2024 was a rough year. It included loss, displacement, separation, sadness, and repair literally and physically. We made it through with perseverance, prayer, and family. I think this was also the last year of childcare as the kids gets older and are more self-sufficient.
Here are a few final pics - Football, Thespians, CM Law Cozumel Executive Retreat, musicals with friends and family, and Grandma's 93rd birthday!
"Aloha from Hawaii! We did our first scuba dives together yesterday as a family. Everyone did great! Colton was very prepared and comfortable after he got such great training as Athens Scuba Park, and we told him we think his long hair makes him look like a swimming troll! Today, we're headed to the North Shore for a shark cage snorkeling adventure and then to a luau for my birthday dinner this evening." By Grant Walsh
Yesterday was all about recovery and our first family scuba dive. We rested as long as we could in the morning, which was pretty late considering the time change. Grant, Colton and I got some breakfast at the hotel while the big kids slept in until about 10am. When the big kids woke up, Ranger couldn't find anything he wanted at the 20 food trucks right by our hotel, so Grant took him across the street to 711 to get donuts.
Our scuba dive was at 1pm with Tyler Silber and it was perfect. Tyler was so helpful and great with the kids. Colton was Tyler's dive buddy and stayed within about 18 inches of him at all times. We saw pretty fish, eels, and some interesting sand and coral. The dives weren't as good as Cozumel, but we all get a little spoiled with the beauty and warmth of the Cozumel diving.
After the dives, we went to Waiola Shaved ice, then rested a bit back at the hotel, and then headed to Hibachi dinner at 8pm. We were all very hungry and it was a great ending to a wonderful first full day in Hawaii.
Our flight left at 7:20am and Big John came to our house at 5:00am Christmas morning to take us to Love Field. Thank you Big John!
We flew through Las Vegas with a brief layover. Colton wanted me to try out a slot machine and I lost $1 and it was a good lesson for Colton. We talked about how Vegas was not built on winners. Both of our flights were 100% full, but everyone was well behaved and things went pretty smoothly.
We were so hungry when we arrived and went straight to Liliha Bakery where we all cleaned our plates. Then we went to the Nu'uanu Paili Lookout where the kids read about the history and we admired the wind. Then we checked into the hotel, Doubletree Waikiki Beach. We have two rooms right by each other but not connected. One big suite with a king and pullout bed for Colton. Cadie and Ranger are staying in the other room that has two queen beds. We got situated in our rooms, put on swimsuits, and then walked to the beach to watch the sunset. The water was a bit chilly, but the kids and I got in and then we wrapped up the day with some snacks and drinks at the Hilton Hawiian Village beach bar. We were all exhausted, but managed to stay up past 8pm.
Since we are leaving for Hawaii on Christmas Day, things were a bit different before Christmas. We did Christmas the weekend before and opened presents at the farm. It felt a bit odd, but this whole year has been odd so it fit the theme. We had the tradition Christmas Eve party at DD and Big Johns with the white elephant gift exchange and lots of family. One special thing this year was lighting the candle during the Christmas Eve service at church.
Colton has really enjoyed being part of the Robotics team at Zion. Rebecca Hairston is their coach and she is so patient and kind. They practice 2 days a week after school and occasionally on Saturdays. Being on the team really helped him feel more at home at his new school.
Colton says, "I loved everything about it it was so fun and and one super cool thing I got to do was be on the varsity roboticts team because I wrote a short story about how I thought I would be better and have more fun on the older kids team then I sent it to our teacher. at the compotition we worked really hard we did not win but we did get 3rd place so we were still on the podiem. the hard part about being on both teams is that they compete at the same time so I had to pick one. most of the time I did choose the older kids team. another good thing about it is that I made a new friend his name is william and we had a fun time together. mrs. haristen was very nice and shi did a great job coaching."
Pictures:
Because of all the chaos with the 3434 Westminster remodel, I asked DD if she could host Thanksgiving. Of course she was willing too! It was nice to not have to organize an event and to focus on getting things with the house and the kids. We had a wonderful day at DD and Big John's with all the traditions like the Hamm bowl.
Then, we hosted the Mullens and the Westcott's at the farm! We had such special time together and I am grateful for this special place.
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By Colton Walsh, "On Saturday morning we went to mustang donuts to get, well, you know - donuts, then we got in the car for 30 min to go to the Minecraft experience. It was really fun they had a ton of projectors on the wall and these cubes that interacted with the stuff on the screens. After that we went to Grapevine Mills Mall and got an escape room booked and then went to build a bear. I picked out a wiener dog, but then I noticed none of the outfits fit him. So, I got a fox and a ginger bread man outfit but the stuffing line was too long and we had the reservation for the escape room in 5 min so we got a worker, Carla who was very nice, to hold our stuff because it was the last ginger bread man outfit. She held our stuff and we ran to the escape room and made it just in time. We went in the escape room and it was a cabin in the woods escape room with a cool opining fire place to a gold mine with TNT. We escaped with 10 min left then we went back to build a bear to stuff, name, and buy my fox. We named him Thomas Fink Walsh but we just called him Fink. After that we went to Rain Forest Cafe. I got a grilled cheese with apple sauce, apple juice and an ice cream sandwich. Then we went to the Gaylord TX and went to ICE featuring Rudolph it was so cool with these big ice sculptures. But it was freezing. After that we got Aunty Anne's pretzels then we explored and tried to find Cadie, but we could not. We watched the trains and once we were done we went to this cool playground (Oak Park I think) with a big net and watch tower with a giant slide. Then we went home and watched Inside Out 2. I loved spending this time with my mom and i had a lot of fun."
Donuts, shopping, Meow Wolf, escape room - time with this great kid is always amazing.
The concert was SO good and worth the wait. It had been rescheduled once or maybe even twice. We went with Courtnye and one of her friends and we had the BEST time!
What a crazy fall. Because of the leak we found in June, we had to move out of our house in August. It snuck up on us and I didn't realize how bad the mold was and how extensive the repairs were going to be. Our house was completely torn apart. The boys and I moved into Nina and Papas house, Cadie moved in with DD and Big John, and Grant floated around. It felt like our lives had been turned upside down and I was so grateful for family who took us in. It was hard to be apart as a family, but we also made some fun memories. Ranger stayed in the king guest room at Nina and Papas, and Colton and I bunked up in the smaller guest room. Ranger loved having his own room and Colton loved being with me. It was convenient for Cadie to be able to easily get to and from school, but I know it was hard for her to be away from us.
While the repairs weren't quite done, we needed to be back together so we moved back into the house at the beginning of November. The good news is that we got Ranger his own bathroom out of the deal and I love my new kitchen.
We also owe big thanks to Nick who came to our rescue and served as GC for the repairs. He is so wonderful to work with and we trust him implicitly. I am grateful that Nick has been a part of our lives for almost 20 years!
