Milo quotes

"Mom, do you believe in the saying, "Believe in yourself?"  Because I don't.  Because sometimes you're not really all that great.  I also don't believe in the saying, "Believe in your dreams" because sometimes your dreams aren't all that great."

***

Milo:  Wisdom is not a talent, it’s a gift.  Happiness is not a gift, it’s a choice.

NC visit

Our first visit back to NC now as PA residents was great fun.  We didn't get to see very many people, covid and all, but we greatly enjoyed the few we did get to see.

Mom and Dad were gracious hosts as always, and they even had some squirrels trained to greet us:

 Some of our highlights there were going to paint pottery

.... getting Strider to serve us at Chuy's on Fathers' Day:

 ... and rock climbing at the Whitewater Center (in the crazy heat):

The main reason we were in town, though, was for Ellie's graduation party!  I can't believe she's already old enough to head off to college next year.... She's still as cute as she was when she was 3 years old.

 It was good to be back in NC!

Return to Black Mountain

We had a great time with the Wray family in Black Mountain!  Lots of hiking and walking and talking and eating... the norm.  It felt like we had never left.

During one of our group hikes I found myself at the head of the line.  I went ahead a few steps where it was totally quiet, then waited until the din of the group came into hearing.  It reminded me of a school field trip where suddenly a whole crew bursts into view all talking at once.  :)

So fun to be with this crew!

Small World: NC version

So we finally busted outta here and headed south to see the Fam. 

We expected to see some friends, and were pleasantly surprised to run into some others we hadn't planned to see as well.  At one park in Charlotte someone recognized our car and texted me to see if we were around, so that was a fun spontaneous meet-up!

But the funniest unexpected meet-up was at our first stop in Old Fort, NC. The Wray family had all picked a local park to meet at for lunch, which was fun... and while were sitting there, a biker comes through on his way to a trailhead -- and it turned out to be Colsen's new friend Mac from Grove City!  Here we were a good 8 hours away from GC, and we run into someone from there -- in a tiny, remote park!

This is one for the record books -- along with when we ran into friends from Spencerport, NY at the Biltmore in Asheville NC.  Or when we ran into other friends from Columbia, SC also at the Biltmore the next year.

But my biggest small world story is when I ran into a friend from college at a random youth hostel in Salzburg, Austria.  I hadn't seen her since -- until LAST NIGHT!  Turns out she now lives here in Grove City and we met up at a church and went to a mutual friend's house afterwards.

It really is a small world, folks.

Frank Family time

While Strider was in town, we met up with Bud and Jane and the Boyers at Moraine State Park for a picnic, bike ride, and hike.  It was good to see everyone again...  These months of isolation have been so weird!  It was nice to have a "normal" day for once-- and such a beautiful one!

Strider's first visit to Pine Street

At last, after way too many months, all 7 of us were finally together under one roof again when Strider flew up from Charlotte for a few days.  We enjoyed the time with him.

 While he was here the town hosted a peaceful protest, so some of us joined in for that experience, too!

Outside of that, we played tennis and golf, went mountain biking and hiking, visited some of the local shops, went to the outlet mall, and had some folks over for dinner a couple of the nights, so it was a fun few days!

At the end of the visit we weren't too sad because we knew we would see him in NC a week later....  We don't want to go another 6 months without being together!

Tubing

When we were in college Wolf Creek was just known as the place where young male students got thrown in when they got engaged.

Now we've discovered so many more benefits to the Creek... including tubing!  It's so fun that we can just walk over and put the tubes in to go floating with friends.

A good start to the summer, I'd say.