September

Mom and Dad drove home from Maine with us, and everyone would tell you that the 12 hour trip with our van full was not bad at all - praise God!

After one day of unpacking, doing laundry, and prepping food for the family, Mom and I flew to Nashville to attend the Sing! Conference together.  I was already looking forward to attending the conference on behalf of our church, but getting to be there with my mom was such a rich blessing.   

And if it wasn't already special to be with my mom, our dear friends whom I've known most of my life were attending the conference as well and we were able to sit together during the plenary sessions.  The four days of singing and learning while in the company of such wise people filled me to overflowing.

Meanwhile, Rooke flew with Big Daddy to Oklahoma for a few days.  He played with his cousins (or maybe more accurately they played with him!), spent time with Nana, ate tons of cereal, watched tons of sports, and - most importantly - attended the IIWTCFL fantasy football draft with my dad.  I've been told that their team, the Bullets, are looking good this year thanks to Rooke's role as Director of Analytics. =)

I came home from the conference and had a day to turn around and join women from my church for our ladies retreat.  No photos to document the weekend, but it was a wonderful time, though it made for a very full week before we started school. . . 

Our family has joined a different homeschool tutorial this year.  The girls were able to attend an orientation day while Rooke and I were out of town, followed by some Shake Shack!  

All three kids bravely stepped into new classes with new tutors on our first official day of school.

Rooke, 9th grade

Gretchen, 7th grade

Bridgette, 5th grade

Sometimes you just want to sit on the porch, listen to Adventures in Odyssey, and crochet. =)

Cool kid rocking her science lesson

I entered a drawing for free tickets to hear the Pan American Symphony Orchestra perform, and I WON!  Gretchen and I enjoyed a special night out to the Kennedy Center to hear our friend from church join other musicians in a beautiful performance.

Bridgette has been experimenting with oil pastels this month.  It's so fun to see what she's coming up with!

Ryan and I went out for an early birthday date to see Sunny Day Real Estate play.  He's loved the band since high school, and he requested that I wear his t-shirt to the show, which I think really helped me fit in with the forty-something grunge punk vibe - ha!

Saturday outing to a park where the guys played disc golf and the girls and I walked the nature trails.  Then we all marveled at five-day-old piglets!

While in the area, a stop at Donut Shack was in order

August

 My dad pointed out that it had been quite a while since I last posted photos.  An entire year, in fact.  Long enough to kill the blog, he said.  I decided I wasn't ready to kill the blog.  At some point I might try to go back and get caught up, but for now I will just pick up with where we're at.  August - one year later!  And it was a full month of so much fun for our family!  This update is especially for you, Nana (and anyone else who happens to still check this space).

The month started with a special trip South.  We took our time, stopping to see friends for a night, but the destination was Pine Cove Springs for these two cuties to spend the week at their first overnight camp!

During college, Ryan and I were counselors at Pine Cove Ranch Camp in Texas.  Years later, the camp has expanded and this was their first summer to host a kids camp just over the border in Georgia.  Yes, we drove an entire day to take our girls to Pine Cove in Georgia.  We love it, and we hoped they would too!

Thankfully, our girls were able to experience the week with their dear friends, making the memories all the sweeter

I was so excited to pick them up and hear about their week.  They both had an incredible time!

The fun continued the day after we returned home from camp with a special visit from the McTaggart family!  After driving all the way across Canada, the McTs dropped down into the U.S. and spent a week with us.  What a treat!  We packed in plenty of DC sight-seeing, and also made time for memorable family hangouts.

Caught in a rain storm running back to the car.  Everything is more fun with my sister and her family!

Long overdue double date to one of our favorite spots (Ambar) followed by a flight of Jenni's ice cream that was enough to last us for the next four double-dates to come.

Lunch with Steve and Vallerie!

We ALL joined Sooner Steve on his legendary trolley tour.  

Our friend was able to get us plugged in to a White House tour on the McT's last day in DC.  Follow the tour up with some District Donuts and we felt like we were sending them off in style. =)

I really like my sister.  And I'm really glad she married this guy.

We finally made Bridgette's summer wish come true and closed the pool down with our neighbors - such a beautiful night

I really like being his mom

In an effort to squeeze the life out of summer, we spent the last week of August in Maine.  Ryan and I have wanted to go since moving to this part of the country, and we finally made it up there.  We spent the night in Portland (photo of hotel shenanigans below), then picked up my parents from the Bangor airport and headed to an Airbnb just North of Mount Desert Island.  It was a splendid week!

The oldest lighthouse in Maine

Our "backyard" for the week!  This was probably the best part of the whole week.  The kids went kayaking and swimming in the lake every day.

We were grateful to share Sunday morning with the saints at Southwest Harbor Congregation Church

When in Maine, eat fresh lobster.  We did!  But my dad and I were the only ones who enjoyed it - ha!

Our first visit to Acadia National Park - we started with the best view: the top of Cadillac Mountain

Jordan Pond and Bubble Rock in the distance.  We hiked to the top of the first bubble!

My parents were brave adventurers as we traversed some pretty tricky terrain.  

Lots of games were played!

We walked on the Ocean Path where every twist and turn presented another breath-taking view of the coastline.

It became tradition to eat ice cream every day.  Why not?!  The Blueberry Hill Dairy was extremely generous with their "small" scoops!

It was great sharing the week of special memories with Kaye K and Big Daddy.