Halloween 2023

 While Halloween has definitely changed from the days when the girls were young, it's still a fun day and something they still look forward to as teenagers.  Lucky for them, school was off on Halloween (teacher workday), so that was a bit of a bonus.  Lyla was planning to go out and collect candy, and Nina and her friends were planning to hand out the candy at our house, but regardless of the plans, they all wanted to go back to the days of the nostalgic Halloween party foods.  This wasn't even all of the Halloween food they had, but suffice to say, it was a pretty epic throwback of some of their old favorite party foods from the past.

Lyla and Bobby headed out to collect candy and got quite a bit while the rest of us stayed behind at the firepit in the driveway to hand out candy.  I love still having these memories with the fam. as the girls get older!

  

Update

 Well, after a long time trying to figure out a problem to my blog issue, I have a solution that's not really a solution.  In the past year, Google has stopped supporting the site that I used to create and compose my blog posts.  As a result, after I would create posts, the pictures would disappear.  Blogger's basic ability to post blog posts with photos isn't great (which is why I was using a third party site to create blogs), however it's the only way Google will allow photos to stay without disappearing.  So, things are a bit more cumbersome using this current system, I don't have much freedom to be creative with my blog layout or photo layouts, and my pictures aren't uploading as crisp and sharp as they are actually, but if I want to continue to log my memories here, this is what I've got to work with.  So, if you're a friend or family member who likes to keep up with us here, I'll be doing my best to catch up some posts from the recent past, and eventually (maybe) go back and try to repair the posts with the missing photos, but if things look a bit more basic than they used to, sadly that's kind of the way things are at the moment with this current posting situation, but thanks for checking back in!

A Trip to the Zoo

 In the girls' lifetimes, we've been to the National Zoo quite a few times.  I took them when they were babies and toddlers, we went back most summers when they were kids, and we went on field trips.  The zoo is always fun, but since they've gotten older we haven't been as much.  However, this past October we went back to say a final farewell to the pandas who would be permanently moving back to China come December.  

Despite having gone handfuls of times in the past, it dawned on me this latest trip that, while I probably "survived" the trips when they were little (as was the rite of passage of most young moms), this trip as an older mom with them as teenagers was so easy and enjoyable.  I wasn't worried about losing anyone, there was no one that needed carrying or pushed in a stroller, there was no crying, everyone could use the bathroom by themselves, and I could leave all the snacks in the car.  There was a bit of nostalgia for me as this is probably the end of our "zoo era" but we all definitely enjoyed a beautiful fall day in the city.

  

Problems Again

 Sadly, I am having trouble with my posts again and have lost all photos in posts going back to April of this year.  For that reason, I haven't posted until I can find a solution to the problem.  It's more sad for me as I have found this blog to be a photo journal of some things in our life (whether they're viewed or not), and we love going back and looking at photos of times in the past.  For that reason, I intend to keep trying to find a solution.  So, if you're interested, check back from time to time.  Hopefully there will be something good happening soon.

Homecoming 2023

Columbus Day weekend was a busy one in our house.  It was Homecoming week, so leading up to the weekend, the girls were busy with activities at school for spirit week, the Homecoming football game was Friday night, Nina had to take the SAT test on Saturday morning, Lyla’s team was in a soccer tournamet, and of course there was the Homecoming dance.  

It’s hard to believe this is the last Homecoming for Nina.  Sadly, because of Covid, she didn’t have a Homecoming her freshman year (they were in virtual school), but it has been great to see her enjoy so much of Independence these past three years.  She’s a part of SCA, so in the days around big events at school, she’s always extra busy with planning, decorating, set up/take down, running events during spirit week, etc.  So, after a busy week at school, getting up for the SAT test early Saturday morning wasn’t ideal, but after the test she enjoyed meeting up with her good friend, Anika, for pictures, and then their group went out to dinner, the dance, and some festivies afterwards.  She still had to get up early the next morning to head back to the school for cleanup, so needless to say, she was glad to have the holiday Monday off to just relax.

Lyla’s soccer team was playing in a Columbus Day tournament with all three days of games being at a complext that was about 1:30-1:45 minutes away.  Due to the late scheduled game on Saturday, she missed her soccer game due to Homecoming, but she was glad to have the day to do her thing and get ready for the evening.  She and Bobby also enjoyed pictures, dinner out, the dance, and then hanging out afterwards.

 

It ended up being a sunny, but windy and chilly, afternoon. We had the pressure on to get pictures done in a flash as we arrived at Oatlands (for pictures) only to find out an outdoor wedding was about to begin there and the wedding coordinator was very hard pressed to shoo us out nearly as soon as we got there.  However, the most important part was that they all had a great night and enjoyed themselves and their friends.

 

Labor Day Hike

On the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, we went hiking in Shenandoah National Park.  Unfortuately, Nina wasn’t with us as it was her last weekend of work, and she was working double shifts all weekend.  However, it was a beautiful day and since we had been wanting to head out to a few hikes in that area, we decided to take the drive and hike Hawksbill Mountain first, then finish up at Stony Man for the sunset.

 

Hawksbill Mountain is the highest elevation in the park, and we had a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

 

After finishing up at the Hawksbill hike, we ate our packed dinner outside of the Skyland area, then we headed over to the base of the Stony Man hike.  It’s a short hike (only about .8 miles to the top), so we arrived with plenty of time to grab a good spot on the rocks and watch the sun start to set.

It was beautiful and well worth the experience!

It was dark by the time we headed off the summit, but thankfully we had our flashlights to get us back to the car safely.  Even though it’s a bit of a drive to get out there and back in a day, we’ll definitely be back again this year.  It really is a beautiful area, and I’m looking forward to taking advantage of our pass this year and check out some new and different hikes in the park on our next visit.

 

Girls Trip

 

Late in the summer, Lyla got the opportunity to head to the beach with the Williams family for the week, so I took a couple days off and Nina, her friend, and I left on a mini girls trip.  We drove down to Hartfield first, arriving in time to spend a nice afternoon/evening enjoying the river.  Then we left early the next morning for Virginia Beach.

It was a little cloudy as we first arrived at the beach, so after heading down to the beach for a bit, a quick rain storm blew through, but thankfully the rain coincided with a good time to get lunch, so we grabbed some lunch, settled into our hotel, then we were ready to spend the rest of the day on the beach.

We caught sight of a rainbow from our balcony right as the rain ended, then as we headed back out to the beach, we discovered that a few streets down on the beach was the National Lifeguard Championship games, so we were entertained for awhile watching lifeguards from all over the country compete in various challenges and races.  

Later that evening, after showers and dinner, we headed out to the boardwalk for walking, ice cream, and some pretty skies.

       

  

 

The next day was all sunshine and the girls enjoyed the time at the beach and in the waves.  

 

Before we left, we made a stop off at a cute shop for acai bowls (which ended up being more cute than super tasty), but I did appreciate their mural. :)

After our two days in Virginia Beach, we headed back to Hartfield then Nina and Anika went to Water Country, USA for the day.  I killed the time hanging in historic Yorktown while they were at Water Country, then we returned that evening to Hartfield in time to catch another beautiful sunset out on the kayak/paddleboards.

We packed up to head home the next day and got back just a little before Lyla got home as well.  I was glad that both girls had a last bit of fun before the summer was over, and I really enjoyed getting to do a fun girls trip with Nina and her friend.