First Day of School

My motivation to take pictures still waned in early September, but I had to grab my Iphone as I walked these kids to their new school.  Bigger classes, a lot of testing, new friends - I knew they could handle it!  Me, I am not so sure….

UVA Weekend

Last fall, Kelly initiated a reunion at UVA for the Notre Dame game.  We booked hotels a year in advance, bought tickets, and thought the event was a lifetime away.  We all met at Veritas winery on Friday afternoon.  The kids played soccer and created forts in the little woods while we reconnected over a bottle of wine.  We headed to the neighboring brewery for dinner.

The iGeneration quickly connected over electronics.

The next day, the Henselys' set up an amazing tailgate next to old dorms.

Owen decided to join his friend JB and root for Notre Dame.  The exciting game hooked him.

Where does the time go?

Summer

We received several hundred pounds of stuff from storage.  After three years, we could not remember what exactly we had.  I quickly ushered yard equipment, old Christmas decorations, inappropriately-aged kids toys, and other garbage into the van and off to Good Will.   Our UAB arrived mostly unscathed.  One broken lemoncello cup from Angri and a polish pottery bowel were the only victims.





Owen and Emily improved their drive and short game at Top Golf while we unpacked.  Emily became the wicked step sister and the youngest orphan in Cinderella and Annie.  Owen learned how to say yes to everything in Improve.




 

We ate our favorite American food at Shake Shack and Krispy Kreme.

 We cheered for the Nationals,

played games on the Rehoboth Boardwalk,

and spent time at grandparents' houses.

Re-Settling

Twelve weeks ago we packed our eight pieces of luggage, stripped our beds, trashed anything left in our Siedlung apartment, hugged the Requiests and headed to the airport.  As we approached the highway, Dave and I reviewed, "passports, kindles, backpacks, purse, golf clubs"  Um, no golf clubs.  We quickly about-faced, caught Jen since we lacked keys, grabbed the clubs, and headed out again.  Twelve hours later we landed at IAD fatigued and slightly overwhelmed.  As we prepared to exit the plane, Dave checked his backpack for passports and wallet.  No wallet.  He checked his coat.  No wallet.  We searched every bag.  No wallet.  At this point we had to exit the plane. Brooding we mechanically boarded the tram, scanned our passports at customs and waited for the final check before baggage.  I took a silent inventory of our stuff, "Do you have the Burberry coat?" "No, I thought you had it." OMG.

We are on to our next adventure.  Learning from our life in Europe, we plan to travel local - participate in eating tours, take cooking classes, go to local exhibits and find adventures here.