Pasta-bilities

Charlie came to visit for a few days, and one of those days we made homemdae tortelini. A good time was certainly had by all. Ah, winter break fun!

Games with Friends

Dinner with friends is good. Dinner with friends on a regular basis is better. Dinner with friends you have known for pretty much the entire time you've lived in C'ville is wicked jesus better. And playing games (in this case, Ransom Notes) after dinner? The best. Love you guys!

My Home is You

While there are no pics of me and Z, let's just say EVERYONE is happy to have them home for the next 5 or 6 weeks. They are having a fab time at Oberlin, learning and growing a lot (academically and otherwise) but nothing feels so good as to be able to snuggle both kiddos. And Z and A have gotten much closer since Z left. The sister love is strong.

Solstice Merriment

We've been celebrating Chanukah as a family since we've been one, but we've (mostly Wes) been working on some solstice rituals as well. At this point we've got a giant bonfire, smores, damper, a killer playlist, lots of good friends and the ever important yule log, held here by Zara, where we write down what we'd like to leave behind (physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, etc) and also what we want to bring forward into the new year. Each year we build upon our previous year's tradition and add in a little something more - as we should.

Drink your Gin and Tonica... here comes Chanukah

So, like last year was a year of many lasts, we've now circled back around to some firsts. In this case, it was our first Chanukah without Zara here the entire time. Like both kids have missed a night or 2 here or there, or we've all been travelling and MacGyver'd a night in a hotel room, or we've lit the menorah at my parents' house, but this was different. Zara did have 8 nights of presents queued up for them that we left with them over Thanksgiving, and their own menorah which they nearly had confiscated by campus security, but yeah, it's the new normal now. At least this year, when Chanukah was pretty early. I think next year it overlaps with Christmas through New Years, so we'll get to enjoy their company once again. But in the meantime, Ansel was over for not 1 but 2 nights, and I got to finally wear Amity's festive and cozy hat. Chag sameach, ya'll.

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).

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).

Halloween

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

Old Rag, Finally!

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?

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

Counselor Life

Zara's been gone for about a month now, and by the bits of info we've pieced together through a short FaceTime and a smattering of texts (between the 3 of us, Zelda doesn't get texts apparently?), having a fabulous time. Here's a few pics from the camp photo archive, we'll have an actual update when we drop Amity off next weekend.