October 2022

 David and I got home from our 30th anniversary trip and 10 days later I left to volunteer at an English Immersion school in southern Germany.  I opted out of going to Germany in January (brrrrrr) and instead took them up on their offer to attend the program as a volunteer in October.  

Unfortunately when I arrived in Munich, I tested positive for Covid.  My symptoms were resolved but I could not be around so many people.  Instead I had to figure out what to do in Germany for a week.  I made it work.  Solo travel in an international country turned out to be OK.  I stayed safe and stayed within my comfort zone, and saw so many amazing places.  I'll put all of that in a separate post sometime when I can really organize it all.  But for now, here is the rest of October 2022 for us!

We enjoyed some great nights out with friends during the beautiful month of October.  The weather was really great all month and the fall colors were just beautiful this year!

(hi Coco!)

David and I took advantage of early voting one day

And we celebrated David's birthday with friends at our book club, and at our go to favorite place in town.  Homemade Black Forest cake - recipe from Germany, I had to translate it first!

That weekend we met up with the boys in the nearby town of Franklin and had lunch, presents, and then the boys came home to see their dogs.  It was a nice weekend to hang out a bit.

We shopped at a sweet bookstore in Franklin (we all love a book store)

And the dogs were very excited that their boys came home.

Speaking of the dogs, they are doing just fine.

Here's little Bailey who is going to be 9 in a couple of months.

And Remy who is just 4 this year.

They protect our backyard, front yard, and neighborhood from threats like UPS and other dogs being walked, even on a rainy day.

David and I went to Brown County Music Center and saw Johnny Depp (!!!) and Jeff Beck in concert.  Crazy night.  Johnny was the only one who sang and neither of them really talked with the crowd much but it was fun to be out on a school night :)

The back of the concert t-shirt

October 24th was a hard day as it would have been my mom's birthday.  We miss her and Carolyn every day.  

I went with Ginger and John to see Broadway's Abby Mueller at the Cabaret at the Commons.  It was a really great concert.  We are so lucky to have so many talented artists coming to our neck of the woods.

Brittany and I promoted our romantic comedy podcast in our community as we were invited to help kick off our local Film Festival.  We had a great time with the promotions and preparing for the festival, which is a fundraiser for a local family center. (Our podcast is RomCom Love and we have recorded 100 episodes!)

We had a nice turnout for our Live event at the theater.  We watched "Something's Gotta Give" and then recorded the 100th episode.  Fun night and we are thankful to Mike and David and so many of our friends for coming out.

Finally - we had a great night on Halloween.  The weather was perfect and there were a lot of families out.  A teacher who lives not too far from us in a different neighborhood said they had 1000 kids!  Halloween is alive and well in Columbus!

Happy Holidays!

September 2022

 September was a big month as we got to see the boys over Labor Day and enjoyed the beautiful weather with some outdoor activities, and then celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in Europe!

It is always great to have Thomas and Brennan home!  We usually create a good meal together, hang out with the dogs and the boys talk computers together.  Looking forward to seeing them both this weekend to celebrate David's birthday.

I went on a hike at Yellowwood State Forest with friends.

And David and I took the dogs to Bernheim Forest in Kentucky for an afternoon of hiking.  They LOVE a road trip.

Two of the 3 giants we hike to at Bernheim

The walk out to see the forest canopy

We found our brick on the 1821 Bicentennial Trail that's been expanded downtown Columbus.  They had not even grouted it yet.

Brennan attends events at the art museum in West Lafayette and he heard about a dog event so Bailey got to tag along.  

I understand he did really well at Brennan's apartment and with all the other dogs at the event.

Bailey loves to have his photo taken.  Here he's posing with his bone.

David and I were so lucky to get to go to Europe for our 30th.  We could not have asked for better weather.  We chose to do a Central Europe rail trip of 3 cities along the Danube River.  We flew into Budapest, Hungary for a couple of days.  Then we took the train to Vienna, Austria for 2 days, and then we took the train to Prague, Czech Republic for another couple of days.  It was a really great trip!

Here are a few photos of our time in Budapest.  I really enjoyed seeing this capital city.  It was a lot more modern than I expected it to be.  And just so clean and pretty.

We also enjoyed Vienna.  It had been a very long time since I had been there.  I really didn't remember much.  We toured Schonbrunn Palace and a lot of the old city.  Our hotel was in a newer, more modern part of the city so it was nice to see both sides.  

And then on to Prague.  I think I was most excited to get to know Prague since I've heard such great things.  It measured up for sure!

These are just a FEW of the photos we took.  September is a great time of year to visit Europe!

Happy Fall Y'all!

August 2022

 August was a great month with a great trip!  

But first, I went to Indy for an afternoon with friends for a special performance at Rock the Ruins.

I had not been to this park before and it was fun to walk around in the sweltering sun!

On the way home we drove through historic Crown Hill Cemetery in Indy.  It was beautiful.  I loved all the deer walking around as well.

We enjoyed our Litwits book club at Bianca's.  She makes the best food.  It was a great evening.  We discussed "The Lincoln Highway" which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Brennan finished summer classes and came home a few days early.  We had fun walking the dogs at the park.

