Bret and Terri’s New Year's Letter 2001

 

We hope everyone had a great holiday season.  We are writing our annual post-Christmas/New Year’s/Valentine's letter to update friends and family on our past year’s events.  We hope you can also keep us updated.

 

We had another fortunate year of great travels with family and friends to see everyone.  We logged in over 70,000 airline miles this year!!  We started off the year visiting New Jersey in January for Terri’s grandparent’s 60^th anniversary.   It was Bret’s first visit to New Jersey.  We got to see many relatives we miss by living in Texas.

 

In March, we, along with Terri’s mom, Liz, flew to Munich, Germany.  We met up with Michelle, an old college friend who now lives in Germany with her husband Bernhard.  We then met up with Bret’s mother, Mary and her friend, Helen.  We stayed in Fussen for a few days.  We visited castles and took a gondola ride up Zugtzpichs, a tall peak bordering Germany and Austria.  It was very cold and snow-filled.  We were then off to Italy.  Mary and Helen stayed behind, because they had more vacation time than we did.  In Italy, we toured Venice, Rome, and the Vatican.  The pope was in the Holy Lands that week, so we just missed him.  Then we flew out of Rome back to Houston and reality.

 

In May on our 6 month anniversary, Bret left for Officer Candidate School in Knoxville, Tennessee for the Air Force.  It was a six-week intense physical, mental, and academic training to become an officer.  Bret’s parents and Terri’s parents were able to join us for the June 30^th graduation to see Bret become a newly commissioned 2^nd Lieutenant.

 

We immediately left Knoxville back to Houston, unpacked, repacked, and boarded another plane bound for… BORA BORA!!!!  We joined up with Terri’s brother, Scott, and a four other friends at our brief layover in Hawaii.  Bora Bora was the most wonderful and beautiful island.  We went swimming over a very colorful coral garden, kayaking, hiking, and bike riding (around the whole island no less!)  The highlight of our vacation included five scuba dives as we both became certified during the trip.

After a fantastic weekend in Bora and a day trip to Tahiti, we decided to stay a few extra days in Hawaii where we stayed with Bret’s mother on the Big Island and Terri participated in her first luau.  We also went up to the highest peak in Hawaii (we drove this one, no hiking) and broke into an observatory to avoid flesh-eating flies!  Later, we headed back to spend a few days in Honolulu where we met up with Bret’s roommate in Officer Candidate School, Tony, and his wife. After one day back in Houston, Terri then flew off to Canada with her family for a convention.  They stayed in Banff, outside of Calgary, for a week.  It reminded Terri Liz of Fussen- a little village with snow-capped mountains surrounding it.

 

Soon it was back to reality (Again!) it was time for Terri to prepare for her 4^th year of teaching and Bret to adjust to his new Intelligence position in the Air Force.  Unfortunately, in September, Bret had to begin a nine-month Intelligence school at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas.  San Angelo is a west Texas town that prides itself as being the largest city in Texas without an Interstate running through.

 

However (a silver lining in this cloud), although Goodfellow AFB is a six hours drive from Houston, Bret is able to come home just about any weekend and all holidays.  And when the school is over, Bret will still be stationed in Houston in the same flying unit at Ellington Field.

 

Thanksgiving this year was celebrated a little differently.  The Friday before Thanksgiving, Terri flew into Madrid, Spain and drove into France with a group of friends from church (including her brother, Scott, again).  They stayed a night in Barcelona and listened to a lot of American 80’s music at a club.  They felt right at home.  They then drove along the Mediterranean Coast to the south of France to a small village about an hour north of Nimes.  After a few days there, Terri continued on to Lourdes, famous for the Apparition of Mary appearing to Bernadette, for some Holy Water.  Then it was back to Madrid and America and reality- again!

 

Bret, bound by the rigorous Air Force attendance policy, was unable to go with Terri, but still was able to make the annual Brogoitti Thanksgiving Day family get-together in Mt. Pleasant. We both missed it last year while we are on our honeymoon.   Luckily, Bret was able to pick Terri up at the airport upon her return from Europe to spend the remainder of the holiday together.

 

Unfortunately, do to these conflicting school and trip schedules, we were unable to spend our first anniversary together L, which was November 20^th, but instead, celebrated the happy occasion at a later date.

 

December was, as always, a very busy month.  For the first time, Bret found himself on the other side of Texas to shop for Christmas presents… ALONE!  Terri, who got her shopping done early, flew to New Jersey once again to visit her grandparents and other relatives.  Terri was also able to get into the city (New York) to see the off-Broadway play “I Love You.  You’re Perfect.  Now Change.”  This of course was of no reflection on our marriage. J

 

Bret’s Air Force school is now half done and the scheduled graduation day is in May.  After graduating, however, if you ask him any questions about his job, he can tell you … but then he would have to kill you J.  (Just kidding, he has someone else that would do that!)

 

We are still enjoying our new house as we are slowly improving its look buying new blinds, flooring the attic, and slowly updating college furniture.  Although very busy, Terri set up outside Christmas lights so that we would not be the only house on the street without Christmas spirit.  Of course her dad was the one who put up our tree (the only inside decoration).  Next year when we are both home, we will go all out to make up for this year.   

 

Next year’s plans are the most exciting yet!  We have planned trips back to New Jersey/New York; Washington D.C.; Orlando, Florida; and (drum roll please) … an African safari trip to Tanzania (located just below Kenya) which includes a climb on Mt. Kilomanjaro.  And if time permits, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Austria!

 

We hope everyone had a great year and will have an even happier New Year 2001!

 

Love, 

            Terri & Bret Brogoitti