We are a family with two girls (ages 10 and 7 August 2019). Randy is a Computer Programmer. Tess is a full time Mom (having worked previously in insurance and interior design).
Tess is more active on this site than Randy. We enjoy science fiction and fantasy (in both books, movies, and tv). We enjoy travelling and seeing art, castles, mazes and historical sights (especially castles). We don't get to travel often enough, but we enjoy being at home as well and we get together with friends fairly often to play games.
Randy is very musically oriented, being a self-taught pianist since he was about 5 years old.
We are not afraid to be the only ones on the dance floor. We enjoy ballroom dancing, though we are not experts or competitors; the Tango is Tess' favorite.
We enjoy a wide variety of music, though Randy is more interested in classical than Tess and Tess likes Celtic-influenced music and oldies more than Randy. Tess is not crazy about techno or anything very repetitive. Neither of us care for country music very much. We both like Frank Sinatra (especially for dancing).
We've been married for 10 years as of July 24 2009.
Our daughter Corinna was born June 2009. Our younger daughter Alia was born December 2011.

CURRENT MISSION
I want to enjoy beauty - in nature, art, and language. It's important to love where you are and travel to expand your experiences (even if only in your mind).-Tess

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

We spent a month in September and October of 2007 travelling through France, Italy, and Greece. I found out about this site before our trip and I am so glad! The couchsurfing experiences we were able to have really made our trip special! I don't know when we'll be able to afford another trip like that, but hopefully we can travel vicariously through some couch surfing visitors bringing their parts of the world to us.
Si vous parlez francais, je voudrais vous rencontrer!

Interests

Tess: Scottish Country Dancing, things in French, playing board games & card games, riding bike, cross country skiing, ice skating, going on walks, reading, making Corinna laugh.
Randy: playing piano, cooking, playing board games & card games, riding bike, cross country skiing, roleplaying games (like Dungeons & Dragons), going on walks, playing on computer.
Corinna: dancing to music, kitty cats, "Paddington Bear goes to Market" throwing things, taking off people's eyeglasses, the wind in her face, looking at trees.

• cats
• arts
• books
• beauty
• dancing
• tango
• ballroom dancing
• cooking
• movies
• board games
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• music
• country music
• piano
• cycling
• kayaking
• surfing
• skiing
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies:
Pan's Labyrinth, Amelie, Charade (because Audrey Hepburn is so elegant!), 28 Days Later, The Others, Sixth Sense, Fifty First Dates, Memento, Shaun of the Dead, Lord of the Rings trilogy, El Orfanato.

Books:
"Jackdaws" by Ken Follett (one of our favorite authors - writes historical fiction)
- lots of sci fi and fantasy (authors like Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin)
- stories by H.P. Lovecraft
- humor by Dave Barry (new book "Money Secrets" is great!)
- humor by Jack Handy ("If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We would, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.")

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Tess has been sea kayaking in Wales.
Randy and Tess went parasailing in Los Cabos, Mexico.
When we were in Assisi in 2000, we saw 4 brides and grooms on their wedding day.
The Celebration of Light fireworks competition in Vancouver, BC (Canada) amazes us every year. http://www.celebration-of-light.com/

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United Kingdom, United States