Dintzis Van Gelder Holiday Blog: Holiday blog 2012

Ok, so it's been almost a half-decade since we did a holiday card and blog/newsletter...but we're back! 2012 was an excellent year for the Dintzis/Van Gelder clan.

Maxwell

Max turned 14 this year, and is in the middle of 8th grade at Islander Middle School. Max continues to be fascinated by flight, and took his first glider flight this year. He plays tennis and soccer, but his passions are mountain biking and skiing. Max likes to program his Arduino and is learning C. Max plays string bass in jazz band and orchestra, and made Washington All-State Middle School Orchestra for 2013.

Max gets ready for his first glider flight

In Bruge, Belgium

Rachel

Rachel turned 17 this year (how did this happen?), and is a junior at Mercer Island High School. She has had a busy year, taking 4 AP classes and engaging in a host of extracurriculars. Rachel played varsity tennis in the spring, and ran varsity cross country this fall (helping her team go to the state championship race). She is pianist for the jazz ensemble, and active in KidsCorp and National Charity League.

Grand Tetons, WY

Rachel and the MI girls cross country team

Before homecoming

Suzy

Suzy was promoted to Associate Professor of Pathology at UW, and has taken on a host of leadership roles including Director of Laboratory Operations at UW Medical Center and Chief of Anatomic Pathology at University of Washington Medical Center. Suzy's research in error prevention and disclosure continues to be well funded and productive; she and her colleagues presented five papers at the national pathology meetings this year. Suzy has been working out at 5:30 bootcamp regularly, and took up tennis this year.

Enjoying a Mother's day hike up Mt. Si

Icicle Ridge, Leavenworth

Russ

Russ is finishing his fifth year as chairman of the ophthalmology department at UW. In addition to hiring a number of new faculty and launching several department initiatives, Russ' lab had a good year as well, getting a new NIH grant on the microbiome of the ocular surface, and publishing a major paper on retinal 'reanimation' in Neuron. He continues to serve on the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and continues to be invited as a visiting professor at many schools around the country. Russ trained for and ran his first marathon in November, finishing the Seattle Marathon in a little over 4 hours.

Russ and Rachel in Wyoming

At the finish line of the Seattle Marathon

Family and friends

We had the chance to visit with many of our extended families, hosting visits from Aunt Joanne, Uncle Jim, and cousin Marlin in August that featured several days on the Olympic peninsula. We took a 'college tour' trip with Rachel to the East Coast, and got to see Uncle Gordon, Aunt Barbara, and cousin Zoe at Princeton for a day. We had the chance to spend a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Dintzis in Baltimore as well. Russ had the chance to visit cousins Caren, Dale, Scott, and Kevin in October in Chicago. And Russ' college and medschool housemate Joel Lerman brought his boys Derek and Alex up for the Seahawks-Patriots game in October.

Three Van Gelders at Princeton

Suzy, Rachel, and Max outside Suzy's old Princeton dorm room

Van Gelder runners

Jim, Suzy, and Joanne at Mt. Rainier

Rachel, Marlin, and Max at Mt. Rainier

Travel and fun

We had a very fun year as well. In April, we traveled to Holland and Belgium, touring the low countries (first time for all of us).

Our namesake hotel in Amsterdam

A brief moment of sibling harmony on the train in Holland

Biking to Damme, Belgium

In June we drove to Jackson Hole, WY; after a meeting at beautiful Jackson Lake Lodge, we headed into the back country and backpacked the Wind River range to Titcomb Basin.

Fearsome bugs in the Wind River range

Titcomb basin

Rachel, Suzy, and Max at Titcomb lake, elevation 11,500

Max and Rachel at the end of Titcomb basin

Hiking the Wyoming snow fields in June. Picture is yellow from forest fire smoke.

Smoke did make for spectacular sunsets

Max and the Mt. Moran

During the year, we got a number of other great hikes in, too, including Icicle Ridge in Leavenworth, Mt. Dickerman on the mountain loop highway, Melakwa Lake, the slopes of Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Si. We also got a number of good ski days in at Crystal Mountain and had a great long weekend at Whistler.