Like always, it's been a busy year for the Naditz family.

Starting with Caelan, he is now a sophomore and turned 15 a couple weeks ago. He's taken an interest in performing, and has had his first two acting roles this year. The first was as Mr. Twimble in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" for the spring 2011 production. Then, in fall, he was cast as Mr. DePinna in "You Can't Take it With You." He really enjoyed both parts (one was a musical and the other a comedy) and is now looking forward to being in the men's ensemble in the Spring, 2012 production of "Grease." During the spring, he was also a member of the school's Improv team. Unfortunately, the team tryouts this year conflicted with the rehearsal schedule for the annual dessert concert, so he was unable to be part of the team. He's hoping to rejoin the team next year.

He also continues to perform with the Bella Vista Madrigals as a Tenor 2. Their performances are always outstanding, and even better, the students are wonderful. He's felt very welcomed ever since he joined them as a freshman last year. He continues to be the youngest member of the group. This year they will perform at two festivals, one in the San Francisco Bay Area and then at the annual Forum Festival at Disneyland.

In addition to video games, Caelan has been finessing his skill at drawing, creative writing and playing piano, the latter being quite a surprise. He doesn't take lessons, but does play quite well by ear. He is also quite good at Japanese. And, he has officially passed dad in terms of height and basically sees eye to eye with mom now!

Alan continues to be busy at Intel and has enjoyed finally being part of the crew of permanent employees (also known as "blue badges"). He also continues to write for and edit a small series of community newspapers in San Joaquin county. In fact, one of his stories (on bullying) was partially responsible for an award the magazine publishing group received this year. Alan entered some fiction writing contests this year as well. We're still waiting to hear the results of the latest contest he entered with Writers' Digest. He is still very modest about both his skill and his achievements. On another note, Alan has taken an interest in learning more about the family history and has starting adding to the family tree on Geni.com. And, he's made quite the name for himself as the unofficial videographer for all Bella Vista High School drama and madrigals performances. :-)


Nicole had an incredible year and doesn't expect to ever experience anything like it again. She attended the Grammy Awards in February with her dad after winning a contest to submit a curriculum to the Grammy Museum on how she uses music to support her standards in the classroom. She later was selected as her district Teacher of the Year later that spring and, in August was named one of Sacramento County's Teachers of the Year. She progressed through the state level of competition and is honored to be a finalist for California State Teacher of the Year. Even though she was not ultimately chosen as one of California's five teachers of the year, she feels both humbled and privileged to have made to it to the level of finalist. She, Alan, Caelan and her parents will attend a state ceremony in February 2012 honoring all of the finalists, as well as those who were selected for state teacher of the year. Lastly, she and her students found out in October that the 24-hour Discover Languages Webcast she organized in February did in fact achieve the Guinness World Record for "Longest Uninterrupted Live Webcast". Nicole continues to attend conferences and present frequently and resumed figure skating in February. She hopes to perform at ISI Adult Nationals (recreational figure skating event--NOT "elite" skaters) in October of 2012 if she ever learns her change-foot spin so she can pass the freestyle 3 test!


All of the Naditz clan vacationed well this year. In addition to the usual quick weekends to Lake Tahoe and Carmel, they took a longer vacation to Orlando to return to DisneyWorld. They're headed back to Disneyland for the last week of December. Somehow, Disney parks never grow old!
The pets are doing well also. Sophie, the dog, is getting up in years, and it shows in her fur and in her bad leg. It has been sad to not really be able to take her anywhere anymore, but she is still such wonderful company around the house.
We hope this holiday season finds you healthy and happy and look forward to hearing from you!
All the best,
The Naditz Family