February

Another month has come and gone. If I keep up my once-a-month-writing-trend, this year will produce the fewest blogs since I started blogging in 2011. April will mark my 15th anniversary of blogging! Maybe it is time to quit?

So, big news for February: Kara turned 17! I look at the 3 oldest kids and sometimes wonder how we got here. When the kids were little, I definitely agreed with the adage that the days were long and the years were short. Now, it just seems like everything is short! Anyway, she turned 17 and didn't want to have a party. The lacrosse season is in full swing, so timing was difficult. Instead, we did lots of mini celebrating. We had a few chosen meals. On the day after her birthday, she and Anna skipped school and Thomas and I took a vacation day and went to Hollywood Studios. It was stupidly crowded, even StarTours had a decent wait. But, we walked around, had lunch and then walked to the Boardwalk. We had never walked there before (always taken boat or Skyliner) but it was a beautiful day to be outside. We walked around the Boardwalk and had a reservation for dessert at Beaches and Cream. For gifts, she got a giftcard to Ross and a needoh from her siblings. Thomas and I got her the internet and drink package for our upcoming cruise. The girls and I also went to the Cheesecake Factory and the Mall at Millenia. Hopefully, she felt well celebrated.

At Beaches n Cream

Thomas and Jack went to a Spring Training game and had fun. The only thing Thomas consistently likes about Florida is Spring Training, so I hope he can get to a few games this year. Unfortunately, they had a mishap on the drive down when a piece of metal flew out from (maybe) the car in front of them and did $2300 worth of damage to the van. We are thankful it wasn't worse and that no one was hurt. 

Jack did not get in to the Honors College at FSU. He still got into UF, FSU, UCF, and USF. So, plenty of great options, but he is feeling a little let down by his prospects for the future. He believes that AI makes college fairly pointless and is having a hard time finding something he is excited about. He lamented again how he wishes he could join the miliary. But, as I've written--his food allergies are too severe and disqualifying. He's had two track meets so far. In one he ran the Steeple Chase, which was pretty entertaining. 

the water element is pretty fun in the Steeple Chase

In more  Kara news, she sprained her ankle and missed a couple of days of school. It was super swollen and bruised. 

Hmm, I don't have many pictures for the month, so I guess this will have to do for the highlight reel. Anna is staying consistent with her daily walks, she does 4 miles every day after school. Luke is enjoying baseball. The team switched locations and we had hoped it would be closer, but alas it is not. School is going well for everybody. 

January

I’m not sure why I’ve lost my motivation to blog. But, I just haven’t felt like it lately. So, this will be a quick recap of the month of the January.

Jack got accepted into UF! They are ranked 7^th in the country for public universities (30^th overall), so even with his amazing stats, it didn’t feel like a given that he would be admitted. Now, he is waiting to hear if he got into FSU’s honor college. That decision will come next week. Then, he should have all the information he needs to make a choice. He only applied to Florida colleges, so we know he won’t be too far no matter which one he picks. In other news, he joined the track team, which forced him to give up tutoring. I don’t think he misses it.

 

Anna is looking forward to the end of senior year. The last day for seniors is less than a hundred days away. I still remember the project they did on the hundredth day of kindergarten. Thirteen years sure went by quickly! I don’t like it.

 

Most of us (Kara was at work) went to Animal Kingdom for one last ride on Dinosaur (well, two last rides since we rode twice). It has always been one of our favorite rides and I am sad to see it close. Unfortunately, the camera wasn’t working, so we didn’t get a last ride picture. It is too bad, because Thomas and Jack recreated the photo from our first Disney trip. It was one of Jack’s first ‘scary’ rides and going on with him as an 18-year-old and remembering him as a little 5-year-old was another reminder on the quickening passage of time.

Little scared Jack in 2013. 

And now, at Animal Kingdom on our last Dinosaur day.

Some other highlights: We went to Hollywood Studios one night. They still had the Christmas decorations up, which was fun. 

We were there on January 14th, so the lights surprised us.

We also went to the Orlando Wetlands. It hadn’t rained in a while, but we did a back trail that was super muddy. We walked about 5 miles, it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed it. From there we went to Steak-n-Shake. That was a fun day. 

walking on branches and trying to avoid mud

being silly at the bat house

Luke went to a birthday party at a trampoline place for his best elementary school friend. They are at different schools now and don’t get to see each other very often so it was nice to get them together. 

Luke, Anna, Thomas and I went to Aquatica’s Illuminate event. It was really pretty and they had cool bubble machines. When you touched one of the bubbles they turned into smoke. I felt like I was in Harry Potter! 

