2024 Family Christmas Update

To make up for not sending out a Christmas card the past two years, I’ll be adding an update about our family here. Right now this is full of partially- and hastily-completed sections. If I haven’t finished it by the time you land on this page, I’m sorry - extra time has been hard to come by lately.

Family Members

Updates on all the McLendon clan…

Michael

We’ll start with the biggest change in our family - Michael, who arrived in March. Michael

Michael and his tongue

He’s a super-fun kiddo, great at bringing a smile to anyone’s face. It’s always amazing to me how for each of our children, once they’re here you can’t imagine the family without him. He loves mom and dad and all his siblings, and we all love him to the moon and back! Michael on the hunt for a Christmas Tree

Lucy

Lucy Starting 8th Grade

WE HAVE A TEENAGER! Lucy turned 13 this October, and started 8th grade this autumn - her 2nd year at West Bay Christian Academy. She gives mom and dad many reasons to be proud, from making National Junior Honor Society last along with high honors at school to taking on new challenges like scouts this fall. She continues to be a voracious reader, devouring books as quickly as she can pick them up. Back in the spring she ran on the track team at West Bay and just recently finished the cross country season at there. She’s just getting started with basketball practice for what will be her 2nd season. She’s also active in the youth group at Grace Harbor. Lucy searching for the perfect Christmas Tree

Ethan

Ethan Starting 6th Grade

Ethan turned 11 in August. After finishing 5th grade at Hoxsie in Warwick, he has started as a 6th grader at West Bay Christian Academy. This year he played flag football in the winter, Little League baseball in the spring and fall, and ran cross country in the fall. He just started basketball practice with the boys team from West Bay - a new team sport for him.

Carolyn

Carolyn Starting 3rd Grade

Carolyn is a 3rd grader at Providence Classical Academy, a new hybrid classical school that was inaugurated this year. She is active in dance and gymnastics. Carolyn searching for the perfect Christmas Tree

Katie

Katie Starting 1st Grade

Katie is a 1st grader at Providence Classical Academy. Like her sister Carolyn, she’s active in dance and gymnastics. Katie searching for the perfect Christmas Tree

Meredith

Meredith is a superwoman mother of 5 and wife of 1. I need to bug her to write a bit of an update for herself that I’ll put here. Meredith and her barnacle Michael searching for the perfect Christmas Tree

Ross

I’ll put something here later on.

Significant Family Events

The year had a number of significant events.

Holiday Trip to Texas

We kicked off 2024 in Texas visiting family.

Getting Outdoors

We try to get the family out as much as schedule allows.

Ski Getaway

After a couple of good seasons learning at King Pine in New Hampshire, we felt it was time to stretch our legs a little bit and go for a somewhat larger ski area. So, we headed a bit further north and had a lot of fun at Bretton Woods over the February Break. Lucy and Ethan are solid skiers who have mastered blue slopes pretty decisively, and Carolyn and Katie managed to work their way up to skiing a few blues with dad by the end of our trip this year. We’re looking forward to what the coming winter brings in terms of opportunities to ski! Katie and Carolyn at the top of the lift at Bretton Woods.

Mount Monadnock

As I was getting warmed up for Mount Baker, I took a day off in the summer to bring Lucy, Ethan, and Carolyn up Mount Monadnock in southern New Hampshire. They did great, and I didn’t even end up missing anything at work because the Crowdstrike crash happened the same day.

Mount Wachusett

After I got back from Mount Baker, I dragged everyone up Mount Wachusett. I was particularly interested in how Katie would handle a hike that gains 1000 vertical feet. She handled it like a champ! When we top mountains, we always look for USGS datum markers for a good boot photo!

Meredith and Michael Getaway to Texas

Meredith took Michael to Texas this summer to introduce him to grandparents and other family.

Family Summer Trip to Texas

We made a family trip to Texas before the school year started to get a little more time in with family.

Celestial Events

It has been a pretty stellar year for exciting things happening in the sky, and we’ve had a number of opportunities to get out and see some of them.

Eclipse Adventure

Originally planned to be a trip to Dallas, weather ended up making us shift plans last minute to rent an RV and drive it with a bunch of friends from Church to Vermont where we took in totality. It was quite an experience to say the least.

Aurora Chasing

We’re at a solar maximum which has yielded several exceptionally strong geomagnetic storms that resulted in Aurora that were visible in New England. We had two opportunities - one storm in May that Ethan traveled with me to Rockport, MA to see (Lucy was at an out-of-town track event) and another in October that all the kiddos were able to take in under clear skies in Rhode Island. Ethan taking a spectacular aurora storm in May

Comet

As if eclipses and aurora weren’t enough, we got a really nice comet back in October. I dragged the whole family down to Oakland Beach one evening after it became a good northern hemisphere target to see it first hand when it was bright enough to be spotted with the unaided eye, even in light-polluted Warwick. Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas setting over Greenwich Bay with noctulescent clouds