More Dollywood & Wild Eagle w/Mary Julia

Annie's Letter to Nintendo (SO PROUD OF HER!)

I am SO proud of Annie tonight! She has been wanting to write Nintendo a letter with an idea for a new game she calls "Pokemon Kart" ... and tonight SHE FINISHED IT! Mamma helped her type it up ... TWO FULL PAGES! She is sending it directly to Shigeru Miyamoto in Japan. It is going out tomorrow. [Mamma also included a legal disclaimer so someone would at least look at Annie's work. (I read about how hard it is to share a game idea.)] I am so proud of my little girl. She can accomplish anything she puts her mind to!

Second Summer Playdate with Angelina

... including the "Bunnel Tunnel" on the treadmill. Featuring Whale all the way!

Kitty Watches Annie Play Mario Kart 8

Seeing The Secret Life of Pets with Annie

Annie has been waiting for this movie a LONG time! We really enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the focus on life in New York City. Annie, of course, enjoyed the animals. :-D

Last Evening as an Only Child (Since Age 4)

Leia chose to eat at Sierra Nevada to celebrate. :-)

Summer of the Great Blue Heron

While, in the past, I might see one or two of these majestic birds all summer, THIS YEAR I have seen dozens! They are considered signs of self-reliance. In most cases, I would see about five a day perched, just like this one, defending their territory.  In one instance I even saw a PAIR of them flying together, which is SO strange because they are lone hunters.

Annie at Camp, Friends at Lake!

It was a rare thing for Leia and Harvest to share a true friend playdate at the lake without Annie who is ever-so-loved but is definitely the "little sister" of the three. And, of course,  it was wonderful to have my own best friend there too! What Harvest and Leia realized is that swimming in the lake is MORE FUN with Annie around! :-D One of the days, we were joined by the McCulloughs, and Cassie and Leia hung out a bit (like they did at their baby shower 14 years ago.) :-D  

Mamma Sends Pictures to Annie at Camp

... this is so she wouldn't be homesick. :-) To send daily notes and pictures, we used a program called "Bunk Notes" and sent them electronically! (I did the same for Leia.)

Annie's Camp Greenville 2016 (Camp Perspective)

While Leia's camp pictures are fairly self explanatory, Annie's require a bit more explanation... Or perhaps I just know more about them because Annie was sitting beside me and excitedly told me about each one. The first few are from "Chapel" at Pretty Place. The third picture is from Ellie's birthday. It is pretty cool when your cabin have a birthday during camp. They had a pinata in the cabin filled with candy! The next few pictures are all about the blue team vs the black team in some kind of Star Wars game they played using die placed in socks and a tag type of game where they had to give high fives to get them out of the freeze. There is also a picture of the girls at something called "pack out" where they sleep in a shelter and they make Smores and Hobos, which the girls want to make it home full of ground beef onions potatoes, etc. The most important event captured here is Annie's archery tournament. You can see her shooting her arrow and hitting the target on the bullseye (or at least "on the line")! We are so proud of her! Finally, there are pictures from the Banana Olympics, where the kids decorated a banana and had to keep it "alive." One of the pictures is them using a sheet to lift the banana into the air while they're counselor, Lindsay, had to catch it in a bucket. There are also a couple of pictures from a nice skit at the closing campfire. :-)

Annie's Camp Greenville 2016 (Our Perspective)

Annie had been chomping at the bit to go to camp Greenville since Leia came back. :-) Annie was so very excited, especially after we got her a rolling duffle bag! At first, Annie was a bit worried about the swim test, so when we went to the lake, Leia showed us exactly how far Annie had to swim and back and told us that then Annie would have to do two minutes of treading water. I went out in between the two docs in our Cove, and waited for Annie. She swam out doing one of the two allowed strokes which were freestyle and breast stroke, and then she made it back to our dock! She then successfully tred water for 2 minutes! By that time, she was very confident she could complete the swim test. In later pictures you will see the special necklace that she got to wear showing that she could be in the very deepest water at the lake and jump off the 12 foot tower! Annie was so excited even about packing. She decorated her bag with all sorts of keychains and things! When we arrived at Camp Greenville, we found out that she was in the cabin SS Lake and that her counselor was the same one layer had! Lindsay is a very good counselor! Just like Leia, Annie was really ready for us to go, but she did have us put her sheet on the bed first. :-) there were no tears at all! When we came back, Annie ran to us, and I thought she was running to give me a jumpin' hug, but really she was running to see kitty! We brought her beloved bunny to come and get her from camp as well! Annie was so happy to hold Kitty, and you can see the surprise on her counselors face when she realized that it was a real bunny and that all the children were going to be able to pet the bunny! Annie had a wonderful time at camp, her only complaint was that she was still in division 1 at age 9. Next year she will be in division 2 and get to participate in many of the activities she couldn't be in this year, like high ropes and riflery and zip line. Any absolutely loved camp and is committed to next year!

The Loss of Seth

Had to share this special photo from years and years ago in the Adirondack Mountains in honor of my cousin Seth and my Aunt Ree, both of whom are no longer with us. The loss of both hurts my heart. We just lost Seth today due to a tragic road accident.  Seth had a severe concussion and went to bed "not feeling well."  He died that evening. I cherish this memory. Thank you Tracey Somma Griffin, for sharing this picture! Back row: Tracey, Seth, Mom (Claire), Ree. Front "row": Aaron, Rudy, April, Me (Noelle).