Greetings,

Wow! Christmas Cards mailed out from the Owan house two years in a row! It was another great year for us here in Austin.

I have divided the 2004 Owan Family Review into sections for your reading pleasure. I certainly don't expect everyone to read this in its entirety. Feel free to skip around from section to section, or, if you aren't interested, skip the whole thing! This is our way to write something that would give those family and friends that we don't communicate with as much as we probably should a decent overview of what has been going on in our lives in Austin over the past year. Also, please visit our Pictures pages. We have online albums from our trips and happenings here in Austin.

Jordan had his 9th Birthday this past November 17th. He is now in the third grade at Lee Elementary where he is on the honor roll. Jordan is still active in Cub Scouts, soccer, basketball, and chess club. He goes to Hancock Recreation Center for after school care where after getting his homework done, he gets to play with his friends. He also participated in the Junior Golf Academy this past summer again. His biggest interest currently is skateboarding. He gets to go to the skate park occasionally and get lessons. He has gone from talking about skateboarding to actually being able to do tricks! Jordan has continued to improve his soccer skills. His soccer team this past Spring went undefeated and won the championship tournament at the end of the season. This past Fall, Jordan scored at least one goal in every game but one. The team finished the season with no losses and one tie! This past summer, Jordan got to go the University of Texas Basketball Camp. He also got to be a ball boy for the UT Men's Basketball team at their game against Coppin State on November 29th and watch the game sitting on the goal standard under the basket. After the game, the cheerleaders were trying to get him to take his picture with them. He refused. Victoria and I figure he will regret not having that picture once he hits High School! Jordan participated in his first Chess tournament this Fall and also won first prize in the City wide Science Fair this past Spring with an experiment demonstrating the conductivity of different materials.

Victoria continues to work as a Property Manager. She is continually taking on more responsibility in her job. Victoria was also the coach of Jordan's soccer team this past year. Victoria and all of her friends continue to have a "girls night out" once a month. This year, she and a bunch of her friends went to Orlando for her friend Tassie's bachelorette party. She also was honored to be the "Wedding Coordinator" for Tassie and Hank's wedding this past Fall here in Austin.

I am still working for the City of Austin. I recently took on the roll as the technical lead for the implementation of new financial and inventory systems at the City. This new role has led to working quite a few more hours. I have a great team at work and enjoy my job. Hopefully, after the current project is completed next Fall, my hours will go back to normal. I still volunteer as a Den Leader for Jordan's Cub Scout Den. I also continue my job as assistant soccer coach to Head Coach Victoria for Jordan's soccer team.

Things have settled down quite a bit around the house! We have shifted our focus from the inside to the outside this past year. I built a framed bull wire fence to replace the chain link fencing on both sides of the back yard. I built skirting to go around the bottom of our deck. I also just finished staining our deck. However, the biggest improvement is the new driveway. The front apron of the old drive way had been torn up by tree roots and was just covered in gravel. It also had a lot of cracks and was not in very good condition. The new driveway will now allow Jordan to practice his skateboarding!

Well, we only have one for Disney for Jordan to visit after this Springs trip to Disneyland in California! I had to go to Anaheim on business for a few days. There was no way I could slide this past Victoria. She loves Disney! Thus, Victoria and Jordan went with me to California for a mini vacation. While in Anaheim, we headed over to Hollywood and also visited Universal Studios. I got to spend one day with Victoria and Jordan at Disneyland. They spent another day at the park while I was working. So far, Jordan has been to Disney World, Disney Land Paris, and Disney Land. He is already asking to go to Japan. I think he will have to wait a while for that one!

Victoria and I took another trip to Europe this past Summer. We cashed in our airline miles and went to Scotland, London, and Ireland. We started our trip with a couple of days in Glasgow before our good friends, Doug and Meredith, joined up with us. We then headed to Edinburgh for four days. Our first day in Edinburgh, while checking train times at the station, we noticed all kinds of people in kilts and soccer jerseys. We went up to a group of young men and asked if there was a game in town. Indeed there was! Scotland was playing Trinidad and Tobago. The group of guys invited us to join them at the game. The even sent a couple of guys ahead of us to get us tickets. It was a great game and Scotland won! Edinburgh was absolutely beautiful. We also took a train to some of the smaller towns North of Edinburgh to tour castles. The people in Scotland were all so friendly. We can't wait to go back again.

After Scotland, we headed to London for four days. We were fortunate to be in London for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day. They had a lot of special events taking place while we were in London. It was also the Queen's Birthday the week we were in town. Along with all of the standard tourist destinations, we visited the Churchill's War Room Bunker. We went to see Fame, the musical while in London. We also went to see Romeo and Juliet and the Globe Theater.

We departed London for Dublin, Ireland. Our friend's Doug and Meredith went on to Paris. While in Ireland, we rented a car and headed for the countryside. It was my first experience driving on the opposite side of the road. The rental car guys were laughing at us when we returned the car and were high fiving and celebrating because we didn't have an accident! We left Dublin and headed South. We wanted to visit the areas of Ireland were my Mother's family lived before immigrating to the United States in the 1850s. We visited Carlow, Boris, and Kilkenny. Kilkenny was a very charming small town. It seemed like a great place to rent a room at a B&B and stay a few days. Unfortunately, we didn't have that much time. The countryside was incredible. Upon our return to Dublin, we embarked on an all day Pub crawl. We started at the Guiness Brewery and then went from famous pub to famous pub having a Pint at each one. We finally had to catch a cab home at the end of the evening when the Pubs closed!

In July, we headed to St. Louis for my good friend Damian's wedding. I don't get back to St. Louis as often as I would like. It was great getting to see all of my old friends back in St. Louis. We got a great bonus because my friend Marc's wife was able to get us a great rate on suite at the Chase Park Plaza. It was a fabulous room in a great hotel across the street from Forest Park. We took Jordan to his first Major League baseball game to see the Cardinals play the Brewers. The Cardinals won and he had a blast. We also took Jordan to see the Arch. While I was golfing with my friends, Victoria took Jordan to the Planetarium and Science Center. We also got a chance to go to the Zoo for a little while. Damian and Jen's had an outdoor wedding. The rain didn't stop it from happening and we had a great time. Before heading to the airport to come home, we took Jordan the Xgames skatepark for a little recreation.

Fall in Texas means football. Victoria and I continue to have season football tickets with a group of 25 friends. We have a full blown all day tailgate before each game. These events have become quite large. We still use the 1976 Dodge Van that my parents bought back when we lived in Seattle for the tailgate parties. It serves as a place holder and a mobile storage unit. The big news this year is that we picked up a sponsor. Joe Allison of Sierra Nevada Brewing provided us with free kegs of beer for our tailgates this year. If you have never been to one of our tailgates, between us and our neighbors, you have your choice of Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, or Live Oak beer! Texas had another good season and is headed to play in it's first ever Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.

As with last year, the other big event in Austin in the Fall was the Austin City Limits Music Festival. We got to enjoy three solid days of music from tons of bands including Sheryl Crow, Los Lonely Boys, etc. on 8 different stages. This is the second year Victoria and I have gone to this 3 day music festival and plan on doing it every year!

2004 has been another great year. While everything hasn't been perfect over the past year, we are grateful for everything we have and like to focus on all of the positive things in our lives. We feel so fortunate to have such great friends and family surrounding us. We want to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday Season.

Hook 'em Horns!

Chris, Victoria, and Jordan

		3amburrito.com
		Contact Us:  Send Email
		Terms of Use | About Us
		© 2004 Christopher Owan, Austin, Texas. All Rights Reserved