claus family adventures: 2010 End of Year Letter

Dear Friends and Family

As always we have had a busy year filled with the usual combination of travel and day-to-day life. I wrote this letter at the beginning of December hoping to announce where we would be moving next, but we still don't know, so we will do our best to keep you posted.

Johannes has been working primarily in International Law this year. His title keeps changing but he is in charge of Air and Space Law, Mobility Law, International Law, and all things related. This more exciting position has also lead to more exciting travel. He has been to New Jersey and Dallas, but also England and Hawaii and Honduras (Jenean was lucky enough to tag along on the trips to England and Hawaii). He has been a Scout Master for a local troop, pushing his boys through to get their Eagle Scout awards, camping in the hot and humid summer and the icy cold winter. He was also involved in a multi-sport Adventure Race in West Virginia this fall and just over the first week in December hitched a free ride with a pilot friend up to Alaska for a week of snowboarding and sight-seeing. That guy just can’t sit still.

Buckingham Fountain, Chicago IL ** Snowboarding Anchorage, Alaska ** Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Jenean has been busy with multiple projects as well. She of course does the usual, taking care of kids and home, but has added some new activities. Besides being the manager for our assortment of properties, she once again spent her summer repairing and renovating a few in Boise. Since summer only comes once a year, Jenean has taken on a part-time job as music and concert reviewer with a local online magazine (http://www.paperdragonink.com/) and has started her own music blog (http://www.digestibletrax.blogspot.com)/ . On the more domestic front, she has taken on a job as a sales consultant for home food storage (www.shelfreliance.com). In between all that she spends her days with Jasper, and evenings taking everyone to their multiple activities.

meeting rock stars, St. Louis ** Laie Point, North Shore, Oahu * * Stonehenge, England

Arcadia’s biggest change this year is that she got glasses. Now she is back on top in class and loves choosing which pair of glasses to coordinate with her outfits. She had to make a tough choice, but has forgone piano for the year in order to take private art lessons. Arcadia has always been an outstanding young artist but with a bit of instruction her talent is really blossoming. She has done the artwork for this year’s Christmas letter. For the third year in a row, Arcadia has been involved in Girl Scouts, now as a junior, and loves archery, camping, and all crafts. She was just awarded high honors at school for straight A’s on her report card, and always has a book in hand.

Reptile Gardens, South Dakota ** 4th of July at Glacier Nation Park, Montana ** Halloween

Matthijas has continued to amaze us this year. When he was diagnosed with Autism 3 ½years ago, we were told he may never speak more than a few words, may never read or write, or have real relationships. But we have been blessed with an amazing doctor, a life-saving therapist and lots of help and support from his school. After two years of early-intervention and intensive therapy he has fully integrated, and began the year in a regular Kindergarten class, taught himself how to read and write, talks constantly in complicated sentences, shares the funniest observations, and has made so many friends at school that he has become indistinguishable from his peers (except for his inability to sit still, which he inherited from a certain somebody). We can’t wait to see what comes next.

Slip and Slide in the front yard ** playing in the leaves outside of church ** Yellowstone, Wyoming

Jasper has started to become a real person lately. He is working on his potty-training and starting to talk more (which is a bit late, but apparently common with siblings who have speech delays). Jasper is a curious rascal who likes to get into everything, a bit of a perfectionist, makes the funniest faces you have ever seen on a kid and as the youngest wants to do whatever his siblings do, even if he is much too young. He is a very good eater (our 1^st), and has a creative mind combined with a rough and tumble growing boy body, which equals big trouble for mom.

Picking pumkins near our house ** The Rock and Roll Museum, Cleveland, OH ** New River gorge, West Virginia

After spending the summer in Boise working on houses, Johannes joined the rest of the family for a crazy road-trip vacation. We went up to North Idaho for a week, then drove up through Calgary to Red Deer, Alberta, Canada to visit Jenean’s sister, then all the way across the US to meet up with the Hansen cousins in Kirtland, Ohio before heading back home to St. Louis. Along the way we visited Glacier National Park, Banff, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Chicago, the Dutch town of Pella, Iowa and the Rock’n’Roll Museum in Cleveland. We are so glad we got to see some of you on along the way.

Happy Holidays to you all, best wishes and our love,

Johannes, Jenean, Arcadia, Matthijas & Jasper