Our theme words for 2025 are “adventures” and “afflictions.” Thankfully, it was not the adventures that caused the afflictions!
We started the new year off with a trip to the mountains,
visiting family friends with family. And celebrated Darwin’s 14th
birthday, despite his ongoing health conditions. We had a few inches of snow,
but not enough to sled on.
In February, we celebrated Rose’s 11th birthday, visited family in New York where there was plenty of snow for sledding, and had the first afflictions when Rose sustained an elbow injury that resulted in a cast, followed by the loss of our beloved Darwin. Thankfully, we all got to spend his final day with him, providing comfort and love in his final hours. Nicolle donated 11 inches of her hairRose experienced her first overnight travel soccer tournament in Virginia, and Zoe guest played for an older team more locally.
We had to adjust our track-out plan in March due to Rose’s
injury, so we did a week in Universal Studios, FL, riding ALL the rides! Rose’s
cast came off in time for the Jefferson Cup soccer tournament in Virginia,
where Nicolle (who was Rose’s soccer team manager) celebrated her birthday.
We experienced our first overnight cabin camping at the YMCA Camp Kanata in April, where we played soccer, basketball, volleyball, and did rock climbing, archery, shooting, canoeing, arts and crafts, mini golf, and lounging in hammocks. We also had two beach trips, going to Fort Fisher in mid-April (which is crazy early to have a beach day!), and to Myrtle Beach for Rose and Zoe’s soccer tournaments at the end of the month.
We ended the spring soccer season in May with another tournament for Rose in Greenville, SC, and started summer swim team at the end of the month. We missed the first week of swim to vacation in the southwestern US, flying in/out of Las Vegas (seeing the Vegas strip, Red Rock Canyon, an Aviators baseball game, and visiting the science and natural history museum and learning from the on-site scientist), and visiting Zion National Park (UT), Bryce Canyon National Park (UT), Horseshoe Bend (AZ), Grand Canyon National Park (AZ), and the Great Wolf Lodge (AZ). Rose and Zoe earned their Junior Ranger badges at the 3 National Parks, and highlights for the family included hiking “the Narrows” through the river in Zion, riding e-bikes and hiking in Bryce Canyon, staying on the rim in the Grand Canyon (where Colin and Nicolle did a sunrise hike), friendly squirrels, trying to figure out the time zone changes on the trip, stargazing, and getting to see our college friend at an Aviators baseball game in Vegas.
In June Rose and Zoe did their 5-day-a-week summer swim and indoor soccer, we experienced The Soccer Tournament and all its soccer celebrity sightings, we practiced rollerblading at the local outdoor hockey rink, and Rose and Zoe finished 5th and 4th grades respectively. Rose’s 5th grade graduation marked the end of elementary school, and the loss of her classmates (none of which would go on to her middle school with her). Rose also had her tonsils out at the end of the month and the 14 day recovery was more difficult than any of us imagined.
The girls had a little over a week off between grades for July 4th, where we celebrated with the annual swim team pool party and neighborhood block party (Rose did the best she could but was still only halfway through recovery). On July 7th Rose and Zoe started 6th and 5th grades on a new year-round “track.” We had to switch from track 2 to track 3 because the middle school does not have track 2. This meant Zoe had to leave her friends of 4 years behind and move to a whole new class of established friends. We wrapped up the summer swim team season mid-July, and with Zoe experiencing an ear infection that proved difficult to treat. Colin and Nicolle celebrated 19 years of marriage in July with a delicious dinner at Sullivan’s steakhouse and visits to the Azelea and Sunflower gardens in Raleigh. Colin’s birthday followed shortly after, where a local owl graced us with its presence on our fence. On our new track-out schedule, the girls only had 3 weeks of school before our first vacation. We took advantage of our annual national parks pass, and took a trip to the Pacific Northwest, flying in/out of Seattle. In Seattle, we visited Pike Place, the Pacific Science Center, the Woodland Park Zoo, the Amazon spheres, the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, and road the subway, bus, monorail, and rode the Seattle Great Wheel. We lucked out to be there during the “Bite of Seattle” festival, so we got to sample some local cuisines and enjoy local musicians during a beautiful day. From Seattle, we made our way to Mt. Rainier National Park, where we got to experience the most amazing “dark sky” stargazing – way better than anything at Zion, Bryce, or Grand Canyon in May. We saw numerous shooting