Fall Cross Country

It was another good cross country season for Jacob and Claire.

Jacob got to run varsity one week, too.

We had a perfect day for GMCs, sunny and warm. Claire did a good job and was happy the way she finished her season.

After working hard all year, in his last race at the GMCs, Jacob finally broke 19 minutes, finishing in 18:54. We were all very excited for him!

It was a good season for these kids, and we are so happy for the good teammates and friends they have.

 

Fall Soccer

We had another fun fall soccer season. Not a lot of details here from Kate and Liam's seasons -

Jared's team was fun, even if we didn't get lots of wins. The end of season tournament was the highlight, with 2 wins getting to the semi-finals before falling in the 3rd muddy game of the day.

 

Homecoming Pasta Party and Parade

We hosted the boys cross country team for their pre race night pasta party. It was a beautiful day for the party - sunny and warm. There was tons of pasta - and it was a good thing!!!

The boys were able to eat outside, pack around the tables.

 

until lots of the pasta was consumed! It was hard to believe how much food was eaten!

Our house was the perfect place to host because of its proximity to the start of the homecoming parade route at the church on the corner. The girls team had 2 trailers and the boys had 1 trailer. The youngest 3 were especially excited for our parade watching location because we were close to the front when the candy throwers were especially generous! We love where we live!

 

Last Man Standing

With a week off, the boys cross country team scheduled a new event - a last man standing fund raiser. The boys were to line up at the start line and run 400 meters. Over and over. For the first hour, they started every 3 minutes, so in the first 2 hours, they had already completed 40 laps. It was a fun, easy pace for the boys.

Those boys could have done that pace all day, so they reduced the time to 2:30 for a while. Many of the boys kept strong, sometimes coming in around and under 2:00 so they could rest and get a little drink. Jacob looked strong and kept with the strongest runners.

In the end, they kept taking 5 seconds off. Jacob completed 64 laps total and was the 4th to last standing. Ethan finished 68 laps as the winner. We were proud of the boys for a fun event (even if we fretted about what the impact on next week's race would be!)

 

Back to School

The first day back to school for Jacob and Claire started EARLY in the morning in their Sophomore  year at Sycamore High School.

At the beginning of the day, these days, Jacob and Claire start their day off with seminary at the house.

Torin starts 1st grade

and Kate and Liam start 4th grade!

These kids are all very excited for this school year in Maple Dale.

 

Time in the Temple (again)

Now that the temples are re-opened, Dani and Jared are trying to get to the temple at least monthly again. It is a 1.5-2 hour drive, but it is well worth it! The Columbus temple has been closed since COVID, now due to some renovation.

Recently, there was a photographer outside the Indianapolis temple who took a couple beautiful pictures of us!

And the trip to the Louisville temple coincided perfectly with a beautiful sunset!

 

Days of Summer

Summer happenings in Cincinnati continued after the family reunions extravaganza.

Caitlin and Andrew came out for a visit and for a bike ride on the Loveland Bike trail.

There was LOTS of time at Nana's pool, which included

aqua jogging

and bull riding! We even got Nana (and her new knee) on the bull. It was much harder, but we also got Papa on the bull for a short time.

  

We made good use of the Kings Island passes The younger kids got some driving practice time. The teenagers didn't, though maybe they should have given they will get their learners permits in a few months!

We took our first rides on Orion, Kings Island's first "gigacoaster" - with a hill of 305 feet tall! Jared and Dani went for the first time at different times, but the kids who took Dani reported that she was hilarious to ride with because she kept yelling out when she would get "air time." That may be her one an only ride on Orion!

I love this picture! Jacob is such a loving, tender older brother. He genuinely loves his little brothers and tries to find ways to spend time with them. They, meanwhile, adore him and look up to him. He is a good example to them and sets a wonderful tone for the kids.

Jared returned back to the office in mid-June after 16 months working from home. Only the vice president and president levels are returning to the office, so Jared is still working via Teams calls quite often (which feels a little silly), but he is enjoying running downtown again!

 

The views are AWESOME from the top of Mt. Adams.

Another benefit of working downtown - Jared got to go to a Reds day game in the Diamond Club with Tim and some co-workers.

Jared decided his brisket was so good, he should make it again when Caitlin and Andrew came and visited. Also, Caitlin and Andrew made fried chicken at Nana's house - it was delicious, though the cleanup and deep fried smell were a bit of a funny ordeal.

We took a few family bike rides, sometimes on the Loveland Bike Trail and sometimes to get ice cream at Walker Bros.

We had a paddling date night with the Spencers at Winton Lake. We paddled for a long time, and Jared and Nate jumped in for a little swim, until the lake's boat captain called out to them "AHOY" and informed them swimming is not allowed.

We enjoyed a few thunder storms - including one cloud that had lots of lightning at dusk that was really cool to watch.

We also had some beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

It has been an awesome summer!