Rosie is off to second grade! Summer was great in so many ways- we really had fun. However, I love routine (I never thought I would say that?), and getting Rosie back to school with our morning walk to school has been wonderful. She is at a little elementary school just a few blocks away, and we meet her little friend Sydney half way there, and they kick off their morning with a small buzz of excited conversation. Its pretty awesome.

Sweet Sadie

Taylor’s younger brother, Dereck, and his wife Mallory, welcomed their second daughter, Sadie Register last week. SHe is small and adorable, and Rosie (and Mercy) are excited to be big cousins.

Seclusion

When was the last time that you spent some time away? I mean, away from the internet? For me, it is embarrassing to say, but even on vacation, the internet is available. Except for this past weekend. We were quite secluded- which was a lot of fun to not have a phone nearby. Even though Verizon boasts of having coverage everywhere, it doesnt reach this mountain valley property that backs up to a national forest. Except for missing the App State-UNC game on Saturday, it was great to be “unplugged”.

We spent the long weekend with two other families- the Steinwedells and the Peascoes- 15 of us in total. This is a fun group- Joe, Taylor, and Laura worked together at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro (Taylor is no longer at CCL), and the friendships have been around since the beginning. Joe and his wife came to Greensboro from Colorado, and Andy and Laura are both greensboro natives. However, it was the Torres family- Hernan, Catherine, Simon and Sebastien that brought us together. We missed them for sure this weekend.

Two (or three?) years ago, we did a trip together and there were only 5 kids between our families- now there are 9. I can’t readily find pictures from that last trip, but a weekend in a cabin in the mountains together worked great for the kids. This time, the cabin was far more swanky, with a creek out front.

On a rainy Sunday, we took a trip into town to go see some Caverns.