Kirk completed the requirements for his bachelor's degree in Economics from Columbia University on 20 December, 2007.  He has accepted a job with a recruiting firm in New York starting on 7 Jan 08.  The office is located at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway.  Kirk will be renting a house in Brooklyn, a few minutes from Coney Island.  Deanna and I attended his graduation ceremony in May.  The keynote speaker was Matthew Fox, who played Jack on the Lost series.  We saw the show Stomp and toured a medical science type of museum called Bodies.  Deanna and Kirk are pictured on top of Melanie's apartment building.  Kirk is pictured outside his dorm room.   The building with the columns is where Spiderman was bitten.

Chad's job is teaching gymnastics.  Chad's girlfriend Nickole also teaches at Central Coast Gymnastics.  They frequently travel with their teams to compete all over California.

The Women's Jiu-Jitsu Academy has been terminated, largely due to lack of interest.  Willy is sorry to see his scheduled class end, however he still loves teaching often on an appointment basis, as well as putting on seminars for groups.  The class was a rewarding venture for Willy, and he would resume class if student interest returned.  This year, Willy took a student (Amanda) to a Relson Gracie Seminar, and put on his own seminar that Patty arranged for a Cal Poly Sorority.  The class spanned 6.5 years.  Hundreds of women tried the class at least once, and some trained for years.  Willy is very proud of the achievements of the women that started in his school. These achievements include:
     Gold medal at the World Championships in Rio
     Gold medal at Virginia State Championship
     Gold medals at many large tournaments
     Promotion by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu founder, Grandmaster Helio Gracie
     Promotion by Female World Champion Leka Vieira
     Promotions by highly respected instructors, Ricardo "Franjinha Miller & Pedro Sauer
     Submission victories against men more than twice their weight or over 3 times their strength!

Willy returned to the sport of freshwater fishing this year after 30 years of dormancy.  Willy's family joined in on the fishing.  We all got at least one bass at Santa Margarita Lake, and we all limited out on trout at Hume Lake.  Deanna was pretty noisy about being "The Fishmaster" after landing a 19" Bass and a big catfish, achievements no family competitors were able to match for some time.  Chad loves to fish.  Kirk says that he hates fishing, but the look on his face when he catches a fish does not support this claim.

Eli graduated from Arroyo Grande High School.  Danielle & Shawn married this year and have a baby girl named Rilee.  Willy, Deanna and Chad went to Chicago in August to attend the wedding of Adam Davis and Brooke.  It was prior to this event when Willy's knowledge of cultural expectations for attire was increased.

Willy and Deanna camped for a week in July at Hume Lake in Sequoia National Park.  We were there with several other families, comprising a group of about 70 people. Most of the group was from our church.  We were joined this year by Chad and Kirk & Melanie.  Kirk and Melanie had the worst travel delay ever experienced by our family.  Trying to get from Kona to the Fresno Airport, they were stuck overnight first in Honolulu, and then in Los Angeles. It took almost 2 full days to get from Kona to camp.  Kirk remarked that they may have been the first ever to buy a round trip ticket from Kona to Fresno.  After spending time in both places, Willy thinks he may be right. Why would anyone in Kona take a vacation in Fresno?  We biked, windsurfed, sailed, played volleyball and cards, and caught and ate trout.

The generosity of the Jeff and Jayne Tolan enabled Willy, Deanna and Kirk to enjoy Hawaii during summer.  Jeff and Jayne are Melanie Tolan's (Kirk's girlfriend) parents.  They flew Kirk out to stay with them on Kona (Big Island) for the summer, and helped him get a job at the Hilton Waikoloa.   In August, they made arrangements for the four of them to stay in a spectacular resort, the Grand Wailea, on Maui.  They invited Deanna and Willy to stay in Kirk's room.  From Maui, the Davis family went to Kona and stayed in the Tolan home.  We were not in Kona for long, but the Tolans arranged for us to go on a snorkeling trip to Kealakekua Bay, and showed us as much as they could in the time we had together.  During one of their snorkeling outings, Kirk and Melanie found themselves surrounded by dolphins that were jumping and came within a few feet of them.  They even captured the experience on video.  Thank you Tolans! The photo and identities of two persons pictured digging through the trash at the mall was omitted at the insistence of one and only one of the newsletter editors.