We started 2023 by wrapping up a fantastic trip to Israel with my parents, and one of my sisters' families. 14 of us spent 2 weeks riding camels, eating with Bedouins, visiting a kibbutz, swimming in the Dead Sea, climbing Masada, digging at an archeological dig, visiting Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Negev, Golan, etc. I'm very grateful that we did it when we did. It was an amazing trip!
For spring break, we went to Colorado. Katelyn finally gave up skiing and committed to snowboarding - and I was very glad to do the same.
While John flies by and she "helicopters" down the mountain on her board, totally relaxed and making everything look so easy, I put my butt-pad and knee pads to good use.
These winter vacations have become some of my favorites!
In April, John went to Mexico again with the US Deep Caving team. If you haven't seen the Disney+/National Geographic show, The Deepest Cave, it's very cool to see the cave system he's been helping to explore for the last 20 years. But he's having zero success in convincing me and Katelyn that being underground, in the dark, wet and cold for days at a time, qualifies as a "vacation".
Instead, Katelyn and I went to London and Paris in June. We saw everything on our (long!) touristy lists, and more...
We saw one of the 24 surviving original copies of the Magna Carta(!!) inconspicuously displayed with the land grant documents for Westminster Abbey.
And we saw 2 Statues of Liberty in Paris - the one mentioned in the National Treasure movie, and another in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Who knew??
We had a total blast on our "girls trip".
In July, we all did our usual summer trip to Colorado and enjoyed some down time up in the mountains.
Katelyn started 8th grade in the Fall. (How'd that happen so fast!?)
She's rocking in the Honors band on her flute, and was selected for all-region band in November.
Besides music, she's playing tennis, coding websites, doing aerial silks, and always has a variety of creative projects going.
We finished the year with 2 more weeks of snowboarding and relaxing in Colorado.
It was the perfect end to a fabulous year.
We wish you good health, many hugs, much joy, and many adventures in 2024.
Love,
Donna, John, Katelyn & Lovebug
