2023 Year in Review

January - Vero Beach

This year for our annual family trip we stayed at Disney's Vero Beach Resort. We enjoyed the more relaxing pace compared to doing Walt Disney World, although the studio part was rather small and Mik did not really enjoy it, especially for a trip that we spent a lot of time in the room (and he really did spend almost the whole trip in the room since he wasn't interested in going on any of the outings). I was kind of unsure of how the trip would end up since I do not really like the beach, but I ended up enjoying the resort for the most part including mini golf, crafts, and Dole whips.

A few days we went to nearby parks to do some trails and bird watching. We also enjoyed some family game time (of course, mainly Wingspan...). One night we stayed up late to watch a Space X launch. We actually enjoyed Vero Beach so much that we are going again for our 2024 trip and since Mik and I haven't done a second trip to Florida in years, we have enough points to stay in the Beach Cottage so there should be plenty of space (well, we actually tried to use our extra points for Animal Kingdom Concierge, but that did not happen trying 11 months out and we went with the Beach Cottage at 7 months out when the waitlist didn't come through by then).

January - Huntington State Beach

Back home from the trip, we went birdwatching at nearby Huntington Beach State Park (followed by a Wingspan game night, naturally).

January - POWYC Change of Watch

Mom and Dad at the POWYC Change of Watch.

February

Found a good backpack not just for Mik's manual wheelchair (it has two loops to go on handles), but the top loop is a buckle so we can also use it on his powerchair by buckling around the headrest pole. Of course, we forgot to plug the chair in the day before and ended up having to use the manual wheelchair the first time we tested it out. Also, later in the year we found it helpful that the shoulder straps are stored in the back and you can pull them out and use it like a regular backpack because I had to carry the groceries home when we discovered that Mik's powerchair was almost dead and did not want the extra weight of the groceries to be the reason it did not make it home. That time we had left with it fully charged and we knew the batteries weren't lasting as long as they should, but we did not realize they were that bad. Luckily, he did make it home without them dying even though he ended up going half a block too far before he realized he missed the turn into our community (I had told him to go ahead home while I was checking out, so I was about a block behind him with no way of telling him he had gone too far because he did not even have his phone that day).

February - DC

Dad came down here and I went back with him to DC for the week to help clear out their second storage unit now that they have their boat back. We then left Mom with Mik and I returned to DC with Dad for another week so Mom was out of the way while he got the stuff from storage more put away. While in DC, we went to a Carrie Underwood concert and I visited some National Park sites with Ranger Dan.

February - Living Room Light

After many months of not having a working light in the living room, we finally found something I liked when Dad was here and we went to a lighting store.

March - Knot Rocket Science

Mom and Dad's boat decorated for Cherry Blossom Festival.

April - Nationals Park

Mom and Dad at a baseball game.

April - NASA

I went on a work trip to Florida.

May - Wisdom Tooth

I got one of my wisdom teeth taken out. And Kirsten had to be the one to take me with her baby only about a week old.

May - Knot Rocket Science

Mom and Dad's boat for Blessing of the Fleet.

June - Ceiling Fans

All our ceiling fans were different and the office one in particular was ugly. We tried for a long time to find ones we liked that could be mounted in all rooms, which includes my bedroom needing an angle mount with a long rod that we never got around to getting and now decided we probably won't change out that fan since it is white and we are thinking of getting a place with garage when Dad retires next year. Dad installed them when he visited for Mik's birthday.

June - Garden

While Dad was here, we also fixed up the garden area. Since I did not get around to doing tomatoes this year, we found some flowers to put in the planters. The Grumpy is also a new addition to the garden.

July - DC

I went to DC for the 4th of July (and Mom came to Myrtle Beach to hang with Mik while I was gone) so I could go to the Capitol Fourth rehearsals and sit on the steps one more time before Dad retires. It was fun to see Chip as one of the performers. Also, watched the fireworks on the 4th from Knot Rocket Science (not so fun when Dad uses his horn at the end).

August - DC

I flew to DC to go to Illinois with Mom and Dad (Dad and I drove, Mom took a plane). As it was Dad's off day, we went to the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site. While Dad was a work one day, I went to the American History Museum.

August - Illinois/Indiana

While in Illinois we went to the Pullman National Historic Park. We also ended up going to the Indiana Dunes National Park, which we had not been to since it switched from a National Lakeshore to a National Park. Mom and Dad also went to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.

August - Grandpa's 95th Birthday

And the reason we went to Illinois was to celebrate Grandpa's 95th birthday. We also got to see the cards he received from school children in Poland for the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising earlier that month. Google Translate was helpful, especially on the letter from the President of Poland (or it might have been the one from Mayor of Warsaw) as we found it was actually a birthday greeting and not just related to the Warsaw Uprising anniversary.

September

Outing to the local coffee shop with Mik getting the seasonal Orange Spice Mocha and me getting the Maple Pumpkin Spice Latte.

October - Pandas

Mom and Dad visited the National Zoo to see the pandas.

