Aloha Menehunes and Mele Kalikimaka,

1 August 2009 was the beginning of our 10th year on O’ahu, but ….. this won’t be another boring “we love being in paradise” letter. Our signal event was the news that we’re “expectant grandparents”. Our daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Jacques, are expecting a boy in March. We are very much looking forward to our grandparent duties and hoping to see them often …. out here !!!!!

In addition to Vic’s Honolulu routine of teaching high school, teaching college and teaching flying, he’s also branched out into mountain climbing on all three peaks of Olomana (sometimes called the “Matterhorn of O’ahu”). Olomana is a really challenging series of peaks …. not our highest climb, but certainly one of our steepest. He also checked out in a new airplane, the Liberty, a powerful two seat trainer with lots of speed and great maneuverability. The Liberty has a stick, vice yoke, so it’s a lot like being back in the F-4 and the A-10. The North Shore Challenge 2 ½ mile swim took a bit longer this year: 2 hours and 8 minutes vice last year’s 1 hour and 30 minutes. Strong currents?

One very satisfying aspect of teaching is watching the students grow from being 14 year old freshmen to Air Force lieutenants and pilots (also Army, Navy and Marine). We’ve been in the education cycle long enough now to see that happen and it’s very predictable that it will happen again. Vic’s JROTC program got a nice kudo from the Hawaii Chief of Junior ROTC when she said that Vic’s students got more scholarships to the academies and to college ROTC than any other high school in the state. We now have one more cadet at the Academy, one at the prep school and a former student now in his junior year at West Point. This year we have a cadet with an Annapolis appointment and one seriously competing for Coast Guard. In the last 5 years, Moanalua High School students have maintained a continuous presence at the Air Force Academy and, if this year’s Academy and Prep School appointees stay in, they’ll be there for another five.

Mary has seen the third grade students she worked with in 2005 move to the middle school for their seventh grade year. Will she be able to stay with the job long enough to see her first Kindergarten class reach that milestone? The excitement of a grandchild has made us think of living closer to family, but it will probably be a few years before we summon the will to go through the moving process again.

Mary’s visit to Atlanta and Mississippi in October to see family was a delight: being with Sarah and Jacques to participate in the preparation for the baby, seeing parents, siblings, and the special Columbus Day weekend when Nathan and Sundi flew to Mississippi were the highlights of those three weeks.

Happy Christmas to all, and God’s blessing for your New Year.

Fly safe and Mele Kalikimaka,

Vic and Mary