stars right from our lodging at the historic Paradise Inn. During our hike, we got to see Marmots and chipmunks on the trail, and Rose and Zoe loved reaching the snow near the top and finishing our trip with their Junior Badges. From Mt. Rainier, we made our way west for an overnight stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound. Of all the lodges we’ve stayed in (Williamsburg, Charlotte, Scottsdale and Grand Mound), the one in Grand Mound seemed the smallest and least exciting. There was no outdoor area and while most of them have the same water features, the MagiQuest experience we love was crammed into smaller spaces. Scottsdale was the newest and biggest, but we still love the Williamsburg and Charlotte ones the best. From Grand Mound we continued west to Olympic National Park, making stops at Lake Quinault, Kalaloch Beach, Forks (to see elk hanging out by the road), and to the northern part of the peninsula for a stay at a brand new cabin on Lake Crescent. We had clear blue skies and beautiful weather, except for the hour we spent right on the coast/beach where it was windy, chilly, and cloudy/misty. We got to canoe on Lake Crescent before driving up to Hurricane Ridge and taking the ferry across Puget Sound for a night north of Seattle, just south of the Canadian border. The girls earned their Olympic National Park Junior Ranger badge at Hurricane Ridge.
The final days of our trip (into early August) took us to Vancouver and Whistler, Canada, where we enjoyed more amazing weather, with bike riding (around Stanley Park and to Kitsilano beach where we went swimming in the English Bay), walking/hiking (across suspension bridges and around Vancouver and Whistler), and riding the gondolas (including the longest unsupported gondola, the “Peak-to-Peak” connecting Whister and Blackcomb mountains). We had no issues crossing between Canada and the US, and made stops at the Boeing Future of Flight attraction (missed out on the factory tour!), the Ballard Locks, and the Museum of Flight before flying back to Raleigh through Denver. Our 16 hour overnight stay in Denver turned out to be closer to 13 hours due to delays and our bag getting lost, but we made the most of it with a trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (thanks to our ASTC reciprocal membership!). It was 100 degrees in Denver that day, so our plans for anything outdoors folded, and we enjoyed some In&Out Burgers (and Culver’s for the girls) before flying back home. We’ve always been lucky on track 2 that our vacations were later in August, once most of the crowds died down. We definitely experienced more travel disruptions with flight delays and car rental waits than we’ve ever had to deal with in the past. Once we were back home, Rose and Zoe started up their soccer seasons, Zoe started gymnastics, and we dealt with a lot of rain. Our beloved Bond Park was flooded for a solid week. Just a week after starting back at school, we flew to Boston to participate in my brother’s wedding. We had a lovely weekend with family (adding a visit with Colin’s family), amazing weather, and a joyous celebration.
In September, Zoe turned double digits, having a small celebration with her “old” friends, and a party with her soccer and school friends. We were in full-on soccer mode with practices and games taking up a lot of our time. Our Sundays were free, so we managed a beach trip and local park adventures.
The soccer schedule continued into October, along with Zoe doing gymnastics and Rose starting basketball. Both girls sustained ankle injuries during the fall soccer season, landing us several trips to the orthopedics for x-rays, with Zoe in a boot for a week to ensure it was not a stress fracture (which thankfully it was not) and Rose getting orthodics for her shoes. We engaged in fall-related activities with our free Sundays and were able to go to the State Fair during the week since the girls tracked out at the end of October. Nicolle’s schedule allowed for more activities with the girls since Partners In Health (Nicolle’s employer) announced the closing of US operations (in February 2026). In between transition work, professional development, and job searching, Nicolle took Rose and Zoe on adventures to cat cafes in Chapel Hill and Fuquay-Varina. The cat cafes support cat rescues and allow people to spend an hour with cats. The girls love cats, but Colin is allergic. We had plans to travel to the Dominican Republic during the week leading up to Halloween, but Hurricane Melissa derailed our plans, so we went to Williamsburg, Virginia instead. We enjoyed roller coasters, shows, and food at Busch Gardens and Nicolle tried her best to pretend the 85 degree indoor water park at Great Wolf Lodge was the Caribbean. We ended the month collecting 19 pounds of Halloween candy but donating almost all of it to a local nonprofit.
