Merry Christmas in 2024!

Our family fully experienced an epic, life-changing year in 2024.

Big Sky remained our primary home as the year began, but our next-door neighbor had already placed a substantial down payment to buy our condo at the end of March. After a couple of delays, it closed at the end of May, and we became fulltime Pennsylvania residents.

Before that came to pass, we enjoyed lots of adventures, including spring skiing with beautiful bluebird days through the early weeks of winter in Big Sky.

That's not to say that temperatures didn't drop down to zero on some days.

Concerned about inevitable cold spells, we planned ahead for a trip to sunny Southern California for Christmas and New Year's.  That kicked off in San Diego as guests of Darlene, Brooks and BG3.

Throughout the many years, they've always made us feel very welcome in their gorgeous homes.

After a few beautiful days catching up with them, plus other family and friends still based in the area, we headed north to visit Jay, Sasha, baby Owen and our grand-dogger Jojo in Santa Monica

More fun in the sun.  The clear center of attention was sweet Owen.

Since birth, Owen soaks up most of any free time Jay and Sasha formerly had, delighting all around him with one breakthrough phase after another.

Clapping, walking, sign-language, climbing steps, drumming, first words...always delighting with his bright smile.

We enjoyed every moment there, but soon we headed back to Big Sky.

Winter continued with lots more skiing and family time.

Granddaughter Emma's ice-skating competition in Hershey gave us a good reason to fly east to check in on Philadelphia family, spending a lot of fun time with Gina, Laszlo and Emma.   Figure-skating remains Emma's primary passion outside of school.  She recently landed a paid position helping new skaters in her rink's "Learn to Skate" program.

Emma graduated from middle school in June. She continues to ace advanced classes in high school.  She played on her high school tennis team in the fall, winning "Best Hair" at the end of season ceremony.  Recently, Emma took the SAT and scored 1360, exactly evenly divided between math and language skills, placing her in the 91st percentile nationally for all people who took the test, despite the fact that she's only a freshman.

Her mother stayed very busy herself.  Gina was promoted to Dean and full Professor in recognition of her excellent work as Interim Dean.

The challenges have been sometimes daunting, but she pushes through, remaining cheerful.  

Gina is a season ticket holder with two tickets for the Kimmel Center for Broadway-quality plays and distinguished speakers.  Last week, she treated me to seventh row center seats for the outstanding Neil Diamond biographical musical, A Beautiful Noise.  Fantastic show with outstanding music!

Laszlo has continued in tech support full-time.  He decorated his new office reflecting his fascination with currency and space. He and Emma went to Boca Chica, TX, to watch the historic SpaceX rocket launch and "chopsticks" catch in October. 

On a Midwest trip, Laszlo checked the final box on his quest to visit all 50 United States.  Family trips took them to Dallas to watch the total solar eclipse with friends and to Las Vegas for a reunion with other family.

They remodeled both of their bathrooms in the fall.

Back in Big Sky, the hits just kept on coming.

Julie and I were regulars for weekly jazz in the Wilson Hotel Lobby with a view of Lone Peak in the background.

Brooks, Darlene and Brooks (as well as pet dogs Teddi and Rizzo) returned to their lovely mountain home not far up the Ousel Falls Road from our Big Sky condo.

Once again, they welcomed us with open arms.  We enjoyed lots of wonderful conversations and delicious home-cooked meals.

Amy and Lukas soon came to visit us in Big Sky.

We had plenty of snow and beautiful sunny days.  They loved the wonderful spring skiing, which is perfect for them.

When we had an overnight dump of powder, they embraced those conditions, too.

Amy was unexpectedly laid off early in the year, but she immediately started her own consulting firm to offer assistance in media product and editing.  Before long, she landed well-paying clients from referrals and was rolling along as an independent contractor.

A former boss recommended her for a full-time job where he works.  After a series of interviews, she landed the position and began work in December.

Amy was a player and manager for another season of roller derby.  The schedule brought her to Portland, Denver and Chicago for road games.  She also visited Cape Cod twice with one of the derby girls whose family has a home there.

In December, Amy flew to California for a last-minute pre-Christmas trip to Southern California to decorate cookies with high school friends. That was her third visit to L.A. County this year.  She is obviously charmed by baby Owen.

Lukas has become a key engineer at his large-scale battery company.  Showing commitment to alternative energy, they recently leased a new all-electric Hyundai Kona.  He's able to charge their car at work, cutting commuting costs.

They frequently returned to Lukas's childhood home in New Lebanon, New York, on weekends.  In July, they flew to Berlin, Germany, to visit his sister Rabea and help her pack to move back to New York.  

Avid hikers, they took what turned out to be a rain-soaked back-packing week in northern New Jersey, nonetheless finding fun in the wilderness.

Amy and Lukas refurbished their bathroom in their Jersey City home.  Their access to the Historic Downtown and the Waterfront of Jersey City makes dining out and other city life a breeze.

