As 2015 comes to a close, we are grateful for another year of memories together. We celebrated New Year’s at Evergreen Lodge in Yosemite National Park – where we’ll close out this year in just a few weeks. (Our third year in a row! Can’t wait.)
We love seeing new national parks each year; spring break in Hawaii and a road trip to see family in Boulder over the 4th of July let us see a number of parks through Utah and Colorado. New parks in our National Parks Passport this year:
- Haleakala
- Volcanoes
- Zion
- Canyonlands
- Arches
- Rocky Mountain
Rick, 15, is now a sophomore in high school at Cal High. He’s enjoying Cal’s Engineering Pathway, and is active in a number of clubs at Cal – robotics, coding, and video gaming. We’ve enjoyed being able to rely on him as a babysitter for his siblings, something he’s become quite good at. (Even they agree, for the most part!) A highlight of his summer was a week at the ELCA Youth Gathering in Detroit, where he traveled with several other high school kids from our church. He made a number of new friends, volunteered on service projects throughout Detroit, and even got to see two of the original Temptations perform in Motown!
Joining his brother in the teen demographic is Robby, now in 8th grade at Windemere Ranch Middle School. He continues to thrive in both improv and musical theater; in addition to several live performances in his improv troupe, he performed in his first musical this past spring, and earned the male lead role in Tales of Olympus, Jr. that will debut in January 2016! Along with his brother, he was confirmed at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in May. He continues to play clarinet – this year as a member of the Windemere Ranch Symphonic Band.
Becca, 10, remains the family athlete (and crafter, so many crafts!). She played AAU basketball through the spring and summer, attended Michael Jordan Flight School with her brothers for a week in August (MJ personally complimented her defense!), and is getting a lot of playing time as a member of the St. Raymond 5th grade girls CYO A team. This is her last year in elementary school – she spent 3 days away at Camp Arroyo with her 5th grade class this fall and plays clarinet in the Live Oak Advanced Band. She and her Girl Scouts troop are working hard on their Bronze Award.
Robin and I met in June of 1995 – this June we celebrated 20 years together! I continue to love what I do at GV, and Robin remains active with the PTA both locally and at the county level.
We are so grateful for your friendship. Here’s hoping that 2016 brings equally great memories for you and yours.
With love,
R5