Another year, another blog post!
2024 was a wonderful year for our family — filled with trips, shows, and lots of fun activities! Let’s go month-by-month and talk about all the things.
A Look Back at 2024
January: Trip to Dauphin Island
In late 2023, Daniel and I were chatting about which places from our travels we’d most like to return to. We both mentioned how much we loved visiting Dauphin Island, Alabama, and on a whim we went and booked the same Airbnb for a weekend in January, when we’d be able to attend one of the Mardi Gras parades!
Knowing our Airbnb had some bikes for us to use, we strapped some more bikes onto the top of our van, so we’d all have one to ride around the island, and we headed for Alabama!
We had an amazing time revisiting Dauphin Island, getting meals at Dinner’s Ready, biking around the island, watching the parade, and just enjoying some relaxing time in the Airbnb. Daniel taught the kids to play blackjack and poker, and we all enjoyed some fresh seafood.
February: Awards and an Accident
Vanessa won her middle school spelling bee at the end of 2023, which was especially impressive because she was in 7th grade, and her school is 7th and 8th. Since she won the school bee, she went to the regional round in February — the winner of which would go on to compete in the national spelling bee in Washington D.C.!
We went to the regional bee with no expectations. There were about 70 kids competing, and the competition quickly whittled down in the first few rounds. Before we knew it, Vanessa was in the top 7, then the top 5, then the top 3, then the top 2!
She actually had a chance to win, because the other top 2 competitor spelled a word wrong first. Unfortunately, Vanessa misspelled the “winning word,” so they went back and forth for a few more rounds, and eventually she ended up coming in second.
I couldn’t believe it, and I was so proud of her! She spelled words I’ve never even heard, like quinary, justiciable, and glaciation. Smart girl.
If you remember from my last post, in 2023 I performed as Annie Wilkes in the play Misery. In February, the theatre hosted their annual “Torry” Awards for the 2023 season, and I won the award for Best Leading Actress in a Play!
I was so thrilled to have an award after almost 30 years in the theatre, and in my speech I referenced how my college acting professor told me that I wasn’t getting cast because my young, innocent look didn’t match my more mature, confident personality, but that someday my appearance and my personality would match up better.
“Fast forward a few years, and I’m 38 years old, and I’m auditioning for the role of a frumpy serial killer. And it all came full circle!”
At the very end of the month, Carter was riding his bike home from school and decided to trade with his friend who has an electric scooter…and race. This did not end well.
Carter skidded into the dirt on the scooter and then face-planted into the sidewalk, losing all of one tooth and most of another, scraping his face and hands all up, and splitting the skin under his chin. He had to get stitches at urgent care that night and emergency dental care the following day.
He looked pretty rough, but luckily he healed up nicely. After several oral surgeon and dentist visits, he still currently has a fake tooth where he’ll get a permanent implant when he’s 17 or 18. The funny thing is that all the ladies at the dentist office know him now, and they fawn all over him every time he goes in. It’s kind of adorable.
March: Tech Fair
The big event every March is the school district’s tech fair! Carter has gone every year with the high school’s robotics team, of which he is the president, to showcase their robots’ skills and let the younger students try controlling them.
Harrison has also presented at the tech fair each year, and this year he created a video game called Crok’s Adventure, immortalizing his favorite stuffed crocodile, with whom he traveled all around Europe. In the game, Crok collects coins (Euros!) across London, Paris, and Rome. Harry and his partner won 1st place medals for their game!
April: Paint, Family Visits, Willy Wonka, Prom, and Baseball
In April, we got our entire house interior painted. I love all the colors we (mostly I, painstakingly) chose. We ended up picking 9 different colors, and it’s so much more fun than just plain white walls all throughout.
While our house was being painted, we took a trip down to Charleston, where we took a horse-drawn carriage ride around the city and ate biscuits at the City Market!
We had my parents and some of our other favorite relatives visit us in April, and one of the fun things we did together was an airboat ride along the Intracoastal Waterway. We got to see a baby alligator and learn interesting facts about the history and nature of the area.
While they were here, we all got to go see Vanessa in her middle school’s spring musical, Willy Wonka, where she played Mrs. Bucket and did a beautiful job!
Speaking of shows, Vanessa also wrote and performed a comedic monologue for a talent show with the local youth theatre. It was very funny, and all her idea!
Also in April, Carter went to the prom, and we all went to several Pelicans baseball games! We love our Myrtle Beach Pelicans!
May: Fiddler, Mean Girls, Virginia, and AP Tests
Then, it was Harry’s turn to perform! He auditioned for his intermediate school’s production of Fiddler on the Roof, Jr. and got the part of Motel the tailor. He was so good, even with this being his first ever musical!
Vanessa and I had to miss his second performance, because we were off with her middle school choir on their trip to Virginia, to perform in a choir competition and spend the day at King’s Dominion theme park. The choir did great and placed at the top of their category.
