Fall 2007

Sorry for the long delay... The Cunningham Clan has been busy!
My dad's health deteriorated quite a bit over the past year & he was hospitalized for a while this fall. Tests revealed that a few minor strokes in his past have left him with Alzheimer's disease, or some form of dementia. My parents have moved down to Florida full time & they have sold the Queens house. Dad is working with a local neurologist & doing really well, he seems really happy & is still able to do most things on his own. With Mom's nursing background she hopes to keep him home for a long time, but it is a tough disease that we are all learning way to much about these days.
Aside from that Katy, myself & the boys are all doing great (even Bailey)! Katy is the best & continues to whip her men into shape. She is constantly on the go & the boys are always smiling when I get home. We are still waiting for our Baby Girl... nothing has really changed there. From what we read on the Internet sites, we are now expecting to travel & finalize the process this time next year or perhaps even into 2009. Still we are very excited & can't wait till she is here with us. The boys are getting big quickly so I will focus on them for a while... After my last post, we only had a few more weeks to catch up on sleep & play around in the pool. We also had a real nice visit from my little brother Jose, who helped the boys get started on their Christmas lists introducing the boys to "PSP" & "MEGA-MAN".


After "Uncle J" left, it was back to school & Sean's 1st time riding the bus... Ryan was NOT real happy about that!
But he has one more year at Pre-K & will be riding with his brothers next year!
Here he is saying "Mom, I want to get on that Bus!"
Ryan is in his last year of Pre-K, and the school was short on teachers. We have become close to all the teachers & parents so they asked Katy if she would help. Katy knew she would enjoy it & became the 2yr old 3 day a week teacher. It has taken away some of her free time but the schedule works out great & I can tell she is really getting a lot out of it. Ryan still wants on the Bus though!

Even with school in full swing, it is all about play time with these 3. We still get to enjoy the beach and practice surfing on our boogie boards (That is Ryan there), We all like to fish
a little in the yard (we even catch one every so often)... It is nice that the weather stays warm down here & allows us to do all this pretty much year round. Though, we cant make snowman!


Then we had Halloween to look forward too, so we went to find the great Pumpkin... The 3 boys were very helpful in our quest. You can see what they thought of the Pumpkin I liked best. We have a lot of costumes, so when the big day finally came, I was not sure who would wear what. For 2007 this is what they decided. Kyle was Harry Potter, with glasses & his robe, Sean was DK (Donkey Kong if you do not have a game boy) & Ryan was the evil Black Spiderman (with extra big muscles).

The next morning we were on a plane to Aruba for Tara & Adam's Wedding.
She became Mrs Tara Zickerman on Nov 3rd at the Westin Aruba... It was fantastic! We spent the whole weekend getting to know Adam's family and all of Adam & Tara's closest friends. The boys made quick friends with Adam's nephews & it was not hard at all to have fun on the beaches of Aruba. The wedding itself was beautiful as the sun set behind them barefoot on Palm beach. The reception was a blast with great food & lot's of dancing. Even the boys were on the dancefloor most of the night. Adam is a great guy & we were so happy to welcome him, his family, and his friends into the Cunningham Clan. Tara looked stunning & I must admit to sibling bias, but even the majestic sunset behind her could not compare.

CONGRATULATIONS Tara & Adam.

May God be with you and bless you;

May you see your children's children.

May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings,

May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.

A few weeks after returning from Aruba, we enjoyed a long weekend at Disney thanks to Grandma + Grandad Ryan. They have been dreaming of taking their grandchildren to Disney since Katy & Mary were little girls. We did the Magic Kingdom, Epcot & Animal Country. Grandad was brave enough to go on all the roller coasters, even the ones that only Kyle was tall enough to ride. Grandma became very familiar with the Buzz Light year ride (hitting that 4x's !) With all the walking Katy had to resort to renting a stroller for all 3 of our BIG MEN... The picture to the right is our proof.

The rest of November was spent wrapping up Kyle's Fall Baseball season, which I was able to help coach again & Kicking off the Soccer season for all of them. Sean & Ryan were very excited to play on the same team & start playing in the "big league". Katy is helping coach Sean & Ryan's team, trying to keep the two brothers from slide takling each other on the field... I always tell them they are on the same team!

Finally, Katy & I hosted Thanksgiving with members of the the Cunningham's, Ryan's, Woods', Salerno's, & Hannah's. All together we had about 20 relatives enjoying the day. Everyone helped with a side dish or desert, so we will think about doing it again! We finished our dinner celebration singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sean who turned 6 on 11/28th. The Pumpkin Pie was good, but Sean's birthday cupcakes were the big hit! We hope everyone is enjoying the holidays.



Clan Cunningham

Summer 2007

Hello everyone!

