Nathan’s Christmas 2004 Letter

G’Day!

Remember last year I started writing a Christmas Letter to go with my Christmas card? Perhaps you forgot about it. Perhaps you couldn’t care less. Perhaps you got added to the list and this is your first. Whatever your case may be here it is:

The Second Annual Nathan Allan Christmas Letter

Last year ended well, with an opportunity to see Hayden, which was great. We speak on the phone every now and then but nothing like I would like. It is still a little strained talking to Karissa but it seems to be getting easier.

Last year I set myself a number of goals and finally this month I believe I have achieved the ones that are most important to me. Achieving a sense of fulfillment has been very important to me this year with all of the disappointments I had had last year.

So what did I get up to this year? I won’t go in to heaps of detail, but I will pick out the highlights and elaborate on some. If you want more details and adventures I normally blog about life at NetBloke.com

The first big event of the year was adopting an Australian Cattle Dog from a rescue organization called Healing Hearts. Sydney came with an appropriate name and she just loves people. She goes everywhere with me, riding shotgun in the Miata. She is five years old and is not interested in fetching at all. In the past month we got a little orange cat we called Carrot. He is Sydney’s pet.

Casey and I got ourselves a Pygmy Kayak, the problem is we have to build it ourselves as it comes in kit form. We are getting there slowly but surely. We can’t wait to take it out on the Puget Sound. It is a double that we are putting a center hatch in to accommodate Sydney. We even joined the Washington Water Trials Association. You could say I am becoming more of a Greenie all the time.

I suppose the biggest event of the year was my trip to Australia with Casey. I purchased a package that included five days in Sydney followed by three weeks in Melbourne. We had beautiful summer-like weather in Sydney, especially for June. We did all the tourist things like Bondi Beach, a Sydney Harbor Cruise and Darling Harbor.

We followed Sydney with a big surprise for my parents. You see we didn’t tell them we were coming. They thought we were off the grid kayaking somewhere up the inside passage in Canada. So first we turned up at the Middle Brighton Safeway Dad works at and surprised him. He knocked off work early to take us home to surprise Mum. It was a great success as neither of them could believe I was there. My sister Kristen didn’t know what to think, she was stunned into disbelief!

I didn’t catch up with many friends while in Australia as I was short of time and wanted to show Casey all I could in the short amount of time we had. We went down the Great Ocean Road, to Wilsons Promotory, the Dandenongs, and Mornington Peninsula. Of course I went to my favorite Nepalese restaurant, Gurakahs Café in Richmond, the Wrap place in the city, and all the other diverse types of restaurants you just don’t find readily in the USA. A highlight was taking Casey to the MCG (where I was surprised to see the Members stand torn down) to see Essendon beat Richmond.

So the trip was great and when we got back to the states we were ready to try and achieve our dream of starting our own Bed & Breakfast. Earlier in the year we had made an offer on one in Ocean Shores, however this became a back-up offer that was never needed. The land we had lined up in the San Jaun Islands was all sold while we were away, or covered by too many rules and regulations for our liking. We were pretty bummed out, but I turned to the Internet for other possibilities. I quickly found the Swantown Inn in Olympia (state capital of Washington) was for sale. The next day I was off to check it out with Casey’s mother. It was everything we could have dreamed for and was being sold turnkey. It is a beautiful Queen Anne/Eastlake Victorian Mansion built in 1893.

Five months after making our offer we finally closed on December 10th at 8:30am. We overcame many obstacles to make this happen. This has made us appreciate the opportunity even more. As I write we are preparing to move in and take over running the Inn this week (December 16th).

No matter where you are we would love to have you come and stay with us. Just understand that we will have to fit you in when we do not have paying customers. It is our goal to have the Inn provide the majority of Casey and my income. Of course I will keep my Internet interests going, such as NetBloke.com andThinkers.com but the Inn is our number one priority. See the Inn at www.swantowninn.com

Last but definitely not least comes Casey. She continues to be the most wonderful and caring person in my life. It is nice to love and be loved by such a fantastic person!

Well there we go! Another year is over. There is great progress in most areas of my life, with only a couple of frustrating and stressful issues to resolve. I hope your year has been meaningful and you have a great holiday break with your families.

With Love and Best Wishes,

Nathan