Anna got a third ear piercing. She is 18 so not parent permission was required. Lacrosse started up for Kara. The team practices every day after school. They have something like 16 games this season, so she is going to be very busy. 

Thomas and I celebrated our half birthdays. It started as a joke, Thomas kept talking about how his half-birthday was approaching and it was the same day as UF admissions were announced, so would be a true day of celebration. It took me far longer than I'd like to admit to realize that if his half-birthday was coming, that meant mine was as well. So, I told him that he could set the tone and however he celebrated for me would be how I celebrated for him. It was just us being silly, but the kids took it to heart. 

I came home from work to this fun surprise. Cookies, a present and balloons!

 

Other than that, it has been work, school and sports. The early part of the month was pretty quiet and it was great having everyone home for dinner every night. Now, we are back in the thick of opposing schedules.  It is nice having Jack and Kara driving—there is far less transport required of Thomas and me. Anna has her permit and hopes to get her license soon. She’s not in a hurry, but does want to have it before starting college.

2025: Year in Review

Another year has come and gone! The highlights are often the vacations, this year we had two Caribbean cruises (a 4-night for Kara’s birthday and a 4-night over Spring Break). We also spent Thanksgiving week in Tennessee. And, there was a weekend trip with just the boys to see the Tigers play the Rays. All of that was amazing, but my favorite vacation this year was the 2-weeks we spent at home around Christmas and New Years. We didn’t travel anywhere and it was low-key and relaxing. I spent a lot of time reading, puzzling, and playing games and it was incredibly hard to go back to work. I even bought a lottery ticket in the hopes of making that my everyday reality, but alas, did not strike it rich.

 

Anna got her first job as a camp counselor at Elks. She did not like it. It was hard to be away from home and she struggled with the work ethic of some of her fellow counselors. She did love the kids and many other aspects of the job.  She turned 18 in October and vacillates between wanting to be treated like an adult and reaping the benefits and low-responsibility life of childhood. Unfortunately, she doesn’t really enjoy her classes this year. She was accepted to several colleges but decided to stay home and attend the local community college. She is not sure what she wants to study and hopes to find something that strikes a passion. She did well on the SAT and has a high GPA, qualifying for Bright Futures, so by staying at home, she can get her associates degree for free.

 

Jack had a great year. He did amazing on the SAT, including a perfect score on English and an overall superscore of 1560. He only applied to the Florida state colleges (FSU, UF, UCF, and USF). He won’t hear from UF until next week but has gotten into the others with scholarship offers. I wish he had tried for some reach schools but I am also happy to have him closer to home. Right now, he is leaning toward attending FSU. He had fun being in the band and enjoyed his last marching season. He is still tutoring and is in a few clubs at school. He has lots of friends and seems to always have somewhere to be. He did not run cross-country this year but is maybe going to do track.

 

Kara also worked as a camp counselor. She loved it! She also loved making her own money, so much so that she got a job at Wawa. It has been a great first job. She only works about 8 hours a week (usually on Sunday mornings), which gives her spending money, but still allows her to keep up with her friends, schoolwork, and other activities. She enjoys playing lacrosse and is excited for the new season to start. She got her driver’s license and has been driving everywhere. She is doing great in school, despite taking 6 AP/AICE  classes.

 

Luke started middle school. His longstanding baseball team disbanded. He is playing on another team, but they are a lot less experienced as a whole.  However, the coaching is really good and we expect that Luke will grow as a player. He likes the coaches and the kids and their families all seem nice, so everyone is happy enough. He is taking piano and theater as his electives and enjoys both. He cleaned up at the 5^th grade graduation ceremony, winning many academic awards.

 

Overall, the kids are doing well. I wish that they were closer friends with each other, especially the older ones. They are all in different friend groups and never include each other in activities with their friends. And, if one of them has friends over, the others seem to actively avoid the situation (except Luke).  One of my brothers and I were a year apart in school and while we didn’t always hang out with each other, it wasn’t unusual for us to do so and many of our friends were mutual. Of course, we aren’t very close now, so maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all. But, it makes me sad to think of my kids growing up and not being close and with Jack leaving home soon, it is at the forefront of my mind right now.

 

Thomas and I are back in the office. It has been a very stressful year. I honestly believed I was going to lose my job and it was terrible to have that hanging over my head for 8ish months. As the most junior attorney in my office (even with 14.5 years of Government experience) I still don’t feel completely secure, but at least it feels less inevitable than it did last February. It was a crappy way to live, always feeling like any day could bring notice of unemployment. But, almost a year later, we both are still employed and for that I am thankful. Of course, I miss telework, but I am happy to have kept my job.

