2021 was…a year
Due to a certain pandemic, we only had minimal travel in 2021 (trips to Michigan, Minnesota, and South Carolina), so for the second year in a row, I haven’t posted much to this blog. But if you’d like to see our year in pictures, you can go to https://www.flickr.com/photos/bmartilo/albums/72177720295988861 . Let’s hope we can get back to (somewhat) normal in 2022!
2020 – Ugh!
Over the years, I have used this blog to highlight interesting things in our lives, usually family or travel oriented. Well, it’s been a little over a year since I last posted, so that tells you something about 2020. Since the pandemic took off in March, there haven’t been a lot of interesting things to post here. Emily and Elisabeth returned home from school in March to finish their semesters remotely. They did move back to their respective campuses in August for their junior years. Likewise, Suzy completed the 2019-2020 school year teaching remotely, no small challenge for a first-grade teacher. She has recently retired from teaching at Forsyth Public schools after 22 years there. I was furloughed for 3 months but have since returned to work. The only family travel we did was a short road trip to Nashville and Memphis at the end of June into the beginning of July.
All in all, 2021 can’t come fast enough! You can go here to view our photographic highlights from 2020.
As always, you can view my social media at the following links:
Here is a link that will show you all posts on this blog from its inception in 2009 to the present (newest first):
And lastly, here is a page containing links to our original blog, which we started when we adopted our daughters back in 2000. Note that some of the links to our original blog posts contained on these pages are inactive, but most still work:
Christmas Lights
Since the girls are home for Thanksgiving, they really wanted to see to the ‘Garden Lights, Holiday Nights’ exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. It was an amazing spectacle! You can see more pictures here.
Western Swing
We spent two weeks in Colorado and Utah in June, enjoying 4 national parks along the way. Here are links to some Instagram photos with brief descriptions included (each link has 4 to 10 photos):
Boulder
Denver
Rocky Mountain National Park
Breckenridge
More Breckenridge
Mesa Verde National Park
Arches National Park
More Arches National Park
Canyonland National Park
Colorado Springs
Here is a video montage:
Spring Break, 2019
Suzy and I took a short trip out to the desert the first week in April during to get away for her spring break. We packed a lot into 4 days and had a great time! Here are some links with photos:
Here is a brief video with some highlights:
Update
I know I have not been updating this site much of late, largely due to the fact that I have posted more activity to social media and less to this blog. However, I will still use this blog to post major events and travels. In addition, this blog will continue to have posts concerning our family dating back to 2000. If you want to keep up-to-date, here are links where you can access more day-to-day activity around the Martilotta family:
Here is a link that will show you all posts on this blog from its inception in 2009 to the present (newest first):
And lastly, here is a page containing links to our original blog, which we started when we adopted our daughters back in 2000. Note that some of the links to our original blog posts contained on these pages are inactive, but most still work:
Two Weeks in Michigan
We spent a couple of weeks in Michigan earlier in June, partially to visit family and celebrate the girls’ graduation, and partly to explore both the lower and upper peninsulas. I’m attaching some links here – note each link has multiple pictures, just swipe left or right to move back and forth
- June 9, 2018
- June 10, 2018
- June 12, 2018
- June 13, 2018
- June 14, 2018
- June 15, 2018
- June 16, 2018
- June 17, 2018
Pomp and Circumstance
Emily and Elisabeth have graduated cum laude from Northview High School in Johns Creek. We had a small graduation party for them at their aunt’s house in Michigan. Rain was not our friend on both days, but we still had a good time and will certainly remember both down the road. Next up is college in August – Emily at Piedmont College and Elisabeth at Georgia State University!
!
Cruisin’
We took a Caribbean cruise over Spring Break, leaving from Tampa with stops in Key West, Roatan (Honduras), Saint Tomas de Castilla (Guatamala), and Costa Maya (Mexico). Here’s a video summary (with thanks to Elisabeth for some video editing):
Our New House!
It’s been a little over a month since we moved into our new house, just about 2 miles from our old place. We’re still settling in, but it now feels like home. Here’s a time-lapse of the construction, which took about 5 months .
A Lotta Martilottas 