2003 Holland Holidaze

We haven’t written a holiday letter in a while. Moving to Wisconsin has been quite an experience. I think we finally feel settled in, so now we can get a letter out.

For those who don’t know- Alex Jay Holland was born 12-21-2001. His 2 year birthday is coming up fast. Big brother Kyle will be 4 in late January. Getting to Wisconsin was not easy. Randall was looking for a job here since before 9/11 happened. Of course, that didn’t help the job market at all. We weren’t sure where we’d like to live, but we wanted to be near Heather’s parents in Appleton, WI. When we were visiting them the year before, we drove by the huge Mercury plant and Randall said, “that’s where I’d really like to work." A prayer to make the right company an obvious choice was answered since Mercury was the ONLY company that even replied when submitting resumes.

Finding the right house was a similar experience. We drove by a Frank Lloyd Wright style house that wasn’t on the market and Randall said, “that’s the house I’d like.” One month later our realtor calls and says, “We’re listing it, see it before anyone else.” Unfortunately, the 1959 house had few updates since its construction. Luckily, Randall, his father and father-in-law are pretty handy. Hard wood laminate floors went in upstairs as Heather and company painted. All new appliances, front door, etc. It never ends… Randall survived a round of lay-offs late 2002 due to the slow economy. He had only worked there 5 months at the time. …no stress…

If you work for Mercury Marine- you’d better have a boat, so after working there a month- we bought a 19’ ski boat with a 150 HP Mercury. Funny thing is, we don’t even have any skiis. Heather rides a kneeboard, while Randall uses a wakeboard.

Randall and his father were busy this summer pulling a 454 Big Block out of a truck and putting it in Randall's convertible. The 350 just wasn’t enough… (Insert Tim Allen grunt here)

The boys have enjoyed the fall and winter seasons, and love to be outside. Trick-or-Treating was an adventure as it was 45F outside. But they did get to go twice this year. In Fond du Lac on Sunday, then Appleton at Grandparents’ neighborhood on Halloween.

Kyle was Clifford and Alex was a “dino-dor”. We had a house full of relatives for Thanksgiving. Heather keeps busy and has met lots of Moms with same age kids in MOPS and MOMS Club. That’s all for now. Have a great holiday. Stay warm, and enjoy time with family.