Season’s
greetings from the beautiful Gallatin Valley!
2011 was a busy travel year
for the Oelkers family. The highlight
was a summer family trip to Washington, DC. Marias was excited to see some great Abraham Lincoln exhibits (including
his top hat) and the original homestead application from the Ingalls family of
“Little House on the Prairie” fame. Logan was excited to return to DC, enjoyed exotic food in Chinatown, and
looked completely comfortable navigating the city. We even witnessed a verbal beat down
delivered by John McCain on the floor of the US Senate, an event the kids were
quoting for weeks after.
In October, we put our
season tickets to good use for a quick roadtrip to Denver to watch the Broncos
play the Chargers. Denver lost, but Tim
Tebow made it interesting and we all had a great time. Kari won pre-game field passes so we were
able to watch the players warm-up, up-close and personal. Marias was able to throw back an errant practice
kick and received a high five from her new favorite player, Eric Decker. We rounded out family travels by spending
Thanksgiving with friends in Seattle.
Logan started high school
this year and the transition has been seamless. He improved every track meet in the spring and continued that streak for
most of the junior varsity cross country season. Logan is currently awaiting an interview as a
semi-finalist for a scholarship to go to Russia for 6 weeks this summer. Junior high ended on a high note in the
spring with a raft of honors, including the highest junior high SAT score in
Montana, an excellent showing in the National Spanish Exam, and several
scholarships. Over the summer, he returned to Flathead Lake for band camp.
Marias kept us busy early
in 2011 competing in gymnastics meets around Montana. She also got a taste of serious competition
at a large meet in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. She overcame some challenges on the floor, emerged as a strong performer
on the bars, and placed second in the state in her age group on the vault. Through her hard work, she advanced to level 6 this fall. She is doing some amazing skills on the floor and bars. Mo rocked another fastpitch softball season
this spring and even had some successful outings as a pitcher. She is a 4th grader this year,
which means a big move upstairs at her school. Her social calendar remains full, she is constantly accompanied by books,
her Kindle, and she is enjoying Continental Math League and Word Masters in
school.
Kari took the plunge and
returned to teaching high school. A last
minute retirement created an opening for Kari to teach US History and World
History. Despite being offer the job a
mere week before school started this fall, she has greatly enjoyed her return
to the classroom. All of her work with
the National Council for History Education (NCHE) has been put to good work as
she has implemented many innovative and interesting lesson plans. Kari is also able to moonlight with NCHE and
traveled to Elmira, New York twice, Washington, DC, and Lafayette, Louisiana this
year.
I felt like half of my
year was spent in the car or in another state. My travel highlight was a business trip to New Orleans, the most
interesting place I’ve visited since I was in Russia. If you want to see something unique, stay in
a hotel on Bourbon Street. Back in
February I was able to launch a new side career as a paid emcee for the Chord
Rustlers barbershop show. Now if I can
only figure out a way to land a hosting role on a television travel show…
2012 is looking like
another busy year for our family. We all
hope that your New Year is happy and healthy!
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