Saturday, November 25, 2023

Thanksgiving Travels

We drove up to Oberlin, grabbed Zara, drove up to Wes' family in the thumb of MI, spent 36 hours there visiting and having Thanksgiving food and fun, drove down to A2 where we met up with Gabi and Nick and spent some time at Planet Rock, went to our AirBnB in Plymouth (turns out there was a big football game??), had some yummy Thai food, spent the following day with Auntie Clare and Elliot where we took a brief trip to the park, Zara got to hang with Nick and then everyone ended up at an arcade and playing laser tag and putt putt. The next day we returned Zara to Oberlin and the rest of us made it to C'ville before midnight. Whoever our current patron saint of charging is, thank you because we never waited once to charge the entire time, which is INSANE. I somehow really missed the boat on documenting this trip but you will be pleased to know it was a lot of fun (if also a LOT of miles).

Saturday, November 04, 2023

Six and Soccer

With a long weekend and a soccer tournament in front of us, what better way to kick it off than finally seeing "Six"? It was a total delight and we were all surprised by how much more "book" there was beyong the songs which we know and love so well. I deeply enjoyed the minimalist production/live concert vibe and spent more time than I should have trying to see exactly when and where the cast members were storing their mics while they danced in between singing. Also impressive as to how much choreogrpahy they could pull off while holding said mics, too.

Conveniently the show put us in RVA Friday night so we were already there for the 8am Saturday game of Amity's end of fall season soccer tournament. It was a fairly unvenetful occurence - the team played fine but not great, they tied when they should have won and lost when they maybe should have tied, but so is the way of soccer. Saturday after the 2 games we had the opprtunity to visit with some RVA peeps so that was fun, and we had a few car charging (mis)adventures to top it all off. Amity's season did not end as strongly as it had begun, but there's still spring to come. For now we will all enjoy having our Sundays back (until WISL).

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Halloween

Ansel as Weird Barbie, and Amity as... Amity (from Owl House). Happy Halloween!

Monday, October 16, 2023

Sunday, October 08, 2023

Seneca Shadows

So over the long fall break weekend, the 4 of us (where in this case our Z is Zelda as Zara is still living their best Oberlin life) took a little camping trip to Seneca Shadows, which is pretty much in the shadows of Seneca Rocks. While Wes and I both have done a fair amount of camping in our misspent youths, we somehow have never taken Amity camping?? and only camped with Zara a few times. As the kids are getting older and more into it, it seemed a shame not to do it. Weather turns out to have been unseasonably cool (see Zelda snuggled up under a fleece blanket like the pony she secretly is) and kinda rainy, but that did not deter us from hiking the trail at Seneca, having lunch at Yokums, stopping in at the Gendarme for awesome climbing tales from Arthur, the owner (and some delightful WiFi), and generally having some wilderness adventures. We upped out cooking game in general (Wes and I are also a product of lightweight camping, so this have a car nearby with a coooler full of food is still new to us) and inspired by both CHM and the MMs, made some "walking tacos" as well. The weather didn't really cooperate for our planned climb at NRocks though, so we'll just have ot come back in the spring and do it again?

Friday, September 15, 2023

Apples and Honey

Rosh Hashanah was kinda low key this year, but we still had our apples and we dipped them in honey. To a sweet new year!

Monday, September 04, 2023

Rocks with your whine?

Amity was a little sick this weekend, and while she was a brave little toaster for her soccer tournament, she was pretty unhappy by the time Labor Day rolled around. So, we went up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and found some rocks for her to climb, and then went to Kline's (not pictured) for ice cream. It didn't make her entirely better, but i think it helped. Plus it was just a beuatiful day to be outside. I love where we live.

Friday, September 01, 2023

Welcome to Obieland

Editor's note: You may not see much from Zara on these here pages for a bit, because they are off living their best college life. Case in point, a selfie sent while spectating a soccer game recently. They are still very much a part our family and in our collective heart(s), but they're just a little less... seen. Love you, kiddo.

Thursday, August 31, 2023

First Day of School: 13th Grade (aka first year at Oberlin)

Here's a few snaps of Zara on their first day of classes at Oberlin. They were a good ragatz and humored my need to have back to school pics even when I'm not the one taking them, and for that I am grateful. Have the best school year, kiddo!

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

First Day of School: 8th Grade

And we're back, yet again. Amity's last year in middle school, collectively our family's last year in the Learning Village (well, except for the whole sports thing) and also the first year the kids aren't at the same school since 2015. In some ways, just the typical small changes, and in others, it's a tectonic shift. As per usual, no one was really ready to be awake at the ungodly get up for school hour, but things came together for a not even that hectic morning and as far as I know, Amity made it to school on time. Not pictured are the now customary end of August figs we bring to school for the first week or so, because when the kids go back to school the fig goes full on FRUIT!