The Annual Report from the Hinkey-Drobnik Family

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

Here we are at the end of another year. They seem to be moving along at a much faster pace than they used to, don't they? We're still trying to figure out where this one went to!

Matt, the way we usually see him!

Lynne with the first copy of Ye Gods!

Work is still the same: Matt at SPAWAR, and working on his photography, especially action/sports photos of agility, roller derby, and surfing! Lynne is still teaching classes at Trident Tech in Charleston, and online for the University of Maryland to support her writing career. Her novel, Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons, was released by publisher Casperian Books in April, and she had a number of short stories published this year, too. Between the novel, stories, and book reviews, she's turning into a real, professional writer, i.e, getting paid! (And that makes Matt happy!) See more of Matt's pics at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/drobnikm/  

and find out about Lynne's books at http://www.lynnehinkey.com

As usual, the fur-kids kept us busy. Lupin is all grown up into a fun, lovable werewolf. He's gone through a number of obedience and training classes to prepare him for agility. He's now learning the obstacles. We know there's an agility dog in there somewhere, we just have to get our wild-man to focus long enough to find it! Our loveable pup is a challenge, but we love how he makes us laugh, and is a buddy to Muggle and Minnie. He's quite a cuddle-bug, and completes our family.

Lupin showing off his agility moves at the
LCDA Christmas party!

Muggle had an eventful agility year, although he didn't make it easy on his handler, coming within fractions of seconds on that elusive third Advanced Standard Q in trial after trial. Like the action/adventure movies where the clock runs down to the final second before the hero saves the day, Muggle waited until the last trial of the year to get that Q and his Advanced Agility Dog title. So proud of our Eeyore dog!

Muggle and Lynne with his Advanced Standard 1st place,
Qualifier, and title ribbons, and his
Advanced Agility Dog (AAD) title ribbon.

Minerva, as always, is the queen bee. She and Lupin have become best buds and revel in chasing and chewing on each other. She's taken over Muggle's crate at bedtime, and he's too much of a gentleman to chase her out, so he sleeps in the hall while she luxuriates in his bed. Now that the cold weather has arrived, she's abandoned the crate for our bed, where she snuggles with Lupin.

Our beautiful Minerva.

We had some wonderful trips this year, all in the US, but adventures nonetheless. In February, we went on a writers' retreat in the Georgia mountains with the Gosses. Lynne and Hanna made great progress on the novels they're writing (Hanna finished the first draft of hers!) while Matt and David took care of them, and the four dogs. We visited with the Gosses in Waynesville, NC two more times, once in May for David's surprise birthday party, and again in June for Lynne's book signing Hanna organized at Blue Ridge Books.

Hanna and Lynne hard at work on their
Writers' Retreat in February.

With Mom and Dad Drobnik at the
John Deere Homestead.

Also in May, we headed to Chicago for a visit with the Drobnik families--always a good time! Mary and Tony took us off the beaten path and instead of downtown, we headed to the country for a tour of the original John Deere homestead, and the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan.

July was a busy travel month, with a road trip to NY to visit the Hinkeys, including a day at Hershey Park, a trip to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame with niece Kristin and nephew Robert, and another book signing for Lynne at RiverReads Books in Binghamton. Later that month, we headed to San Diego to visit Misty and Terry, and attend Comic-Con! Had a blast and could have spent the whole time people watching the Cos-Players dressed in their amazing costumes. Do take a look at Matt's Flickr page for all the great photos from that trip!

Kristin, Robert, and Matt in Cooperstown

Comic-Con (go to Matt's Flickr page to
see loads and loads of great photos!

We finished the year off with an early 10-year-anniversary trip to Universal Orlando to check out the new Diagon Alley and Hogwarts Express. With lots of other geeky-grown-ups running around in robes and casting spells with their interactive wands, let's just say, we found our tribe. Also got to visit with Lynne's major professor from UPR, Baqar Zaidi and his wife, Elsie while in Orlando.

At Universal Orlando in December

Check out more pics on Matt's Facebook page!

Kim, Lynne, and Cindy at
Wine & Design

Not only did we have some fun adventures out of town, but had lots of company to help us take in our hometown sites. Cousin Kim visited on her spring break in March, and we toured Boone Hall Plantation. Connie and Tom came down from Tennessee in the spring, and she and Lynne had a great time staying up way too late reminiscing about their wild youth. Kristin, Robert and Tom came to visit in August and we went on another paddleboard adventure, this time around Shem Creek. Tom joined us again for Thanksgiving, and we headed south to Beaufort and Hunting Island State Park. Hanna and David, along with Buffy and Willow, came for some low key, relaxing visits that we always enjoy, and we're looking forward to spending Old Years Night, and bringing in 2015 with them!

Tom and Lynne at
Hunting Island State Park

Sailing in Charleston Harbor

Thank you ALL for being part of our year and lives! Much love, and wishes for a happy, healthy 2015!

