Return to Reed's Creek

This is actually the 3rd year I've been to Reed's Creek, but I didn't climb the first one since I was just there for moral and water and pepper support. And also fun. But we went back again this summer, and everyone at least attempted both climbs - Charlie's unlocked some new lead climbing skills since last summer, and that was cool to see. There was some rain that mostly missed us, and the weather was cooperative otherwise.

And here are Nick and Zara playing a hilarious game of "quick draw" - literally. There was some debate on gates out vs in, and a draw or 2 may have been flung over the side of the crag (don't worry, we retrieved it!)... and now I know what we're doing while waiting to climb next time!

Zara's 21st Birthday Observed

Much like when I turned 21 in the 90s, there is very little photographic evidence of the lovely evening we spent playing pool, eating snackies, drinking drinkies and singing karaoke to celebrate Zara (somewhat belatedly) turning 21. But the few pics I did manage to remember to snap still tell a story, so I present them anyway.

Zara goes to Iceland

Galavanting in Gaudineer

We capped off our first day off this summer with a little family hike to the Gaudineer Old Growth Trail. We're sending Z off solo (well, with N and also 6 campers) to Iceland since A's knee is still not back to brutal death march hiking form. I guess we would have done this hike either way though, since if A had gone too we'd be saying goodbye to 2 family members for 2 weeks instead of just 1. Maybe it would have been a longer hike? But in any case, we enjoyed our little side quest. Welcome back to wild and wonderful West Virginia.

Licensed! (AJC edition)

This is Amity. They are a licensed driver. OMG?!

Extra hilarity - they passed their road test/last day of driver's ed on April 19th, but Virginia Law says you have to hold your permit for 9 months before you get your license... and since they passed their permit test on August 7th, they became streel legal for realz on May 7th.

Turns out... we have a pizza oven

We got a new stove/oven. It's induction, which has been kinda cool but also has a learning curve. Worse part was definitely replacing some of our older, beloved pots and pans. But the oven has convection settings, and also a dehydrator (maybe this will finally solve our fig problem??) but most excitingly it goes to 750F and has PIZZA MODE! Comes with it's own stone and shield and is awesome. It makes some really good pizza. We've been eating a lot of pizza. Mmm... pizza.

Happy Birthday, Wesley!

For Wes' birthday this year, we made a trip to Oakencroft Vineyards and sampled some of their beverages (Wes pictured here with said sample) and also some of their lovely snacks, which I neglected to take a picture of. In the evening we had Thai food (birthday person's choice) and then a selection of desserts from Albemarle Baking Company. We also took the dog on a delightfully long walk, and went for a birthday run. Happy Birthday, Love!

Besties for the Ages

I took a little side quest to Brooklyn to see my fam and also my BFF Tash, who I have now known 45 years which is INSANE.

Tour de New England: Ski Edition

We've got Ikon Passes and we're not afraid to use them!

Some of us - the under-employed and under-enrolled (at the moment) subset of the family - took an epic 9 day sojourn up to Maine and Vermont for some truly excellent (though yes, still east coast) skiing. AJ and I remained home holding down the fort at school and work, and since I don't know because I wasn't there, all I have to present to you, dearest readers, are a smattering of pictures. Perhaps Z will hop on and tell a few stories.

In the meantime, the short version is Z and W ventured to deepest, darkest Maine aka Sugarloaf. Met up with Nick, had a blast skiing some Glades and some Moguls and some Terrain Parks and some Ice Rinks and all of the rest of the mountain, too. Since 5 days is the limit for Ikon at Sugarloaf, they took the party on the road to Killington and spent another 3 days there. As fas as I can tell, everyone had an awesome time. And for context, the last picture is a dramatic rendering of the knee pain/injuries that would have ensued had our crew taken a particularly dodgy run they opted against. NO actual knees were busted in the takng fo this trip!

Snowshoe Party!

Some of us have to go to work, or school. Other of us are peeps of leisure who are in between projects or on a slightly extended winter break since they don't leave for semester abroad for another month. Guess which ones of us got to go on a day trip to Snowshoe??