Letter

What a year, eh? I really don't know what to say about it, so instead I'll just jump into the pictures.

We started off 2020 visiting some friends up in Lake Tahoe, where we went skiing at Donner Ski Ranch.

Skiing over New Year's in Lake Tahoe

Less than a week after we got back was the opening for Steph's InTouch project at the de Saisset Museum, on the campus of Santa Clara University. Steph had been working towards this for over 2 years, marshaling the contributions of over 60 volunteers and 3 studio assistants in addition to countless hours in the studio. The show was scheduled to be open for almost 6 months (more on that in a bit), and included a number of community outreach events besides the 2 openings.

Steph's sister sent flowers for the opening.

The point of the exhibit was to get people involved with the art...

...which the boys were more than happy to demonstrate.

The artist and support staff on the night of the grand opening.

Among the art on the special donors and volunteers thank-you reception.

Later in January we had a date night in the City to see Hamilton at the Orpheum, which was an incredible show.

Seeing Hamilton at the Orpheum.

While my parents were visiting we went to see a Santa Cruz Warriors game (the Golden State Warrior's G-League affiliate) with my sister Hallie and her family (they moved to Pacific Grove in the Monterey Peninsula a few years ago, BTW).

Meeting cousins to see a Santa Cruz Warriors game.

In February Steph and I took our now-annual trip to Las Vegas for Superbowl weekend. Unfortunately our friends who got us into this tradition couldn't come this year so it was just the two of us, but it was still a great weekend away.

Year of the Rat display at the Bellagio.

Hiking at Red Rock Canyon on the last day in town, which is part of our tradition.

At the end of the month we were up in the City again, this time to see Guster, one of our favorite bands, perform an all-acoustic show at the Castro Theater.

And then it was March. You know what that means.

Despite how disruptive the pandemic has been, our family has weathered the storm better than most. The boys adapted pretty well to school-at-home (actually extremely well compared to lots of families we know), although they obviously missed seeing their friends IRL and their soccer careers are on hold. Aside from the first week of the shelter-in-place order in the Bay Area (when my company was still figuring out what rules applied in what circumstances) I've been going into the office like normal (with some of the staff working from home there's enough space for everyone to have their own office, so maintaining social distancing is a piece of cake).

The pandemic brought InTouch to a screeching halt, though. What was supposed to be a 6-month exhibition ended up being open for only 2 months, and all of the programming and community outreach besides the opening was cancelled. The response while the show was accessible was fantastic, but it was a real disappointment for it to be cut short. Going forward, who knows when people will be comfortable again with touchable art that's meant to bring strangers together in a shared experience? In the meantime Steph made videos of the artist talk she was scheduled to give part way through the show's run (this is basically a documentary about making InTouch) and walkthroughs of the two separate parts of the show, the Hanging Pods and the Holdables.

We celebrated Easter in the backyard (which probably wasn't that different than what we would have done if we weren't locked down).

Collecting Easter eggs in the backyard.

We went hiking at Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve just south of San Jose.

Hiking at Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve.

We had planned on taking a big trip to Europe this summer, but that obviously didn't happen. When we returned we were going to start looking for a new dog (Peekay passed away in January after 16 years), but we moved the timeline up a bit since our travel plans were thwarted. Steph spent months scouring the interwebs looking for the perfect opportunity, which paid off at the end of June when we got to adopt Splash, a Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix puppy, from Jake's Wish Rescue in Gilroy.

Adopting Splash.

In the car ride home.

In the card ride home.

Splash's first day home.

Splash is a really wonderful little girl - extremely outgoing and friendly towards humans and dogs alike (and very different in personality than our old gal Peekay, even before her dotage). Now she's nine months old, and reviewing these photos from the first few days and months it's remarkable to see how small and fluffy she was.

Sunset walks with the family.

Having a puppy in our lives, especially an intelligent and active one, has ushered in some new traditions such as the morning walk, the mid-day training, the evening walk, the puzzle toys, and the close-your-door-she-grabbed-your-sock-again yelling and chasing game. Steph has been the main trainer and walker, which means she's also Splash's de facto favorite. It's an investment of time and energy away from artmaking that she sometimes laments, but it's making for a really nice and well-mannered dog.

