Ashlyn's 25th

Ashlyn turned 25 this week, a quarter of a century! It's just doesn't seem possible that our oldest baby can be mid-twenties now. I still see her as that cute toddler who always wore a hat (she had no hair) and got into bandaids.

Now as an adult, she didn't want a real cake, so we settled for a small cupcake that we each took a bit from.

Instead, she wanted us to make her a sweet potato casserole with a very thin layer of nuts on top. The youngest in the family wanted to still use the nut mixture, so we piled them on high for half of it.

Here's a picture of her in her usual attire. The coffee is absolutely part of her wardrobe since she's working 12+ hour shifts.

And when she's not working, you can find her in Columbia visiting this guy.

Happy 25th Ashlyn! 

Army FTX

It's rare to find pictures of our son in his element because I have to rely on other photographers. But thanks to FB and scanning hundreds of posts, I found some! As a senior cadet, Luke's role this year is to plan the field training exercises (FTX) for the UofSC Army ROTC.

Most of the planning happens well before their FTX weekend. Once in the field, though, his white board helps him keep track of each platoon and the location of each activity.

Since he is away from us on his birthday and back in Columbia, we celebrated early. Happy 22nd birthday, Luke! We miss you!

HOCO Float

Our youngest is a Student Council officer this year, and they were in charge of the freshman float for homecoming.Their theme...the 50's/Grease.

The officers decided to dress up while decorating the trailer with juke boxes, records, balloons, streamers, and musical notes.

Since we were driving the trailer, I decided to get in on the action. Eric thought it was comical.

Time for the parade to start!

Even their candy was 50's themed with gummy hamburgers, hotdogs, and fries! They did a nice job!

All the decorations were salvaged, if possible, for the hall decorating contest on Thursday. Good luck, Patriots!

Bike Crawl

After days and days of rain, we finally had a beautiful sunny weekend to be outside. We loaded up the bikes and headed for downtown Greenville.

Eric had a long route planned that started at one end of Greenville, followed the Swamp Rabbit Trail through town and finished in West Greenville. 

We stopped for a brief picture at the Cancer Survivors Park. When I took this picture, I didn't realize my phone had a focus lense that blurs the backround. I must have hit that feature accidentally, but I love how it turned out!

Here's the unblurred photo so you can see the other two.

When we got the end of our ride, Eric wanted a beer. So we stopped at the brewery on the trail for a refreshing drink while the girls got kombucha.

When the beer was finished, we got on the bikes and went maybe 50 yards to a new brewery that just opened up. He decided to try another beer. This new place had kombucha on tap! The girls loved it!

There was a 3rd brewery just 100 yards away, but we realized we wouldn't make the long ride back if we stopped again. This could be a fun Mueggenborg event for our SC Cousin Reunion in 2023!

Swim Team

Our yougest decided to try out for the swim team, and she made it! Their season is really short...they try out in August and the seaon is done in September. The down side is that swim meets can last 5 hours.

Here's the swim team. The school colors are blue and red, but our daughter decided to have a yellow stripe. That differential comes in handy when I'm trying to spot which swimmer she is among all those in the water.

As she wrapped up her season, she became "Athlete of the Week"! What an awesome accomlishment! After being disqualified from an illegal kick her first meet, she improved so much during the season that her final meet was just 20 seconds shy of going to State! 

Collection

After years of collecting coins, first the state quarters for the two older ones, then the national parks for the younger one, we're finally done! I appreciate all the family and friends who helped us save coin after coin to see if it was needed. 

If you notice, we're dressed like twins! She had a debate at school and was given extra credit if she dressed up. When I saw her outfit, I decided to match. I'm sure she appreciated the effort on my part. 😂😂😂

On another collection project, our Little One loves bananas! She loves them so much that she bought a nerdy periodic table banana sweatshirt and a face mask to match!

Quandary Peak

We woke up early for the big 14er. None of us slept well despite trying go to bed early. Our nerves were getting to us, and fear of weather changes on the summit didn't help. But this was what we had trained for, so it was time to go.

We can do this! That was our mantra.

This 14er didn't waste time getting our heart rates up. The 6.6-mile trail included 3300' elevation gain. Beautiful views about a quarter of the way up.

The tree line faded quickly as rocks & boulders covered the trail. 

The trail just went up and up...never flat to allow you to catch your breath.

Every 20-30 min I had to stop, drink water, eat a quick bite, and allow my heart rate to level. It's the slower way to go, and I applaud all those runners who passed me by, but this is how I climb. Slow and steady. I think at this point Halie was already at the top.

With only a mile and a half to go, here's the view of the summit. I don't know if you can click on the picture to expand, but it's pretty daunting and quite humbling. There's tiny specks of people on the trail ahead. One step at a time. I can do this.

A pair of mountain goats block the trail. From this picture, though, you can get a better sense of the incline.

Halie waited for us over an hour, but we eventually made it! Whew, what a climb! Judy packed a mini bottle of white wine to toast at the summit. None of us took more than a sip. We just wanted water and carbs. 

Here's the geographical marker showing the exact point of the summit.

On the summit! Bucket list item, check.

Another view from the top of Quandary.

Being exposed like that makes it chilly. What's worse, is the clouds looked ominous in the distance. Just one more summit picture, then we headed down.

As we headed down, I glimpsed back and Judy snapped this pick. It's probably my favorite of the whole trip.