Life on the Road Less Traveled: A Recap of 2019

01 January 2020

A Recap of 2019 - January through April

Well...2019 was the year I didn't blog. Life was too busy and I just didn't set aside the time to record our happenings. We do have photos from the year, but just not the story. Here's my attempt to recap the year month-by-month.

In January we checked out a new museum in Greensboro and really enjoyed seeing the aquarium there. They have penguins and sharks and we got to see both during feeding time. We visited our beloved Museum of Life and Sciences in Durham to see the wolf pups who were almost as big as their parents. The girls tried a few weeks of gymnastics in January into February. And, I wrote a large federal grant that was submitted at the end of the month. We also registered Rose for kindergarten!

Sharks at Greensboro Museum

Video of girls dancing at Greensboro Museum

Having lunch at the Durham Museum of Life and Sciences

Visiting momma and papa wolf and their two sons at the Durham Museum

Zoe singing Sol Solecito

Rose singing her songs from preschool in Spanish

Rose doing gymnastics (no Zoe picture)

In February, Rose's birthday and travel to Albany to celebrate Miller women birthdays were the highlights. I had to wear a boot during the trip because of a high ankle sprain from soccer and spent two weeks with family while Colin flew back to NC for a few days for work. We also got to visit with my brother in western Massachusetts during the trip. The girls got new passports and we applied for a Southwest Airlines credit card that got us companion pass sign up bonuses (so girls could fly free with us). The end of our trip to NY was also when Colin's dad (who has Parkinson's) got pneumonia and spent a week in the hospital followed by several weeks of rehab. We noticed a sharp decline in his health after that trip.

Sisters celebrating Rose's birthday party at Rainbow Play

Happy 5th birthday Rose

Dinner out and ice cream for Rose's birthday on a warm February day

Family Google Hangout Happy Birthday to Rose

Rose singing and Zoe doing some gymnastics in the kitchen in NY - February 2019

In March, we celebrated my birthday in Cary and with a trip to my parents in South Carolina. We also had some warmer days. Rose and Zoe also started up soccer and I was very busy coaching both teams and playing two nights a week in a women's open league. Spring soccer came in a fury. Coaching was a struggle - mainly because of doing it for 2-3 hours straight every Saturday, and because 3 year olds are very challenging. We lost just about every game and I struggled to have the energy and excitement with each passing week. We did manage to find a few fun things to do, and since Colin had reached the 6-month mark at his new job, he got to start working from home one day per week. He's never had that luxury, and it has been so nice having him work at home with me on Fridays (when it works out that I don't have to travel for meetings).

My birthday cupcakes

Cary's kite festival in our backyard- Bond Park

Zoe hugging a dinosaur at the kite festival

Rose swinging at North Cary Park

Zoe running at North Cary Park

Enjoying a beautiful spring walk in the park

Exploring

Rose's silly face

Zoe's silly face

April was adventurous. We continued our soccer season with a few other activities on the weekends and had a nice soccer break for Easter. Since we earned our Southwest companion fares earlier in the year, we were able to fly to Albany to spend Easter with the Millers. We had some amazing weather, which made the trip much more enjoyable. I also had a work trip to Wilmington where I got to bring the family and we all stayed at the beach. I had to go to New Orleans as well, and found out I was awarded the large federal grant I wrote in January.