I'm sitting at the kitchen table looking over all our 2014 pictures and wondering: How in the world did we fit all that in one year? In February, we made an excursion to Disney's Vero Beach Resort to celebrate Don and Barbara's 20th wedding anniversary. That wedding photo [2] is from 20 years ago, Feb 1994. It was nice, relaxing family trip with plenty to do right in the resort. Don got a chance to pass on his amazing basketball skills to his girls [1] (uh, wait). We also got to play putt-putt, go sailing, do some archery, and laze around the pool.

Homeschool - Both girls are doing well in 6th grade, testing above their grade level. We're doing Classical Conversations again, which has become a nice close-knit group of families. We're doing more science experiments, including making a telegraph [3], building Alka-Seltzer rockets, terrariums, Newton's laws of motion, etc.

The girls are very active with American Heritage Girls, going on camping trips [4], doing field trips to interesting places [5, 6, 7, 10], and earning badges. The end of the year ceremony was in May [11, 12]. They both took Karate classes [8, 9] this year with Mr. Mitch. We're grateful for the way he makes it a lot of fun.

In May, we made our annual trip to the Florida Homeschool convention, with a few excursions to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. You're starting to get the idea that there was a lot of travel in 2014.

In June, we joined 10 other members of Don's family on a cruise in the Caribbean (St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Castaway Key) to celebrate Don's sister and brother-in-law's 50th wedding anniversary. We all loved the trip and had some nice adventures, including snorkeling and exploring, sailing [14], and a helmet dive for Don [15], his first underwater experience. The cruise was just so much fun with the shows, pirate parties [16], food, AquaDuck, fun with family, unlimited ice cream, solving mysteries, and just being out in the deep blue sea.

More Travel - Barbara and the girls went on an amazing 28-day historical East Coast tour with their friends Michelle and Rachel Castillo. This trip was loaded with fun and educational adventures: Tubing in Gainesville, GA [18]; Mt. Mitchell, NC [33] - highest point East of the Mississippi; Biltmore Estate [19], Asheville, NC; Cumberland Gap National Historical Park; Mammoth Cave, KY; Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace [20], Hodgenville, KY; Appomattox Court House [21]; Natural Bridge [22], VA; Monticello [34], Charlottesville, VA; Gettysburg [23], PA; Pennsylvania State Archives; Hershey Gardens and Chocolate World, Hershey PA; Eby Dairy farm [24, 25], Lancaster, PA; Mt. Zion Cemetery, Collingdale, PA; Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Mt. Moriah Cemetery [35], Ben Franklin Museum, Philadelphia, PA; Godshall farm [26], Souderton, PA; Washington's crossing of the Delaware, Trenton, NJ; Statute of Liberty [36], Ellis Island, Ground Zero Memorial [37], Freedom Tower, Manhattan, NY; Ft. McHenry, Baltimore, MD; Washington DC - Washington Monument, all the Memorials on the Mall [38, 39], Bureau of Printing and Engraving, Tour the Capitol [41], Library of Congress [40], Arlington National Cemetery [42]; Mt. Vernon [27], Alexandria, VA; Virginia Beach, VA; Colonial Williamsburg [28, 29, 30, 31], Williamsburg, VA; Ft. Monroe [43], Virginia Bch, VA; Yorktown, VA; Kitty Hawk [44], NC; Ft. Sumter [32], Charleston, SC.

Don was able to take a few days off and join up with all the fun for 4 days in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.

Even More Travel - Don spent a couple of days at the church men's retreat in Marco Island, FL. Don and the girls went on the annual American Heritage Girls camping trip in October to Umatilla, FL while Barbara was in Naples on the women's retreat. And to end the year off right, we're all traveling up to Hartwell SC for some time in the mountains with Don's family.

The girls both had their Communicants class at church in March. Now they are communing members of Coral Ridge.

Barbara enjoys her genealogy research and gardening. We enjoy some delicious fresh produce from the back yard thanks to her efforts. She also sang in a backup group for the Irish Christmas concert by the Getty's.

Don continues to pay the bills by doing contract work for Royal Caribbean Cruises, while also trying to get three ventures off the ground, and keeping the Christmas light show running. It's a full life.