Updates. December 2015

The year has been tremendous.  Olivia posted amazing grades at school and has enjoyed playing oboe in the band.  She continues to enjoy gymnastics, softball, dance and soccer.  In Girls Scouts she has completed the requirements for the Bronze Award.  In May we took a 10 day vacation to Maui...thank goodness for frequent flyer miles!  Olivia met two new friends, both from California, and is planning to be pen pals with them until they meet again in person.  Lots of pictures to post!

Miss O at the Maui Ocean Center....Three visits!

Beachcombing!

This a turtle who just decided to come up on the beach for a rest.  While we watched, 14 turtles came up.

 Our favorite beach was Makena Bay.  The first three days the ocean was fairly churned up with high waves...after that we had tremendous snorkeling opportunities.

The favorite pastime time was engineering sand castles.  These are two of the beauties the girls built.

The second of two amazing sand castles.

The "Mini Cardinals" softball team.

Another big event in the family was that we are able to purchase our dream vacation condo in Estes Park, Colorado.  We hope to be spending more and more time there as the years roll on.

Alaska 2012

We headed to Alaska in late May for a week-long cruise.  AMAZING!  The first day was rough as we traveled out into the Pacific....eight foot swells rocked the ship a bit....quite a few folks were green around the gills.  Whales and dolphins were a common sight.  The naturalist on board came on the loudspeaker at regular intervals pointing out the various wildlife.

 This was the pilot's boat that met us as we entered the Inside Passage.  At this point the mountain were all around us and there was ice in the water.

 A happy family!

Miss O and Barb rafting a fairly swollen river in Skagway.  We hiked a short time on the Chilkoot Trail, which was one of the main trails that the Klondike Gold Rush prospectors used to reach the Yukon River.  From there they built boats to float their 2000 lbs of supplies to Dawson City.  Of the 100,000 miners to start the trip only about 30,000 actually reached their destination.  Of these, we were told that only 300 or so actually found gold.

 At the base of the Mindenhall Glacier runoff. 

My girl!

Colorado 2011-Estes Park

It's been a long time since we have been able to visit Colorado and stay at the YMCA of the Rockies, in Estes Park. The Y is situated right outside of the gate to Rocky Mountain National Park, one of the jewels in the National Park system. We hiked, rode horses, ate, hiked, ate, hiked, ate....you get the picture. We may be looking for a condo to purchase so that we can spend more time here. Olivia's comment after the first day of hiking was "That's hard!" It did not stop her from accompanying mom and dad the next day on a 10 mile round tripper though! What a trooper! The school year has now started and we'll be posting soon about activities and the like. Gymnastics still reigns high on Olivia's list and now we are adding band......OBOE is her chosen instrument. We hope that all have a great fall.

Holland 2011

We have made our annual pilgrimage to Holland, Michigan for a few days of warm days and cool nights. Ms. O has a new friend, Narissa, from Indianapolis, Indiana. The standard and yearly photo of the girls waving through the window in the pool is attached. Also included is the yearly sand castle project. Those who follow this blog know that Barb (Momma) and O/Emily/Matt/Shaughn always build a world class sand castle. Home today and life tomorrow. Wahhhhhhhhhhh........BUT! Colorado in about three weeks!

The Indy 500 (Holland, MI Edition)

Ms. O tries her hand at driving. It's only just beginning.

It's been a long time since we posted. Olivia is coming up on her 9th BD and we held her party today. Ten girls attended as we held an "Old Fashioned Birthday Party" here in our backyard. Pin the Tail on the Donkey, sack races, water balloon toss, slip-n-slide, hot dogs and real homemade ice cream were the events of the day. Olivia is involved in several activities. She continues to enjoy gymnastics and will be competing for the second season at US Gymnastics level 4. Her level 5 skills are coming along well but another year at level 4 will allow her to have an opportunity to hone her skills before jumping in to the more demanding level 5. Girl Scouts continues to hold her interest as Mom (Barb) is her leader. Barb has 28 girls registered for her troop next fall. It's as she says "We are the pig going down the boa constrictor." re: her troop and the local council. No other troop in the council is as large or as active. This is Barb's second go around with Girl Scouts as she was the leader for Olivia's older sister's troop....12 girls earned Gold Award. That's almost unheard of. Olivia is looking forward to 4th grade. Academically she fared well in 3rd, earning mostly As. Her reading skills improve weekly and we have her doing extra work at the local Sylvan Learning Center. Olivia enjoys this extra work and looks forward to reading more demanding literature. Olivia loves her animal friends....the three dogs and five cats that have taken up residence with out family. This picture is of Scout at Christmas.....the cats mostly left the tree and ornaments alone. Scout is our lone boy kitty....he never met a meal he didn't like....and is the most lovable cat we've ever seen. The newest adventure is Olivia starting band in the fall. She has selected oboe as her instrument. Should be fun. That's it for now. We continue to love every day with our terrific daughter. Never a dull moment.