn't so much fun. The highlight was a backpack to Jacob Hamlin Arch in the Escalante area. This was Jay's first backpack and he did a wonderful job (carrying his coat in his *heavy* backpack). Mom and Dad Peterson joined us for the first day and we had to lower them down into the canyon on our climbing rope! We finished our trip in Las Vegas, where Eric made it up a 7 pitch 5.7 (Olive Oil) with us.
This summer Marti's sister Anna and her daughters, Heather and Amber, came for a visit. We didn't get to see her other sister Nina, but she and her family are doing well. John's parents haven't slowed down yet. We even got Grandma out kayaking in the inflatable two-seater (she didn't want to paddle). Grandpa seemed quite happy to take pictures and drive the car shuttle.
A lot of people helped make this a special year:
John and Marti Peterson 25 Lincoln Drive Wallingford, CT 06492 (203) 265-2350 peterson-john@cs.yale.edu peterson-marti@cs.yale.edu http://haskell.cs.yale.edu/jcp/family.htmlBest wishes, the Peterson Family