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 […]
It was all Christine’s idea, actually. Since the early winter, Victoria has been into horses. A lot. She watches videos about horses. She reads about horses. She has spent money on toy horses, riders, and stables. She has studied breeds, riding styles, and equipment. Despite not having access to a horse, she has been all in, so Christine thought it would be nice if Victoria had a chance to go horseback riding. Initially, there was some question about who should accompany her, but Keith and Christine quickly agreed that a mother/daughter event would be most apt. By excluding friends, Victoria would be able to fully absorb the experience and be in the moment throughout. Christine could also engage Victoria in a manner that would keep her engaged with her experience, rather than be distracted. Christine ultimately arranged for the two of them to ride at Highland Forest County Park. Keith […]
Kids say, “It isn’t fair,” and they’re right. Parents like to say, “It builds character,” and sometimes it does. Victoria has negotiated the COVID pandemic with strength and resiliency. She has worked to protect her family and friends from illness as much as herself. She conquered remote learning. She was an enthusiastic home-school student. One year later, she re-acclimated to a new school with new students and has thrived. She is incredible. She is such a hard worker and is a high character kid. She is a empathetic, genuine, and kind person, and we couldn’t be more proud of her. So when the chance finally came to celebrate her birthday properly – for the 1st time in 3 years – Christine and Keith wanted to do this celebration right. They aimed to set it up so that she would celebrate her birthday for a full week: Lia would come over […]
It probably happens every year, but not always over our neighborhood, much less over our house. As Keith and Austin traveled north on Lake Street, returning home after breakfast at Darlene’s, Keith could see a large flock of birds flying from northwest to southeast. The flock was crossing over Bolivar Road north of the baptist church, somewhere over our neighborhood. As they approached the intersection, Keith shared with Austin how he had seen a similar flock of birds 7-8 years ago while walking with Harvey and how amazing the experience was as a stream of thousands of birds stretched over a mile long passed overhead for minutes at a time. Keith proceeded to pull into the neighborhood in hopes of driving under the flock, but the birds were gone before he even crossed the intersection. Upon arriving home, however, Austin commented that he could still hear the birds in the […]
He was 2 years old when it began. Keith was away or didn’t take pictures on a couple of occasions, but the pie has been made every February every year since.
They did an outstanding job and they more than deserved it. Today, we went to Tully’s for a late lunch to celebrate Austin and Victoria’s second quarter report cards. The kids had the exact same meal: Buffalo Tender dinner with fries and ginger ale. Christine had the fish taco and Keith had a chicken sandwich. We watched the Puppy Bowl and Olympic curling while we ate our meals and – a bit later – our peanut butter pie for desert. We’ve been getting take from Tully’s on occasion over the last couple years, but it definitely tasted better today than it has in a very, very long time.
We have been really, really cautious with this whole COVID-thing. The kids were pulled out of school. We continue to mask, despite being vaccinated. We still avoid crowded restaurants, bars, and gatherings. We liberally utilize rapid-tests when we feel a bit under the weather or welcome visitors from outside our immediate family-pod. So there was a little trepidation leading up to this, our first post-vaccine (but mid-pandemic) holiday. Would others be willing to exercise the same degree of caution that we do, even for a weekend, so that everyone could hang-out and enjoy the festivities with equal ease? Would there be tension if we asked folks to gently rub a swab in their nares before getting together? We didn’t know what to expect, but those concerns were allayed when Elizabeth asked people to test before visiting in advance of us even needing to bring it up. #thumbsup Keith had to […]
For the first time in a long time, Austin participated in a real-life orchestral concert. Still, we elected to help keep the density in the auditorium low by sending Austin to the concert, but (sadly) not going in ourselves. Keith and Victoria watched from the family room at home on the youtube livestream of the concert. Christine – who drove Austin to the event – sat in the car in parking lot and watched from her phone while listening to the audio through the car’s sound-system. Grandma watched from Caz as well. It was a very nice concert, and we were thankful for the opportunity to watch, listen, and later archive the performance. Great job, Austin! We’re proud of you, dude.