Also in May, Carter took two AP tests. He took his first last year and got a 5, the maximum score. For these next two, he didn’t get his scores back until July but, spoiler, he got two more 5s!
And, I knew it would happen eventually… I turned 40! I told everyone, “You know the saying, ‘Thirty, flirty, and thriving?’ Well, I want to be ‘Forty, rich, and hot!'” Working on it!
Lastly, Vanessa performed in yet another show, Mean Girls, Jr. with Pied Piper! She was in the ensemble this time and had fun learning lots of songs and dances.
June: Miami and Myrtle Beach Bucket List
In June, Carter took the SAT for the first time and got a 1440! He scored high enough that he was invited to be an SAT student coach, which he did, teaching online two evenings a week for several weeks, leading up to the next SAT test date.
Carter also taught an engineering camp that was offered by the school district, and he really enjoyed the experience. He’s planning on teaching the camp again next summer.
Daniel and I went on a work trip to Miami, which went well until it started pouring and didn’t stop for two days. There was pretty serious flooding, and most people had their flights canceled. Ours was fine, because we had planned to stay an extra night anyway.
On that extra night, the hotel we were staying at had a big rebranding party, and we found ourselves caught up in an immersive performance that wound its way through several hotel rooms, the event rooms where our company had held meetings, and finally the rooftop club where we danced with some of our work buddies and plenty of strangers! It was an interesting night!
Finally, I started a new website! To go along with my family travel site, I started a local site called Myrtle Beach Bucket List. There’s not a ton of content just yet, but I think the design is adorable, and there’s more to come!
July: Traveling and Swiftie Camp
July was our big travel month! We planned a 10-day family vacation that started in Ocean City and Assateague Island, Maryland. We first drove around Assateague Island and spotted the wild ponies on the beach.
Then, we spent the night right by the beach in Ocean City, enjoying a late afternoon stroll and pizza on the boardwalk to celebrate Harry’s birthday.
Next up, we drove to New York City, with a quick detour into Philadelphia so Carter could cross an item off his bucket list — eating a Philly cheesesteak in Philly!
In New York, we saw a bunch of shows! Daniel and I went to Drunk Shakespeare and The Who’s Tommy. Daniel and Carter went to Dungeons & Dragons: The Twenty-Sided Tavern. Daniel and Vanessa went to Six. And the whole family went to what was the kids’ first Broadway show, Water for Elephants.
We also played in Bryant Park and Central Park, and Carter gave us a tour of the statues in Rockefeller Center. Also in Rockefeller Center, Daniel and I recreated a photo we’ve taken there every 10 years!
From NYC, we drove up to Maine and spent a wonderful week visiting all our special places there: Old Orchard Beach, Palace Playland, Pier Fries, Alex’s Pizza, Ocean Park, and Funtown/Splashtown USA.
Ahead of our trip, I got the genius idea to find a photographer to take nice photos of us in our favorite place. It was one of the best things we’ve done!
After Maine, we headed home via Vermont, where only I had visited previously. This was Daniel’s 49th state and the kids’ 48th.
We visited a sugar house where they collect maple syrup and got to taste all the different phases they collect throughout the season. We watched a video about the collection process, and wrapped up our visit by trying maple syrup ice cream (which was delicious)!
From there, we drove into Burlington to walk around a bit and have lunch. Then, we stopped at the Ben and Jerry’s Factory for (more) ice cream, before we drove home!
Shortly after arriving home, Daniel and Vanessa flew out to Arizona. Daniel had a hiking trip planned with his brothers, and Vanessa’s best friend had invited her to stay with them and go to an AJR concert. They both had a fantastic time.
After they returned home, it was time for me and Carter to fly out to Las Vegas! My dad’s party rental software company was celebrating 30 years of business, and both Carter and I have worked for the company.
We thoroughly enjoyed three full days of fun and celebration, including a slots tournament, visiting Omega Mart, attending a BattleBots show, and a big yummy cake!
Oh yeah, Carter and I also checked off one of my bucket list items: riding the roller coaster that takes you over the side of the top of the Stratosphere Tower! Terrifying? Definitely. Worth it? Maybe.
We had one more trip to take in our very busy month of travel. Daniel has a published musical that has been performed all over the world, and even in all of our traveling, we haven’t been able to catch a show yet. Until July! A theatre company in Virginia was putting on the show, and so we made the 4-hour drive to see one of their performances.
After the show, Daniel introduced himself as the writer and composer whose name was on the program and all their posters, and the directors and kids were thrilled! He signed lots of programs and let the kids know what a great job they did with his show.
As a final activity in July, and spilling over into August, Melody attended a “Swiftie Camp” put on by Pied Piper. She attended all day for one week and did a performance at the end of the week that we all attended. She was over the moon to be up onstage performing!
August: The Who’s Tommy and Green Day
For me, August was largely consumed by rehearsing for and performing in The Who’s Tommy, with Theatre of the Republic, the same theatre where I did Misery. It was almost a spiritual experience for me, as I was involved with a production of the show way way back in 1999, 25 years prior!
