Well we survived Hurricane Hermine over the early part of the Labor Day weekend.  By the time she got to us she was just a strong tropical depression but the weather forecasters think she may turn back into a hurricane after veering off the Virginia coast.  Of course these are the same forecasters that told us we would be getting about 6″ of rain over Friday and Saturday but only gave us a 70% chance of rain on Friday and a 50% chance on Saturday… talk about hedging your bets.   Anyway the storm did give us a lot of rain and quite a few branches down in the yard.  In addition, Sam saw this little guy walking through the yard the day after… probably just trying to get to higher ground during the storm as he was headed back to the brook when Sam checked on him later in the day.

A pretty good size Box turtle is passing through the yard after the storm.

Sam started soccer practice the first week of August and has already had his first game which Trinity managed to win handily.  Sam is one of the starting defenders and we are very proud of him.  He is making good progress with his footwork and will hopefully become a little more aggressive with dribbling the ball this year.

Yes it’s that time of the year again, but this year is a little different.  Sam started school on Monday, Aug 15th and is now in 8th grade, while Alex started school on Thursday, Aug 18th and is in his first year of college!  Alex is only taking 3 credit classes this semester to make sure he gets off to a good start with his new homework load.  So far it’s working because he is making great grades… it’s rare not to see him doing homework.  Sam is also making great grades so far and will be playing soccer, basketball and probably tennis again this year at Trinity.

Not sure how many more years we will be able to convince these two to take a BTS photo together but we will keep trying!

Another year goes by and the cone of shame makes another appearance.  This time the sorting hat picked Mom!  As Mom now enters her 3rd decade she gets prettier every year.  For dinner we had pork chops and homemade chocolate cake.  The weekend before Nana and Gung Gung came down to celebrate and we had a big dinner – a huge salmon filet and a couple of steaks to keep our growing boys full.

Happy Birthday Mom!  Now for the cake and ice cream.  What she doesn’t know is that her new Yeti is in that bag.  🙂

The salmon filet was so big it took 2 boards to cook.

Sam got a tank and regulator from Uncle Deke this last weekend – these will come in quite handy!  We took them in today to Rum Runners Dive Shop to have them tested and checked out… we are sure they were upset we wouldn’t be renting nearly as much equipment next time around.  🙂

We didn’t think we would get another chance this summer to take a photo on the mountain, but this weekend’s trip provided us one last opportunity.  We originally started taking these photos for Henrietta and Lillian – we knew they would love to see the boys on the mountain.  Below is a latest photo, not one of our best, and a couple of the earlier shots from 2011 and 2012…. the boys sure have grown.

 We made the trip to Elkton, VA this last weekend to say goodbye to Lillian.  The service was very nice and brought a tear to many an eye.  The small church was filled with family and friends and was quite hot as they seemed to have forgot to turn on the A/C.  As the Preacher, who obviously cared a great deal about Lillian said, Lillian was a very complicated woman that could be crusty, but was also very loving and caring.  Lillian had a tendency to say what was on her mind and to say outloud what most people were thinking.  🙂  Most importantly though, she loved her family very much.
  Lis and the boys adored their grandmother and we know that Lillian loved us just as much, she will be greatly missed.  Along the way we had a chance to spend some time with family and friends at Alan’s house and we got to spend some time in Waynesboro too.  Thanks for everyone’s support this weekend and we hope to see everyone again soon.

We captured a couple of quick photos after the service…

We got a chance to spend some time with Alan and the gang at his house this last weekend.  Along the way we met some new friends…. Plott hound puppies and a few cows for good measure.   🙂

Alex got to go to the beach for the week with his friends, Matt and Jeremy in South Carolina.  Matt’s parents have a time share plan and they get to go 3 or 4 times each year.  So while Alex was away at the beach, Mom and Sam took a trip to Raleigh and went rock climbing.  Sam got to free climb in the morning as the place was packed with ‘campers.’  After lunch with Mom and Dad, Sam went back and tried out climbing with the harness.  Sam had a great time, but rock climbing may not be his thing…. which is probably a good thing, scuba diving is enough.  🙂