Once again, we’ve decided to use email to wish all of you a merry Christmas! We certainly want to wish our troops in harm’s way a safe and joyous Christmas as well.

Our children and grandchildren are all doing great. Liz, Brent, and family are still in Charlotte after almost 5 years so we get to see them often. Brent moved within Wells Fargo back to “leveraged finance”—working very long hours, but he’s happy to be there. We were fortunate to have Liz and the kids visit quite often this summer. Liz was training to compete in a triathlon here in September, so loved swimming in the sound and the ocean in preparation. She convinced Brent to compete as well, and they both did well in the event.

The grandkids, Catey (8), Paige (6), Sam & Will (4) love it here (must be the beach)! We spent many days this summer playing in the surf and on the boat with them. They are really growing up! Both girls are enjoying waterskiing and the boys are happy to be on the towed tube.

Cathy’s clothing sales are down a bit, but what isn’t! She was just getting into playing golf when she broke her little toe in August. Although it healed, she’s been too busy (more on that later) to get back to golf.

Brooke is still committed (or should be!) to golf. With multiple rounds a week, you’d think he’d be better! And, he’s off for a week long ski trip to Aspen/Snowmass with several friends—this will be his third year there! And, he was able to shed the title of President of our homeowners’ association (fun, but time to move on!).

We took two trips this year—one to the DC area for the Air Force/Navy football game—a thriller that Air Force squeaked out in overtime. We loved staying with and seeing old friends from our previous times in DC and the Air Force.

The second trip (three weeks) was a long planned one with two other couples to Hong Kong, Vietnam, & Singapore. It was a wonderful trip throughout. We spent 2 full weeks in Vietnam, travelling from North to South. The country has made a lot of progress, there is little evidence of communism, but watch out for the motorbikes—they were there in incredible numbers! It was very interesting to see Hoa Lo prison (the Hanoi Hilton) as well as return to several places I was based. There was certainly some propaganda, but everyone treated us very well. One of our traveling companions is from Vietnam and hadn’t retuned since she left in 1971. It was touching to watch her reconnect with family and some old friends. Singapore is quite a jewel, with unbelievable wealth, beautiful buildings, and gardens.

We've included a link to our web site if you want to see the pictures we thought worthy of our annual letter.

http://brookecathybailey.shutterfly.com/ Best wishes to you and your family.

Cathy & Brooke