IX Art Park has been hosting this interactive visual arts exhibit for a couple of years now, and we've been curious, but unwilling to fork over $15 a person to see it. Enter Ting (our internet provider) and their customer appreciation night this month, which included free admission and free beverages at the bar afterwards. Benji opted to stay home and do homework, so it was a date night for us:
Last week was Robot Week for FTC. Benji has happily joined Abby's old team as a coder. Here is a picture of the code team (posted to their twitter):
My cousin Shara's husband David had reached out to us over the summer to see if we would be willing to hike Old Rag with him. We decided Kevin and Benji would hike and I would stay behind to do a shorter hike with my cousin Shara, who did not want to do the steep 7-mile trek. Shara and I ended up doing the White Oak Canyon hike, which left from the same parking lot. This was a beautiful 3-mile roundtrip along a riverbed, ending in some majestic falls. We had time left after our hike, so we went to nearby DuCard vineyards for lunch and a glass of wine while waiting for the men.
The girls' hike
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| White Oak Canyon Falls |
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| This wine is made from grapes grown on National Park Trust Land and the proceeds go to the park. It was yummy! |
The boys' hike. From the date stamps, the boys reached their summit pretty close to when we took pictures at ours (we sat for 30 minutes first and enjoyed the falls):
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| Eating lunch at the summit |
They actually got to play the halftime show this go around. We also arrived early enough to see them play the National Anthem and the CHS fight song, which we missed last game:
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| Marching In |
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| Playing the National Anthem |
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| the football players running through the tunnel while the band plays the fight song |
It's been a quiet couple of weeks at home since we dropped Abby off, getting back into routines, catching up on schoolwork and doing some cleaning out around the house. We've gotten lots of errand-running out of the way in preparation for a busier fall. One afternoon last week, Benji and I made an afternoon run to Music and Arts to pick up a new lire for his clarinet (to hold sheet music when he plays in the stands). Since Starbucks is right next door, we made a little date of it and stopped off for a treat we ate on the benches outside (it was picture day at school and Benji chose this polo to wear):
Abby's first year trip was a lot of fun, but also more strenuous than she had anticipated. She sent us pictures of her trip group summiting Mt. Cardigan:
Additional pictures (she noticed the post was lacking and sent more):
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| Ready to go |
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| So excited to get to Moosilauke |
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| Safe and sound back on campus |
