Onward to Canada

We just dropped Clara back at “Queenies” which is the place where she lived last year as a missionary. She’ll stay the night here and then tomorrow visit Everest Academy before catching a ride in the afternoon headed for Canada 🇨🇦. She’s been gone from “Queenies” for about two months which is long enough for them to re-decorate some of the rooms and walls. On one of the walls there were several photos of last year’s girls and one or two of them included Clara. So - she’s officially left her mark in a sort of way on this place in Michigan. Now onward to Canada.

Family Photos

 Clara is heading out of town soon so we've been trying to soak up the marrow of having her nearby.  Last weekend Chris suggested that we snap a family photo while we were at Camp Michaels together.  So we did!  Here's the photo of the kids, our whole family and some tomfoolery.   This time feels like it's fleeting because of the ages our kids are at right now.  Chris is preparing to finish college, Clara is about to head into her second year as a missionary, Sabrina is a Senior and the other two are right behind.  Anyway, enjoy the photos!

All grown up!

Christopher hit a milestone this month. For his 21st birthday we went out to Montgomery Inn for dinner and then a week or so later we hit the range with a couple of buddies to practice our hand at shooting. It was a great time and hopefully we’ll be able to get out again soon to try shooting at moving clay targets with the guys.

Sent from my iPhone

Father's Day in Red River Gorge

 

We traveled to Red River Gorge for a family hike on Sunday.  This was our Father's Day event and it was awesome.  We hiked to Whittleton Arch and climbed around on the rocks.  The weather was just a touch humid but otherwise lovely.  We ate at Miguel's Pizza for dinner then had some ice cream before heading back home to spend some time on the new patio furniture before the rain forced us inside after dark.  

These days with everyone together are fleeting and very precious when they happen.   

8th grade formal

Lucy went to her 8th grade formal last night. Adam wasn’t there to see her as he was on a silent retreat but doesn’t she look lovely? Aunt Sarah and Cousin Charis came over to spend some time while Molly helped her get ready.

Museum of Natural History

We posed for a photo at the National Museum of Natural History this morning during our visit to DC.

Sent from my iPhone

Visiting the Constitution

Sabrina was kind enough to pose for me at the National Archives today. If you look closely you can see Annette, Lucy and Molly in the background viewing the constitution.

Sent from my iPhone

Visit with Melanie

We went to VA on our way to DC and stayed with Cousin Melanie on Monday. She was very gracious with allowing us to crash at her place and we’re grateful for her hospitality.

Happy Easter!

We attended Blessed Sacrament for Easter Vigil last night to celebrate our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Christopher went to Easter Vigil at St. Monica / St. George and Clara was in Lourdes this year. Happy Easter!

Molly successfully harvests two white tail

I made a deal with Molly. If she drops a deer during youth gun season, I would take care of everything else. Turns out she dropped two deer during youth season. So true to my word, we quartered or field dressed both deer and then had them processed.

Christmas 2025

Here's a photo of our crew snapped by Uncle Mark after midnight Mass on Christmas Eve 2025 at Blessed Sacrament.

Infant Simulator 2025

Sabrina and Molly had to bring home an infant simulator as part of their class. It was surreal seeing the girls with their pretend babies in car seats. Sabrina said it was very unsatisfying because she got no positive feedback from the doll. Molly treated it like a video game and just buckled down to get through it. Annette and I had some flashes forward in life and are glad the infants were only around for a day.

KY Crafted Market

March 9, 2025

Last Sunday Annette and I took Molly and Sabrina to the KY Crafted Market. There were many vendors who created some incredible things.

Officially commissioned

In September, Molly was officially a commissioned member of the YCET team. She received her commissioning (and t-shirt) from Bishop Iffert.

Wool Fest 2025

We went to Wool Fest this fall as is our annual tradition. This year we went on Saturday instead of Sunday afternoon. The weather was lovely but we missed having Christopher and Clara with us.

Emily joined in for a quick photo. She was there with her boyfriend's family.

Oh yeah - and Sabrina drove us there which was a new experience.

Lucy goes to the woods

Lucy got dressed at 5 am and went out into the woods to pursue the mighty whitetail. It was an early morning but she was excited about the possibilities. We setup shop in the corner of a field and waited for the sun to rise. It was fun being out with her and though we didn't come back with any meat there will be other hunting in the future I'm sure.

Frassati at the Aronoff

We got dressed up and went to see a play at the Aronoff about St. Pier Giorgio Frassati.

The girls were moved by this touching story about a man who loved to serve, to climb and to worship the Lord. We had a lovely evening.

Molly’s on the board

Today is opening day for youth firearm deer season. A rite of passage for each of my kids is to go out deer hunting when they're 15 years old to harvest their very own white tail.

First Christopher shot a 4 point buck in 2020. Clara shot an 8 point buck two years later. Sabrina shot a doe last year and this year it was Molly's turn.

Now Molly is the least likely of my kiddos to have anything to do with blood and such. So I made a deal with her. If she shoots the beast, I'll take care of the rest. What I hadn't accounted for was that young Molly would be motivated to one up her siblings.

So this morning around 8:30 am Molly shot her first doe. And then about 15 minutes later she took out doe #2.

True to my word she didn't have to lift a finger after the deer were located. We knew right where doe #2 was but it took us about 45 minutes to find doe #1.

We were joined by some friends in the field and after some necessary preparation the two deer have been delivered to the processor.

At the moment I'm back out in the field with my friend and his son serving as a guide as they prepare for their own harvesting adventure.

Sabrina’s first race

Sabrina competed in her first ever mountain bike race this weekend. It was hot but she raced like a champ taking 5th place in her division. (#6 popped a tire before the race but details, shmetails).

It was fun to see her do her thing at England Idlewild.

Deck refresher

We spent some time this Labor Day weekend restoring the deck. We knocked off all the paint that was peeling, sanded it down as best we could and then slapped some stain on most of the deck. There's still work to be done but it's good to make progress.