This is the yearly roundup post - as I've done almost every year for 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 (2016 seems to have been skipped as I got to grips with mothering two little ones), and 2015.
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| Family photo in Austria |
This year brought a few tweaks and changes, and growth of course, but it was a much more settled year than previous ones. A lot of travel though! Let's start with that...
Travel
We kicked the year off with our usual short sun-seeking
week in Spain - Benalmadena for the third time, although I think we've had enough of that place now and may look elsewhere in future! Unfortunately, D(7) was ill some of that time (very rare for him, and impeccable timing!) so he missed out on some of the fun.
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| The Butterfly Sanctuary |
Both in March and at the end of August, we visited Norway for my work with Churchear (posts:
March and
August). I was involved with Churchear for several years quite intensely, putting together a guide on hearing loss for event organisers, which was very interesting and, I think, necessary; but all that travel did take a toll on our family and at the August event where the final version of the guide was presented, I stood down from that work. This means there won't be any further Churchear travel until at least 2026, as they have a big bi-annual conference which I did agree to be part of.
The kids, for their part, enjoyed all those travels and meeting so many diverse people - finally experiencing some snow in March, making new friends who had a fishtank that particularly D was super interested in, and doing some sightseeing and museums with daddy while I worked.
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| Several D's - a trick shot by my phone! |
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| Viking Museum |
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| Aquarium Fascination |
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| Sightseeing in Oslo |
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| Communicating with a deafblind conference attendee |
Then, before going to Vienna, we squeezed in a couple of small trips - to
Spring Harvest, our annual Christian holiday highlight which is always so much fun; to
London as the kids had to renew their Austrian passports; to
Legoland Windsor, celebrating D's birthday; to the Space Museum in Leicester; and finally,
camping by ourselves (but also after Vienna with the Bristol Christian Home Ed group, which has been our annual tradition since long before the kids were even school age!)
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| Spring Harvest |
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| Spring Harvest Theme was the 80's |
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| Spring Harvest - kids work was Computer Games themed |
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| Fun in London - but tiring! |
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| D clearly fed up at this point |
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| Celebrating D's 8th at Legoland |
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| Space Museum |
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| Ready for some surfing in Wales |
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| Camping / Beach holiday in Wales |
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| Camping with the Home Ed Group |
Finally, Vienna! I did two blog posts on that with many photos (
here and
here); it was hot hot hot, and a lot of fun - this year, for the first time, we spent some time outside Vienna at my aunt's place in the mountains which was incredibly scenic. We even managed to meet up with friends from Bristol, who were also on holiday there...
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| Dance Camp! |
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| Family getting together |
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| In the mountains |
Milestones and Changes
A big milestone for D happened in May - he took his First Holy Communion, as N had done the year before.
Toward the end of the year, we also decided to
change parish. Our priest, who had walked with us through Mr's conversion, both kids' baptisms and First Holy Communions, had been moved to the Cathedral to be Dean there. At first we had no plans of following him there, but after coming back from Vienna as I surveyed the year ahead, my concern about fellowship for the kids really increased. At our small parish, even though the new priest very much has a heart for kids, there are not that many families and the priest runs everything from kids work to funerals and all the admin: he's stretched incredibly thin. We felt we didn't have time to waste in plugging our kids into a youth group and building friendships that will sustain them through their teens, and so we decided to move to the Cathedral where there's many more people, both in the congregation and in terms of staff, which means things can happen more easily.
It was the right decision. The kids have already joined the Junior Choir, even singing in the Carol Service at Christmas, and have met lovely kids there; in the new year, there will be a monthly Children's Adoration as well as youth group meetings which we really look forward to.
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| D's First Holy Communion |
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| The Cathedral |
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| Choir at Carols |
Outings, Fun Times, Odds & Ends
Of course, the year is made up of many small moments and not just of the big trips (although in fairness, 2024 was an incredibly rich year in terms of trips!)... here are a few more photos and thoughts.
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| We continue to enjoy our place, so much nature all around |
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| Both kids are becoming avid readers |
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| N had to have her hair cut short... |
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| ... and then wrote a book about it, of course |
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| The grandparents continue to be actively involved, taking the kids regularly |
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| Fun at the Wild Place |
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| Another book of N's creation - I just love these little windows into her thought life |
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| Outing to the Science Museum |
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| Slimbridge Bird Sanctuary |
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| Fun at the SS Great Britain in town |
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| N continues to love football |
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| We had enough snow to make this mini snowman! |
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| Victorian Christmas at the SS Great Britain |
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| They got to partake in a Nativity play at Noah's Ark Zoo... |
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...and met Santa at Ashton Court!
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| A winter walk |
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| They enjoy making stop-motion movies on their tablets - creating a backdrop here |
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| Brownie is D's constant companion, always squeezed under the armpit |
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| N meanwhile takes Nutty the Squirrel everywhere |
And that's it for 2024 for us, folks. It's been an incredibly busy year and we hope that 2025 will be a bit less busy - in terms of travel, certainly. For my part, I am enjoying the routine of home right now, living liturgically as we've just finished Advent and moved into Christmastide, getting knitted in and established in our new Parish community, and just doing life together as a family.
Wishing all of you a wonderful 2025, God bless!
P.s. of course I had to get D an aquarium for Christmas...
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