Summer 2026

 Hello.  Summer of 2026 flew by and was busy again for our family.  

Early in the summer, friends reached out and suggested attending my 35th College Reunion at Bucknell.  It all came together and it was a great time.  We stayed in the dorms and had time to visit.  I found an old picture from graduation and paired it with a picture from the reunion I captured here.

Madi and Clark took a trip to Glacier and Banff in June and did camping and hiking there.  An amazing trip.

Madi also took a trip to Jacksonville to visit with her cousins late summer.  Good to see them all together in a different place.  

Abby had a busy summer.  She worked as a lifeguard at the pool again this summer.  She worked alot of hours, but enjoyed it and the $$$.  She also attended the field hockey offseason sessions and attended the Field Hockey Camp at Shippensburg University with some teammates

Madi was able to score some Noah Khan tickets in DC.  We took her down with a friend and they attended the concert together which was cool.

We went to the beach over July 4th, as an annual anniversary trip (July 5) each year.  We went to Carolina Beach, NC so Andrew could come over and spend a few days with us.  We then went to Fort Bragg to see the base, his work area, and his apartment.  It turned out to be a great place at the beach, good weather, and a great visit with him.

Abby and her cousin Lauren travelled to NYC for 2 nights.  They had a great time site seeing and shopping.

Rebekah traveled to Georgia/ Tennessee to be with her family and celebrate her parents 60th wedding anniversary in July.

In late July, Abby got her license!  She has been enjoying the freedom of driving to do things.

That included driving to school for the first day of her Junior year!

School has started for her and she has a good schedule.  Field Hockey as also begun.  She is looking forward to a good season with her team.  They published the schedule graphic (she is on far right) and had media day.

Andrew has adjusted to being back from deployment and settled back in at Fort Bragg.  No pictures, but stole this picture of him in his office when we went to visit him

We were able to get tickets to a US Open event in NYC where Rebekah's favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, returned for an event.  We stayed the night and went to Macy's the next day.  It was a great trip and checked a box for Rebekah to see Federer live and go to her favorite store.

We had our annual Labor Day picnic at our house.  Madi and Clark were able come...so I took a picture.

This fall, Madi will continue with work and pursuing her Masters Degree in Film at American University.  Andrew is stabilized at Fort Bragg for the foreseeable future in his 1LT role with the Field Artillery unit there.  Abby will play field hockey, work on her Junior courses, and participate in all the fall school activities.

Hope you had a great summer and a good start to fall....unitl next time.

Spring 2026

 Hope you had a good spring.  Here are some highlights from our spring.

Andrew spent some alot of his spring in the Middle East on an Immediate Response Mission as part of the kick off of Epic Fury.  He returned safely with alot of growth from challenging missions, threats, and living conditions.  He returned home with his Deployment Badge and his Combat Action Badge (CAB, if you know what that is).  

We proudly displayed our deployment flag during that time.

His return did allow him to attend VMI Graduation for a friend and to be in his friend's wedding from college.

We were also able to take advantage of a really nice spring day to play some golf.  Not the best golf round, but we hit enough shots to keep it interesting and had a good time.

Abby had a busy and productive spring.  She completed her semester well, taking her first 2 AP tests as part of her AP courses.

She drove alot on her permit this spring, she has her hours in already.  She is excited to get her license end of July.

She played lacrosse and had a succesful season where she saw alot of playing time and improvement...and earned her varsity letter.  Here are some pics from the season.

Abby also continues to play the cello in the orchestra.  They had their traditional end of the year Pops Concert.  It was a great concert that Abby really enjoyed the song selection this time.

Rebekah planned an opportunity to go to a Phil Wickham concert outside of DC.  They went with another mother and daughter and had a great time.

I had a birthday in March.  This year I had a chance to celebrate it with Madi and Abby.  Madi got Rebekah and I tickets to see Nate Bargatze in DC.  Due to circumstances, I went with Madi....we both like comedy and it was a great show and time together.

We were going to take a hike on my birthday, but the weather turned on us.  Abby and I went to Top Golf instead, it was fun....and she beat me a couple of the rounds.

Madi was busy with work and grad school.  Her documentary on the Potomac River was shown on the local PBS station...what an accomplishment!

Documentary Link: PBS Link

She also had the opportunity to travel to Washington state for a project.

We were fortunate this year to have Madi at the house for her birthday.  She got to see Abby play in a spring field hockey tournament and see the Pops Concert.  We had dinner and did the traditional birthday cake.

I was able to gather us around in the evening after dinner and long day for a picture of all of us....in the phase of life where this is a rare occurrence.

This summer, Andrew will return to Fort Bragg and continue to serve there as a Field Artillery Officer.  We plan to travel down to see him and where he works this summer.

Madi will continue with grad classes and they have some great travel planned.  They are also moving to another location in DC!

Abby will work as a lifeguard at the lake pool where we live.  She has alot of field hockey summer training and opportunities to also keep her busy.  She looks forward to her license in late July in time for school in the fall.

Hope you have a good summer!  Until next time!

Winter 2025 / 2026 and Abby turns 16

 Hello.  Hope you are having a good start to winter.  Here, we had our first traditional snow and cold snap in a while.  We have been incased in snow  for weeks.  We had a busy December and January.

The cold did mean that we were able to get out skiing a few more times this year.  A friend from Field Hockey skis and was able to take Abby a few additional times.

Abby played club field hockey this winter.  It was a good experience for her.  We had a few tournaments at Spooky Nook, York College, and United Sports.  The season finished with a tournament in Virgina Beach.  Here are a few pics from the games.

Virginia Beach

Abby turned 16 at the end of January.  She went and passed her permit test on her birthday....and drove home (a tradition from the other kids, probably on this blog!). We were able to get a used car and she is doing really well driving to start off.

We celebrated Abby's birthday with multiple events.  We made her favorite meal on her birthday, Gramp's Taco Salad and had a blizzard cake.  We also had her friends over and we took them to our favorite pizza place, Coal Fire in Frederick, MD.  Then, Rebekah took Madi and Abby to NYC to shop and see Wicked. 

NYC

Abby had a good academic semester in the fall, and has a challenging schedule with spring with 2 AP claesses - excited for her growth.  She will play varsity lacrosse in the spring.

Andrew has settled into his role at Fort Bragg, NC.  He passed his safety and knowledge tests and was given a platoon leader position, 3rd PLT, C Btry "Chaos", 3-27 FAR, 18th FAB, XVIII Airborne Corps. This is what he has been working toward, and we are excited for him.

Madi finished out a very tough semester in grad school.  It was very busy and challenging, but she was able to lead the projects to conclusion.  She has been recognized and presented opportunities to participate in film shoots this spring, she is excited about that.  Here is a pic of Madi and Clark from Christmas...

Hope you have a good rest of a winter and start to spring....until next time....