Happy New Year!

It's a new year and I have a whole host of things to be thankful for to get me caught up on my list!

The holidays have come and gone, along with their flurry of activity and controlled chaos. I was a scrooge this year and didn't want to do anything festive or fun. What I really wanted to do was crawl into bed, pull the covers over my head, and sleep through the holiday...and maybe even a good chunk of 2012.

But, as always, the world conspired against me. Somehow, I agreed to host the CMS ladies' ornament exchange--with prompting and support by my hubby, aka "Party Central." As I mentioned in a previous post, I am VERY thankful for Matt every single day. If I could box him  and sell him, I'd be rich. Women would kill to have a husband like him. The main reason the party was such a success was because he decorated, organized, and served as our bartender/waiter/host/photographer and every other role one can imagine. I made the chili.

Despite my best efforts, I enjoyed it. I can definitely add the people I work with at the NOAA Coastal Services Center to my list of things to be thankful for. We have a great group of people, and that's especially true in my branch, Coastal Management Services (CMS).

We were invited to the Dubick's for Christmas dinner, and even at my scroogiest, I couldn't help but look forward to that. JD and Corey are two of my favorite people in the world. I admire everything about them. They're brilliant, funny, kind, and the best parents I know. After we met Marc and Kris way back when I first moved to Charleston, I knew why. The whole Dubick family is that way. Then we met the Hollenbeck's and guess what? They're all that way, too! So, I knew we'd enjoy Christmas dinner with them, and since we missed our Thanksgiving tradition of dinner at the Dubick house this year, Matt and I were both looking forward to it. We weren't disappointed (not that there was any chance of that happening). So, I'll add the Dubicks to my list of things to be thankful for - JD, Corey, Lena, Marc, Chris, Collin, Chelsea, and Ida and Halley (who sadly couldn't be there).

I was on the verge of surviving the holidays. Only one more festive event (or combination of events) to go...New Year's Eve with the Drobnik and Hoops families in Indiana. Matt's cousin Michael got married on New Year's Eve in Indianapolis. We'd foregone Christmas in Chicago knowing we'd see everyone in Indy at the wedding. I was dreading a) the drive up, b) leaving Muggle behind, c) cold weather, d) having to stay awake until midnight on New Year's Eve, and e) the drive back. Just call me Party Girl. Well, with the Virgin Mobile wireless thingy, the drive went by quickly. When I wasn't driving, I was able to do some editing on Chupacabra, complete some critiques I'd fallen behind on for IWW, check email, and play games and before we knew it, 11.5 hours and about 750 miles had flown by. I new Muggle and the cats were going to be just fine with the Jones's---probably even better than at home when the fireworks started since he'd have his Dagan to protect him! The cold did suck, there's no way around that. Especially when it was drizzly, wet cold. I made it all the way to midnight (12:30!!) at the wedding, but the time went by quickly and we had fun. And, even though we got slowed down by some snow and icy roads on the way home, even that drive wasn't bad.

In between all that, we got to spend time with my wonderful in-laws. Something else I am very, very thankful for. I have the most incredible mother-in-law. In her, I see where Matt got all his wonderful, amazing, incredible traits. My father-in-law is fun and funny, and Matt shares many traits with him, as well. Most of those are the ones we laugh about - like his control-freak nature about driving (I drove about 3-4 hours of the entire 11.5 hour trip. That's probably the most Matt's ever allowed me to drive in one day when we're together. He's either getting comfortable with me driving, or he was really tired.) I also have two fabulously funny, thoughtful, sweet, and brilliant brothers-in-law. I don't even have to remember which is who since they're identical twins (but I can usually tell them apart). They both have wives who I get along with--and from the horror stories I've heard, that's something else to be thankful for. And finally, the whole hoarde of nephews and niece. They're so much fun, and all good kids. Now that Ryan and Tyler are teenagers, they have their own lives, but are still always pleasant and polite, if a bit too connected to their phones (just like the nieces on my side - we should get them together!) Kyle is growing up and calming down. He's pretty funny. Jake and Dillon might be my favorites. They're both such little men, very mature and both sweet as can be. And I love, love, love Carrie and Justin. The "babies" are, I think, 7 and 8 now. Carrie is a hoot, on 110% all the time, and I just want to cuddle Justin 'cause he's such a cutie! I'm thankful for what a fabulous extended family I became part of when I married Matt.

So, once again, on New Year's Eve, I enjoyed the final fling of the holiday season in spite of myself. We did present exchanges with the Drobniks (gotta love our whole array of Star Trek kitchenware: an Enterprise pizza cutter, Spock cookie jar, and Enterprise/shuttle salt and pepper shakers). And Matt and I celebrated our 7th anniversary with the family at the post-wedding brunch.

And a good time was had by all.