Happy New Year! We hope the Holidays were good for you all. We were quite busy this year and the Holidays seemed to sneak up on us.
The month started off with a concert at the Savvis Center downtown--we were invited by our neighbors to join them for a Bob Segar show, and while Krislyn found that she was one of the younger members of the crowd and didn't know many of the songs, the concert was well done.
Mid-month was quite busy for Brad. He traveled to Wisconsin to surprise his dad for his 60th birthday. All the brothers met at a Mr. B's, a local steakhouse, to surprise Burt. They all had a good time and Burt enjoyed his 60th birthday surprise. Brad returned home just in time to leave for Cleveland on business. The trip was informative, but left little time to get back to St. Louis, only to leave again for Milwaukee. This time, Brad was traveling to see his cousins who were visiting from Australia. Brad couldn't remember that last time he had seen them, so the visit was great see to his cousin Rose and her family. He hopes to plan to trip to Australia some day to visit them again.
Christmas was hectic as ever in the Coons house. Brad returned from Milwaukee early Christmas Eve afternoon, where Krislyn picked him up from the airport. They drove straight to her Grandmother's, where the family congregated to celebrate the holiday. After a long visit, they headed back to High Ridge for Midnight Mass at St. Anthony's Church. The next morning was a medley of unwrapping gifts, pulling wrapping paper from dogs mouths and handing out treats to keep everyone happy. Afterwards, Brad and Krislyn headed to Krislyn's parents for more gift giving while the dogs and cats settled in to play with their toys and take a Christmas nap. Krislyn was very excited to receive a digital video camera from Santa and Brad is now ready to tackle finishing another room in the basement with his new air nailer. Unfortunately, both had to return to work the following day, so they headed home early.
As a big surprise, Krislyn's Uncle Randy came for a surprise visit all the way from Windsor, Canada, so the family met again for dinner to catch up with him.
New Year's was quiet at the Coons house. Krislyn spent most of the weekend catching up on sleep, and things around the house. She was unusually exhausted and slept quite a bit. Brad, however, enjoyed some down time and partied for a while with the neighbors, bringing in the New Year.
We hope all is well and that the New Year is good to you all!
Happy Birthday to: Marcie, Josh, Jenny, Ben, Burt and Aaron
Congrats to: Karl & Missy (expecting #3) , John & Alicia (expecting #1), Dave & Amber (expecting #1)
January was a relatively quiet month in the Coons' household. Brad and Krislyn enjoyed a New Year's luncheon with Krislyn's parents, her brother Scott and fiancee Brandy and her uncle Joe. Krislyn was quite busy at work fighting her way through another tax season in accounting. Brad was busy at work, but managed to find some downtime to have LASIK eye surgery. He underwent the bladeless, custom LASIK procedure, and recovered very quickly, being able to see 20:20 after the first couple of days. His eyes were dry and uncomfortable for the next few weeks, but his vision settled in nicely at an impressive 20:15 in both eyes. He is quite excited to no longer have to wear contacts or glasses, and should prove to be even more excited when the nasty St. Louis allergy season rolls around.
February was a busier month. Brad and Krislyn celebrated Krislyn's birthday with a dinner out at the local sushi restaurant (one of Krislyn's favorites). They also went out on the town and saw the musical "Light in the Piaza" at the Fox Theatre. After the show, they headed over to the neighbors for a Super Bowl party.
A bit later in the month, Brad and Krislyn enjoyed a nice dinner out for Valentine's day, and the entire family got together for dinner to have a group birthday celebration. In spite of the weather, Brad made it down to the St. Louis Soulard District for the Mardi Gras celebration with a group of work friends. They had a wonderful time wandering the streets of the city in the snow, watching the parade and partaking of a few Hurricanes and other tasty drinks. The finished up the morning at a friend's apartment for a wonderful brunch before heading to catch the train home to warm up and relax.
Happy Birthday to: Robin, Neal, Katie, Gram, Brandy, Krislyn, Joan, Caden and Derek
Happy Anniversary to: Neal & Eve
Congrats to: Krista & Bob (Baby Ethan!)
