On January 1st of this year, we drove to DC and walked around Pennsylvania Avenue (in the freezing cold, may I add). It’s kind of become a New Year’s Day tradition for us to drive out to DC to visit museums and Alex loves it! This time, we went to see the Renwick Gallery. We did wait out in line for about 10 minutes, it wasn’t so bad. The gallery was a beauty. We took our time to appreciate each of the displays and took pictures, of course! Alex was so fascinated; he had a lot of questions and had A LOT of things to say. He definitely loves going to museums! I’m just amazed how he’s grown to admire art and how it’s inspired his creativity (even at a very young age of five). He makes me so proud! So when the gallery closed, we went to get dinner and then headed to the National Zoo to see the Zoolights. Looking for parking wasn’t fun (it only took us a good 45 minutes) but that’s DC for you, especially during the holidays. But I have to say it was worth it. Once again, Alex loved the experience. The bright lights got him pretty excited even though he was probably brrr-ing inside (since he wouldn’t stop sipping on hot chocolate). All in all, it was a fun New Year’s Day. The goal is always for family time and most importantly, for my Alex to have fun.

Photos by my Joffoto

You were a good one. You started and gave us a cold and snowy winter which my Alex enjoyed so much! I can’t even start to explain how much he loves the snow! We didn’t exactly enjoy driving in the snow, but you know what I mean. You went on to introduce a pleasant spring weather that had us driving to New York for a surprise mother’s day trip c/o my boys. You gave my husband lots of ideas to keep his photography business growing. You showed us more parts of Washington D.C. we never knew existed. We fell in love with those places (and restaurants) and now we can’t get enough of them. You gave us time to head to Virginia Beach in the summer to have Alex enjoy the sand and water, not to mention all the ‘Chicken Joy’ we could digest. Because of how you just kept going and our family photo albums kept piling up, you encouraged me to start this blog. And I scaled a fish! Whaaatt?! You are super! You also gave me and Jof a nice break for our birthdays when you allowed us to fly down to Florida and delight in family time. We were able to experience some of the most memorable times we’ve had as a family while down there. We had the most wonderful time that we are really considering moving down south. Just the thought of it is really exciting! That place seemed like a really good fit for us. We didn’t want to leave. But anyway, we’ll keep that on pending. Then, came fall, you kept my husband pretty busy with weddings, engagement and family photo shoots. He really loves doing photography, so just keep ’em coming! On a side note, I just want to express how proud I am of him; he’s been working so hard and it shows in his work. Also, in the fall, my Alex turned five, but before he did, you gave him an awesome year being a four year old. He had a fun soccer season and brought in an interest in Taekwondo. Also, he got the part of Joseph in his preschool Epiphany play! I couldn’t be more proud! And before another winter season started, you gave us the chance to cut our Christmas tree for the first time in warm, sunny weather. In December. I think you really wanted to be remembered as one of a kind when you had us wishing for a white Christmas, but then you bestowed upon us a rainy 70 degree weather the day of. You had us watching the rain fall while eating ice cream on the patio. Now, that was bizarre. Hey 2015, thank you for being an amazing year of family!

xo