Quality time in the pool.

Splash's enthusiasm is entertaining.

'Splash,' by the way, was the only name all four of us agreed on when putting forth acceptable options; it refers to her white splashes of fur on black, but since she also likes water a lot and has a splashy personality, it fits well.

Evan and Splash, probably rolling their eyes at Steph.

When we'd had Splash for about a month we were able to get together with her litter mate Willow down in Monterey. Of the four puppies in the litter one other family was interested in keeping in touch, so the girls met for some beach play. It's hard to say if they recognized each other; both were happy to wrestle and frolic. We hope to meet again in the future.

Splash and her sister Willow.

The evening dog walk tradition became an afternoon expedition as the summer days shortened into fall; Steph and the boys appreciate daily outdoor non-screen time at our local parks and school yards, with the added bonus of watching dogs playing.

Splash treeing her prey at Cataldi Park in San Jose.

Typical brother behavior at sunset.

You may be aware of all the fire activity experienced in our region (actually, the whole left half of the country) this year; we were keeping a close eye on the SCU Lightning Complex fires in our nearby foothills but only had to go so far as to make a list of things to grab (and Steph took precautionary photos of each room in the house). It was frightening and more real than ever before. While the fires never came close enough for us to be evacuated, we have friends and co-workers who were not so lucky and lost their homes. Two days before the fires were started by a lightning storm our family decided to beat the heat by hiking in Alameda Creek in the Sunol Regional Wilderness. Later we watched the online map showing the fire's progress appear to move through this area. We haven't checked on it yet in person, but we think the area we visited was just barely spared; the green verdant stream bed was surrounded by the dry grassy hills that burned out of control for weeks. 

Hiking in Alameda Creek.

What it looks like when a wet black dog rolls in the dirt to dry off.

As you can tell, much of the latter part of 2020 was focused on activities with the new dog. Besides providing entertainment and cuddles, Splash also forced us to find ways to safely get out and about on occasion and even make new friends. Steph now has a contingent of 'dog friends' whom she's gotten to know on regular trips around the neighborhood and to the park. Aside from the fact that she's never seen some of their lower faces, it has added richness to her life to create new connections with people from all walks of life, united by their common desire to not have their dogs tear up their homes out of boredom and restlessness. 

A boy and his dog.

At Fort Funston beach in San Francisco.

Hanging out in Splash's roomy crate.

Hilarity caused by the dog (in the way back, just over Alex's shoulder) trying to join the boys in the backseat for a car ride.

We have spent a LOT of time in very boring, non-photogenic, repetitive routines at home this year. We missed our friends and family, and Zoom get-togethers can only do so much. At long last we took advantage of having similarly cautious family members nearby and visited with cousins in Monterey. When kids are little they change and grow so much when you haven't seen them for months, and that's best revealed in person. Hopefully in this coming year we will all get to revel in those transformations by spending time in the same room with our loved ones again.

Metz and Connell cousins historically all looking at the camera AND smiling at the same time.

Ice cream, puppies, and lounging in fleece robes are our recipe for 2020 happiness.

Looking back at this strange year, our photos show a lot of smiles and laughter. Despite so many disappointments and challenges and fears, we've got a good little group going here.  At 11 and 13, the boys' senses of humor (often with their poor parents as targets) help get us through. Well-timed quips, witty ripostes, actual funny puns, weird physical humor (man there's a lot of that), and an appreciation for the ridiculous make us particularly proud as parents. We're looking forward to once again unleashing them upon you, our friends, family, and community. Because we love having your in our lives, and we can't wait to laugh with you again.

The annual family holiday card portrait. Not pictured is the dog gallivanting behind the tripod that made this photo possible. 

Letter

Let's see, what interesting stuff was going on with the Metzes this year? Or to put a finer point on it, what photo-worthy events happened in 2019? Well, here are all the pictures I considered as possible fodder for the Christmas card... it's certainly not everything interesting that happened throughout the year, but it's a pretty good sampling.