October - Mini Golf

Mik had seizures in September and Dad came down in October to help take him to one of the many tests and appointments he had (all tests were normal and he has not had any since being put on meds, so for now he is being kept on them). Since the weather was not too hot, while Dad was here we went mini golfing including checking out the rather recently opened Red Dragon Cove.

October - Knot Rocket Science

Mom and Dad's boat decorated for Halloween and their Halloween costumes.

November - Chip

Annual trip to DC to see Charles Esten at The Birchmere. It was before Thanksgiving, so missed out on our usual seeing the train at the Botanic Gardens, but at least the good experience at the Myrtle Beach airport made Mik less nervous about traveling by plane again, which he had not done since 2019.

November - Christmas Decorations

I put up our Christmas tree with just the lights (did not feel like getting the ornaments out of the attic), Mik's village, and my village. Also, got green spoke covers for Mik's wheelchair to be red and green for the holiday season.

December - Boat Parade

This year Dad's theme for the boat parade was "Joy to the World."

December - Great Christmas Light Show

Mom, Dad, and I did the drive through Great Christmas Light Show and enjoyed the photo ops at Santa's Village.

December - Orlando

We went to Orlando for a week. We all enjoyed Disney Springs one day, especially Mik with his haul of gourmet marshmallows. Dad and I went back another day to complete the Christmas Tree Stroll. We also did some mini golf including the indoor Putting Edge, Disney's Winter Summerland, and Gator Golf. With Mik we enjoyed the Orlando Auto Museum, especially the movie vehicles (his favorite being the Indiana Jones ones). We also had lunch at Ole Red.

December - Pierogi

Dad and I made pierogi with a tornado warning break and without power for a few hours.

December - Christmas Eve

We had most of the pierogi the week before with family at Kirsten's house, but we had some leftover for Mik and I to have for our own Christmas Eve.

2023 Wingspan

And we continued to have many Wingspan Sundays (and other days on occasion, too).

That's a Wrap

2022 Year in Review

January 2022

For our annual family trip we had intended to do Vero Beach, but when I tried to book at 7 months out I discovered we were 2 points short due to the 50% borrowing rule still being in effect (our use year is February so we always borrow since to us the January trip is from that use year). Instead we ended up staying at Saratoga Springs, which Mik and I have always enjoyed for the easy access to Disney Springs and it seemed like a good place to stay and do a non-parks trip. The rest of the family did do the parks a few days, but we also enjoyed some resort restaurants and Disney Springs dining. We didn't get to the Disney mini golfing as I wanted, but we did do the mini golf at the RV resort Tana and Kelly were staying at. My favorite activity was the drawing class we took one afternoon at the resort.

We also had one of the most disappointing experiences with Disney Vacation Club not having the roll-in shower villa we booked and their trying to call a tub room at the Springs an upgrade. While the Springs costs more points per night, we also specifically did not book it as it is the last stop on the bus loop making it often take several buses before there is room for the wheelchair to load. They did end up giving us taxi vouchers to get to our dining reservations to make up for the inconvenience, but that was actually more difficult as there are so few accessible taxis and our group of six could not fit in one. We did at least end up with some credit put on our account and could justify buying two sets of Disney silverware so we now have nice silverware for our kitchen.

Snow in Myrtle Beach

Kirsten, Josh, Judi, and I got hooked on Wingspan. We played most nights while on our trip and all day in the hotel lobby in Hilton Head, which we stayed at for two nights on way back from Florida as Nora had a gymnastics meet there.

February 2022

Dad set up the insulator light he made.

Bagels while watching the Beijing Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony.

March 2022

I painted some pots for our garden.

Replacing the water heater had been a household project pretty much since we moved in and it took it leaking for us to finally get around to it.

Kirsten, Nora, Mik, and I celebrated Pi Day while waiting for the plumber...

I got all the magnets on the fridge and the metal sheet that Dad got for the wall in the kitchen.

April 2022

Kirsten, Nora, Mik, and I went to the food truck festival.

Mik got tired of how long it takes me to fold and put his laundry away and started unloading the dryer and putting his laundry away mostly only needing a few inside out things fixed.

In April, Nora officially declared Sundays Wingspan night and Mik loves getting the house to himself with me going over to Kirsten's almost every Sunday.

Tried a few different seating options for my porch before settling on this lounger couch.

May 2022

Mik and I started actually using our Switch regularly when Switch Sports came out. He enjoyed it so much that we got another one for his birthday so that we could stop moving the system between the living room and his room.

Mik and I had our own game night when Kirsten, Josh, and Nora were out of town and thus I did not have Wingspan night to go to.

June 2022

I got Mik some peanut butter brownies for his birthday and we celebrated his and Josh's birthday at Rioz Brazilian Steakhouse that weekend.

Nora started occasionally playing Wingspan with us in May and she stole my blue cubes (actually I pouted and she let me still use them the first time we all played together), so I got some sparkly dark blue and pink ones. We also added the lazy susan to the table to make it easier for everyone to reach the cards and food.