Back then, I worked backstage as a dresser, and it has since been one of my favorite shows. This time I got to be on the stage, singing “Listening to you, I get the music,” and I couldn’t have been happier!
Meanwhile, Daniel treated Carter to a special birthday present — taking him to a Green Day concert in Charlotte! Carter has really gotten into music in the past year or so, first learning bass and then the guitar, and (thanks to our influence) he especially loves music from the 90s. They both had a fantastic time at the concert.
September: Dallas, a Conveyor Belt Restaurant, and Chili Fest
In September, Daniel and I took another work trip, this time to Dallas. On both work trips, in Miami and Dallas, I taught sessions to our clients, and Daniel got to meet in-person some of the clients he works closely with.
Also in September, I treated Daniel to dinner at a nearby Korean restaurant I found, Mura, which has a conveyor belt of dishes going around the restaurant! It was a fun (and delicious) find, and we need to go back soon!
I also took the kids to the Chili Fest, which we’ve attended the past few years, and which is always a fun time, sampling all the yummy chili and voting for our favorites!
October: PSAT, More Family Visits, The Lightning Thief, and Nashville
October brought some cooler weather and also some family members! Daniel’s brother and his daughter (Carter’s “twin” cousin) came all the way from Arizona to visit us, and we had a ton of fun taking them to some of our favorite places in Myrtle Beach.
While they were visiting, we were graced with the very unusual sight of the northern lights in Myrtle Beach!
Carter and Vanessa both took the PSAT (11th and 8th grade students take the SAME test) and they both destroyed it. Vanessa got just shy of a perfect reading/writing score and a great math score too. Carter got close to perfect on math and did great on reading/writing. He’s in the running to be a National Merit Scholar and Vanessa is officially a Junior Scholar.
And, since they weight reading/writing higher than math, Vanessa’s National Scholar Selection Index Score is actually one point higher than Carter’s, so she’d also be in the running for National Merit Scholar if she was an 11th grader (with her 8th grade score)! Can’t wait to see how she does as an 11th grader.
Another very exciting thing that happened in October was that Carter was in his first musical! He’s our oldest, but he took the longest to show an interest in the performing arts. We love that he’s all about science and math, but it was really fun to see him take an interest in musicals lately.
His closest friends are theatre kids, and when he went to see them perform in Hadestown in the summer, he saw that the theatre company was going to be doing The Lightning Thief in the fall, which is a musical based on one of his favorite book series. That sealed the deal for him. He signed up, auditioned, and got several great roles in the show.
But there’s more! They did the junior version of the show, which cuts out one of the songs that all the kids really liked, which happens to be a song that takes place around a campfire. Carter learned to play the song on the guitar, and the directors put it back into the show, since he did such a good job playing it, and it made sense for his character to be playing the guitar around the campfire!
At the end of October, I traveled to Nashville for a work offsite, where I got to work and bond with my team members, many of whom I had never met. We had lots of fun, and it made a big positive difference in our working relationships once we all returned home and were back to interacting online again.
November: Six, 100 Pounds, and Alaska
Two more months to go — wow this was truly a packed year!
For our last show in 2024, Vanessa performed in Six with Pied Piper. This was an audition-only show, and she was cast as Bessie, the bass player in the “band.” She got to rock out on the bass, sing in all the songs, and even dance in a few of them. What a cool cat.
In other news, Carter got his license and took his first solo drive!
And I hit a milestone — 100 pounds lost!
Then, we had one more big trip before the year was over. Back in May, for my 40th birthday, Daniel gave me a card that said, “Now that you’re 40, let’s make it 50!” When I saw the plane tickets to Alaska, I realized he was saying, let’s make it all 50 states, since Alaska was our final state to visit!
So we did just that! In late November, we drove the whole family down to Florida, dropped the kids at my parents’ house, and Daniel and I flew to Fairbanks, Alaska. We spent three days playing in the snow, dipping in the hot springs, riding a dog sled, and walking with reindeer.
The one thing we didn’t get to do was see the northern lights in all their glory, because it was cloudy during our visit. Good thing we got to see them back in October, even if they weren’t as impressive here!
You can read a full recap of our Alaska trip here on my travel site.
We flew back to Florida in time to spend Thanksgiving with the whole family, and then we drove back home.
December: Concerts, Panthers, and Carter’s Car
December was filled with Christmas concerts and activities. We also drove up to Charlotte to attend a Carolina Panthers game — one of the few they won this season!
Christmas was happily spent at home (Melody’s first time ever spending Christmas in the same place twice!), with gifts that brought many smiles.
And we capped off the year with a new driveway ornament… Carter now has his very own car!
6 shows, 14 trips to 12 states, 2 trophies, 1 medal, 1 prom, 2 AP tests, 6 family members hosted, 3 reindeer walked, 1 new car, and countless memories.
2024 came and went, but now it’s immortalized forever. On to 2025!