 

I think that about summarizes everyone in 2025. As always, I am most thankful that everyone is healthy and doing well. At the end of the day, that is all that really matters.

 

Favorite thing this year:

Thomas: TN trip

Kori: the two weeks of vacation around Christmas

Anna: TN trip

Jack: Spring Break (band trip and cruise)

Kara: TN trip

Luke: Spring Break cruise

 

Most looking forward to in 2026:

Thomas: seeing what happens with all the kids' big changes

Kori: hopefully 2 restful weeks of vacation in Dec/Jan

Anna: traveling

Jack: mountains

Kara: Spring Break cruise

Luke: finally trying Mardi Gras (cruise ship)

Christmas

Thomas and I love the Clint Black Christmas album. I legit love every song on the album (Looking for Christmas) and we listen to it every  year. It has a good mix of song types and I personally believe it is criminally underrated. One of the songs is called Slow as Christmas and has the lyrics: Every Christmas day makes every other day seem long; And what seemed would never get here; Has so quickly come and gone.

That is how I am feeling today, December 31st. I can't believe another Christmas has come and gone. I spend all year looking forward to December. Thomas and I take two weeks off from work, the kids are off from school and it is a quiet, reflective, fun, relaxing, time. 

So, what have we done? Of course, theme parks. But, they are usually too crowded for us to go the weeks of Christmas and New Years. Kim and her family and Kevin came over on New Years Eve. We did a white elephant exchange and had a good time. We haven't been to see my dad yet (well, I saw him, but the whole family will go down there soon to deliver his Christmas gifts). We went to see the first Harry Potter in the theaters. We've watched movies and played games. Yesterday, we went to Fort Christmas and Steak n Shake. There was last minute shopping and holiday baking. We also upgraded our phones. It's been a really nice break. I'm glad it is not quite over. 

Christmas Day was nice. I thank Alecia every year for giving us the idea of having our big meal on Christmas Eve and then taking it easy on Christmas Day. I do make a breakfast casserole, but that's it. I basically take close to a week off from cooking. 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning

I was happy our teens still wanted to get up early. Anna pushed for 6, everyone else was good with a later start, and we settled on 630. We are an open gifts one at a time family. I didn't realize that wasn't how everyone did it, but that's always been our method. I like to see what everyone gets and what they think. We try and make things relatively equal, both in amount and money, but we aren't crazy rigid about it. However, this year, I thought we had actually done it and gotten all the kids the exact same number of gifts. But, somehow some people still had presents when others were out. It's not a big deal to anyone, I don't think the kids care, but to me it is always funny how it works out. I think the number and what we spend is a little above average (at least according to my impromptu Google Search right now) but it's nothing crazy and we don't really do gifts otherwise. Even for birthdays, we are more of an experience family. All that to say, we enjoy buying gifts for Christmas and seeing reactions. 

Everyone was happy with what they received. I got some fun surprises this year. Thomas got us tickets to go hang out with goats, which we did on Monday. And, Kara got us tickets to see Legally Blonde in April. So, my Christmas won't be over for a few more months. 

To end, some pictures from our goat experience.

The Goat Whisperer

Month 'O (mostly) Fun!

I feel like we have been going nonstop since we got home from Tennessee. I LOVE the theme parks in December and we have been visiting as often as we can. There have been lots of Friday nights at Sea World and lots of random Disney days. We've only made it to Universal once, but hopefully we'll get back there again before the end of the year. 

Friday was our last chance to go to Disney before we are blocked out for the remainder of the year. Thomas and I took the day off from work and went to Epcot. I like listening to the various world storytellers speak about holiday traditions in their countries. We heard Father Christmas in England, Pere Noelle in France, a Hannukah singer, the Daruma Storyteller in Japan, and we caught two different sets with the Voices of Liberty. It was super fun. We also rode Guardians, which was kind of a mess. When we got to Epcot, it said it was a 45-minute wait. 75 minutes later, we were right at the merge point when ride operations suspended. I complained (nicely) to guest services and got a fast pass to return. So, we did.

We went to Jack's last Prism concert and the show was amazing as always. There is literally no down-time, they just move around the theater from act-to-act. Our whole family loved it.

Jack got his wisdom teeth out on Monday, the 15th. He was funny coming out of anesthesia, all he wanted to do was talk. I kept telling him to keep the gauze in and not talk and then he would tell me okay, then ask when he could talk; twenty seconds later he'd try and talk and the cycle repeated. His recovery is going well, although he is still a bit swollen. 

Speaking of Jack, he's heard from 3 Florida colleges--UCF, FSU and USF. UF will release results in late January. He never ended up applying to any out-of-state schools. He is hoping to get into FSU's honor college, but won't know until February if he made it. We are really proud of him regardless!

