The year comes to a close, and we’re excited to look back at our first full year with Archer, who turned 1 this year.
Archer
Archer had his first birthday this year, and as expected, he has learned a lot of things. He went from only doing the army crawl in January, to running. He’s officially a toddler, now. Anna’s had a blast creating all sorts of games and play dates with a wonderful group of Moms way up here in Montana.
Although, we didn’t think we would be able to, Archer has flown to visit cousins 3 times this year. We went to Texas to visit Ashton’s cousin’s and to LA twice for Anna’s Family (and Ashton’s Brother, Geo). He is quite a good traveler, now that he’s flown on 16 airplanes! Whaaa?! Archer’s Great Grandpa Joe and Grandma Marcy came to visit him in Montana for a nice long visit in the summer! Archer loved that.
Boat
We live on the “largest, man-made, fresh-water lake this side of the Mississippi” and we haven’t ever had a boat! So we remied that when Ashton got a 18′ Hobie Cat (Catamaran). He learned the basics of how to sail at Camp Cherry Valley, but he’s still learning lots. He did manged to take it out 4 or 5 times this year without a problem. It’s a good start. =)
Ranch
As Anna has put her horse breeding and training business on a brief hold, she has focused all of her attention on taking care of Archer and improving our house. We’re remodeling our mud room/laundry room and Ashton’s Office. It turns out, Ashton’s always been freezing in his office, because there was no insulation in the ceiling! We finally have a properly-insulated office, so Ashton won’t have to wear his winter coats while working.
Anna has been busy outside as well. She now has a new, insulated tackroom in the garage, and turned our unused volleyball court into a sandbox for Archer. As always, she had another productive garden using the raised beds Ashton made last year.
Ashton did manage to do some work outside as well and finished his long-term project of building a rock path down the front path (that used to be just gravel).
More A-Team!
Archer wasn’t the only one to join our family this year. We’re very excited to have Ania as part of the family. We got to spend a decent amount of time with her over the past couple years, and we’ve enjoyed every minute. She’s extremely lively and fun to be around. Good pick Geo, and welcome to our family. I’m sure you’ll fit in perfectly.
With Love,
Ashton, Anna and Archer