Reflections on our 6th Year - Part 2...

We’re happy that our list of highs is once again considerably longer than our lows:

• Family Travel: Bonaire - scuba diving, donkey sanctuary, night dive, underwater egg hunt, windsurfing, kayaking, caving; Curacao - Royal Sea Aquarium Resort, Queen’s Day, scootering to ostrich farm, UrbEx, seeing dolphins from underwater while snorkeling, dancing at beach café on Koninginnenacht;  Disneyland Paris: car stunt show, Tower of Terror, juggling in line, restaurant along Pirates of the Caribbean; England - staying at Jane and Mike’s cottage, Cadbury World, cycling in Forest of Dean, performance by Royal Shakespeare Company; Kent - seeing Camilla and family, panto; London - Wicked, War Horse, dinners with Phil, mudrucking; Scotland - hiking to castle, seeing Naomi and family, orienteering, exploring Edinborough; US - best home leave yet, staying at good friends’ (Darlene,  Erika, Jim, Lisa, and Vivynne) white water rafting, whale watching, hiking in Carmel Valley, iPad from Grandpa, family reunion in Jacksonville, 30th high school reunion, Crocodile Crossing at Alligator Farm, kayaking trip, NASA tour; Wales - Big Pit
• Solo Trips:  Ardennes, Belgium (Ashlynn) - mountain biking, trekking, kayaking; Israel (Melissa) -  Old Jerusalem, floating in Dead Sea; Poole, England (Veronica) - sailing, water park; South of France (Jimmy) - thrilled to learn to paraglide, klettersteig, skiing, seeing Curt and Vero
• Sports: girls getting Open Water dive certifications, tubing during White Christmas, Jimmy and Ashlynn running Amsterdam Marathon’s 8K together
• Visitors: Steve’s visit included one wild night in Amsterdam,  awesome having Buddy help with photos during Bye Bye Blue
• Dogsitting Max and Hannah
• Eurohash was awesome: perfect weather, dancing to Madly, Jimmy haring in Valkenburg for 500 hashers, laser tag in a cave
• Our geocache: awarded 34 favorites as of today
• Performances: YMCA and song from Oliver during school International Festival, Veronica sings a Disney medley during BSN on Broadway, Jimmy getting a part in the Panto (last time on stage was 6th grade)
• Awards: Veronica - 2nd prize in Anybook writing competition,Year 9 (8th grade) Creative Award; Ashlynn - Year 6 (5th grade) French Award
• Good Deeds: Ashlynn “adopted” Comet the orca, Veronica and Melissa donated their hair for wigs for cancer patients, Jimmy organized getting 24 computers installed in two schools in Sandland
• Jimmy: watching Veronica diving with a sea turtle, Go Pro camera, solar heating design worked, being several 1,000 feet in the air supported by only 8 kilos of gear
• Melissa: like-minded small tour group in Israel, Going Dutch magazine, surprising the girls with cool hotel in Curacao
• Veronica:  13.5 scuba diving birthday party, NESDA training
• Ashlynn: kissed by a seal, making movie at Ellie’s cottage, being a Zwarte Piet