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August, 1997:This was the first year of our Adirondack vacation, and pictured is Jim's niece, Zoe, at the age of 2 or so. In the background, you can see Jim with his long hair and, as he put it, "pasty white body". We had such great weather that year -- warm and sunny the whole time, just about. Actually, this vacation was part of the reason that Jim and I decided to move back. We really missed being closer to our families, and it was so beautiful there. And we had both been working really hard, and that vacation was so relaxing, and such a blessing.

August, 1997: Again, Adirondack vacation. Jim's brother Tom is holding his nephew, Noah, who was only a few months old at the time. In the foreground is the back of Patti's head -- she's Jim's sister (could you tell by the hair?) and Noah's mom. I felt bad for Patti that year -- she had tiny Noah and Zoe to take care of, and her husband couldn't make it up with her. She must have been exhausted. Luckily, she had no shortage of people willing to hold the baby. I think I spent a whole afternoon with Noah at one point, and I was so scared that I was going to drop him or something.

Thanksgiving, 1997: Stacey, Eric, Jim and I couldn't go home for Thanksgiving this year, so we made our own Thanksgiving dinner. It was so fun! Eric and Stacey are vegetarians, so Stacey made some bizarre turkey substitute (not Tofurkey, something else) and I made this disgusting turkey loaf. But the rest of the food was good. I told them to look like they were excited to eat dinner, but Eric did not comply. He just looks bored. Again, Jim with the long hair.

December, 1997: This is the reason we no longer have a full-sized Christmas tree. Mia used to not only climb it, and knock it over, but she would make a little nest up near the top and hang out there. We had this angel that went on top, and any time we put it up there, within a matter of minutes Mia would race up the tree and knock it off. She hated that angel! Because she is the devil. Part of the problem was the ledge that ran around the room -- the cats would get up on the ledge and climb into the tree from there. We tried that "Cat Away" spray, but all it did was make our basement smell like chemicals.

December, 1997: This was the fireplace in our house in Ann Arbor. I loved this house. I loved this fireplace. We used to make s'mores and stuff. The stockings belong to (left to right): Jim, me, Grendel, Mia, Stacey, Eric. Stacey's mom made a stocking for her that had bees on it, because she likes bees. Eric's stocking was made out of Star Wars material. Then we put all of our Christmas cards on the mantel. I miss having a fireplace.

Christmas, 1997: Jim and I weren't able to go home for Christmas this year, because our company decided in November that no one would be allowed to take vacation between Thanksgiving and New Year's. That's common in the retail stores, and it makes sense, because in the stores you need all hands on deck. At the corporate offices, on the other hand, it's so slow. Since we supported the stores, and all the people in the stores were too busy helping customers to call us, we didn't have much to do. And yet, we couldn't take time off. So we celebrated Christmas in Ann Arbor with Stacey, who was modeling every single gift she got in this picture -- the running tights, two sweaters, and some other items.

Spring, 1998: Just wanted to give you a gander at how long Jim's hair was. This was just before we moved back to New York. He very rarely wore it down, and in fact I think this is the only picture I have of him without his hair pulled back. He did have beautiful hair, but it was such a pain to keep up with, and it got really hot in the summer, so he cut it all off a year after this picture was taken.

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