March was another quiet month for the Coons household, with the focus mostly on keeping up with work and catching up on things at home. In April, Brad and Krislyn went to another show at the Fox, this time seeing the play "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". The show was hysterical, and they both left with a cramp in their sides from laughing so hard. Easter dinner was held at Krislyn's Grandmother's house, and was a good time to catch up with the family. Later in the month, Krislyn and Brad celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary (my how the time flies!). They enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Melting Pot, and Brad surprised Krislyn by having flowers sent to the restaurant ahead of time.
May was a month of change for Krislyn. She left her job at Drury Development, Corp to take a new job in accounting at ClayCo, Inc., a rather large construction company headquartered in St. Louis. She took on the responsibility of managing their vendor relationships and contracts, which was a more focused look at one of the aspects of her accounting job that she very much enjoyed. On Memorial Day weekend, Brad made a trip to Milwaukee to visit family, congratulate his youngest brother Josh on his high school graduation and celebrate his friend Paul's 30th birthday.
Happy Birthday to: Nathan, Randy, Aaron, Carol, Kim, K.O., Brad, Ken, Scott, Meaghan, Kerrie, Greg, Krista, Andrea and Connie
Happy Anniversary to: Dave & Amber, Us!, Andrea & Dan
Congrats to: John & Alicia (Baby Charlie!), Karl & Missy (Baby Elizabeth!), Sarah (Baby Reighan!)
Krislyn and Brad had a busy June, undertaking a couple of landscaping projects and preparing for the annual 4th of July party. Brad, with help from his neighbor Steve, broke up the old patio and hauled it away, and then excavated the area to have a new patio poured. The new patio was poured on a Saturday morning, and cured just in time for a huge rainstorm. After completing the patio project, Brad started on a new retaining wall in the front yard. After lugging around and leveling a bunch of blocks, the wall was finally finished. Krislyn took over from there with a bit of new landscaping to round out the project. The final portion of yardwork was hired out when the final section of the backyard fence was installed. The dogs were not very happy since they could no longer sneak under the neighbor's fence, but it made for a secure backyard.
Shortly after finishing up the outdoor projects, Krislyn and Brad headed out to the Boston area for a mini-vacation on Cape Cod. They found a cozy bed and breakfast and settled in for a relaxing, although somewhat cold weekend on the Cape. They drove the entire Cape, took in a lot of sights and even found time to take a whale watching cruise. To round out the weekend, they headed in to Boston to visit their friends Meaghan and Dan.
The last weekend in June was a blast, when a whole slew of people came out for the annual 4th of July Party (this time in June, since the 4th fell in the middle of the week). Brad had a group of his co-workers come, and a bunch of people from his family were able to come from far away, including his aunt from Milwaukee and uncle from Virginia. He even had a surprise visit by his cousin Alan and friend when they drove all the way from Milwaukee on their bikes! The party was excellent and finished off with a bit of insanity in the sky from the annual Piratechnics fireworks display. Good food, good drink and good times were had by all.
June also brought a big change for Brad when he took a new job at Express Scripts, Inc. in St. Louis. It was difficult for him to leave his job at the Federal Reserve, but he felt the timing was right since they had reached a slower point in their development, and he was presented with an excellent opportunity to help Express Scripts grow their technology.
July was a slightly more quiet month. Krislyn and Brad spent the 4th of July with the neighbors, enjoying an excellent dinner and more fireworks. Brad spent the month settling in to his new job, which was proving to be a great experience to learn a new line of business. Later in July, Krislyn and Brad attended a surprise birthday party for her Uncle Harold who just turned 90 years old!
Happy Birthday to: Christiana and Arc
Happy Anniversary to: Tara & Mitko, Karl & Missy, Peter & Melanie, Josh & Marcy, Greg & Kerrie, Jim & Joan and Brian & Julie
Congrats to: Amber & Dave (Baby Josie!), Meaghan & Dan (expecting their first!), Josh and Christinia (High School Graduation!)
