For this little trip down memory lane, just a couple of photos of my girls with amazing face paint. For as long as I can remember, whenever we went somewhere this was offered, they loved to have it done. Whether we went to the zoo, and amusement park, or our beloved Disney World, we would always search for the face painting stations. First up...my young ones at the Bronx Zoo in New York, and then my not so young ones getting their Avatar on at Animal Kingdom in Disney just a couple of years ago. That photo was taken during our last trip to Disney in January of 2019. We had been on streak of going at least once a year for 8-10 years in a row. This came to an end when the trip we had planned for the summer of 2020 had to be canceled. Hoping to return very soon... and now that I technically have two adult daughters...we'll see if they are still interested in this beautiful form of art!😎

As I approach a big milestone birthday next month, I decided to share a few photos from way back. Here is this working mom in pre-school, then high school and then at my medical school graduation. Fast forward a few years to a couple of photos of me with my little ones and finally a recent photo which is already almost 2 years ago. There is your clue to the upcoming milestone...😉

I have so many wonderful memories related to horses. My dad was involved with horses before he met my mom, and then once I was in middle school he introduced the idea of having horses to our family. Within a couple of years we had three! My dad, my brother and I all rode often, and I competed in horse shows during high school. My mom didn't ride much, but she was the best "horse show mom" and enjoyed being around the horses as well.

I stopped riding when I went to college, and ultimately the whole family got away from horses for many years. When I had kids, I thought it would be fun to get back into it and started them in lessons around 2004 at the ages of 6 and 4. My younger daughter always seemed to enjoy it more than my older one. They took lessons together for a few years, and then I knew my older daughter wanted to stop. My younger daughter did not want to continue without her sister so they both stopped.

In 2012, my dad decided he wanted to have a horse again and get back to riding. On New Year's Day of 2013, his horse Shadow arrived. What a wonderful addition to the family! He became the inspiration for my younger daughter to ride again. She loved being around Shadow. She ultimately found the perfect barn, trainer and horse for her a few years later and began competing in 2016 on the wonderful horse we leased, Angel. My dad and Shadow have the most amazing connection. He rides almost every day, and they have now been a great team for 7 years.  My daughter was able to find similar connection with Angel, but also has a special place in her heart for Shadow. Here are some favorite photos of Shadow over the years.  Stay tuned for the Motivation Monday post next week when I will incorporate some of her competition photos as I discuss motivating our kids in sports and other activities.😊

Comparison photos can be so much fun, especially when the recent photo just by chance recreates the photo from many years prior. That was the case with the few collages I have created for "Throwback Thursday" this week. It's a popular thing these days to try and recreate photos from the past, and my kids both had to do that as part of their high school senior yearbook. They both did a great job redoing photos with good friends they have had since elementary school and they turned out so well. Here are photos I found by chance, and while not perfectly identical they are close enough! 

The photos above are my daughters at roughly 4 & 2 and then 20 & 18. My little girls are all grown up. Again in the collage below you can see the same age difference left to right. I could not resist the side by side with the Barbie Jeep and the Jeep Wrangler. I could have never imagined as they drove around the driveway in that little pink jeep, they would one day be driving on the road in a real jeep. One of the many rights of passage as the kids grow up is  getting a driver's license. I remember being so worried when my older daughter came home with her license 4 years ago and immediately wanted to drive just 10 minutes away with her sister to get ice cream. It was a new freedom for them and a bit of panic for me. I am lucky to now have 2 very safe and responsible drivers, but there will always be a little bit of worry when they are no longer limited to the driveway in the Barbie jeep!

Not much of a story here...just a quick look back at one of our many trips to Rehoboth Beach. From where we live it can be a toss up between the Jersey shore and the Delaware beaches. This is back in 2012 during a weekend trip to the beach. We did a few week long trips over the summer and in more recent years, my girls have gone on their own even just for a day sometimes. As we are in the middle of winter with chilly temps here in the northeast, just felt like sharing a few photos when the weather was warm. Hanging out on a crowded beach never looked so good!🏝

It was May of 2015...the Pittsburgh marathon and half marathon. Pittsburgh is a city near and dear to my heart. I did my residency there, and both of my daughters were born there. As I was getting back into distance running, I tried to do a race every so often, and this was a great opportunity to do a half marathon and visit one of my favorite cities. My mom and daughters came with me and we booked a hotel downtown close to the start of the race. 

Here is a story about one of the good aspects of social media...

I saw a post from my then work acquaintance Lisa saying she would be running the Pittsburgh marathon. I commented that I would be doing the half marathon, and we then made plans to meet up with each other while we were there. At that time, Lisa and I had already worked in the same hospital for about 9 years, We crossed paths from time to time in the operating room on Fridays but we were in different specialties. We would sometimes work in ORs right next to each other though, so we chatted in the hallway between cases and had many friends in common. We got to know each other a little during those years, but had not spent much time together outside of work.

As we discussed plans for Pittsburgh, we discovered we had booked rooms in the same hotel. I arrived first with my family, and when Lisa got there, we decided to meet for a drink in the hotel lobby. The race was the next morning. We met for that drink and had a great time talking and getting to know each other better. We then found out that we had both booked the "VIP" option for the race which allowed us into a special waiting area before the start with breakfast and some other perks. We decided we would meet in the morning and walk to the start together. 

We called it a night early because of the race, but found that we really enjoyed each other's company and had a lot in common. We got in the elevator and I pushed floor 8, asked Lisa what floor I could push for her... she was on 8 too. We got off the elevator and turned the same direction down the hallway, ultimately stopping at rooms which were directly across from each other...what are the odds of that?! So we shared a laugh about all the coincidences and went to bed. We walked to the race together the next morning and enjoyed some coffee and a light pre-race breakfast in the VIP area, 

We talked more at that time about prior races, how we trained and what our pace was. We both trained and typically ran alone with earphones while listening to music.  Lisa was the far more experienced marathoner, and was doing the full marathon while I was doing the half. The races started at the same place at the same time. We were pretty well matched for pace, so we decided to run together. We still had our earphones in but often stopped our music and talked as we ran together. We parted ways around mile 8, and Lisa went on to finish the full, and I completed the half. This was the start of our running partnership which ultimately lead to our most significant accomplishment almost exactly 3 years ago. I have written about this in other places, but Lisa and I completed the 4 day event in Disney called the Dopey Challenge in January of 2018. This is 48.6 miles in 4 days. The event consists of a 5K, a 10 K the next day, a half marathon the next day and a full marathon the final day. It was a very proud moment for both of us as we crossed the finish line of the full marathon together. 

I have since given up distance running in favor of ballroom dancing, but Lisa has continued and was supposed to  run the NYC marathon this past November. I had plans to be there to cheer her on. The week after that she had plans to come cheer me on at a dance competition. Of course, none of those events could happen, but here's hoping it will all be able to happen this year.🤞🏻🤞🏻

The best part of our Pittsburgh marathon string of coincidences was that it marked the start of us becoming much closer friends. Over the past almost 6 years, Lisa and I have become the best of friends and as of last year, we are now business partners too! It is so great to have a BFF who you can count on for anything. Love ya Lisa❤️

Yesterday we had our first snow of the season which sparked the idea for this post. It was really fun to see my now 20 and 18 year olds who are home on winter break from college, be excited to go out and do some of these same things they did as kids growing up.  The photo below was taken today with my girls "little sister" who lives next door. Wondering if we might get a white Christmas this year...I guess we will find out in a week!❄️