Raven Rocks with Mouse and Pops

On Monday, the girls were off school, so Lyla and I took Mouse and Pops to a family favorite hike/brewery combinations.  Nina wasn’t with us as she aready had a commitment for Monday afternoon, plus, she’s coming with Mark and I on a big hiking trip this weekend, so we gave her a pass.  We’ve hiked Raven Rocks a ton, but it was the first time for Mouse and Pops, and they did great!  It was a little chilly at the start, but we warmed up after about 20 minutes in, and it ended up being a beautiful day to hike.  It was cool enough to be comfortable and the fall leaves were maybe not quite at their peak, but beautiful nonetheless.

 

Cayenne and Maggie were great on the hike except for Cayenne literally sneaking the PB CLIF bar out of Lyla’s hand while she was eating it.  If there’s one thing we can count on it’s that Cayenne will always 100% be motivated by food over basically anything else in life.  However, the pups did have a great time running and exploring nearly the whole hike off leash which was great for them.  

 

  

Mouse and Pops’s fitness level is impressive.  They are 72 and 76 (in less than a week) and so fit and healthy.  They weren’t deterred by the incline, the duration, rocks, or anything else.  It’s all the incentive in the world to stay active through life so you can continue to enjoy activities like this at all stages.  

 

The summit was beautiful.  The leaves are probably just shy of peak season, but they were still lovely, and enjoying a snack in the sunshine at the top was an enjoyable reward.

  

  

  

The trip back down the mountain always seems to go by faster, and we were spurred on by the anticipation of great refreshment ahead at Bear Chase Brewery.  We refueled with tasty beverages, pizza, and ginormous Bavarian pretzels, and everyone wrapped up the afternoon feeling great.  It was such a fun way to spend the day!  I’m so glad my parents decided to come along with us.

  

 

 

Homecoming 2021

Nina had her first Homecoming this past weekend.  Obviously, last year with COVID and virtual school, Homecoming didn’t happen, so she and her friends were excited to get that experience this year.  The whole week at school had been a lot of fun.  It was Spirit Week, so there were lots of fun activiites, hallway and rock decorating, pep rally, football game, etc.  To allow for as many to attend that wanted, and to have no mask requirements, the school held the dance outside in the stadium.  They rented tents, dance floors, and had the DJ and light/smoke show going on outside, and honestly, it was probably a lot more fun outdoor than it would have been inside.

 

Lyla and Mark’s teams were both in a tournament this past weekend, so while we were at games, Nina went with one of her good friends to get their nails done, then to a house of another to help her get ready, then they ended up back at our house just as I arrived home to finish getting ready.  There were 5 other high schools having Homecoming that evening, so they were out of luck trying to get reservations at a restaurant when they called earlier in the week, so we hosted an Italian dinner at our house, and it all ended up being perfect.

Before dinner we took pictures...

  

 

  

 

 

…then the girls had dinner here and hung out until the dance started.  All reports came back that they had a blast.  I’m so glad they got to have this experience. Being back in person at school has been such a game changer this year.  They both are enjoying it a lot and having a great start to the year.  Maybe the past year+ of being virtual has given everyone a bit of appreciatioin for how it feels to be in person.  

  

Meanwhile, it’s been good to see Lyla back at soccer.  After missing five weeks with the ankle injury, she played three games prior to the tournament but not in her usual position.  This weekend she was back at defender (where she prefers to play) and feeling much happier until she took a ball to the head and ended up with a mild concussion.  Thankfully it seems that her symptoms improved a lot after the first 24 hours, and I think all will improve from here on out. Just got to keep this girl healthy!

The Wedding

September 25 was the day we were all waiting for.  Bo and Brittany tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony at Historic Shady Lane in York, PA.  Everything about their wedding weekend was beautiful.  There was an awesome rehearsal dinner on Friday night, and they had a gorgeous day on Saturday to celebrate with family and their friends.  

  

  

  

I took some pictures, mostly during the rehearsal dinner and some of the girls just after they got ready, but once the day got rolling, that was all for the crew of professionals.  Feel free to scroll through some of the pictures I took here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/csrk79kAMbYm4nBo7

and preview some shots the real photographers got by viewing their video trailer here:

https://video214.com/play/8GI7fsMwgBkF17Wb8J2csQ/s/dark

 

I can’t wait to see the wedding gallery photos once they come in.  The wedding, the bride, the location, and the groom were all stunning - the pictures will certainly be so as well!

 

 

The Last of Summer

After settling in from out trip to Florida, we took a family hike to Sugarloaf Mountain.  Sugarloaf was the scene of one of our worst previous hikes.  I had taken the girls and Cayenne about five years ago, and we ended up getting lost with no water, no cell service, and daylight hours waning. https://the-simpson-family.blogspot.com/search?q=sugarloaf

I’ve been trying to get the girls to go back in recent years to have a positive memory of Sugarloaf, but they wanted nothing to do with it.  In fact, our perils of the first Sugarloaf hike only continued to grow each time they told the story about our first hike.  Now if you hear it, we barely made it out alive!  

 

So, with Mark along they were more in favor of trying Sugarloaf again.  We were off to a good start.  We tried a different path and saw some cool sights, then things turned south AGAIN.  We got on a path that was a lot longer of a loop than the girls were hoping for, everyone got irritated, Lyla fell a few times, and in an effort to shorten the hike and get back to the car, we ended up getting lost again.  To top it off, once we got back to the car, Lyla evidently took her nice North Face hiking shoes off outside the car and left them there as we drove off to home.  So…needless to say, Sugarloaf is not for us.  So, when Nina asked if we can finally agree to never go back to Sugarloaf again, my answer is a resounding, YES!

 

Shortly after the Sugarloaf hike, Lyla injured her ankle in a pre-season soccer scrimmage, we ended up at the ER, and she ended up spending the better part of the next four weeks in a boot.  :(  It definitely wasn’t how we wanted to spend our last weeks of summer, but I guess if there is any bright side, at least we had finished our vacations and had made it to the start of August before the injury.  She’s been out of soccer and activity, but as of today, 9/2, she’s been given clearance to get out of the boot and start getting strong again.  She has plenty of ankle strengthening exercises to do, and she’s allowed to do some jogging, so hopefully if all goes well, she’ll be able to at least participate some in this fall soccer season.

On the bright side of things in August, we celebrated Mouse and Pop’s 50th wedding anniversary!  Pops had planned a surprise dinner for the Mouse with the whole family gathered at a restaurant, and it was a really nice evening to spend together both there at the restaurant and back at the Williams house afterwards.  We are so grateful for them and all that their commitment to each other has meant to our family.  They are such a blessing to all of us, and we are so thankful for God’s faithfulness in their lives and the impact that they have had on our family.  We only wish for many more wonderful anniversaries ahead for them.