Annabelle's Birthday 7-23-2011

Annabelle created her own birthday celebration this time around.

We spent the night at the Schneider family vacation home in Larkspur. She invited 3 friends to spend the night and help her celebrate.

The girls made Annabelle's birthday cake together and ate Chinese food and played games and watched Harry Potter movies. They ate popcorn and played hide and seek too!

Thinking About How Our Family Has Triumphed

I am having a lazy Sunday afternoon. I spent the afternoon watching the 1978 version of Ice Castles.

It is a story of triumph. Most likely, a person who is injured and becomes blind, couldn't come back and compete and land a triple loop, but still, the heroine's triumph, is heartwarming.

Sometimes I forget that for my family to do what we have done after experiencing a time of tragedy (in 2005) is truly a triumph in itself.

The kids have been able to skate and have passed lots of tests, traveled, competed, and won medals. They have become such accomplished figure skaters! They've had a chance to do wonderful things with Mountain Vista Homeschool Academy. Rebekah had a great Bat Mitvah this year. All three have had a chance to go to Ramah Outdoor Adventure.

We also have such great friends and family.

My job as About.com's Guide to Figure Skating has given me so much joy. Dan has a job that he enjoys.

Triumph is about pushing forward when things at first may seem hopeless. Lots of sadness has happened to us in the six years too, but we continue to press forward.

Anyway, I realized today that we truly have triumphed!

Joel gets to play ice hockey again

We are so happy that through a new rec league in Monument, Joel can play ice hockey games again! He hasn't had a chance to play ice hockey since the Chapel Hills rink closed in June of 2006. His team won yesterday!

Annabelle and Joel - Fire and Ice 7-15-2011

Annabelle and Joel did this season's pair program for the first time at Fire and Ice on 7-15-2011. They skated great. They landed both of their throw doubles and did a clean program. They were so happy! Go kids!

5 Years Live With About.com!

Five years ago today, July 14, 2006, my About.com Figure Skating site "went live." I competed with several figure skating writers for that job.

• Read a blog post I wrote on Friday, July 28, 2006 - Jo Ann Has Good News!

I've written hundreds of articles (maybe over a thousand articles...) since my site went live five years ago.

I've met and interviewed so many famous ice skaters since then.

I've learned about new figure skating products. I've read and reviewed figure skating books. I've seen so many ice skating movies. I written about figure skating moves and given my thoughts on figure skating issues.

I've passed on much information to my readers. I've gained fans! How cool it that?!

About.com even sent me to the Vancouver Olympics!

• Summary of Jo Ann's and Annabelle's Olympic Vancouver Adventure
• Memories From the 2010 Olympic Figure Skating Competition in Vancouver

It's been a great five years.

I love my job with About.com! It's so much fun. It is really an honor to share the passion I have for skating and get paid to write about it. It doesn't seem like work at all...

I am so glad I can share my love and knowledge of skating with the world! It makes me and others happy.

Happy Skating!

Ramah of the Rockies 2011

The Schneider-Farris family will remember the summer of 2011 as the summer when all three kids went to Ramah Outdoor Adventure, but at different times.

Joel went to Session #1: June 21 -- July 4, 2011

Rebekah went to Session #2: July 6 -- August 1, 2011

Annabelle will go to Session #3: August 3 -- August 15, 2011

Some people are asking why the kids all went to the same camp at different times. Here's the answer:

Rebekah and Annabelle went last year. Rebekah pleaded with me for a month long camp experience, so this year, she went for a month. Annabelle made friends last year with campers that attended in August, so she wanted to return in August to link up again with those friends.

Joel didn't care when he went, so June seemed like a good time to go. He made friends, tried new foods, and got to do all sorts of fun things like kayaking, white-water rafting, hiking, mountain biking, and climbing.

Below are some photos of the great experience Joel had. I've also included some photos the camp has sent us of Rebekah's experience so far. I see she took part in mud-wrestling...

There's also a photo of Annabelle with some of the kids that was taken at a pre-camp family gathering in Denver.