Dear Family and Friends,                  

It’s 2002 and we have had a fantastic year with lots of good news all around. Last December, while finishing up holiday shopping, Terri’s car was rear-ended on 2 separate occasions. The car was repaired but Terri developed whiplash after the second accident and still feels the effects of that. The week between Christmas and New Year’s was an exciting one for the kids.  Trey and Allen’s father went for a week to Honolulu, HI. Trey’s always been interested in Pearl Harbor and wanted to see it in person. Allen’s dad was happy to oblige. Kelsey took a trip with Allen’s mom to Augusta, GA to visit her cousins.

Here’s the scoop on Trey.  He’s 9 ½, in fourth grade, and still enjoying Cub Scouts. He had a really busy summer consisting of Cub Scout Twilight Camp, science adventures day camp, golf day camp, swim lessons, gymnastics lessons, and a sports camp where he practiced tennis, golf, and swimming. Trey even started jumping off the diving board, which is really neat.  It nearly drove us crazy with logistics but it all worked out. He also fell in love with tennis and hopes to take tennis lessons this spring.  Did we mention that he is a fantastic roller skater too?  Trey was a spooky alien for Halloween.  For his birthday, he invited his Cub Scout friends to a bowling party.  Last month he sang a solo part during a choir performance at church. Also, he’s taken a Communion Discovery class and trained to be an acolyte.

Here’s the scoop on Kelsey.  Kelsey is 6 years old and has finally begun Kindergarten, after being graduated from SMU Preschool.  She is becoming quite a dancer. Last spring she took ballet and tap class, ending the season with a big recital in May.  Over the summer she took flamenco with her best friend from preschool, and now they are taking jazz dance. Dolls and drawing are still a big part of her life.  She took more swimming lessons over the summer and loved it.  Kelsey and two friends had a play date and lunch at Chuck E Cheese to celebrate her birthday. Kelsey lost her first teeth this year and dressed as Britney Spears for Halloween.  Allen and Kelsey just joined the YMCA Indian Princess program and have chosen the nicknames Wild Rabbit (Kelsey) and Losing Hare (Allen).

Terri keeps busy when not working at the ethics center at SMU with being room mother to Kelsey’s class, ringing bells in her church handbell choir, serving on her church finance committee, and shopping at Central Market (a gourmet grocery store) whenever she can. This year she learned a new software program called NetObjects Fusion and converted the family website to it.  She also developed and maintains a website for her church.  Terri directs a new handbell choir for beginners called the Angelus Ringers.  She got new glasses this year and she attended her 15-year college reunion in October.

Allen’s as involved as ever. As before, he’s in the Dads’ Club at Trey's school, continues driving the McKinney Avenue Trolley, teaches at NetWorld+Interop/Comdex, runs the sound equipment at his church each Sunday, and has been very active in Cub Scouts with Trey.  He’s been at SMU for 13 years and recently was asked to be part of an emergency operations group.  This is his last year as an officer in our neighborhood association. We were both thrilled to help out with the successful campaign of Dallas’ mayor, who was elected in February.  In July, Allen led the initiative to install wiring to the 17 portable classrooms at the kids’ school so they’d have Internet access. He coordinated a team of about 50 volunteers to do this project on a very hot day.  The project got lots of local press coverage.

In January, we traveled to Maryland (without the kids) to attend the Bar Mitzvah of the son of some very close friends.  It was a lot of fun; we got to spend a day in Washington DC seeing the sights and got to spend time with our friends whom we hadn’t seen in years. Terri’s parents came for a nice visit in February. As part of Cub Scouts, all four of us went on a couple of family campouts. The one in April featured a huge thunderstorm--thankfully we were in a cabin rather than a tent.  The fall campout was at Turner Falls, Oklahoma and was just beautiful.  We renewed our membership at the neighborhood pool so swimming was a frequent summer activity.  Our nephew D.J. came to visit in May. He and Trey got along really well. Our annual summer vacation this year was a trip to Pensacola, Florida.  Later in the summer, the kids’ cousin Wesleigh came to visit Dallas.  The extended Gwinn family went to the Richter-Symank reunion in September and we enjoyed going to the SMU football games this fall.

We have a new addition to the family--a stray kitten we named Oliver.  He’s an orange tabby and gets into absolutely EVERYTHING. Life around here is never dull with him around; we wouldn’t trade him for anything.  We hope y’all have a blessed holiday season and a very Happy New Year.

With love,
Terri, Allen, Trey and Kelsey Gwinn