Winter 2024

One of Callie's Christmas presents was a pair of earrings and a commitment to finally poke holes in her small earlobes. She originally had permission to go through this ritual when she turned ten but had deferred for over six years. The time had come and we headed to the mall to make it happen. Callie was a champ, it was over before she knew it, and her ears have never looked better. Now whenever we go somewhere looking for a pair of good earrings is high on her list.

 

We didn't get a ton of snow this winter, but one of the times we did happened to fall on MLK weekend and John's birthday. The celebrations for #51 are more subdued than those for the big 5-0 so a walk through the neighborhood winter wonderland was fitting. It was also pretty darn cold, so it wasn't a very long walk. 

Winter in the Bluegrass also means UK basketball is in full swing. By January we have learned most of the names of the players on the team and are ready when an opportunity to go to a game presents itself. This particular night Sarah and Callie got to go and had a great time cheering on the Cats and eating ice cream. Rupp Arena never disappoints even if sometimes the Cats do.

Not everywhere is cold, though, and at the end of March Callie had the opportunity to travel with a soccer team to play in a tournament in Tampa, Florida. This is the same tournament that Reese played in the year before so we knew the drill. What made this time even better was that Callie and John got to visit with Ella Skonieczny who is attending Eckerd College in nearby St. Petersburg. It was great to see Ella and check out the campus. Callie also had a good time playing with her team. And John and Callie got some good father-daughter time as well.

The Tampa airport is bigger than you might expect, but we did manage to get a picture with the same large flamingo that Reese had posed with the year before. And since this was a father-daughter trip we had limited photos from the weekend and had to snag this one to appease Sarah at least a little bit. Overall the trip to Florida was fun and we'd certainly do it again.