September was busy! Bob started out the month with a fun evening at the NASCAR race in Darlington with Chris, Logan, Doug, and Sean. The weather was great, and he had a lot of fun! Meanwhile, we ladies had a fun shopping outing at Crabtree mall for homecoming dresses. I enjoyed a nice dinner out with neighbor friends Tara and Angie, who I don’t get to see as often as I would like. We miss the days of hanging out while our little kids played together! The next day was Labor Day; Anna went shopping with Bella, and all of us had a nice Mexican dinner with Liz and David. Tuesday was back to school, and the rest of the week was back to the usual routine. Anna got her hair done on Thursday, but thankfully it was a much shorter appointment than the last one she had in May! Friday the 6th was the first home football game of the year, and it was a good one! Anna went home with Lyla after school to get ready, and then we all met back up at the game. The student section theme for this game was “Hawaiian”, so they all had fun dressing for the theme!
Saturday, Anna had her regular morning babysitting job, then we enjoyed a nice afternoon at the lake before watching the Wolfpack get beaten badly by Tennessee that evening.
Sunday the 8th was pretty laid back, except for getting our flu shots against some people’s wills. Monday, Bob headed out for his nearly 2 week trip, beginning in New York for work meetings until Thursday evening. From there, he flew to Reykjavik, Iceland, where he spent 4 days and 3 nights exploring! He rented a camper van (it sounds like that is more commonly done there compared to here), which was a Land Cruiser SUV fitted with a queen-sized mattress, cooktop, cooler/refrigerator drawer, dishwashing sink, and heater. He traveled around the southern/western part of the island and got to see the northern lights, waterfalls, geysers, hot springs, geothermal hot springs, beautiful black sand beaches, snow, and so much more! He hiked quite a bit and had a really good time. His pictures are amazing! From there, he flew Monday night to Vienna, where he attended a conference until Friday morning, when he flew home. It was a good trip, and he utilized the Frankfurt to Raleigh flight on Lufthansa again.
While he was gone, all went smoothly at home. Anna had a 16-day cat-sitting job for her friends next door, which went fine. The girls attended some club meetings and sporting events at school. I had a few meetings for school, youth group, and book club, in addition to the regular piano and Y visits. One of the meetings was Back to School Night at Gibbons, where I got to visit the girls’ classes and meet their teachers. It was great! We had a lot of rain early in the week, which worked out great for our yard reseeding that Thursday. I am so excited to have started back with volunteering at the Catholic Parish Outreach food pantry in Raleigh once a week! My first day was on the 12th, and my job was “running” the carts of groceries to the families’ cars. The next two Thursdays, I’ve been assembling the carts, which is also super fun. I am thoroughly enjoying being back there after a 16-ish year hiatus (I helped there when I was in nursing school, before Erin was born) ;)
The kids were off school on the 13th for a teacher workday, which ended up being a rainy and relaxing day. Erin had a dermatology checkup, which went well. We continue to treat her eczema as it flares up. We watched the Gibbons football game online that night because it was so rainy (they lost, sadly).
Saturday the 14th, Anna had a fun trip to Busch Gardens with the freshman class. The weather was good and she enjoyed going somewhere new! She rode some rides, but wasn’t quite up for some of the biggest roller coasters. While she was gone, Erin and I had a spontaneous college tour where we checked out 4 schools in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area. First, we stopped at Elon, where we were invited to join a tour group that was starting at the same time. It was awesome to get the guided tour and learn more about the school. Elon is a medium-sized school (about 7,000 students) on a beautiful campus. I was personally surprised at how much it’s grown since I was looking at schools!
From there, we walked through UNC Greensboro and snuck in to the music building (it was awesome) and had a lunch break. Then it was on to Guilford College (very small, but nice), and Salem College (even smaller, but also nice). It was a great day, and a great idea of Erin’s to go!
The following week was fairly calm. We got a few quotes for a tankless water heater, which will be installed in October. I helped in the school store one day, which was as fun as usual. Bob got back without incident on Friday afternoon. The girls had their homecoming dance on Friday evening, and had a blast! Erin went to her friend Mady’s house to get ready and eat dinner.
I think they were tired all weekend after the big night out! Saturday, Erin, Bob, and I went to Logan’s cross country race in Cary. That was a huge event with 11 races, and he did a great job!
After that, we watched the Pack lose to Clemson, and then Bob cooked at the church jambalaya event while Anna babysat and Erin and I went out for Japanese food.
Bob and I had a nice morning on the boat on Sunday while the others slept in. We all went to the first youth mass of the year on Sunday evening (the 22nd), and the ladies stayed after for the first youth group meeting. It wasn’t too bad (as far as youth group goes). This is the year that both kids will go; Erin will be confirmed this April, and then she will be finished. Anna is just starting the 2-year program. The week of the 23rd was busy but routine with some club meetings, piano, and Anna watched her friends’ field hockey game on Wednesday. We tried to watch our away football game in the rain on Thursday on TV, but had some technical difficulty. Gibbons is currently 3-1, which is better than NC State’s 2-2. They got a day off on Friday for Hurricane Helene, which thankfully only brought about 2” of rain and some wind, but no power loss, to us. Bob cooked at Oktoberfest at church on Friday evening, and Anna had another babysitting job.
The plan for Saturday is for Anna to have her morning babysitting job and the rest of us to clean up the yard from the storm before watching the Pack hopefully beat Northern Illinois, and then hitting the lake in the late afternoon. Sunday will just be church and prep for the week, and Monday after school, Erin gets to go to her first school visit this year for her Service Beakers club, and it happens to be at St. Mary Magdalene! She is looking forward to seeing the kids and teachers there. Next week is also spirit week at school before the homecoming football game on Friday.
So, it was a busy month with lots of rain and lots of events! We are thankful that all went smoothly, and we are looking forward to a special event next month: Erin’s Sweet 16! Can you believe it?!
Hi - Erin :) <3
