Finding Passion

My kids found many passions throughout their childhoods. As they entered highschool and college, some of those passions have continued. I love watching each child embrace their passions and take them into adulthood.

At this point in time, two of the three kids rock climb. The funny part is that it isn’t the original two! Parks and Sawyer are still big into climbing. Parks continues to compete in rock climbing and is just beginning to jump into the world of outdoor climbing. Sawyer climbs at a local climbing gym close to her college. Both kids enjoy their climbing communities and the challenges that climbing presents. It is also a great workout!

Originally, all three kids sailed. Now Sims is the last man standing. He has taken sailing to the next level. He works on sailboats. He races in regattas with his college and on boats internationally. As with climbing, he found a community that he enjoys that spans multiple countries.

Parks learned to bike as a little guy at around age 3. He and Sims biked everywhere and competed for many years. At 17, Parks now works in a bike shop, rides down hill, races and travels to new places to try out new trails.

Hiking was almost a weekly part of our lives when the kids were little. We almost stopped hiking completely once high school started simply because it took up so much time. The beautiful thing about hiking is that you don’t have to practice it! Thus, when we go on vacations or anywhere we can explore, we find a hike! Sawyer, now living in the mountains, has found that she continues to enjoy hiking. She even gets up to hike for the sunrise many mornings.

Another passion Sawyer has continued through her years is painting. Her skills continue to grow, and she uses it to help her study! The family used to give her a hard time about painting mushrooms when she was little. One day this semester, she sent a text with a picture that she was painting to study mushrooms. She told us that all of those years of painting mushrooms has really paid off! :).