1) In 2018, Jack and I completed our first year of home school culminating with him "graduating" from kindergarten. Homeschool turned out to be a really great fit for our family. Along these lines, Isaac finished his first year of preschool and really loved it.
2) Isaac learned how to ride a bicycle without training wheels just a week shy of his third birthday.
He also learned how to ride a dirt bike about this time. Both boys were introduced to the sport of Trials Riding and Daniel found them Oset Trials bikes and started taking them to Trials competitions –– first Jack in the spring and then Isaac joined in on this sport in the fall.
3) On Mother's Day we decided to do a family paddle through the lock at Chickamauga Dam. This was a first for all of us and pretty exciting. It was cool to see one of Daniel's work projects a little closer.
4) We put Isaac in swim lessons along with Jack at the beginning of the summer, then Jack joined the swim team and spent almost every day at the pool learning strokes and getting more and more comfortable in the water with his friends. We opted not to have him compete, but it was a great learning experience and confidence builder.
5) This was the year we potty trained Isaac. He did better overall than his big brother, BUT it definitely had it's frustrations. Like in most things, he likes to keep us on our toes! And he may be just a bit dramatic.
6) At the beginning of July, the kids and I took a road trip with my brother to see my sister and her family in Florida. We had a crazy adventure that involved being left on a deserted island in the Gulf of Mexico and then riding through an intense storm on the way back to the marina. We made some memories with cousins that will last a lifetime!
7) After that trip, Daniel and I took the kids on a camping trip with friends that included rafting the Hiwasee River. We had such a fun time on this trip, we hope to repeat it again next summer!
8) Probably one of the most exciting things that happened in 2018 was that we bought a camper.
This video showcases how Daniel managed to get the camper stuck on our retaining wall and it took some creative thinking to get it off, without damaging anything.
9) And that's not all! After fixing it, we took an epic road trip out west for most of the month of September. On this trip we visited six National Parks and the kids got Jr. Ranger badges from all of them.
Hitting the road, after 5 days of final work on our camper.
Black Mesa, the highest point in OK. Three Points of OK, NM & CO. Warning sign to turn around in inclement weather. We experienced our only rainstorm here and no way to turn around a camper.
Camping in Alamosa, CO. Visiting Mesa Verde and getting his first Jr. Ranger badge.
Driving to our camping site in the Sand Flats outside of Moab. Taking the kids to mountain bike the Porcupine Trail on the West Rim of the Sand Flats.
Wilson Arch outside of Moab. Double Arch at Arches National Park. Camping spot next to the Colorado River.
Camping site next to the Colorado River. The kids loved exploring.
Best camping of the ENTIRE trip. BLM land outside of Goblin Valley State Park.
Visiting Goblin Valley State Park. This one one of our favorite places we visited.
With over 3,500 photos taken, this is just a sampling and needs its own series of posts and highlights. It was a life changing trip and we can't wait to do it again!
A brief stop at Capitol Reef National Park. We really need to go back and explore more of this park.
Driving over the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument was awe-inspiring and a little terrifying. So glad we did it though!
Bryce National Park was another place we loved. Jack and Daniel got to participate in an astronomy class and see the craters on the moon, the rings on Jupiter, and another galaxy. Jack loved this!
Camping in Dixie National Forest, then we spent a week at Hyrum State Park and Reservoir, north of Salt Lake City while Daniel took a training class.
Camping at Bear Lake on the way to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. We could have stayed here much longer, especially if it had been warmer.
We spent three nights camping in the Grand Tetons and had the chance to drive up to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful, the Grand Prismatic Spring, and Artist's Point.
One of our days we took the aerial tram to the top of one of the mountains at the Jackson Hole Resort. Afterward we hiked around Jenny Lake. We really needed more time in the Tetons and Yellowstone. It was all so beautiful.
See you later, Wyoming! We will be back.
10) We attended two family weddings in the fall: Jack was a ring-bearer in my cousin's wedding in August; and then Daniel's youngest sister had a beautiful wedding at the end of October.
At Thanksgiving we hosted 26 friends for a Friendsgiving.
And finally we wrapped up the year with a wonderful family gathering at our home for Christmas where we hosted 17 people over the course of the weekend before Christmas. It was a great way to end our year.
2018 had its ups and downs, but ended on a good note. We are looking forward to 2019 and all that it has to offer. We are already planning our next big camping trip: we will be heading to Ontario for my family reunion in August and plan to visit at least one Canadian National Park while we are there.
We hope you had a wonderful year and are blessed in the new year!
We have had so many wonderful memories and experiences over the course of the last 16 years!
Top 10 List from Years Past:
2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | We skipped 2007
2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013
2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017
