The Blog

Snowshoeing opportunities have been a challenge for the family until now. Christine had 2-3 chances last year to use hers … a few times this year as well. Keith has owned his for 1.5 seasons, and the circumstances and weather had conspired against him since acquiring his own shoes. The kids hadn’t used theirs outside of the yard since they received theirs for Christmas. But today? Today, all that changed. We finally had enough snow (on a weekend!) that warranted the use of the shoes and the winds weren’t so cold that it would be a miserable experience. Christine has run earlier in the morning and lunch was a bit later than usual, so when we were deciding where to go, we needed to select a place that was nearby (there was only 2.5 hours of daylight remaining), wasn’t a boring out-and-back, and that wasn’t going to be so packed […]

When Austin was a wee-tot, he and Keith would go for a walk with Harvey and then meet up with Christine for donuts after she exercised or went to mass.  When Austin was a little older, he would go to church-school. Still Victoria would accompany Keith and Harvey on a morning stroll and then meet Christine and Austin for donuts after they were done with church. Then, when both kids were going to church, Keith would meet up with the family after they were finished. Christine and Austin would eat a muffin or bagel sandwich, Victoria and Keith would still eat donuts. Sometimes – if the weather permitted – everyone would eat outside, and Adeline would join in. When COVID hit, Keith tried to maintain a semblance of normalcy, bringing home Entenmann’s donuts for the family to eat every Sunday. Christine didn’t like the donuts, but Keith refused to bring […]

This morning, Christine took Austin and Victoria to TKD for the first time in a little over one month. Keith remained at home, intending to work on the family website a little bit and do some digital de-cluttering. Less than 15 minutes later, Christine was calling Keith to get him to hurry-up, grab the camera, get in the car, and drive to the dojang. The kids were testing. Both Austin and Victoria had (at minimum) began to complete their testing forms, so they knew they were close to testing, but neither was prepared to test today. Neither were Keith or Christine. Mr. Cooper, however, was ready. Both Austin and Victoria did great! This has been a trying 9 months of training for each of them, yet both Austin and Victoria have persevered and each have advanced twice since the beginning of the pandemic. They work hard 3 times per week, […]

Thanksgiving plans have morphed over the last month. Initially, Christine planned to travel as we always do on Thanksgiving by driving to Paoli, Pa to spend the holiday at her the Sikorski home. Then I convinced her to travel a weekend earlier and see each family that she would usually see at once separately … thus reducing density in a home and reducing risk of spreading or contracting a contagion. Then she cancelled altogether. The infection rates are simply too high. Our plans now include traveling to Waterville on Thursday, where Kevin and Peggy will be graciously hosting their first-ever Thanksgiving meal. We are especially grateful for the invitation, because when they elected to host Thanksgiving, they were only expecting to host two additional people (Grandma and Grandpa), not 6 (with our extra 4) In the meantime, Christine has her heart set on some of her Thanksgiving favorites this weekend […]

We are all growing … some of us old, some of us up. We don’t mind the former if we get to watch Austin emerge from the latter. In a world that never stays the same, change is happening all around us, every day and every moment. Some changes are for the better and some are for the worse. Some bring us joy while others bring us angst. Some are profound. Some go unnoticed. Some changes happen in only a second, some can take years. Thirteen years ago, we experienced what (to date) had been the most joyous, profound, and life-changing moment in our lives. Over the last 13 years, we have watched Austin morph from a finicky-but-happy infant, into an old-soul toddler, into a young man that we are now all-too-proud of. Despite the many trappings of early adolescence, Austin is authentic, kind, generous, courteous, responsible, and an all-around […]

Sunday, October 11, 0630 THE COMMUTE Yesterday was an exercise in patience, for everyone. I knew that it would be, though. At least for me, anyway. I knew that the family wouldn’t be packed and ready to go by 8:00am, when I intended to leave. I knew that the kids would be challenged to remain content during what would become their longest-ever car ride. I knew that I would need to repeatedly ask the kids to sit ‘properly’ in the seats for safety. I knew there would be frequent stops, sometimes only an hour apart. I knew that it was going to be a lonely ride as everyone in the family would be plugged into their device and I would be left with my music and podcasts, same as my commute every morning, only 11x longer. There were some surprises along the way though to. I didn’t know that Christine […]

I heard a wonderful tip from a podcast yesterday and it was successful the first time I used it. Do you want empathy or a solution? Lisa Feldman She said that she asks this question in her own home and it really helps to meet the emotional needs of her children, her husband, and even herself. It immediately resonated with me: I KNOW that I am guilty of being solution driven and have often made the mistake of offering unsolicted solutions to predicaments when only empathy is being sought. If I were to begin to make this a habit, perhaps I might be able to avoid some of the relationship hiccups that are all-too-common. Only 30 minutes after hearing this tip, Victoria expressed her discontent. She had been snacking in the car all day. She had eaten lunch only 4 hours earlier. She knew that we were 60-90 minutes from […]

Throughout COVID-season, Austin and Victoria have remained diligent with their practice of Tae Kwon Do. They have completed sessions at home three times per week and started attending one-on-one classes with Mr Cooper in July. This week, they both tested for their next level, and both did exceptionally well. The COVID-season has been difficult on everyone, but they have both been resilient troopers throughout and we couldn’t be prouder of them.

Before last year, (we) Keith and Christine had planned an annual week of outdoor activity in July or August. We dropped the kids off with Grandma and Grandpa Waldron and went cycling for a couple of years before spending the next few years in the Adirondacks hiking the high peaks. Last year, Keith changed jobs in July and had no time off from work. This year? COVID. That meant no hotels, nice restaurants, or over-crowded trailheads for us. Grandma and Grandpa still took the kids for a few days, but this time we stayed home and local. Christine has far greater conditioning than Keith this summer, so long mornings spent cycling was out of the question, so we purchased inflatable paddleboards and planned to explore local waters and hike everyday. The first day was spent at Taughannock State Park. The falls were near dry and were only a trickle. Keith […]