School's over, the summer has begun, we're having all sorts of fun doing this and that... This is gonna be a Hit The High Points kind of post, 'cause I've got to get something up before our big western memory-making trip.
A while back I had the opportunity to go to central PA for a veterinary meeting in a beautiful setting.
The cicadas are here!
Of course there was Jenn's trip to Thailand and Cambodia, but these photos haven't yet been processed and Jenn's been bouncing from one thing to another and hasn't yet had an opportunity to compose a post... more to come on this later.
Lincoln's big year-long Project Ocean was on display as the school year came to a close. He was awesome, and the progression he showed from his early projects to the final ones was remarkable. Score one for OTS!
Jenn was on the Old Trail School Celebration Auction Fundraiser committee this year, and the event was really, really cool. Lots of neat items were auctioned, from courtside seats & an autographed LeBron James Jersey to a hot air balloon birthday party, from a trip into the Cargill Salt Mines to dinner parties at some of the finest restaurants in the Cleveland area, from fine wine to a weekend at The Masters. A silent auction made up the early part of the event, with lots of opporutnity to meet new families and friends, and the evening concluded with a live auciton for the biggest items. In addition to coordinating all of the auction items, Jenn also made the desserts for the VIP table.
While it's cold this weekend, the weather has been really up and down lately, with lots of warm weather for hiking and getting out into the parks.
I had my first Cuyahoga Valley National Park photo taken up by the Park's Instagram:
A photo posted by CuyahogaValleyNPS (@cuyahogavalleynps) on
CVNP has a fraction of the followers that the bigger, more well-known parks have, such as Yellowstone or Yosemite, but it's cool to have my photos recognized no matter the size of the audience. I'm told that the next one of mine that they're planning to share is this one:
Some of my other cool shots from recent hikes include...
The kids have had some small events at school, such as little music perforances and Book Character Day:
This morning we took another trip to Seiberling to feed the birds. At our last trip, the kids got a kick out of feeding the ducks, but that got cut short this time when a muskrat swam across the pond to chase away the ducks and get at the seed we'd dropped. So we went a ways down the trail and the real excitement came when a Tufted titmouse came to feed!
Lincoln's still having fun with tennis. He's been learning how to keep score and play matches, and this summer we'll get him enrolled in a tournament or two so he can move up to the next level of classes. I've had fun photographing him and practicing my action photography. When I showed my photos to his coach, Alvin, he liked them and asked if he could use some of them on their website. He then proceeded to tell me I need to work on getting better photos with the ball on the strings. Ha! It made me chuckle. Always room for improvement.
On the agenda: start a second blog. Don't laugh. Jenn and I both know that we don't update this as often as we ought. But a second blog will high-light our 50-State adventure. We'll play catch up by revising our North Carolina and South Carolina vacations, and then make it about the trips once they're completed, but also dig deep into our planning process. We'll see how successful it is, but it's something both Jenn and I have on our minds to do.
We don't usually like to start thinking about Christmas until Thanksgiving has passed, but because of our schedules, our options were either to start decorating in late November, or in mid December. And because the kids are into it, we opted for the earlier start.
Some housekeeping items:
Gas has even gotten lower than this!
I had some breakfast time with the kids at Giant Eagle on my day off. We played I SPY from the upper level of the grocery story. Lots to see!
The Old Trail School autumn program was a week ago, and Lincoln participated in the K-2 show. They broke up into small groups and performed Carnival Of The Animals, and it was really cute.
I've been logging some miles lately. The FitBit has done its job of keeping me on task and focused on fitness, and it's pushed me off my previous beaten path into some pretty beautiful areas of the national park less than 10 minutes from the house. (The photos are all from my iPhone.)
In conclusion, I'd like to point out just how interesting it is this year that all of a sudden, we're not, according to Big Media, to view the Pilgrims as evil white men who came to America to commit genocide and spread disease, but rather to take a lesson from both them and the native Americans as the first example of accepting refugees on these shores. There is a certain segment of America that never misses an opportunity to politicize what ought to be an innocuous national holiday, even if today's narrative contradicts their narrative of the past. Clearly I've given a glimpse into my own views on this matter here, but I'll leave it simply with this:
There are so many blessings that we enjoy that I cannot list them all here. Suffice it to say, though, that on this day (and every day), Jenn and I are thankful for each other, our family, the ability to work in areas that bring us enjoyment, and the ability to enjoy fun times as a result of the blessings of our work. We're thankful for a good church home, as well as for friendships, new and old. We wish you a happy Thanksgiving.