Today (the 20th), I took Anna, Kara and Luke to Marta's to build their traditional gingerbread manger scenes. Marta makes amazing gingerbread! She had lots of treats prepared for them to use and they had a great time making their mangers. I joined them for a bit and then went and had lunch with my sister, which was really nice. Then, I went back to Marta's; Elizabeth was there and we played a really fun game (Exploding Pigeons) and chatted more. We hadn't seen them in a while and it was good to catch-up.

I'm not sure who's manger this, but it is a fun tradition the kids have with Marta.

Hmm, guess I didn't have as much to say as I thought. I had lunch one Monday with my friend Sunshine (we try and meet on the first Monday of the month). We had a work Christmas party, I got mad when I didn't win the party games (it was a three-way tie and they drew names to pick the winner--it wasn't me).  I visited with my dad. Luke had his first piano recital, but it was during the school day and parents weren't invited. However, the teacher sent a recording and we heard Luke practice (a lot). We will be able to attend the end of the year recital. 

It has been a fun, busy month so far. Still more to come, of course.  A few more photos from the theme parks to conclude:

One of our Friday nights at SeaWorld. I think we've gone 3 or 4 times. All of the kids have gone at one point or another, although I don't think we've had a night with everyone together.

Hollywood Studios. Kara was here too, just not in the picture. We got rained out and missed the lights on the Tower of Terror.

So, we went back another night. This time only Anna joined.

This was an unusual occurrence--only Jack wanted to go to Magic Kingdom. I think we left too early for Anna and Luke and Kara was working.

Rest of TN/I Almost Killed Jack

Tennessee Tuesday: We started our day with a visit to the Relic Room. Jack was able to find a very old Roman coin that he used his birthday money to purchase. We had lunch at Freddy’s, which we had not heard of but are everywhere in Tennessee. It was like a Steak-n-Shake and it was fine. Then, we went to Dollywood. It was empty compared to Sunday.  We rode the newest ride, Big Bear Mountain, 5 times and never waited more than 10 minutes. Virtually everything was a walk-on, which was super fun. We rode all the rides, ate more cinnamon bread, and browsed the shops. The emptiness was attributable to the weather—it rained on and off all day, but nothing we couldn’t handle and there was no lightning, so (almost all) the rides remained open. We kept an eye on the forecast and left just before the heaviest rain was imminently forecasted, I think around 730.

Wednesday: We went to Forbidden Caverns in the morning. We all thought it was pretty awesome. 

From there, we went to a small general store. Then, it was lunch and off to pick up our ready-to-heat Thanksgiving meal from Publix. Then, we went to world’s largest Bu-cee’s. 

We headed back to the rental and Kara did some senior photos of Anna with the lake and mountain views. That evening, we went to Bass Pro Shops and then stopped at Food City and picked up dinner and discounted donuts for Thursday’s breakfast. One of them was labeled as “Maple and Bacon” which I thought sounded like something Jack would like (this is foreshadowing…). We had an early night, this may be when we watched the Weird Al movie (or maybe the boys watched Planes Trains and Automobiles, both were watched at some point during our week). 

Behind the scenes

Bass Pro had an awesome fireplace

Thanksgiving Thursday. People ate the discounted donuts for breakfast. Jack took one bite of the Maple and Bacon and said it tasted awful and like something was wrong with it. He also said his throat felt funny. He told Anna to try and she immediately realized it tasted like nuts. I took a look and realized it was covered in walnuts!!! What I thought were little pieces of bacon were actually walnuts, aka death to Jack! Ugh, we definitely should have paid more attention, but donuts are a treat we frequently buy and they rarely have nuts (sometimes peanut butter, but those have pb in the name). He ended up using both epi-pens and to make a long story short—is fine. But, I was stressed out about it all day Thursday and Friday (worried about an additional delayed reaction). I felt super guilty and couldn’t sleep. It was awful. We still had our Thanksgiving dinner, it was fine. And the boys went to a park in the afternoon to play football.
 
Friday: We were supposed to do horseback riding and a petting zoo. But, it was cold, like below-freezing. So, we decided to go into town and browse the local stores. We bought a few things and enjoyed a really cool antique store. We also climbed up a dyke and I got a fun picture of Jack (trying to encourage him to do his pictures with Kara too).

We had leftovers for lunch and went to Perkins for dinner and then stopped at Food City for road trip snacks. Kara and I went in the hot tub. Then, we packed up. We left at 5AM Friday and had a mostly good drive, lots of traffic, but we still made it home by 330.

 

Other than the last-minute house snafu and almost killing Jack, we had a great trip. Everyone wants to go back in the summer and do some warm-weather activities. 

