Summer 2014

Hello again.  We had a busy but very good summer.  We took our annual family pilgrimage to Williamsburg in mid-June.  We went to Water Country, Busch Gardens and to Virginia Beach in addition to the amenities at the time share as usual.  Everyone had a good time and Abby was able to ride more rides at Water Country this time.  My phone died and I lost some pics, but here are the ones we were able to gather up...

 

 

 



Andrew went to one and half weeks of basketball camp. He also played in a summer league for upcoming 7th and 8th graders once a week that I helped coach which was fun.

 

We did find time for him and a friend to play paintball.....

We also attempted golfing. He did really well for the first time and also the second time.  I think he will admit the highlight was driving the golf cart though...

 

Andrew also celebrated his 13th birthday.  Most of his gifts were wrapped up in a new Trek bicycle that he used extensively to ride around our community with friends and back and forth to the pool all summer.  We had a friend party that included a nerf war, pizza, and movie  and family over later as well...

 

 

 



Madi had a busy summer.  Madi's eye has shown some improvement though not totally healed.  She was able to run pretty consistently all summer and was able to participate in some summer field hockey workouts and played the last summer league game...She stayed busy getting with friends and working on her summer school assignments.  She was able to attend Word of Life camp on the Island again with a friend and had a good time. Here is a picture of her and one of her counselors..

Abby had a good summer with vacation, vacation bible school, and going to the pool almost every day.  She really has become a pretty good beginner swimmer...

 

 

There was also time to lay around...

 



 

We did sneak to Ocean City, MD end of July for 2 days with cousin Lauren.  Madi, Andrew, and Lauren did a lot of boogie boarding and Abby played in the waves. We also took a trip to the boardwalk.

 

 

I did get promoted to Colonel in August.  Brig Gen Scott Kelly officiated the low key event.

 





  

Rebekah had a difficult summer with her back.  She finally scheduled back surgery in early Aug...she is on the mend and hopefully this will improve her discomfort long term. 

 

 

Hope you had a great summer....heading back to school for all of us....Madi - 10th and playing high school field hockey as well as continuing violin and chorus, Andrew -7th and participating in middle school cross country,  and Abby- Pre-K and continuing to be her silly self....

 

Here is a picture of Madi and Andrew on the first day of school...they are looking overly sad for dramatic effect, but had a great summer and were not overly excited to return....

 

 

Enjoy your fall....



Spring 2014

Hello.  It was a busy spring again for us. The weather was pretty cold and rainy through April which put a hamper on some activities like Madi's track meets, but especially Andrew's baseball season....but it all worked out as usual.

Grammy and Gramps took Abby to see Disney on Ice Princesses and Heroes.  She had a good time.

 

 



We celebrated Easter with Family.  Here are some pics of us at my parent's house Easter day.  Abby and the other kids had their annual egg hunt.

Madi had a busy spring running high school track and playing club field hockey.  Madi's track season went really well.  She was able to run varsity in the 1600 and 3200 running personal best's in both.  She was able to run in a few invitationals and earned a varsity letter.  Unfortunately, her season was cut a little short by a concussion she received in gym class...here are a few pics of her running.

We were able to get a good batch of field hockey pictures at a tournament (thanks Phil) the day before her concussion...

Madi had a rough spring after these pictures.  The concussion subsided but her eye was still giving her pain and she had double vision.  After seeing a Ophthalmologist a week later, she was diagnosed with an orbital blow out fracture.  The blow to the head from the collision fractured the bone behind her eye and then trapped part of the eye not allowing it to track with the other eye.  She had an emergency surgery at Wills Eye Institute in Philly to fix the fracture and free the eye.  She was swollen and in alot of pain for a week.  She missed a significant amount of school.  She was cleared to go to school three weeks later, though she still had double vision.  She wore an eye patch to school to finish.  She was able to catch up and finish her finals.  At the writing of this post, she is still recovering.  She still has double vision looking straight and down.  We have an appointment in late June to get an evaluation of progress.  We are told that recovery can take months.  This has been quite an ordeal.  Madi has shown remarkable strength and resilience throughout the entire process....though she is ready to be better.  I will keep you posted....prayers appreciated. 

Madi did celebrate her 15th Birthday amongst all of that.  We had a small celebration for her, pictured below and then she celebrated with others the last day of school at the pool.

Andrew experienced the Gettysburg Middle School tradition of 6th grade camp.  He went for a week to a camp with the entire 6th grade where they did outside science academic work as well as many other social activities.  For his first time away from home he did well.

Took this picture...an actual worn out basketball...a lot of practice by Andrew went into this picture..

He played little league baseball again. Here are some pics.

He also participated in the Memorial Day parade as a trumpet player in the middle school band, he's in there somewhere...

Madi and Abby also came along to watch....

Abby was a spectator for all events...her is a picture of her coming home from one of them...

Madi had a mask given to her to ice her eye.  Abby found that and a cape from Madi's room and played superhero for an evening....I thought it was appropriate to include...

I was offered the opportunity to be the Commander of my military unit in early June.  I was fortunate to have help in planning a change of command ceremony that included family and friends. It turned out to be great event.  Here are some pictures.

We are looking forward to a good summer.  We have a vacation and some sport camps and activities planned....hope you are looking at a good summer plan as well.....