XC Sweep

The Powdersville High School cross-country team (XC for short) swept the Regional meet!!  The girls varsity team won their region, the boys varsity won their region, the girls JV won their region, and the boys JV won their region!  It was a wonderful celebration for the girls varsity team, especially, as this was a first in the school's history!  And when we included all the individual awards, the picture below shows off a lot of hardware. 😊

When the announcement was made about the girls' team, we knew then it would be a sweep.  PVHS won by a razor thin margin of only 5 points.

The top 10 finishers in the girls competition were awarded All-Region.  I was shouting with excitement when my little one's name was called out.  She finished 8th place!  Her amazing time of 23:54 was a new PR, and it certainly contributed to her team's win.

A close up of her medal.

 A picture of the proud mom with our favorite runner.

Afterwards, the team circled for a group hug and acknowledgement of thanks.  We're so grateful the meet was injury-free.  This is such a great group of kids, too.

Frisbee Golf

With 65⁰ weather, we just had to spend the gorgeous day outside.  We decided to play frisbee golf at Dolly Cooper Park.

The course is officially rated for tournament play in SC, so it's pretty tough.  Eric and our youngest had good form starting out.  

She would stay on the fairway while Eric quickly parred.  I figured I'd catch on eventually.   

But after scoring an 8 on the same par 3, I realized there's actually skill involved.  And further, I'm not very skilled.

While the two made this look easy, I simply enjoyed the walks from hole to hole, snapping pictures along the way. 

Here's an attempt to improve on my form.

We occasionally had to search a bit in the tall grass & weeds, but never lost one.  

The winner was our youngest!  Great job, Little One.

Luke's 21st

 

Luke came home for his 21st birthday, so we had his favorite homecooked meal ready for him (meatloaf) along with a chocolate rum cake.

Eric bought him a champagne confetti bottle....

And he opened several cards that marked his special occasion.  The shot-sized red solo cup on the table may have had something in it.  Kombucha maybe?

Then opened another sweet birthday card that came in the mail.

We were face-timing Ashlyn in Orangeburg so she could be part of the family celebration.

The next day we took him out for authentic street tacos.

Then to a brewery for a beer.

On day 3 of his birthday weekend, he wanted Indian food for lunch, so why not compliment that with alcohol-infused pumpkin ice cream!  Happy birthday, son!  We love you!!

Slingshot

This past weekend, our two oldest kids unexpectedly came home.  Eric has been talking about renting a slingshot car and jumped at this opportunity to do it while Luke was here to enjoy it with him.

Since we only had it for 4 hours, the girls got to enjoy it, too!  It's not a very practical car by any means, but it sure made for a fun trip to the grocery store!

It was so nice having all of us together for dinner, too.  Grilled salmon, baked potatoes, steamed veggies, and fresh French bread appeased everyone's palate.  So thankful for these moments.

ROTC Weekend

On our drive home from Aiken, we detoured through Columbia.  Our son had just returned from a 3-day ROTC training camp and was starving.  We swung by Moe's Southwest Grill to drop off some food.  I was so excited to finally see him in his Army fatigues while I also happened to be wearing my Army Mom shirt!

The other cadets were all hungry too, and really tired, so I felt bad that he got to eat.  I'm sure they gave Luke a hard time after we left.  You could see his fellow cadets in the background sleeping on the ground while waiting for the cadre to arrive and dismiss them.

Luke and his buddies took pictures while on guard duty (night shift).  The cadets had to sleep with their weapon loaded and secured.  Doesn't look very comfortable, though.  I guess after two nights like this, I can see why they were so tired.

During the day, the unit went on rucks (8-12 mile walks).  Good thing he upgraded his boots a few weeks before!

They had weapons training, weapons cleaning, and weapons safety instruction.

They were taught basic land navigation, then tested on those skills.

As a final task, each cadet had to take a rifle qualification test.  It took several attempts, but Luke finally qualified. 😊

As we left and hugged him bye, I reminded him to wash everything really good when he got back to his apartment.  After a hestitant pause, he said, "Um, sure mom. That's the FIRST thing I plan to do."  Something tells me it will be several months before those fatigues see a washing machine. 

Aiken

With the cooler temps of fall finally here, we couldn't wait to go camping.  Ashlyn wanted to go with us, but it would have been a 4 hr drive just for her to join us in the mountains. Instead, we agreed to meet in Aiken, SC.

There's just something about getting away for the weekend to hang out with family and the smell of a campfire.  It's good for the soul.  Ashlyn brought along her suture kit since she was still in her surgery rotation.

Right beside us was a 3-mile hiking path.  We couldn't resist.

The next morning as we drove around the city, we came upon a park with another walking path and trail.  There was not rush to get home, so we stopped.

And played....

And played...

And played.  Yes, they are 23 and 13.

Then we found a rock wall and I had to get in on the action!  

One last brief hike on the city trail before we leave.  Aiken is such a beautiful city!

Fall 2020

With school now in session all 5 days a week, things are starting to feel like fall.  I couldn't wait to decorate!  But as we pulled out the decorations, our scarecrow needed a fresh coat of paint.  That was a fun morning project with my little one.  Next year we'll need to do the butternut squash, too.

And speaking of school, one of the few sports we can still enjoy from both the participant and spectator perspective is cross country.  Our little one has really stepped up her pace this year.  She's run on varsity every meet.  Here are the runners just after the gun start.

About halfway in the race, she's trying to catch up and pass to these two in front of her.  Her PR (personal record) so far in the 5K is 24:02!  Way to go!