The Cunningham's have been busy this summer. We have been in full "Summer Swing" since the middle of May. Katy started off taking the boys on a nice long road trip to meet their new cousin Burke. Mary & Ron are living in Boone, NC & Burke joined us back on march 12th.
We all wanted to get up to see our new cousin but work was crazy for me, so Katy took all 3 of the boys on a road trip! Her parents followed them up & they all had a real nice visit. The boys got to do a little mountain & boulder climbing with Uncle Ron & we have some incredible pictures of a very beautiful part of the country. Burke seems to be a natural climber & appears to have logged many hours already. Of course, everyone enjoyed spending time with Mary & Burke the most. On the way home I was able to meet up with Katy & The boys on Hilton Head Island for memorial Day Weekend. We are only about an 6hr drive from Hilton Head so it was a perfect place & we had a really nice time up there. We rented a condo right on the ocean & basically just did the beach thing. The boys enjoyed the Atlantic Surf as they are used to the much calmer Gulf of Mexico & the built in entertainment allowed Katy & I to relax a bit. Then it was back to the grind for me... But I am enjoying every second. In early June my sister Tara & her fiance Adam came down to visit & we got a chance to spend some time together. We enjoyed the beach & he was able to spend a lot of time with the boys. With his family around him, Adam surprised Tara on Passover this year with an engagement ring! We are all so happy for both of them & can't wait for the wedding in November. Since A+Ts visit, Katy has kept the boys busy with a combo of friends, grandparents & various camps at the preschool & YMCA. The Ryan's (Grandma & Grandad) are full timers down here in (Paradise) Florida and have already settled in nicely. My Mom & Dad (Nan & Pop) have been down here since the middle of June, so it's been a lot of fun to see the grndparents all enjoying (or at least putting up with) the kids. We have been doing a lot together, especially on weekends & it has been real nice. I do think I have mentioned once or twice that it does get kinda hot down here thru the summer months. This is the worst stretch thru the end of July & early August until they get back to school. But with the AC & a few thousand spiderman ice pops, we will make it thru the next month. Kyle will be heading into second grade, Sean wil be joining him on the bus this year as he will be in Kindergarten at Cypress Woods, & Ryan will be in 5 days a week pre school at Young Days (They are honestly all excited!). But, the boys will not be the only one's from Clan Cunningham headed back to school this year at the end of August... Katy has taken a job teaching the 2 day a week 2yr old pre school class at Young Days. All 3 of the boys have had great experiences there, so It is a wonderful & special place for us as & Katy is really looking forward to being part of the staff. So all is well down here in the land of the sun... let us know if your gonna be down this way. Big Tony Tedesco stopped in for the world famous Tampa Bay July 4th festivities... we watched the single A Yankees beat up on the single A Phillies & then enjoyed a little BBQ at the house & a super crazy sparkler show out front on the 4th.

Unfortunately, the wait for our baby girl continues to grow... a combination of the surge in applications & a slowdown in the matching process has delayed things. Our application was received by the Chinese gvt on 5/30/06 & we were anticipating traveling to finalize the adoption by this time. However, our adoption agency & all the talk we see from the various Internet groups now indicates we should expect our "referral" somewhere around the summer/fall of 2008. It is a very complicated process & the actual time could speed up or lengthen based on many details. I would be happy to go into it if anyone wants to e-mail me.

We are all getting excited about Aunt Tara's wedding coming up in November. Her & Adam will be getting married on the beach in Aruba, the whole clan will be flying down (Ryan's 1st flight). We are starting to think about a trip up North next summer... we are thinking about renting a beach house somewhere up there close enough to visit... I will let everyone know if it happens.



Until then... Later days from the Cunningham Clan (Gene, Katy, Kyle, Sean, Ryan & Bailey too!)

Spring Break 2007

Spring break is now behind us & Katy made sure the boys had a busy week of beach and fun. All is good down here & we hope everyone is doing well. We had a nice St Patricks day but the town celebration was a far cry from the festivities back north (I guess the weather makes up for it?) Anyway, there is really no major news at this point from the Cunningham Clan, so I will keep it short. As always let me know if summer plans may bring anyone to Disney or the Florida Beaches... See ya soon... The Cunningham's

Cunningham Fly Bye

Th eCunningham boys gave beautiful Mom a break a few weeks ago & had a chance to walk through a restored WWII B-24 at our local airport. Quite a lot of fun for us, as we got to sit in the cockpit & the gun turrets. Prob not that much fun for mom so we let her enjoy a day off.

We hope everyone up north is doing well.

Clan Cunningham

Happy New Year - Jan 2007

Hi everyone... Happy New Year ! We hope all is well.

The Cunningham Clan of Tampa Bay officially welcomes Katy's Parents Jim & Madeline to our little slice of Paradise down here off the Gulf of Mexico. They finally saw the light & moved down to Tampa Bay full time from chilly New Jersey this past October. No more shovelling for them ! They are a few minutes away and we couldn't be happier to have them down here to watch the family grow with us. Time has really gone by quickly with all the holidays and all that since their arrival, but they have a great place & are quickly getting settled in.

We are all doing well & getting back into the swing of things after a fantastic holiday season. Santa stopped here Christmas Eve & I guess the boys somehow all managed to find themselves on the GOOD BOY & GIRL list. This will be a memorable Christmas for us with them at this stage. Katy is doing terrific & keeping herself very busy. Somehow she brings order to the house, keeping the boys on schedule to school & sports. I am indeed a lucky guy & I believe me, I do know it ! The Adoption process continues to drag on, we have completed our application & everything has been sent overseas... now we just have to sit & wait. Unfortunately the wait time is increasing as the China program has become very large & they cannot process the applications any faster. We know that when our daughter is ready for us, we will get our "Call". The boys are all getting big very fast... I love to just sit back and watch them when all is good & they are playing together like best buddies. With only 3yrs between the 3 of them there are only a few moments of this type of behavior each day, but it is very special when it happens & I get to watch.

Anyway, we hope all is well with all of you. Let us know if you will be down in FLA.

Clan Cunningham