There's just something about hats.... Zara posed with Wes' previous hat when she was four, and here two year old Amity is modeling his current fetching chapeau... purchased at Sam's in Ann Arbor if I'm not mistaken.
Zara walked the whole way (over 4 miles and 1,000ft of elevation change during the hike), while Amity walked some, rode some, and slept some. This first is at the Appalachian Trail marker about 1/10th of a mile into the hike. The next pic comes from the first third of the hike, with the kiddos happily splashing in the water that runs alongside the trail.
I really could go on and on and on (I'm an academic, after all) about the long journey to doctorate completion, how awesome my friends and family have been supporting me through this process, the fantastic mentors and colleagues who have inspired and challenged me, the perils, pitfalls, proud and productive moments of scholarly research... but I won't. In place of further harming you with another extremely long run-on sentence, dear reader, here's a picture of me after I'd participated in all 3 graduation ceremonies. I've got my doctoral hood, I've had my degree conferred by President Sullivan, and I've just received the actual unusually large diploma. Dr. Johanna Margot Bromberg Craig indeed.
Since we went ahead and bought the Shenandoah National Park pass this year, we figured we'd better get out on the trails and hike. Kinda like a gym membership. Only way cheaper, and with rangers! Who are very friendly. But I digress. This is an extremely popular, fairly steep but very short, cool hike. We even saw a deer on the way back up (which may be the genesis of Amity running around the house exclaiming, "there's a deer in my room!" or it may not be, hard to say). Good times. Here are 3 of us taking a little rest while they 4th documents the occasion.
Zara's been taking horseback riding lessons every other Friday since February. If I were to choose extracurricular pursuits for her, horseback riding would not be one of them. But she's pretty smitten, and having an excellent Aunt Debbi who owns several horses and loves to ride may have rubbed off on her a bit. Here she is with Freckles, the pony she's ridden for most of these lessons. This was one of her last times on Freckles, as she is ready to learn to canter, and Freckles (sleepy guy that he is) is not so much for the cantering. So she's learning to canter on Honey, and will be spending 2 whole weeks at camp at Ellie's in July. Stay tuned for an update!