For years we've talked about going up to see the Lick Observatory, which sits on top of Mt. Hamilton at the southeastern edge of Silicon Valley, and on New Year's Day we finally motivated ourselves to make the drive. Evan got a little bit queasy on the way up (there are well over 300 turns in the road as you climb up the mountain!), and he was the least motivated of us to begin with, so he didn't make it into any of the pictures, but Alex thought it was pretty cool:

Steph has been getting some big deliveries of industrial felt at her studio as part of her InTouch project (which starts installing TODAY after over 2 years of work!). The show at the de Saisset Museum on the campus of Santa Clara University opens January 9th and runs through June (it'll be up for 6 months!), so if you're local in the Bay Area (or you want to come and visit) you should be sure to check it out.

At the end of January Steph and I spent a night in San Francisco while seeing a concert (Guster, one of our favorite bands) and rented bikes the following morning to see some parts of the City from a different perspective. Here we are at the bottom of Lombard St. (we didn't bother going to the top... it's already enough pedaling to get to the bottom coming from the Marina):

I don't remember what the occasion was, but we got ice cream one evening while walking around downtown and we bothered to take a picture of that:

In March we went to see Cirque du Soleil when one of their traveling shows (Volta) came to San Jose:

For spring break we drove down to Newport Beach to see Steph's sister and stopped at Hearst Castle along the way:

We also took a day-trip down to Carlsbad to go to LEGOLAND again (probably the last time we'll make that trip until we have grandkids someday). Here are the boys dwarfing one of the displays in Miniland:

We went through Malibu on the drive home, just because:

Alex played violin at school this year, which meant he had to get dressed up at least once:

We went frisbee golfing at the new (to us) course at Kelley Park a couple of times:

Memorial Day weekend we did some hiking and geocaching (including creating our first cache!) in Santa Teresa County Park:

In June we ran the Terrain Race as a family at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. Note that, despite the fact that this 5k advertises itself as an obstacle course in the mud, Evan wore a white shirt and managed to largely keep it clean by being very selective about which obstacles he would conquer:

Later that month we made our annual trip to the Alameda County Fair:

For the 4th of July we visited Steph's parents at their new home in Prescott Valley, Arizona (which, thanks to its elevation, is only "really hot" in the summer, not "measurable risk of spontaneous combustion during daylight hours hot" like much of Arizona):

Later in July we went up to Napa for a weekend with Hayden's sister and her boyfriend to see a concert (Guster again, twice in one year!):

And we finished off the month by camping with some family friends in South Lake Tahoe at Camp Richardson:

It was time to get back to school in August, Evan starting 7th grade and Alex 4th:

Steph and her sisters spent labor day at a dude ranch (Coffee Creek Ranch) in northern California celebrating one of their 40th birthdays:

We got a trailer hitch installed on Steph's Subaru this year so we could take our bikes with us all around the South Bay, although when we ride to Alum Rock Park we don't need it since it's only a few miles from our house:

We learned about Viva Calle, a program run by the city of San Jose where they shut down several miles of major streets downtown to car traffic so people can bike, skateboard, walk, and generally play around in parts of the city they wouldn't normally get to see that way:

We did some mountain biking in Calero County Park in October (well, Steph, Alex and I did... Evan lodged a formal protest against mountain biking since it involves work):

Steph had an artist friend in Oakland (Splady Art Studios) fabricate an apparatus to suspend the Hanging Pod pieces from as part of InTouch, and in November we all went to his studio to get a crash course in how to assemble them. While we were there we all (including the boys) got to try several types of metalworking, like using a plasma cutter and metal bender, and see some demonstrations of welding, forging steel, and melting 2-inch steel plate with some insane focused-heat-generating thingy-dingy (I didn't get the official name). The boys also got to hold the largest mallet they're ever likely to find (Alex is over 4'8" now, and Evan 5'0" -- it's a really big mallet!):

When I compiled these pictures I didn't have any yet for December, but maybe I'll add a few in the coming days. In the meantime, I'll leave you with the one we used for our Christmas card:

We hope your 2019 was filled with happiness and joy, and 2020 brings you more of the same. Happy Holidays!