And then there were three!  Grandchildren.
What else?  Our newest, Nathaniel Steven
Mercer-Garber, arrived February 5th, 2004.

Nathaniel is a perpetual motion machine with a thousand watt smile. It’s not hard to imagine just how much mischief this child is going to get into and he is getting an early
start by walking at 10 months.

Adrian & Nathaniel’s Halloween costumes, at right, mirror their personalities with amazing accuracy.

Although Adrian is a girl thru and thru, there is adventure, daring and not a little acrobat in her heart.

She is an ever growing case of curiosity, imagination and sheer joie de vivre. She asks questions about everything and loves to play make believe.

But, computer games still rank high on Adrian’s genda, especially at Grandma & Grandpa’s house. If she must, she’ll share her keyboard, her expertise and interest with cousin Owen, younger brother Nathaniel
& Grandma.

Adrian & Nathaniel’s Cousin Owen is our “Gentle Giant.”
At 1 year, he weighed 25lbs and at 16 months he is catching
up to 3½ year old Adrian. He is quiet, observant, and contemplative, and plays extremely well by himself.

China was far easier to travel in (albeit in the safety of our group tour) than we had anticipated.

Peggy & Steve
on the Great Wall

As we found in Turkey a few years ago, although many historical monuments and artifacts have been lost or
destroyed (by themselves in China’s case as contrasted
to half of Turkey’s treasures being carted off by northern Europeans), there is just an awful lot still there.

We found ourselves in places so unique and so grand, they took our breath away. There is nothing to compare with
walking on China’s Great Wall, which for two thousand years has gone four thousand miles up mountains and down valleys. Even though you can only see a few of those miles at any one time, you can sense its vastness…

Or standing in the middle of one of the enormous courtyards of the Forbidden City in Beijing, where
tens of thousands of people lived their whole lives
in the service of their Emperor…

Or sailing through the fabled sculptured mountains
along the Li River near Guilin…

Or reviewing thousands of Terra Cotta soldiers in
Xian at the tomb of the first Emperor of all China…

Or gardens and rivers and tombs and temples and palaces and squares that dazzle and delight…

Or museums and tea farms and silk manufacturing
that educate and amaze…

Or nine course lunches and dinners following huge breakfast buffets. Did we always know what we
were eating? No, but usually.

From mainland China we went to Hong Kong, an
extraordinarily modern city, then a 5 hour flight south to
Jakarta and a 4 hour train ride into the mountains of
western Java.

Our friends Bob & Eti, whom we affectionately call Team Griffith, have been transforming a small rice farm into a diversified operation growing tea, ginger, nilam, vanilla and other high value crops.

Eti with her MBA from Seattle University and Bob with his US business experience and
Kansas farm background are
setting new standards in this
remote Indonesian village.
We had to go see.

And by the time we knew China 2004 was really
going to happen, we’d already booked passage
on a Baltic cruise to St. Petersburg, Russia with friends from our 2001 Turkey trip. This was our
first big ship, but even this one was on the small
side, about 850 passengers.

We started near Copenhagen, where we visited Peggy’s college friend Janne and husband Ib, who cooked a fabulous 60th birthday celebratory dinner
for Steve.

Tamara, Peggy & the
Nevsky River

From Copenhagen and then Stockholm, we sailed on to
St. Petersburg, where we had the great good fortune to see this incredible city through the eyes of Tamara, a lifetime
resident and the mother of our friend Lilia Reiss.

Tamara walked us along the canals and avenues and back streets of her city, keeping
up a non-stop commentary - in Russian.  But fortunately she had brought along some
friends to translate. What a delightful lady.

Tamara navigated us through the Hermitage, the former Winter Palace of the tsars,
now art museum. It is comprised of 5 connected buildings, only a small portion of which
we saw. But, oh, what we saw. We had read that it was run down, that not much good
stuff was out on the walls. It surely helped that 2003 was the 300th anniversary of
St. Petersburg, for much money and effort were spent sprucing the place up.

Outside of St Petersburg, there are a few palaces architecturally even more extraordinary than the Hermitage. The surrounding gardens, fountains
and lakes were an additional treat.

300th year  anniversary.  All 3 palaces had been tragically looted and burned by the Nazis near the
end of WWII.

From St. Petersburg we sailed
to northern Germany where we
spent the 4th of July with friends that David had made as an exchange student there many years ago.

From Germany there was a day in Oslo, Norway, then we disembarked at Dover, England.  A short train ride later, we were wandering through gardens south of London. All were interesting, all beautiful in their own way, but one was transporting: Sissinghurst. Not that big, nor easy to get to, it is landscape as a magnificent work of art. Great plantings, of course. You just need a rundown 500 year old castle, about 70 years, and genius, and this is what you can produce. If ever you have the chance, go. We might see you there, because we’ll surely go again.

Kew Gardens in Richmond Upon Thames and the Hampton Court Flower Show were additional London treats well worth the effort.

Our quintessential London experience was our lodging
above The Red Cow pub within walking distance of Kew Gardens.

We even caught up with Laurie’s law school roommate,
Pam Shores, at the Ladbrook Pub in Knotting Hill, London.

There were shorter journeys this year, too. In
early April Steve’s Mom Florence joined the family
at Laurie & Dave’s in Portland for a great grandchildren gathering. In August, we took Adrian
to Spokane to make applesauce with her Great
Aunt Linda and her Great Grandma Florence.
Making applesauce with Great Grandma is pretty special. Erica and Kevin helped, too. Adrian’s
Great Uncle Tom, as best we recall, was of
absolutely no help, although we think he may have cooked dinner.

Also in August, the whole family went to Moclips on the Washington coast for our annual Cheeseman family getaway sponsored by Peggy’s brother Don.

We are so very lucky that most of our family lives
nearby and we can get together frequently
throughout each year.

In September, we finally made it to Ashland to see
some plays. It was becoming an embarrassment
and a source of some derision from our children
that we had never made the journey, said children
having been there several times each. It was wonderful.

Amidst the other news closer to home, Steve had a falling out with his pancreas this
fall, which cost him 5 days in Virginia Mason Hospital. There were many tests, but no
cause was identified. Like at many medical facilities, there were a number of South
Asian doctors at Virginia Mason. Two who attended Steve recommended abstaining
from alcohol, which substance can annoy a pancreas. Steve, in an attempt to show
good faith and in a spirit of compromise, has committed to giving up all wines made anywhere from Pakistan to Sri Lanka. And he’s looking for a good French GI doc.
That failing, an Italian would do equally well. (I suppose we’ll see who has the last
laugh on this one.)

Steve’s mother Florence has had a tough autumn. She has given up going south to
Mesa, where she and Steve’s Dad have gone every winter since 1981. Then an
entirely too large tumor was detected in her abdomen. She had surgery December
10th. The tumor was found to be benign and was successfully removed. This was
better news and a better result than any of us, including her, expected.  We are
so thankful. Christmas finds her back to the skilled nursing wing at the Waterford
retirement complex in Spokane.

And the New Year finds us back in Seattle
preparing for another Tax Season and more new adventures, whatever they may be. Although
Peggy did complete her first DVD computer slide
& video project this fall, a 20 year retrospective for
her Vashon Sewing Retreat, our www.Garbers.com web site has been sadly neglected. Hopefully that
will change in the near future. Stay tuned & check
back often.

Hope your Holidays were Happy and we wish
you all the Best for the 2005!