Buon Natale

That's Italian for Mele Kelikimaka which means Merry Christmas.

"Nonna" is the Italian word for "Grandmother" and that's what the year 2017 has been for Mary: LOTS of happy "Nonna" time. The Bonfiglio family and the Steyn families are growing. Sundi and Nathan have a youngster arriving in April. Sarah and Jacques now have three boys: Jon, Joseph and Pete the new guy, so we can paraphrase on the old TV show and say we have "My Three GRANDsons"!! They are all with us for Christmas which makes for a very happy and also very BUSY time : which is why you're getting an eChristmas vice our usual card mailing. Tough to keep up with these little guys !!

This has also been a surgery year for Mary: she had her second hip replacement and is working her way through rehab. The second operation was not as easy as the first which means more pool time & rehab. This operation involved some serious decision making by Vic: two serious (and well paying) job offers on the Mainland, but acceptance would have thrown a big monkey wrench into the surgery. So we're here.

Vic has spent much of 2017 as a geographic bachelor and that solo time has not been idle. LOTS OF FLYING. Just to compare: 165 flying hours a year for 30 years as an Air Force pilot finishing up with 4,940.6 Air Force flying hours. 156 hours/year for 19 years as a civilian Certificated Flight Instructor adds up to 2,964.0 civilian flying hours. Looking forward to the 8,000 hour mark !!

Also consider this: 309.6 hours in the last 365 days with 827 landings. That's almost twice as much as Vic's Air Force yearly average and 2.3 landings per day for a year. Definitely NOT boring holes in the sky. Vic was honored as the 2016 Hawaii Flight Instructor of the Year and it looks like that honor may happen again for 2017. Stand by for further developments ….. Might have a shot at "Best in the West"!!

After completing the Red Cross Water Safety Instructor (WSI) course last year at the top of his class with a 96% average, Vic also qualified this year as a PADI SCUBA Rescue Diver. The SCUBA Rescue written exam was actually very easy !! Add on a bunch of school teaching and a bunch of sporting events and it's been a very busy year. This year's time for the 1 mile Sunset to Pipeline ocean race was 1+21. The Waimea Bay 1.2 miler was 58 minutes and Duke's 1 mile ocean race was 41 minutes. The reason that the times don't seem to compute when you compare distance to time is current. Each race has its own current challenges. Vic also competed in the Fort Shafter Bench Press Challenge and won his age class with a 200 pound bench. The category, in case you're wondering, was "old". Also competed in and won 3rd place team in the Schofield Barracks biathlon. That was not an "age" category. Vic and Academy classmate Mark Torreano (the runner) actually won the 3rd place in the biathlon, beating out some younger teams ! All this huffin' and puffin' had a nice payoff in the last physical: BP 117/71, HDL 56 and The Ratio was 3.1 …. !! The steel knee isn't stopping everything ……. !! '68 is STILL Great !!

Hope you're all well and happy. Best wishes to all Menehunes for a happy and holy Christmas and a safe and prosperous and healthy New Year.

Vic and Mary