Richards family "Eras" tour of 2023

 

The Richards Family “Eras Tour” – 2023

2023 was a year of many things, and regardless of whether or not you are a “Swifty” or not, one cannot deny the force that was Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour.  I am not a super-fan, but I am a bit of a “hype girl”, especially for strong, powerful women rockin’ the world.  I also work with a handful of Zellenials (young millennials / older Gen Z) who ARE super-fans, So, while none of us attended a live concert, it felt part of our 2023 and seems fitting to use as a metaphor for this year’s recap.

Without further ado, here are a few “eras” of our family’s 2023 – complete with wardrobes / accessories for you to imagine.

The Nimbus Era (costume:  fanny pack full of treats and poop bags, sneakers, ball cap)

Nimbus is our 4-legged fur-child; an English Pointer / Boxer / Dalmation mix we adopted in April of 2022.  She is afraid of many things (ceiling fans, the toaster), loves to romp and wrestle with her dog friends, and snuggles with all of us.  While she can occasionally be a real sphincter (if you know what I mean), most of the time she is a sweet girl.

Harper hugs Nimbus and cleans her eye goobers every day.  Rory plays chase with Nimbus and lets her eat pretzels out of his mouth.  Eric serves as Nimbus’ personal popsicle, and Haley imagines Nimbus’ inner-most feelings and musings about the world. 

For her part, Nimbus keeps us taking walks every day.  She also makes sure our savings account balance doesn’t get too comfortable.  We’ve had two pricey trips to the vet this year and are currently looking into pet insurance.

The Kid Sports Era (costume:  knee pads, shin guards, sneakers, bball jersey, shorts, and a shopping bag full of water, snacks, layers, and a blanket)

With two active kids in 7^th and 4^th grade, we stay busy attending sports activities.  This year we watched:

·       Harper play basketball with team Tsunami, which was put together by another 6^th grade mom.  Haley coached, dusting off her body’s and brain’s basketball muscles.  Harper has a knack for finding open teammates and helping on defense.  She’s working on building confidence in shooting and handling the ball. 

     Harper run middle school track.  She enjoyed the 200m hurdles, 4x100m relay, and  4x400m relay with her loooooong strides.   

·       Rory played soccer with his rec team, The Sweaty Sox, in both spring and fall.  His team has been together for a couple of years now – mostly boys from his elementary school and coached by some of the dads.  We love the community of families AND seeing all the boys improve so much.   Rory likes to play mid-field, which means the entire field.  He is a hustler and typically scores at least 1 goal per match (2 hat-tricks this fall).

·       Harper played middle school volleyball this fall.  She made the JV team and improved so much over the season!  She was a calm and consistent force on the team.

·       Rory played rec basketball this fall and Eric coached his team.  The 4^th and 5^th grade boys are learning a ton every game, and Eric has only a few more gray hairs because of it.  Rory plays basketball like he plays soccer: all-out hustle and fearlessness.  Translating ball-handling & seeing the field from feet to hands is an area of growth for him.

·       When Haley and Eric aren’t coaching, they are dutifully putting in time honing their bleacher butts and cheering like crazy.  This includes learning the rules of soccer (neither of us every played) and the NEW rules of volleyball (different than when Haley was a kid).

Hawaii Era (costume:  flip flops, swimsuits, sun hats, sun glasses)

Our family was blessed this year to get to travel to Kauai, Hawaii with Haley’s parents , sister, and sister’s family.  We spent 9 days soaking up the sun and adventuring around the island.

Some highlights:

·       Hiking to Waipo’o Falls in Waimea Canyon

·       Attending a luau

·       Seeing seals, sea turtles and dolphins

·       Eating a Puka dog

·       Taking a boat tour of the Na`pali Coast

·       Jumping off the pier in Hanalei Bay

·       Kayaking up the Waialua River and hiking to Secret Falls

·       Taking morning walks on the beach at the Waimea Plantation Cottages

·       And so much more!

Outdoor Adventure Era (zip-off hiking pants, backpacks)

While Hawaii took a big chunk of space in our iCloud photo drive, we did have other noteworthy outdoor adventures, including:

·       Family ski trips to Granby Ranch and Ski Cooper

·       Haley & kids spending spring break in Buena Vista, CO and doing the polar river plunge at Cottonwood Hot Springs

·       Haley visiting friends in Austin, TX

·       Harper attending Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp for the 2^nd year and climbing Pig Rock

·       Camping trips to Lake Isabel in southern Colorado, State Forest State Park, and Brainard Lake

·       Trip to Moab, Utah to visit Canyonlands and Arches National Parks

Gotta Work Era (backpacks, “work clothes” laptops)

On the work front, Eric changed companies after 10 years.  He is excited for new challenges and new projects.

Haley now does much less advising of students at CSU and instead leads two advising teams at CSU:  Exploratory Studies and Health Professions advising.

Rory started 4^th grade and has already been on more field trips than Harper got to do in all of elementary school, which is a sore subject.  He is a curious kid who dives in deep when he is into something, rarely pausing to eat or go to the bathroom. 

Harper started 7^th grade and got to choose many electives this year, in addition to her core subjects.    She really enjoys band, Science Olympiad, and being on Yearbook.  She is also learning that taking math with 8^th graders isn’t as scary as she thought.

Creative Era (aprons, tool belt, Bauder t-shirts, mis-matched socks)

Creativity is a value in our family, as we’re always creating something.

Rory builds and assembles a variety of things (Legos, origami, etc), draws, and plays guitar.

Harper bakes cupcakes and muffins, coordinates theme-parties with all the details, crochets, and plays trumpet.

Haley’s creativity these days takes the form of hosting and coordinating said theme-parties or school events and trying to squeeze in time here and there to make cards, learn to crochet or tinker on the piano. 

Eric’s art continues to be his patio-project.  This year, he built doors for the cabinets out of wood and is currently learning to weld so that he can complete the metal cabinet under the grill. 

 

 

Whew!

Much like Taylor Swift’s Era’s tour, every era in our family is constantly evolving.   We are holding on and leaning in to all the eras give to enrich our lives – the people, the lessons, and the memories.

We hope the “Eras” of your 2023 were rich and rewarding.  Here’s to new “Eras” in 2024!