Our year in pictures - 2014
(in no particular order)
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| Jorge's parents visited shortly after celebrating 50 years of marriage |
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| Mica is now 18 - a keen baker, currently on a gap year |
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| Luke devoted this year's summer to sport - cricket and football. His club (Stand CC) achieved a few trophies |
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| Our niece Ale from Barcelona came to visit us in August Here with Mica, Luke and Monica on a day trip to London |
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| Brother Jose visited in May - including attending the England-Peru match at Wembley |
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| Jose and I at Manchester's Football Museum |
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| Myself with Luke and Mica's boyfriend, Ben |
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| Mica and Ben - celebrating Mica's 18 |
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| Jorge and Cheryl, at a Wedding in September |
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| Luke, niece Ale and Jorge, pod-camping weekend in Silverdale - to coincide with August's storms: this picture taken during a rare dry moment |
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| Momo started High School - bringing to an end our 14-year association with St Bernadette's RC Primary School |
2014 was in many ways a year of positive change and transition. Also a year during which we were fortunate to receive visits from friends and relatives - including as pictured above my brother Jose (twice!) and my parents who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
Micaela finished college and turned 18. She did extremely well academically and is taking a gap year before going to a yet-to-be-decided university. She is working at Nando's and doing training as a "patissiere" - a good counterbalance to her intention to study philosophy at uni.
Luke is a keen footballer and cricketer, doing reasonably well in school when his busy social and sporting schedule allows any study. In football the team he played for in 2013/14 reached the final of their league cup - losing narrowly after a typically spirited performance in which Luke played a key role as defender. He also plays for the school football team, which he has captained on many ocassions. In cricket Luke has played regularly for his club's Under-13s, Under-15s, Under-17s and the 3rd team, and has been called to play for the 2nd team on a couple of ocassions.
Monica has continued with her karate and is now ... best approached with care. She is now in 'big school' - our 'baby' no longer. She does dancing too - I would say the perfect complement to karate, as both things are about coordinated movement, something Monica is very good at. She also loves to play the recorder, which she continues to practice on her own eventhough, sadly, high school does not cater for that instrument.
Cheryl, who also does karate, continues to work for Manchester libraries and has been extremely busy - earlier in the year with the re-opening of the refurbished Central library, and since then with a number of events including a tie-in with the theatre production of 'War Horse', where the huge 'Joey the Horse' puppet was brought to the library for a day of WWI-related activities for families.
Jorge - who this writes, but 3rd person writing is catchy - is now back home: after 2.5 rewarding years with the great team at Northamptonshire County Council libraries, he is working since the end of October for Wigan Council, linked to leisure and culture. The shock of having him home seven days a week is beginning to give way to quiet resignation.
No account of the family's year would be complete without mention of our two cats - they are now 3 years old, and during the summer this year moved from bringing the ocassional frog to instances of mice (dead, alive or in between) and a bat - all signs of maturity in cats, I'm sure.
More photos of the family (including the cats) can always be found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cocosolis/
Very best wishes for these Xmas holidays and for 2015.
The Solises
