Memories are made while on adventures and 2018 was full of adventures for the Hill family. We rang in the New Year, swooshing down the snowy, cold slopes at Sunshine and Lake Louise in Banff, Alberta. In February, we headed to St. Lucia to the Body Holiday where we soaked in the warmth of the tropics, climbed the Gros Piton and repelled down a waterfall. On Labour Day Weekend, we visited my sister’s family in Rothesay, New Brunswick, continuing a long-standing annual tradition. We relish the times when we are a party of five, whether it is celebrating an occasion, a weekend at the chalet or Sunday night dinner.

Lexi, age 24, has had an outstanding year, flourishing as an Account Executive at PathFactory, selling software to marketing teams at mid-market companies. After living on her own for one year, Lexi moved to another downtown condo to live with two friends from Queen’s. Lexi is living the life, with frequent weekend getaways with pals, lots of social activities and regular work-outs at Barry’s Bootcamp. We are always thrilled to have Lexi home for dinner to hear about her life adventures.

2018 was a remarkable year for Jack, as he graduated from Acadia University with a four-year business degree. Throughout the summer, Jack took a 10-week web development program at BrainStation in Toronto. In September, Jack started at BlueCat, a software company that sells enterprise level network security solutions. Jack is now working hard as a sales development rep and has already travelled to NYC and Washington on business. We are greatly enjoying having Jack at home, as he saves his money before he makes the big move out of the nest. Jack turns 23 on December 22^nd.

Ross is 20 years old, meaning there are no longer any teenagers in the Hill household. Ross is in third year at Queen’s University, studying computer science. Ross continues to enjoy living with his best buddies in Kingston. He spent another productive summer at Nudge.ai. working as a full-stack developer. Ross is on the exec of a Queen’s club called Q-Hacks and is busy preparing for a hackathon the club is hosting in February. We are looking forward to having Ross home for Christmas!

Just when Paul thought that he might have more time to work on his golf game, an opportunity came along for one more kick at the can. Paul is now CEO of Carta Worldwide, a payment processing platform for fin-tech. Paul continues to sit on several boards and greatly enjoys mentoring young people with their software careers. In his spare time, Paul loves to hike the Bruce Trail, golf, ski, travel and spend time with family.

My new project this year was joining the St. John’s Ambulance Therapy Dog program with my sweet, affectionate border collie, Scout. We visit a local retirement home once a week, where Scout is tremendously popular. When other opportunities arise, we visit other locations and Scout works his magic, making everyone feel like they are his best friend. Coco, our delightful French bulldog, can’t wait to join the program! Paul and I had a grand adventure in October, hiking the Camino in Portugal and Spain for one week and then hiking in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco for a second week. Our highlights included a day at the Cies Islands Nature Reserve in Spain, walking the final steps of the Camino into Santiago de Compostela, visiting a Berber home in the High Atlas Mountains, camel riding, wandering through the Souk in Marrakech and attending a cooking school where we learned how to make traditional tagine.

Merry Christmas to you and your family. May your New Year be filled with love, laughter and lots of adventures!

Lianne, Paul, Lexi, Jack and Ross

Scout and Coco