In August, Eva and Caroline traveled to Tanzania for a safari, which was a bucket list trip for both and absolutely everything they hoped it would be.  The trip spanned three national parks: the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti and Lake Manyara.

In September, at the start of her gap year, Caroline flew to Argentina for a 10-week adventure rehabilitating howler monkeys. Most were rescued from the pet trade or were orphaned.  The conditions at the conservation center were primitive, with access to telecom limited to a weekly trip to a nearby village and hand-made fires to heat the rooms and the shower water.  There were a number of other international interns, so alas the lingua franca was English.  At least she got teased for her American accent!  The work with the monkeys and the other animals was great,

With the kids out of school and an empty-nester experience looming, Eva started looking for a smaller house, thinking it would take months to find the right one.  On the 2nd weekend of looking, we found it.  Our offer was accepted for a house in White Plains, and we are about to embark on another renovation.  We are in contract to sell our Pelham house and will be moving at the end of February.  Our new house is centrally located between our Pelham friends, our Briarcliff Manor friends and our families.  We also hope that downsizing will enable Eva to go back to school when the kids are out of college and pursue her second career as a psychologist working with disadvantaged teens.

The summer brought still more time in the air.  In July, Carl and Charlie visited Rome and Tuscany to indulge their shared fascination with classical history and good food.

We will still have room for visitors, so please come and stay with us if you are able to travel to New York.  And those of you who don't need to stay overnight, please know we are only a very short distance away...  no air travel needed to join us for dinner or a drink on our new screen porch.

We hope the holidays bring you happiness with friends and family.  We wish you a peaceful and healthy 2014!

Carl, Eva, Charlie and Caroline

(and Lego and Brio)

Happy Holidays!

Dear Friends and Family,

2013 was a big, fast-paced year for us.  So many important decisions were up in the air during the year and, come to think of it, so were we several times.  So "up in the air" is the theme of this year's Christmas letter... 

but cleaning out cages and preparing pounds and pounds of food less so.  Caroline returns to Argentina in January to work in a veterinary office for six weeks and then a daycare center for six weeks.  And then when she returns to NY, she may go back to Victorinox, where she earned her first pay check doing holiday sales.

Last year at this time, the kids were feverishly finishing college applications​.  And then the long wait until April...  And then, much rejoicing when Charlie's top choice, Bard College, took a chance on him.  And then still more rejoicing when Caroline was admitted to Northeastern, which she liked from the first visit when she became very interested in their study abroad and internship programs.

In March, Carl and Eva were up in the air... flying to Tokyo, Hong Kong and Beijing for two weeks, combining business for Eva and tourism for both.  The hotel room on the 117th floor in Hong Kong offered great views and was very cool if we didn't think about it.

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