Emily, Amy and Molly are our three little girls. During most of their childhood, they joined us for the summer where ever we happened to be. One year it was Virginia. The next two Belize. Then China and Nicaragua. Here are some glimpses of their childhood.
It all begins with Emily in 1987
She has her father’s deep blue eyes
As well as his sense of curiosity and wonder
A couple of years later Amy came into this world. That’s Emily as a two year old on the left and Amy on the right at about the same age. Both girls loved to swim so we spent a lot of time at the pool.
Emily and Amy with their friend Taylor.
Emily stands outside our horse pen, sporting a fuchsia cowboy hat. It was forbidden to cross under the fence and risk getting stepped on and both girls took this very seriously.
We had some fine times together. On memorable trip was to the Swetsville Zoo in 1993. That was the day Amy started a fashion trend by wearing two different colored socks.
Molly entered the scene in 1992 and joined the party. This was taken at Sharyl and Rob’s fall wedding when Molly was two years old. Amy, Molly and Emily are wearing the dresses we had made for our wedding a couple of months earlier.
When we moved to Virginia, the girls came along for the summer. Uncle James joined us for our first group birthday celebration. Since we couldn’t be together for everyone’s birthday, we celebrated all five on July 4th. Bob added up our birthdays and realized the five of us would turn 100 years old that year. Molly had a special look she gave us when she didn’t know what to say. She was three and it must have seemed that everything had already been said, so she’s roll her eyes and purse her lips in what we termed The Molly Look. Just for fun, we all tried it on for the camera in our Virginia living room.
We moved to Belize and again, the girls went with us. They helped us run Mountain Equestrian Trails two summers in a row on 100 acres of rain forest. As caretakers and managers we were responsible for 20 horses, a dog and a cat. When not helping prepare for and entertain guests, we all enjoyed the animals, caves, waterfalls, swimming and Mayan ruins. Good times.
The next summer it was Guam with it’s beautiful beaches and pristine coral reef. Bob took the summer off and spent a lot of time swimming and snorkeling.
Our friends Kurt and Christina lived on a small sailboat. They invited us out for a trip around the island and gave each girl a turn at the tiller.
When not at the beach, the girls entertained themselves playing beauty shop. Amy brought what was left of her baby blanket to Guam and showed us how to transform a threadbare “blankie” into a turban. This is only only one example of her intuitive sense of fashion
Here we all are on the couch in our second story cement block apartment in Chalan Pago. The girls pose for an obligatory portrait atop Mount Lam Lam, the highest peak on Guam.
Riding lessons were part of their childhood, too. Emily and Amy began learning when they were four and 2 years old. Camille started putting Molly in front of her in the saddle when she was six months old. Molly always had a way with animals. You could say she is a whisperer. On Guam she was already confident enough at four years of age to ride Cream Baby without assistance. Amy relaxes on Jesse, her first school horse on a visit to see him back in Colorado.
The picture on the left was taken in a Longmont restaurant, a refurbished fish joint that was now serving some of the best Vietnamese food on the front range.
And here the girls are in Hawaii, on the main island of Oahu.
Mahlon flew to Oahu with Amy.
The tropics looks good on these beautiful young ladies.
Emily was the first to graduate from High School in 2005. We flew back from Nicaragua to celebrate her accomplishment. Molly was the only one who joined us that year on Little Corn Island.
Emily and Amy join us The Shakori Hill Grassroots Festival in 2008. The music festival has proven to be an irresistible lure for our grown daughters.
When we moved to Ghana, Amy made it a point to spend five months getting a better appreciation for her father’s roots. She worked at the Green Ranch for one of those months, cooking and riding Elodie’s beautiful horses around Lake Bosumtwi.