After Amy and Lukas flew home from Big Sky, Jay, Sasha, Owen and Jojo soon arrived to stay with us.

They were stoked to find fresh powder, which is perfect for their jam of skiing through trees.  We also did plenty of wide-open runs in different combinations, with some staying at Darlene's to play with Owen and the dogs

We enjoyed having the chance to not only ski with them but to play with Owen and Jojo.

Despite living on opposite coasts, Julie and I got together with Jay, Sasha and Owen for seven multi-day visits during 2024, including to start and end the year.

The longest stay together was in Big Sky, which over the years Jay has often called his favorite place in the world.

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Without Darlene and Brooks, our family may never have made it to Big Sky to create all of our amazing memories there.  To see additional photos and learn more about winter and other seasonal happenings throughout the year, just click on the hotlinks.  By the way, you can also click on the photos to enlarge them.

This wonderful winter was not all fun and games.

The terms of our escrow required several small improvements on our condo, not the least of which was installing a moisture barrier on the ground in the basement. While not a crawl space, the basement nonetheless did not allow us to stand upright.  The task was a challenge that we spread over a couple of weeks, but Julie and I got 'er done.

We loved our years in Big Sky, but we packed our Subaru to the gills and made the long drive to Ardmore, Pennsylvania, which is now our full-time home.

Sadly, Brooks and Darlene's sweet pet Teddi (Theodora Osita) passed away shortly after we last spent time with her.

Over the summer, they adopted a snow-white Teacup Pomeranian, Tiny Tim, who they have decided to call Teddy.

As late spring turned into summer, our adventures continued.

We experienced totality of the solar eclipse in Indiana, hiking and happy hours in Ardmore, and Owen's birthday party in Santa Monica.

Summer came in earnest to Ardmore, bringing more family fun, including one day when Julie and I went from a birthday brunch for Emma in Bryn Mawr to New Jersey to watch Amy's roller derby team beat their arch-nemesis (or at least the opposing team that day).

Philadelphia is a very patriotic place, so of course the 4th of July calls for a huge celebration, including a free classical concert of patriotic favorites and western movie theme songs that Gina, Laszlo, Julie and I attended.

In July, Julie and I were off to Cardiff, Wales, where we met up with Jay's family for a wonderful time exploring the backroads of that less-traveled part of Great Britain.

Wales is well worth wandering.  

Jay, Sasha, Owen and Sasha's mom Libby had been in other parts of Wales a few days before Julie and I arrived, and they carried on to Glastonbury, England, after seeing us off.

For Julie and me, this fantastic vacation continued by boarding Caribbean Princess for an extensive 16-night cruise visiting England, Ireland, Iceland and Scotland.

It was an amazing trip from start to finish.

August took us to a family gathering with our Amy, Lukas, Gina, Laszlo and Emma on the Jersey Shore.  After living most of our lives by the beach, we were happy to return to the sand, sun and sea.  That was another very special time as a family, including making s'mores in the yard of our rental house.

Jay and Sasha had invited us to celebrate their fifth anniversary in Bermuda, but with such a full travel calendar, Julie and I initially declined

Gina decided to go to join them.  And then Julie and I decided Bermuda would be closer for a visit than flying to Los Angeles, so we went after all.  That was a lovely highlight for September.

Lest you think they spend all of their time vacations or playing with Owen, know that Jay and Sasha continue to excel at their jobs during their work weeks.  They completed home beautification projects featuring designer paints and luxurious wallpaper, too.

For my birthday, Amy spent a few days with us in Ardmore, joining Julie and me for a hike on Valley Forge's Mount Misery, followed by lunch at their gift shop cafe, including cherry cheesecake that I had coveted when Julie and I first went to that gift shop a few weeks earlier with Frank, a friend from church.

On the night of my birthday, Gina, Laszlo, Emma, Amy, Julie and I took a Ghost Tour of Philadelphia.  While the tour itself wasn't spectacular or specter-filled, it was fun walking around the historic city at night with a somewhat knowledgeable guide.

October also brought a big cruise vacation we'd been planning for over a year.  We started out by meeting up with our friends Mike and Linda in Southampton, England.  That cruise unfolded differently than expected, beginning with the first port of call, a surprise landing in Normandy.  

I'm still blogging about that cruise, but --- spoiler alert --- Julie and I checked sunny Malta off our bucket list, and we would all love to return.

Back in our Ardmore house, Julie and I tackled the long-procrastinated task of painting our attic bedroom.  It took Julie and me longer than it should have, but this inexpensive home improvement made a huge difference.  It will make it easier to host more visitors simultaneously. 

For Thanksgiving, our whole family gathered in Ardmore.  We enjoyed a wonderful, extended holiday weekend.

We all have so much for which to be thankful.  Thanks be to God!

We hope you enjoyed a wonderful 2024 and look forward to a sensational new year.

Merry Christmas,

Wes, Julie and Family