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 unboased opinion is both the best division and has the best faculty. Have a great year, kiddo!

Last Day of 8th Grade

Oh time, you crazy construct. Not long ago we had elementary schoolers, or at least one elementary schooler. Then I guess we had a middle and a high schooler for a bit, and now here we are saying the full family goodbye to days at the LV. Never again will we have to wait in that Dante's inner circle of a Friday pick up line. Time spent on the LV campus now will be for sports and no longer the day in and day out of school life. The LV was never my home campus, but Z spent 5 years there and A spent 9, so in total it was 10 years of our collective lives. That's not nothing. I am very much looking forward to A's adventures on the US campus, both for all of the high school of it but also its accessibility (unless you are a cello player who is bringing an instrument back and forth? ;) is SO MUCH easier for independent, walking oriented kiddos (like A and A). And also, while not pictured, Z completed their first year at Oberlin so we'll have a returning to college kiddo (no longer new to college, but a seasoned sophomore!) this fall, too. One in high school, one in college. Crazy indeed.

C'ville 10 Miler

Well, I finally did it. 17 years after moving to town (and 4 years after I stopped coaching Saturday soccer, which had been one of the main things keeping me from this race), I ran the C'ville 10 miler. It's a FANTASTIC race, even if the conditions this year (and apparently last year, too) were sub-optimal. And by sub-optimal I do mean a fair amount of pouring rain. But at least it wasn't freezing or sweltering, and once you get to be a certain amount of soaked I think you just give up caring? I made my goal time (under 100 minutes) and geneerally had a pretty good race though there were also a million little things that went just a tiny bit wrong that I was mentally cataloging how fix for future years... wait, does that mean I'm running this race again? Maybe. Also of course 80% of the tweaks were weather related, so different conditions would be a whole different race. But you run the race you're given, I guess. Props to all of the volunteers and spectators, it really gives us runners a lift.

Also, thanks to Wesley for waking up early to give me a ride there, and then meeting me at the finish. Happy Anniversay, my Love!

WISL 2k24

It was my privilege and pleasure to "coach" this literal supergroup of soccer stars. I did almost nothing but figure out sub rotations, lean on people to play in goal (we had no 'natural' goalie) and really just had myself a delightful time watching them play (and very occasionally, suggesting they maybe nedeed to change a strategy or talk to each other more). Such much fun!

Happy 14th Birthday, Amity!

Happy Birthday to the coolest of kiddos! The teen years are for sure a little bumpier, and I know you miss having Zaza at home, but we've had some pretty good times this year. Looking forward to all of the ways you will undoubtedly impress and amaze me in the coming year (and also maybe make me go just a little bit insane). Love you SO SO MUCH!

Almost Birthday Kid

Last night with our 13 year old....

Look kids, another birthday!

I'm the primary picture taker (and blogger) so I have no one to blame but myself for apparently missing my last 2 birthdays? This year Z was still home, and we all went to a hike at Bearfence Mountain, which is known for having a very fun rock scramble. I went for a run, I got to hike with my faves, we had delicious ice cream at Kline's, and my parents came over for dinner. It was a pretty fine way to celebrate. Sláinte!

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!