Greetings from the California Kendall’s home – land of sunshine, lollipops and…swine flu? Here’s what we’ve been up to.
A year ago we finally began construction on terracing the hillside that has been 2/3rds of our backyard. With contributions from the whole family it is now a vibrate series of gardens: lavenders, succulents, tropicals – highlighted by a produce garden that started yielding vegetables in July and hasn’t stopped yet!
CHARLOTTE (9) capped off her dose of H1N1 with a 105° temperature! 
She rallied in time for a pre-Thanksgiving trip to Sequoia National Park where we hiked, saw bears, coyotes, giant trees and played cards by roaring fires. Charlotte’s softball team made it to the championship game – she played 3rd base and team clown. 
Her birthday was a big “camping” party in our backyard – complete with s’mores, hot dogs and 10 girls ‘camping’ in our family room (10 girls+1 room = 0 sleep)! 
This was her first year in the school choir and sang wonderfully in their holiday concert this week. She enjoyed seeing Dan’s family in October for cousin Evan’s wedding.
SAVANNAH (12) spent a week in spring at Ocean Science School – a school-sponsored sleep-away camp. Getting braces during the summer didn’t phase her during our camping trip with friends & neighbors – this year was the spectacular El Capitan State Beach. 
In her 6th year of Hula dancing, she is a stand-out at the performances – not only for her grace, but her blond hair! 
In her 5th year of choir, she is a gifted performer (but then I am her parent!). An avid reader and aspiring teenager, she finished the entire Twilight series in 4 months.
In August, both girls also attended a sleep-away camp in the mountains south of LA – Savannah’s trip was cut short when she got HER dose of swine flu. She recovered in time to enjoy our Labor Day trip to Palm Springs.
In addition to breathing life into our backyard garden, LESLI (young at heart) and friends created Trash-free Tuesday and a garden at Charlotte’s school – giving some of the kids their first taste of fresh zucchini and other produce. 
Her vocal stance on all things green won an appointment to a local government environmental committee (she was sworn in!). She feels no visit to our home is complete unless you’ve seen her composting bin. (Seriously.) 
Having missed her 20th class reunion, she volunteered to be committee chairperson for her 30th reunion happening in 2010.
In addition to dragging his family to Sequoia, DAN (age = IQ) planned a coastal California summer vacation where we met friends, camped in Big Sur, infiltrated the blue-bloods in Pebble Beach and rode the roller coasters at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
He fantasizes that Charlotte’s softball team success is due to his half-assed assistant coaching. In this economy he held onto his job of 5 years like a barnacle clinging to a rock. 
His basketball skills would be at a new level if his body wasn’t 47 years old. He still needs no excuse to take the family to the beach and loves talking football with his dad.
That's how 2009 was for us - to borrow a phrase from Johnny Mercer - we're doing our best to accentuate the positive and latch on to the affirmative. With that spirit we hope 2010 brings you joy up to the maximum and gloom down to the minimum. -Dan, Lesli, Savannah, Charlotte & Sydney. December 2009
Dan: dankenla@gmail.com
Lesli: leslikendall@gmail.com
