2016 recap
Despite my best intentions, I did not get caught up on blogging during school vacation week. In hindsight I have to wonder,.. why on earth do I think I will get work done or caught up on things when everyone is home? Chalk it up to good intentions.
I did spend the week thinking back over the previous year. I'm not pessimistic, but it wasn't the best of years. We lost my mom to cancer and spent most of our summer driving to visit her in hospitals and at her home. The world lost some amazing artists and we saw friends posting about their struggles or losses.
But on other side of the coin there were a lot of good things that happened in 2016 as well.
I was able to chaperone the PHS Band trip to Disney with Becca. Becca applied to college and we all watched the mail come in. She was fortunate to receive scholarships to her top choice schools and we watched her graduate in June. In August we brought her to school and she loves college. She finished the semester with great grades and today I'm driving her back for her winter semester.
Micaela had a small exhibit of her artwork at our local library and I think was very surprised by the positive comments she received on her work. She interned for a week at a local art camp and her work is impressive. We've been to 2 college tours and she was really impressed at one of the schools.
We've bridged from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts this spring and Jacob attended Boy Scout overnight camp this summer. It was his first time away and surprisingly enough I wasn't too worried about it. I think those boys wore the same clothes all week and he came home covered in bug bites (because bug spray makes an excellent flame thrower apparently....) and super happy. He had a great time! This fall I was able to chaperone a 3-day hiking trip with his class and was super impressed with him. He lead part of the hike and was encouraging the kids who really didn't want to be there.
I posted on Facebook a few months ago that I've been a scout mom, sports mom, and band mom, and I've now become a dance mom. Sophia started ballet this fall. She's asked a few times over the past year and I looked into it this fall. I gave her a choice of soccer or ballet ... and she chose ballet. She really enjoys it. She also began playing the saxophone this fall.
Despite the craziness of our summer we managed to fit in a 3-week camp job and some family day trips. For a family that never really traveled before, after last summer's college tour vacation we've begun doing more family adventures for which I am very thankful. While we will all grumpily remember discovering that the city we wanted to visit was not within walking distance of the train station, we did get to find the quirky small museum that was nearby. We had fun on public transportation and visited some great places.
We had ups, downs, and a whole lot of in-betweens. I've been reflecting on these for this past week and am really looking forward to 2017. It can only get better. I write that not from a place that says we're mired in a low spot, but that we will continue to move forward to the adventure ahead.
I did spend the week thinking back over the previous year. I'm not pessimistic, but it wasn't the best of years. We lost my mom to cancer and spent most of our summer driving to visit her in hospitals and at her home. The world lost some amazing artists and we saw friends posting about their struggles or losses.
But on other side of the coin there were a lot of good things that happened in 2016 as well.
I was able to chaperone the PHS Band trip to Disney with Becca. Becca applied to college and we all watched the mail come in. She was fortunate to receive scholarships to her top choice schools and we watched her graduate in June. In August we brought her to school and she loves college. She finished the semester with great grades and today I'm driving her back for her winter semester.
Micaela had a small exhibit of her artwork at our local library and I think was very surprised by the positive comments she received on her work. She interned for a week at a local art camp and her work is impressive. We've been to 2 college tours and she was really impressed at one of the schools.
We've bridged from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts this spring and Jacob attended Boy Scout overnight camp this summer. It was his first time away and surprisingly enough I wasn't too worried about it. I think those boys wore the same clothes all week and he came home covered in bug bites (because bug spray makes an excellent flame thrower apparently....) and super happy. He had a great time! This fall I was able to chaperone a 3-day hiking trip with his class and was super impressed with him. He lead part of the hike and was encouraging the kids who really didn't want to be there.
I posted on Facebook a few months ago that I've been a scout mom, sports mom, and band mom, and I've now become a dance mom. Sophia started ballet this fall. She's asked a few times over the past year and I looked into it this fall. I gave her a choice of soccer or ballet ... and she chose ballet. She really enjoys it. She also began playing the saxophone this fall.
Despite the craziness of our summer we managed to fit in a 3-week camp job and some family day trips. For a family that never really traveled before, after last summer's college tour vacation we've begun doing more family adventures for which I am very thankful. While we will all grumpily remember discovering that the city we wanted to visit was not within walking distance of the train station, we did get to find the quirky small museum that was nearby. We had fun on public transportation and visited some great places.
We had ups, downs, and a whole lot of in-betweens. I've been reflecting on these for this past week and am really looking forward to 2017. It can only get better. I write that not from a place that says we're mired in a low spot, but that we will continue to move forward to the adventure ahead.
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