To conclude, some of Kara's photos of Anna:

Tennessee Vacation, Part 1

In 2022 we had a Smoky Mountain Thanksgiving. Everyone loved it and we wanted to repeat the experience. Unfortunately, the Wills couldn't make it this year, but we decided to take the trip with just our family. I booked a cabin in April in an incredibly convenient location. We were all very excited about being close to so many things we enjoy (restaurants, Dollywood, the Parkway, the Relic Room, etc). We planned on leaving at 5am on Saturday morning. On Friday night, I realized we didn't have our check-in information. I sent a message and received a quick response notifying me that they had to cancel our reservation due to some sort of syncing error (I understand this to mean that they double-booked using a different platform). We were literally in the process of packing the car! They had sent a message on Wednesday night, but I missed it. Although, that would have still been less than 72-hours notice on a house we booked more than 6 months ago. Not cool!

I immediately called VRBO and they were super helpful, which is a nice contrast to the experience we had with Airbnb when something similar happened (slightly more notice on that one). They offered to book us into a hotel. They also said they would refund us AND pay for the new booking. They offered us 3 rooms in okay hotels (La Quinta, Clarion, etc). But, we had no idea if the rooms would be together and it seemed risky. Plus, some in our family were really opposed to a hotel, wanting that cabin experience or nothing. The only problem--it's Thanksgiving week and everything was booked. The VRBO representative was super patient and we widened our geographical search. She found one opening in Dandridge, which is about 30 minutes from our original booking and 50 minutes from the activities we had planned. But, we were relieved we didn't have to cancel our trip and took it. 

We left as planned on Saturday morning at 5 and the drive went smoothly. We got to our house around 3 and were able to check in. It is across from a massive lake, or what would be a massive lake if it wasn't the dry season. It is actually crazy how low the lake is, the  nearby docks just end at the empty lake bed--it's weird and we wonder if this is normal or a drought. Anyway, the house is nice enough and we all have a bed and room to spread out and a washer and dryer. Our first night, we went to a quick dinner at Wendy's and then Walmart for supplies. 

Sunday, we went to Dollywood. It was packed! There were long lines for everything, but we stayed from opening to close and had a fun day. It emptied out the last hour and I think we did more rides in that hour than we did in the other combined 9 hours we were there. But, we also walked around and enjoyed the beautiful lights and atmosphere and enjoyed the cinnamon bread and other treats. We took the day at a leisurely pace and didn't let the crowds bother us. 

Monday, we had planned to go to Cades Cove, but it was 90 minutes away and we decided not to make the drive. Instead, the girls found a more local state park--Panther Creek (30 minutes away). It was a beautiful day and we did a "moderate to difficult" hike. There were some parts that were definitely difficult, at least for me. After the hike, we had a picnic lunch. It was very beautiful.

Thomas being silly

Pretty view

Into the woods we go

Climbing

We saw a couple of areas where we think there would be waterfalls. But, the craziest part was this completely dry riverbed (Anna's picture).

After the hike--Kara practicing her photography

Luke and Jack killed time by racing. 

After our hike, we went to the Bush's Beans Visitors Center. We learned how they make their famous baked beans. And, the process might surprise you. But, you'll have to visit for yourself to find out. Just kidding! First, they put a piece of bacon in the bottom of the can (the bacon is important to 98% of their customers, but 96% throw it away) then, they add the beans, then the sauce. Then, they cook it right in the can before labeling and shipping. Bush's buys 20-25% of the white beans produced in North America. But, enough bean fun facts.

After Bush's, I dropped Thomas and Jack at the Dandridge courthouse to view their local museum. Dandridge is the second oldest town in Tennessee. Then, I took the other kids back to the rental (only 5 minutes) before returning. The museum was super small, so I met them outside and we went into the coolest bookstore--the Unkind Raven. It is located in a historic house and they sell new, used and rare books. They had a kids room where books are free and a room for crafting. They also had a tortoise who loves people, he was very active and interested in us. One room had been used for a meeting with Union officers. When they retreated, the Confederacy took over and toasted the Union officer who left behind a whisky flask. It was cool to be in that same room.

From there, we went into a couple of other cool shops, then headed back to the rental. We rested for a few minutes, then headed out again. This time to the Alpine Mountain Coaster. I had bought the tickets before the booking snafu, so it was almost an hour away, but we still wanted to go, we've gone on every Tennessee trip. It did not disappoint. After that, we had a late dinner at Chick-Fil-A (we aren't adventurous travel eaters) before calling it a day. We had planned on doing the Winterfest Walk, but we were tired. 

It was a long, fun, day.