Thoroughly Blessed

Hanukkah 2019

2019-12-28T00:00:00.001-05:00

Great Wolf Lodge 2019

2019-12-06T23:53:00.001-05:00

Florida Thanksgiving 2019

2019-11-30T23:35:00.001-05:00

AHG Father Daughter Dance 2019

2019-11-09T23:26:00.010-05:00

Homeschool XC Nationals 2019 - The Hermitage, Nashville, TN

2019-11-03T23:08:00.049-05:00

Our first trip to the Homeschool XC Nationals! We drove 7 hours to Nashville, TN to run in the races, but first we got the opportunity to tour The Hermitage, the home of President Andrew Jackson. The grounds and buildings are beautiful!

Slave quarters. At its peak, there were nearly 150 enslaved people working on the plantation here. There was a former slave who stayed on after being freed following the Civil War, acting a tour guide on the grounds until 1901.

We also got to see really fun presentation about dueling, which was popular in AJ's time.

The next morning dawned incredibly cold and foggy....

Furtunately, by the time the boys' race was starting, things had cleared up and gotten at least a bit warmer.

They both ran hard and did great!

Olivia's race was great, too! Really proud of all the kids for working so hard!

Of course, the best part of the trip was getting to see our cousins, Max and Vivi!

Simchat Torah 2019

2019-10-20T22:59:00.000-04:00

Sukkot 2019 - Hagan Stone Park

2019-10-18T22:57:00.000-04:00

Cross Country - State Meet 2019 - Hagan Stone Park

2019-10-11T23:01:00.012-04:00

Trail Life Camping - Morrow Mountain

2019-10-05T22:51:00.001-04:00

Cross Country - Greensboro XC Invitational

2019-09-28T22:41:00.001-04:00

Hamilton Lakes AHG Cleanup

2019-09-21T22:40:00.000-04:00

Science fun! Playing with Dry Ice

2019-09-19T22:39:00.000-04:00

Cross Country Meet #4 - Kernersville, NC

2019-09-17T22:37:00.009-04:00

First Day of EMMA 2019

2019-09-06T22:22:00.001-04:00

Cross Country Meet #3 - Dobson, NC

2019-09-05T22:18:00.007-04:00

Cross Country 2019 - Meet #2

2019-08-29T21:22:00.001-04:00

Olivia ran her second meet of the 2019 Cross Country season today and it was a great race. The last meet at Bur-Mil was very different, with lots of hills and a path strewn with rocks and roots. This one was almost completely flat and mostly on a groomed dirt path.

Unfortunately, Rebecca and I missed the start of her race by a couple of minutes, but we were there when she came around at the one-mile mark.

Olivia looking strong at the one-mile mark. she clearly isn't tired out yet because she had energy enough to smile for the camera.

They were gone on the trail for almost all of the rest of the race, but we could see her coming at about the 3-mile mark and cheer her on the last 2/10.

No more smiles. It was a hot day, but she was focused and determined to finish strong.

I think I'll call this one "The Agony of the Feet." (Ask your older parents, kids...)

She really did finish strong! She ran the 5k (3.2-mile) race in 29:16 and came in 33rd out of 68 high school girls, helping her team place second overall at the meet! Her per-mile average was 9:08, which is almost a full minute faster than her average last season!

The Littles Get New Dos

2019-07-31T20:37:00.002-04:00

Rebecca decided it would be fun to get the littles a new do! They both got a trim from a friend of ours followed by "fairy colors" as Emma called them They has streaks of color put into their hair and it looks marvelous!

As you can see, the girls had SO MUCH FUN getting their hair done and it looks absolutely amazing!

Rebecca's Birthday!

2019-07-30T20:30:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful wife and mom in the world!

The kiddos made their long-traditional banner for mom to find when she came home from work this morning. Olivia, however, stole the show with her very thoughtful gift.

That pretty much says it all. She's definitely a trophy wife!

UNCG Piano Camp Recital

2019-07-20T20:24:00.004-04:00

Well, Olivia has had 5 days of lessons, workshops, individual and group practices and it all comes down to today.

She had her recital in the UNCG Music School's Organ Hall. They didn't have to play on the room's beautiful pipe organ, tho. She did an amazing job, but I wasn't allowed to video the performance.

Later that afternoon, she participated in the group choir event, which was a requirement for all Music Camp participants.