July 2022

Apparently it was too hot to do much of anything except, of course, we still had Wingspan nights.

August 2022

Mounting the Blake Shelton "record player" project took more trips than expected. Started with getting a shadow box when Dad was here in June. Then I got it mounted and tickets arranged in it before he visited in July. We didn't put it up, though, because then he came up with the idea that I should take the Mickey Guyton signed Valentine out of the frame with signed records and put with the photo he took of me with her when we saw her perform at Macy's in 2016. Before he visited and put everything up, I also found a Now Playing shelf to put whatever record I'm currently playing on. The saga of mounting the Blake Shelton record wasn't over, though...

Earlier in the summer, we started using a dry erase board to put the round end goals on for Wingspan so everyone could see them. I made magnets to make it easier.

Mik got a 300 in Switch Sports.

September 2022

We went to the cottage to spread Grandpa Kjos' ashes. My first time on the new barge and seeing the new stairs and docks. Nora's first time tubing.

Kirsten, Nora, and I spent some time in Illinois before and after the cottage as we flew in and out of Chicago for the trip (my first time flying since I went down to Myrtle Beach to look at houses almost 2 and a half years before!!!). The most fun was discovering City Mini Golf in Chicago.

Mik cut the back of his head falling backwards on to the corner of his bed. Just another bump to him, but it was a bloody mess and did take him to urgent care for x-rays to make sure it was just a cut. Now the corners in his bedroom and bathroom have pads.

Of course, we also had a few Wingspan nights.

We ended September weathering a hurricane. Not too bad for us, but a lot of branches came down in our backyard and it was noisy with a tree that scratched the side and roof of our house whenever it was slightly windy (landscaping finally trimmed it back away from our house in December).

October 2022

I reorganized my closet to put in a desk and shelves that Mom and Dad no longer wanted (they finally got their boat back after four years of repairs in September and this was part of them now working on the inside). I also got a new bookcase for my office. I originally got it for my 1940s books, but decided to replace this one first and get another one eventually for my 1940s books in my bedroom.

Halloween and more Wingspan...

November 2022

Mik got a mostly new manual wheelchair (new frame and wheels, kept back and seat cushion he already had). As part of looking for accessories now that he went back to wheels with bike style spokes, we found some joystick covers for his power chair. We started with a purple one, but once he found he liked it better than the original, we got them in four other colors so he can change it seasonally.

One day while I was at the grocery store, Mik texted me that something fell upstairs. Came home to find the Blake Shelton record fell as Dad had hung it with twine.

We decorated for Christmas including Mik's village, the tree, and some outdoor lights.

Nora got fancy with making the lattes for Wingspan nights.

December 2022

Dad decorated their boat, now called Knot Rocket Science, for the Alexandria and DC Boat parades with the Jolly Holiday theme idea that I gave him back in 2019. A few days before the parade he mentioned it would be nice if I could join and I was able to use some of my airline miles that I had been trying to figure out how to not lose next year to go up to DC for the weekend.

We haven't let Mom add to Mik's village for many years as there isn't space for much more, but we asked her to buy all new LED multi bulb strings this year along with smart power strips so the village now comes on along with the Christmas tree and our outdoor lights. I also set up my village.

We accessorized Mik's new manual wheelchair wheels with red rim covers. Initially we got yellow reflective spoke covers, but then he decided blue would look better with the red and the yellow will be better when he gets some purple rim covers.

Mik, Dad, and I checked out Winter Wonderland at the Beach and got the bonus of a Space X launch.

Mik and I went to DC for the week before Christmas to get in our annual visit to the Seasons Greenings at the US Botanic Gardens and his traditional picture in front of the Capitol model was back to usual inside the atrium. We also did Enchant at Nationals Park. Of course, we also went to see Chip at The Birchmere and thanks to Chip for being patient with Mik, who had his hand stuck in his pocket and took a minute to get it out to shake hands with Chip.

Dad and Uncle Andrew helped install an attic ladder so I can now access the attic on my own. Dad mounted the shelf above the sliding door in the kitchen (maybe in 2023 I'll finally finish the project of putting the cling on the other side of the door). We also remounted the Blake Shelton record "player" with a simple shelf similar to the ones we used for the iPods, which is what we realized we should have done in the first place. Also, put up a new Now Playing shelf as the shadowbox broke the other one when it came down.

We celebrated Christmas in Myrtle Beach. Mom and Mik coordinated with their elf outfits. I had not gotten a chance to make pierogi before we went to DC, but I had got the ingredients in case we wanted to make them when we got home Christmas Eve. Dad and I ended up making them Christmas morning before he went to 7:30am mass and Mik and I are planning to have them for New Year's. And you know you may have a Wingspan problem when you take pictures and carefully put the boards aside so you can finish the final round after Christmas dinner (side note that it seems acceptable to eat in the Wingspan room that was formerly just the dining room, but you may not get away with playing another game). Also, Tana and Kelly got us all bird player tokens for Christmas and, of course, mine are penguins.