Rocky Top-ping It

In the grand tradition of Clue (but in reverse) I don't know because I wasn't there - I was probably doing something boring, like work - but Wes and AJ got their climbing on after school and lo and behold, here's a cool pic of AJ slaying.

Whipped Cream 2k24

So for years Ez and Z were the house whippers of cream (Exhibit A and Exhibit B) but with the both of them off in Obieland, the little sibs have had to step in and take over. And they're doing it with quite a lot of panache, if I do say so myself!

Milla comes to visit!

Milla, one of our favoritest camp counselor friends, made a little stop in C'ville on her way back to Finland. We got to go do lots of hiking and other fun things, and even went on roller coasters at King's Dominion, but I feel like this picture captures our exploits perfectly.

First Day of School: 14th Grade (2nd Year at Oberlin)

This year Zara and Ru (also known as Aggie, Z's silver Subaru Outback) were accompanied by Wes up to Oberlin for the start of their 2nd year. Z now lives in Tank (beloved co-op that I visited, where my bestie Erin lived, in the late 90s!), has a new roomie Molly, and is teaching/coaching 4 classes worth of beginner kid climbers. Last pic is for first day of classes, which on Thursdays, due to scheduling vagaries, don't start until after lunch. Have an AMAZING year, Zoo!

First Day of School: 9th Grade

AJ started high school today. That doesn't seem possible, but here we are. Hoping they have a fantastic time in the Upper School, which in my TOTALLY unbiased opinion is both the best division and has the best faculty. Have a great year, kiddo!

Rescue Skillz

Zara got home from camp today, and we missed them SO SO SO much in the week Wes hadn't seen them, the 2 weeks AJ hasdn't seen them, and the 24 hours I hadn't see them that I let them throw me over their shoulders like a sack of I don't know what... but peep my awesome Chaco tan!

Scenes from CHM

Belay is ON

Wes did climb this summer, but I could only find a picture of him belaying. But actually, all 4 of us did both of these things this summer, and while everyone is a better climber than me I did do some actual outside climbing, and it was great fun.

Our Unusual Summer Home

So Wes and I spent the summer as camp counselors, but also living is the sweet little cabin, known as "Chalet" (or maybe the Chalet, verdict is out) about a 10 minute walk up the "hill" from main camp. It might seem a bit isolating, but we loved our meadow and our beautiful views and our solitude. And even though we couldn't *see* much of camp, we could certainly hear them, so we never felt lonely. And just downt he way was Sunrise Village, where EartEx made their basecamp and the littles would camp out once a week on thr backpacking trip. Definitely not lonely.

But the "joke" of the summer was we had this delightful but somewhat unusual summer home, as it came with a few strings attached - namely a job :)

Happy 19th Birthday, Zara!

Zara got to spend their actual birthday on a white water rafting trip. So that was cool. And then we had planned to celebrate and hang out with them at the Spruce Knob Kite Festival over the weekend, but then Wes and I were tapped to make the trip up to DC to drop off and pick up campers from Dulles. So last minute zagging, Elle re-worked some things for us so the whole fam (who had not been together since we arrived at camp, basically?) was able to take some time off together. We went over to Snowshoe village and walked around, ate ice cream, grabbed an early dinner, and generally enjoyed each other's company and shared our wishes for Zara's last year as a teenager(!!). Happy Birthday, Z. Love you endlessly!