What a Magical Life
“All you need is faith, trust and a little bit of pixie dust.”
This year was magical in so many ways. Of course, it wasn’t without its ups and downs, where there was a little extra faith and trust needed, but truly this year held some absolutely incredible moments for our family.
I’ll start with the more obvious “magic,” and I mean Disney magic! To celebrate 20 years of marriage, we decided to take a special family vacation and went on our first Disney cruise to the Bahamas. It exceeded all expectations! We started with a few days in Fort Lauderdale, enjoying the beach and ocean and then boarded the cruise ship and set sail for Disney’s own Bahamian islands as well as Nassau. I will most definitely fail at trying to cover everything that we did, so I will just call out a few things and let the pictures below tell the story. The shows on the ship were incredible, the activities were plentiful (rum tasting for the adults, towel folding class, late night movies, pirate night, fireworks, kids clubs…I could go on), and excursions and island visits were unforgettable - “swimming” with dolphins and crystal clear blue water and the softest sand in our toes.
It also was a welcome break and vacation coming off of a very busy first half of the year. Show choir competitions and musical theater continue to be a passion for our oldest. Her middle school show choir remains one of the best in our district and this year’s show was incredible. The theme was a story about a ballet girl, so I think it will always hold a special place in my heart! Feel free to watch at this link of one of their performances. And since I am later than usual getting Christmas cards out this year, their 25-26 season performance is also available to watch here! Additionally, our girl had the honor of playing the role of Hermes in the school’s spring musical performance of “Hadestown: Teen Edition” and she absolutely crushed it, all while wearing 4” heels with nearly no break off stage AND battling a nasty virus. Despite the unfortunate timing of a virus plaguing many of the cast members, it was a jaw dropping performance and will hold a special place in our hearts!
The “B’s” as we like to call our youngest and middle child, both continue to play soccer. Our “lady B” plays in the academy, and “B-Man” plays on the club’s competitive ECNL travel team. I love watching them play - our little lady may be tiny but she has taken a liking to playing goalie, and her brother loves to give her drills and “training sessions” at home to better her goalie skills. Though she be but little she is fierce! Our son always amazes me with his ability to nutmeg me around the house at any moment, and watching him on the field at “center mid” is so exciting! I love watching him find teammates and pass them the ball with such precision; even more, I love watching him celebrate his teammates on the field. Soccer continues to be a major part of Ron’s life, too, and this fall, he stepped into the head coaching position for our 2013 team. Seeing father and son back together on the pitch is such a joy! Not only that, but seeing the impact Ron has had on this team in just the summer & fall season has been incredible, too. I am so proud of him and all of the boys and what they have accomplished this year! Of course, I was usually on the sidelines taking pictures, so If you’d like to stay up to date, you can follow the team account on Instagram here. Lastly, Lady B continues to amaze us with her flexibility and tumbling skills…she has mastered so many ways to flip and turn herself!
I still wear the hat of small business owner/photographer as well as dance teacher at a local studio. I am so lucky that my job(s) involve the art forms that I love so much. It has also been special to share my love of dance with my girls, and now my son, who tried out for show choir this fall and made the same team as his big sister!! It’s going to be a fun show choir competition season seeing them BOTH on stage together. I never anticipated that their extracurricular activities would overlap, but here we are and I am so excited for it! I think it will be a special memory for all of us, for this brief time having two in middle school, before our oldest goes to high school next fall (what?! How did that happen?!).
Ron continues his job at the hospital and it has been fun to see him pursue and accomplish some professional career goals this past year (a bonus that some of it also involved travel!). In the spring, he completed a 2 year fellowship with the Health Management Academy (HMA), and I was fortunate to be able to travel out and see his graduation ceremony in Washington, D.C. I am so proud of the work he put in and his enthusiasm for the future of health care technology and innovation.
““I suppose it’s like the ticking crocodile, isn’t it? Time is chasing after all of us.” ”
As the kids are getting older, we are both becoming acutely aware of how little time we have left with them at home. While some days feel incredibly busy, stressful and chaotic doing all the things, I would not trade this for the world and am so glad to be on this adventure called life with Ron and the kids. As it says in Peter Pan, “To live will be an awfully big adventure." Wishing you and yours the very best holiday season, and an upcoming year full of big adventures!