September 2022

 

School started in late August with Caroline entering 10th grade at LHS

Erin starting 8th grade at Jonas Clarke middle school

and Tessie entering 4th grade at Bowman elementary. The fruits of those pumpkin vines in the background will be documented later.

Labor Day weekend we traveled to SC to see Nana and Grandpa Mike. Dave and the girls flew into Charleston in order to visit a couple parks. Reconstruction Era NM in Beaufort SC was added to the NPS by Obama.

The visitor center is still being built but in the temporary VC there were a few exhibits on the time period in the South after the Civil War

In the center of SC is Ninety Six, site of another Revolutionary War battle

In Spartanburg we visited with Nana and Grandpa Mike as well as Tia, Uncle Chris, and Jack. Grandpa Mike was recovering from COVID and it was great to see him.

Tessie's choice of 4th grade strings was the viola

Arlington held a "3 mile" race around the newly renovated reservoir, which is Caroline and my home course for jogging. We typically do 2 laps and for the race, I was good for 2 but struggled on the 3rd. Caroline fared better and left me in the dust at the finish. The distance was only 2.8 mi but Caroline and my mile pace of ~8:15 would have given us PRs of ~25:40 for a 5K.

Erin cruised to the finish in 20:45 at a 6:41 pace and won her age group and was #3 overall for women

Apple picking at Parlee Farms

The girls are such fruit-o-philes that this bag was depleted in 3 weeks

Boxwood Farm honey may have helped with the apple eating

Our final batch of monarchs included 2 whose wings failed to open completely. Erin splinted one of them and she managed to sort of fly away

Night out for Heather and the older girls to see The Piano Guys

Caroline's friend led us on a hike in Franconia Notch up Mount Flume and Mount Liberty

The Flume Slide was a strenuous climb

and the ridge at the top was coated in ice

and the view was fogged out. This was my first hike using poles and I was an instant convert. We covered over 3,500 ft of elevation on this 10-mi hike but my joints didn't feel too bad the next day. 

Heather took a work trip to CA and Grandma Joan and Grampa came up for the week. We finally found another dim sum restaurant to enjoy.