The Blog

It has been 20 years since Christine and Keith said, ” I do.” A lot has happened since then and most of it is worth celebrating. To celebrate the day, Christine and Keith made reservations for a get away to Mirbeau Inn & Spa Resort in Skaneateles. They arrived at approximately 2:45. When they checked in, there were glasses of champagne waiting for them on this day, their 20th wedding anniversary. After a brief tour of the grounds and finishing their champagne, the couple parted way for a short while; Christine had an appointment for a massage before dinner. While Keith would check into the room and relax with a scotch whiskey and a nice read, Christine would take in the sauna more than the hot tub, receive a relaxing full body massage, and soak her feet before calling to Keith to pick her up and escort her to the […]

Keith had been planning this day, in one way or another, since the last eclipse on August 21, 2017. On that day, Christine and the kids were at the Bradley Beach in New Jersey, and Keith was working from home while still employed with St Joe’s. Everyone had a chance to see the eclipse, but not together and Keith was committed to experiencing the eclipse together as a family when the next opportunity presented. This was going to be our year. Keith arranged for the day off last summer, before anyone was talking about the eclipse or even knew that is was happening. He took off both Monday and Tuesday, and he insisted that Christine do the same. He was willing to drive up to 12 hours if necessary. The plan? To look at the forecast and drive away from the clouds. That was last summer. Things over the last […]

With NASCAR out of the picture and Austin not having a tremendous interest in camping/photography (last year’s activity), Austin was left to try to come up with something that he might want to do with Keith this summer. Keith had told him that he was willing to travel out of state (by car, of course), but he was hoping that Austin would be able to think of something that he would like to do together. Alas, Austin wasn’t able to think of anything. So Keith took it upon himself to look into the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds with the thought of Austin perhaps enjoying looking at and watching aircraft, in light of his interests in aeronautics. Fortunately, the Thunderbirds were scheduled to perform at the Rochester Air Show this past weekend. All Keith would need to do was wait and see if the weather would cooperate. By Thursday morning, it […]

When Keith left St Joseph’s Home Care in the summer of 2019, the plan was to take the monies from the 6+ weeks of accrued PTO and spend it on a trip to Disney in the autumn of the following year. Austin would be in middle school, Victoria would be in elementary school, Christine would be working part time, and Keith would have accrued enough time at Nascentia; it would be a good time to go with light crowds and no commitments keeping the family in CNY. And then COVID happened. So, here we are now in 2023 trying to figure out how to get to Disney. We have had multiple discussions as a family, and – right now – there are no plans to go. No one is a HUGE Disney fan. Austin enjoys is mostly past his Star Wars phase and has never been a Marvel junkie, Victoria […]

Aunt Peggy actually brought it to the attention of Keith and Christine. She had seen a promotion on Facebook for a sleep over/camping experience at Wolf Mountain. She thought it could be something that Victoria might enjoy and Christine and Keith agreed wholeheartedly. Keith asked Christine if she would mind if she took Victoria and Christine (not being a fan of camping) thought that made the idea even better, so tickets were purchased in the late winter in anticipation of the rain/shine event. Victoria had been to Wolf Mountain in a few other occasions and has always enjoyed the experience, so this was an opportunity that offered some promise, even if it would require both Keith and Victoria to step outside of their comfort zones and hang-out with a group of strangers for the better part of 24 hours. When they arrived to the grounds, they selected a site and […]

Last year, Keith and Austin has intended to attend the NASCAR race at Pocono, but circumstances prevented their attendance so they elected to go to Watkins Glen instead. Since that time, Austin has not watched a single race, couldn’t tell you who won last year’s championship (Kyle Larson, by the way), and failed to watch the Daytona 500 for the first time in a decade. It is the end of an era as the passion for NASCAR racing has expired. A few months ago, Keith asked Austin if there was something that he would prefer to do instead of go to the NASCAR race and after a little thought, he decided that he would like to try a camping/photography trip. He wanted to try camping for the first time and he said that he wanted to give photography try. Of all the places that Keith could think of, the site […]

Victoria has been asking to go rock climbing, which has been a strange, because she is scared of heights. Nonetheless, she has wanted to go and Aunt Peggy took the initiative to help arrange for the kids to go climbing at Central Rock. Lia was fearless and fast. Austin too was quiet capable – so long as he doesn’t look down, he says. He was able to climb without much difficulty. Victoria, on the other hand, is much like her father and not at all at ease as she climbs higher and higher. Where she differs from Keith, however, is in her resilience. She would climb a step higher, and freeze in place, muscles physically trembling in fear, then – somehow – push through and overcome to move up a bit higher before she would again freeze, tremble, contemplate, and pull herself up even farther. She was a champ!

Victoria and Austin’s end-of-the-year report cards came home and they were spectacular. We’re not sure how to express how proud we are of each of them. They continue to successfully navigate through an academic experience and pandemic life with discipline, dedication and devotion. Despite the challenges and obstacles that they face, they persevere, push through, and prevail. And best of all, they both remain kind, honorable, and authentic. They are nothing short of amazing.

On October 4, 2017, Austin helped Victoria don a dobak for the first time. She had been watching Austin participate in Tae Kwon Do for years and was eager to try it herself at the same dojang, where all the instructors had watched her grow up. Over the next 4-plus years, Victoria would continue to grow. She would overcome obstacles on the way to her black belt testing that Austin did not. There was a foot fracture. COVID-19. A change in ownership. Through it all, Victoria remained committed and this week culminated in her testing for her black belt. We are so very proud of how hard she worked over these many years, but even moreso for how she really devoted herself to getting prepared for this test. She was often attending softball and Tae Kwon Do on the same night. She would make the difficult decision to prioritize Tae […]