October 2024

 

Caroline successfully lobbied to go to Capon Springs, WV to see Katy's family

As usual we enjoyed the trails,

water fountains,

and relaxation zones

For the first time we played on their 9-hole golf course

Caroline worked on her college applications

In preparation for Capon's pumpkin weight guessing, I did reconnaissance at Wilson Farm, using my wallet as an aid for scale

The actual Capon pumpkin for guessing is shown here. Now if the Wilson Farm pumpkin weighed 162 lbs, what would you guess for this one? (Answer below)

Back at home, later in the month Maria visited us

For Halloween we had this pirate and Erin as Bruno Mars

Pumpkin answer: 151 lbs. Our combined families straddled 150 lbs with our entries and mine was 152 but apparently Capon uses the Price Is Right method of measuring as closest to the value without going over. It was OK, because Katy's guess of 148 lbs won the prize of a free Capon merch item.

Heather's pumpkin carvings

and Tessie's pile of booty

Fling golf allows one to play a round of golf with a single "club". The golf ball is hurled as in lacrosse and then on the green the edge of the basket can be used for putting. Charlie tried to apply his lacrosse skill to flinging, but couldn't throw it more than 50 yards. Apparently the good flingers can go over 200 yards, which approaches my distance using a conventional driver club, 

Early Fall 2024

 

The 2024-2025 school year kicked off with our senior

sophomore

and 6th grader

Tessie rides horses once a week, swims twice a week, and is taking French horn lessons

Tessie's school lunch

For the first time in her school career, she has homework

Erin runs 6 days a week on the cross-country team. More on that in a later post...

Caroline is prepping her college submissions, playing cello in the chamber orchestra, and captaining her favorite clubs, Envirothon and Science Olympiad. This trophy haul is from the last 2 years of Science Olympiad tournaments

Apple picking

My garden yielded many carrot nubs

For the first time, we visited a large cornfield maze. As you can see from this aerial photo, the Davis Mega Maze is quite amazing. It covers 8 acres and apparently has over 3 miles of paths.

Heather, Tessie, and I finished it in about 40 minutes. Caroline and Erin were 10 minutes faster

Over Columbus Day Caroline and I attempted our most ambitious hike ever. This section of the Carter Moriah trail traverses 5 of the New Hampshire 4,000-foot peaks

The night before our hike we camped at the base of Mount Washington and in the evening a cold front came through with incredibly high winds

and the winds remained gusty all day, but we made it through, including the 3-mile bike ride back to our car