August was a month down in the Coons' household, with Krislyn, Brad and the four-legged monsters taking some time to relax after the last few busy months. Krislyn took some time out to plan and host her future sister-in-law Brandy's wedding shower. She held the event at a local tea room, and everyone enjoyed a wonderful lunch and celebrated with Brandy in her upcoming wedding. Brad made a trip up to Wisconsin for the weekend, meeting his brothers in the Wisconsin Dells for their brother's weekend. They had a cabin at a local resort, and had a blast at the local theme parks, go-kart tracks and restaurants. They even managed to get in some old fashioned fun by having a huge acorn fight, fueled by the local oak trees at the resort. It was a slightly dangerous but hysterical event, and Brad's acorn-inflicted bruises healed in a couple of weeks.
Labor Day weekend came and brought even more relaxation, which proved to be good considering the upcoming work. Krislyn headed off to Virginia Beach for her company-funded team-building weekend. The entire accounting department headed off for a weekend of relaxation, food and fun. Meanwhile, Brad dug in--literally. He began his fall project to build a Koi pond in the backyard. A back-hoe was a big help in digging the pit, and then it was time for a bunch of plumbing. It was a lot of back-breaking work, but he knew it would be worth the effort once complete.
Krislyn's brother Scott and fiancee Brandy were married the last weekend of September. Krislyn and Brad were both attendants for the event, and Brad even had a chance to play some fanfares on his new trumpet. They held the wedding at a beautiful private park in Highland, Illinois, with a reception at a local hall. It was a fun event, with a great opportunity to catch up with family, including Krislyn's aunt and cousin's from Windsor, Canada.
October was another month of work for Brad, as he toiled furiously to finish up the pond project before the winter months. He finished all of the plumbing, built a vault to store his pumps and filters, hooked up all of the electrical work, and finally began to fill the pond. He wrapped up the project by lugging about 6 tons of rock (delivered from a local landscape supplier) and stacking it around the pond, including building a waterfall about 4 and a half feet tall!
A bit later in the month, Brad's mother Carol, along with her friend Marilyn came to visit! They greatly enjoyed themselves catching up, seeing sights in the St. Louis area and having some nice dinners out. They finished up the visit with a tour of the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. All four had a very fun time.
While Brad was wrapping up his pond work, Krislyn had the opportunity to attend a local seminar for work, learning about lien law. She also spent a full weekend attending a Yoga seminar taught by a very well known instructor. In spite of being very sore, she enjoyed the event. Now it's on to the winter months!
Happy Birthday to: Kaylee, Tara, Morgan and Brett
Happy Anniversary to: Brett & Heidi, Rick & Vanessa, Bob & Krista, Meaghan & Dan and Rachel & Randy
Congrats to: Scott & Brandy (expecting their first!), Scott & Brandy (Just Married!), Jamie & Carrie (Baby Victoria!) and Daniel & Karen (Baby Gabriel!)
Coonsnet.com is back up and has a fresh new look!
Oh No-o-o-o-o-o!!! The side of the new pond partially collapsed. It seems as though the ground gave way and a couple of tons of rock slid into the pond. Brad had to dash outside and salvage as much of the rock as possible before more slid into the water. He then drained the pond so that he could climb into the bottom to retrieve the rocks that had sunk to the bottom. Now he has his work cut out for him to reinforce the side wall that collapsed and get the pond back up--hopefully before winter!
Winter is here! The weather in St. Louis has been cold and hazy, with plenty of rain and ice. Brad also managed to come down with his first cold, a sure sign that winter is upon us. Brad and Krislyn just finished up the outdoor Christmas decorations a few days ago and went out and picked up a Christmas tree. The cats love the tree, or at least needles that it drops, and the dogs seem to enjoy sniffing for new and strange smells. Once all the decorating is done, hopefully Brad, Krislyn and the pets can relax by the fire and wait for Christmas to come!
Happy Birthday to: Jim, Nancy, Simone, Joe, Paige & Kelsey, Kina, Eve, Marcy, Josh, Jenny, Ben, Burt, Aaron
Congrats to: Greg & Kerrie and Scott & Brandy
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