Dan River Tubing

2019-07-18T20:19:00.006-04:00

With Olivia at UNCG's Music Camp, we decided to do something fun with the rest of the kids. We went tubing on the Dan River! We brought our friends' son, Jonathan, along with us.

Everyone got their own tube and we brought a rope to tie everyone together so we wouldn't get separated.

It was such a peaceful ride. With the spring rains well behind us, the water level was a little low in places, but still high enough to make the trip at a leisurely pace.

We paid a little extra to bring a raft for our lunch cooler.

There were several places along the river where we could stop and explore the shore and river without the tubes.

There were some really cool areas where the rock formations along the shore were overhanging the river.

Some of them had neat holes worn in them. We kept expecting to see something come crawing out of them.

After 3 hours, we finally reached the end and climbed back out of the river. This is something we really need to do next year!

Falls Creek - Mayo River State Park

2019-07-15T23:00:00.000-04:00

It was hot today. Dang hot. I wanted to find something wet for the kids to do and Rebecca found the Mayo River State Park. We've actually been the Mayo Park before, but I noticed on the map that there's a different section of the park way to the north, near the Virginia border. In that section is Falls Creek and the waterfall that gives the creek its name. it looked like it was pretty easy to get to, didn't require a bunch of walking, and had a place for the kids to splash around.

It didn't disappoint. The falls were pretty and the pool in front was so inviting...

The kids wasted little time getting in the water. A big bonus is that the bottom is mostly sandy and not very deep. even at the base of the falls, the water only got waist deep.

The kids loved climbing on all the rocks. There were shallow little pools on each level where small fish, crayfish, and waterbugs had gathered. Ezra spent a lot of time trying to catch a minnow with his bare hands. No success there, tho.

Getting into the falls themselves was like a refreshing massage. It felt so good!

We had the place to ourselves for a full two hours, but when another family showed up with kids close in age to Ezra and Emma, they lost no time making friends. They even had two pit bulls with them that were the sweetest dogs ever! Shorty, the girl, wanted Irene to do nothing but throw the stick for her over and over! After 3 hours of swimming, climbing, and playing, the kids were tired and getting hungry. We will definitely be going back there soon, tho!

UNCG Piano Camp 2019

2019-07-15T20:13:00.004-04:00

Olivia got a chance to attend her first summer music camp at UNCG for piano.

Getting to walk around our old alma mater with her was an interesting experience. So much has changed, but most of it is the same, even after 25 years (GOOD GOD, I'M OLD!).

She was so excited to be able to room with her good friend, Sarah, for the week.

Family Reunion - Whispering Pines, NY

2019-07-13T20:07:00.002-04:00

For the first time in years (maybe ever?) we had a Sarine-Fenton family gathering up at Whispering Pines in Corinth, NY. Whispering pines is owned by my cousins, Tom & Tim Welch. It was so great to have 4 generations of family gathered together for a week of fun.

We had folks coming from all over. We drove up from NC, we had cousins come in from FL, DC, NJ, and MD.

The 2010 crew!

The best part was just being able to relax and do nothing by the river, but that doesn't mean there wasn't anything to do...

There were swings

and sand

and swimming

and sidewalk art

and kayaking.

It was really one of those one-in-a-lifetime things that we will hopefully get to experience again someday!

Fourth of July Fun

2019-07-05T19:54:00.007-04:00

For the Fourth of July, we registered the three older kids in the Greensboro Fun Fourth race through downtown. The boys ran the 1-mile race and Olivia did the 5k.

They were giving out some silly swag at some of the booths, so Ezra went nuts.

There werent many kids in the 1-mile race, but Ezra managed to come in third.

Gabe wasn't very far behind, taking 5th.

Olivia, however, seemed to be a bit out of shape from the long break since spring training and came in pretty late.

She was given a bit of a hard time for not being able to catch the octogenarian who came in before her.

It wasn't all about the races, tho. We did our traditional gathering with other families down at the Grim's farm in Pleasant Garden.

The paper lanterns are one of the highlights of the evening.

And of course, the fireworks!

Science Project - Sunrise

2019-07-02T12:00:00.002-04:00

For Gabe's science, he had to observe a sunrise, so we got up before dawn and drove downtown to the parking deck so we would have an unobstructed view. It was glorious!