travel
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interview with judah: bethel camp 2018.
What made you excited about camp this year? A lot of things. The zip-line, the food, the people, etc. Who was your bunk mate? Jon Mack What was your major this year? Archery What was a rule your counselors gave you? They didn’t exactly give us a lot of rules. That’s what made it fun. Did you get to sleep in the treehouse this year? Yes. It was more like a tree fort with a gigantic platform with a spiral staircase leading up. I liked it. What was different about this year? Majors were in the morning, but electives came first. How did you like having…
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interview with amelie: bethel camp 2018.
What did you feel like on Sunday when we dropped you off? I was nervous, and then I didn’t feel so nervous and I was I guess a little excited What helped you not feel so nervous? Our new cabins What were they like? They had a big bathroom and they had bunk beds and little twinkle lights. Who was your bunk mate? Hannah Tell me about your counselors I like Miss Emma because she is kind and sweet, and so is Miss Darby. What were some of your favorite parts of the week? I loved the zipline! I liked to swim and do canteen and I liked carpet-ball What…
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camp drop off 2018.
Can you believe it’s been a whole year since we sent our oldest away to camp for the first time!? Boy, was that emotional for me. This summer our nearly-9-year-old wanted to join in the fun. It’s funny how things go with kids. They get to have the same experiences progressively younger, don’t they? So Amelie is a whole year younger than when Judah was for his first time. He forged the way and showed us all how wonderful it is and made her want to go. Don’t we love our oldest “experiment kids”!? I’m speaking as an oldest experiment kid, of course. This year we took along some good…
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new smyrna beach 2018: part 2.
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new smyrna beach 2018: part 1.
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14th anniversary gratitude.
For fourteen years of learning to compromise, so we both do things we want to on anniversary trips. For a man who pushes me so much in life on hikes I cry and fume because: it’s hard. For a man who knows I can do more than I think I can. When I was an overly timid, young child, spending a white-night-scary sleepover at a friend’s house, missing my parents and my safe, comfortable bed terribly, I caught a glimpse of a wall calendar lit up by a swathe of moonlight: “Security is basically a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” (Helen Keller) I saw…
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8-and-under state championships.
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charleston at christmas.
Merry Christmas, friends! Charleston is a two-hour drive away and some friends take their kids every year to see the Christmas decorations. Last week we decided to take a spontaneous day trip to check it out. Here’s what constitutes a relaxing trip for me: not needing to pack. At all. No lunch. No snacks. Just a pack of wet wipes and a large bottle of water to share. Now that feels spontaneous! We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather: it was in the low 70’s and sunny. We had two plans on the agenda: eat lunch at Xiao Bao Biscuit, our current favorite restaurant in Charleston, and see the Christmas…
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harry potter and the symphony.
Judah, Amie, and I got an early Christmas gift from our aunt to a showing of the movie Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone accompanied by the Charleston Symphony. We drove to North Charleston Saturday afternoon and I downloaded our current read-aloud, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, on audiobook from the library beforehand, so we could enjoy the road trip. We stopped for dinner at one of our favorite Tex-Mex spots, and arrived a the coliseum just in time to find our seats before the movie/concert began. It was a jovial, festive atmosphere. Lots and lots of people were dressed up in their favorite Harry Potter garb, grown-ups included. The…
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myrtle beach swim meet.
This month we started meet season with our swim team, Columbia Swimming. David and I decided to take Gabe and Noah out of swimming this year, partly because the rates went up, and partly because neither showed great enthusiasm for it. In fact, both were happy when we told them they could quit! Being part of a swim team takes some commitment because it’s a year-round sport. The kids practice right through the summer. But as of this year, there’s really been no question in our mind of whether the commitment’s worth it; we’ve seen so much good come of it for both Judah and Amie. They’ve gotten stronger, more…