And then Thomas finished his classes and we headed to the Outer Banks for a nice beach vacation with absolutely no plans.

We were not sure we could make it the entire way with the dogs in one day so we planned to spend the first night in Charlottesville so David and the boys could tour Monticello the next morning.  I had toured it before a few years ago with Renee, plus dogs were not allowed.

Instead the dogs and I checked out some of the Jefferson Trails in the area.  It was a chance to get out of the car and explore a little before continuing to our apartment in Corolla, NC.

But first, we drove through the University of Virginia.

Our goals for this trip were to relax, hit the beach, and eat all the seafood.

The first morning at the Outer Banks, I got up early and went out to do some exploring on my own.  The guys all like to explore, but they also like to rest on vacation, so that worked well.

I went to the Monument to a Century of Flight and then continued driving south to see as much as I could before lunch.

Bodie Lighthouse was fun to explore.

And then I went further south (which I really enjoyed - not as crowded) and saw the beach house from the RomCom "Nights at Rodanthe".  It looked a little different than I expected but I loved the area.

That afternoon we went to the beach and had a lot more seafood.  

We also toured Currick Lighthouse in Corolla.

The dogs did well at the apartment when we were out, but we decided to take them with us the next day so we could explore longer than a few hours.

Remy is a teddy bear.

We went on a Wild Horse tour in Corolla and this was a highlight of the trip for me.  We met up and then go in an open truck for the tour.  There is a 4x4 beach where only 4x4 vehicles can drive and park.  There were quite a few people out.  It looked like a great option.  There were dunes behind that beach and beach houses on the other side of the dune.  That's where we saw all the horses.  In this area of the Outer Banks there are 110 horses that are wild, descendants of the Spanish horses 500 years ago.  There is a group who advocates for them, with 4 vets who take care of the horses and a very large portion of beach dedicated to them.  But the horses go wherever they want.  There are sea oats around the beach houses so we saw the horses primarily there.  When it storms they go a little farther inland and take shelter under live oaks.  It was so fun to see them.  You are not supposed to get anywhere near them or feed them but it was great to just watch them.    

We toured Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers memorial and museum.  It's really well done.

And we took the dogs to the beach.  They weren't huge fans and there were other dogs so they didn't get off leash, but they did get caught up in a big wave landed on shore.  They had had enough so we headed out.

We also toured the Lost Colony of Roanoke which is on an island in the Outer Banks.  There is a state park with a museum.  We took a walking tour to see the remaining Earthen-fort and other historical sites there.  Great place for lunch and a stroll with the dogs.

I was hoping to see the Elizabethan gardens but dogs were not allowed and I think they may have been closed for an event later that evening when we arrived.  

After dinner we spent our last evening exploring Corolla and north.  This was a cool shot at a park that I took.  We loved this area and I would love to go back and rent a proper beach house.  It was a great mix of all the things we like - great weather, good food, lots of history, beach, and museums.

My favorite? part of the trip was that each evening we played games together.  We had so much fun!  I love the time together.

The boys are back in school and sent me first week photos.  Thomas is starting his senior year studying Data Science at IUPUI in Indy.  He will have a Purdue degree in May (fingers crossed).  He is busy exploring internship opportunities to go with his classes next semester - an internship is a requirement to graduate.  He's got a full load of courses and is working at the Student Center.  He's got a busy semester ahead of him.

Brennan is starting his junior year at Purdue, studying Math-Computer Science.  This degree is in the Mathematics department.  He is pursuing approval to minor in Computer Science, exploring potential internships for next summer, and attended a study abroad informational meeting today.  He continues his Chinese and Chinese culture studies and I think he would really enjoy a short term study abroad in China.  We'll see!

We joined our friends John, Ginger, Gene and Laura at Ribberfest music festival in Madison, IN.  I was excited to hear the North Mississippi All Stars perform but right before they were to go on the heavens opened up.  We had been watching the radar and clouds shifting overhead and we finally had to call it.  We finished the evening with pizza and ice cream at our friends' house so it was a fun day regardless!

Gene got a new pizza oven so we headed over one night for make your own pizzas.  So much fun!

All the toppings - it was really delicious!

Violet brought s'mores so the night ended just perfectly.

The dogs are just fine.  They spend their days with us since we're at home full-time.

This month though I signed Remy up for a one day a week daycare so he can play with friends.  Bailey doesn't play much and Remy is always wanting to play so I thought daycare with our friend's dog Bentley might work well.  It seems to be.  Even though Remy is skittish by nature, they say he's very social at daycare.

Remy sleeping after his first day of doggy daycare.

Bailey, always with Mommy, loves to nap and have tummy rubs.

We also signed up for our Dog Park finally.  I pass it all the time but had not got the vet records to Parks and Rec so I could officially get our pass.  The dogs seem to like it OK!

Our Wine Club has not been super active this year, but we had an epic adventure at the end of August.  Our friends who both live on a lake in our community had us over for a pirate party.  We pontooned between the two homes.  It was a ton of fun.

Kelly's pirate ship fruit bowl was adorable!

Taking the supplies to the pontoon

Our hosts:

Scott and Kelly

and 

Jan and Roger

August was a memorable month with family and friends.  

Looking forward to a big trip with David later this month.