End of Season

The tennis season officially ended today with one last tournament. Amanda's usual doubles partner, Kendall, was out of town so she played with two other girls.

Amanda and Claire finished off the season with a victory ! Match #4 of the day.

That's a lot of tennis.

Clean up time...
One last chore before you go...

Washington D.C.

Jake and Hannah took a trip to Washington D. C. to visit Kyle on Labor Day weekend. Kyle is attending American University. I think that it was a 4 or 5 hour ride from WVA.

First stop - Six Flags. Here's Kyle ready to "fly" on a roller coaster.
You wouldn't catch me on this ride.!!!
Hanging out at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Maybe George and Laura will invite you in for breakfast.
Washington Monument and the famous reflection pool.
Stopping by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to pay respect to Uncle Ron's cousin Tom - killed in
the war.
The famous Giant Panda at the D. C. Zoo.

My son must have inherited my sense of humor - only "we" would come home from our Nation's capital with a photo of a ducks butt.
Nice job with the photography Hannah !!!
Bub by the World War II Memorial.
Just checking in with 'ole Abe. Hope you said "hi" from Nana.

Time to get back to school and study !!!!


Thanks for the photo CD.

Coming Soon....

I feel so bad about not updating my blog - here my son is 12 hours away - and this blog is his link to home..........

Sorry, Bub !! :( An update is coming soon - promise.

There are just not enough hours in my day lately.

Thanks for the awesome "blankie" you sent for my birthday :)

Love it!!!

Soccer, soccer and more soccer coming this weekend - big tournament for Amanda.

I have another wedding to photograph on Saturday - so I will miss all Saturday games. Bummer. (another note to Jake: wedding I'm photographing is for Breeden's daughter)

Coke has been spending a lot of time at her "Aunt" Sandy's since Amanda and I are gone so many hours each day. I have this awesome friend (Sandy) who comes over and picks Cokie up at about 10:30 a.m. and takes her to the park with her dogs (Jesse and Sara). Then Coke hangs out with them until Sandy goes to work at 3. Then Paul (Sandy's significant other) takes over until I pick her up after work. I am so appreciative of both of them for making Cokies life so enjoyable. One of these days I have to get a photo of Coke with Jesse and Sara - they are so huge and she is so tiny.

Fall Soccer

After the game.........Someone doesn't want her photo taken.

But, Nina is more than happy to pose.

Amanda has been playing soccer since first grade. So, here we go again.......another soccer season.

Yep, there goes a couple of brain cells. I hate it when she uses her head to hit the ball.
Control.
Going to take it away!

My zoom lens is history so I am very limited in the photos I can take. Bummer.

First Day of School

This is as close as I could get to a first day photo......

Dad's taxi service is waiting in the background and my daughter is less than thrilled to pose for me. I had about a half of a second to snap this as she ran by.

I miss the days of having a "photo session" with both kids happily posing for me with their new backpacks and new "first day" outfit complete with shiny new shoes.

I have a "first day" photo from every year of their school days. Most are taken in the same spot so you can see how they've grown and changed. This was okay in the elementary and middle years, but they were a little less cooperative in high school.

It was so strange not to hear the usual bickering over the bathroom they once shared.

And more strange to have only Amanda going off to school...

Poem

This is for my cousin June who is teaching her daughter how to write poetry.............my favorite poem.

All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
- by Robert Fulghum

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day.
Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup - they all die. So do we.
And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK . Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology and politics and sane living.
Think of what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.