November 2024

November included performances for our musical kiddos.  Leah had her fall band concert, and it's always mind boggling how much the middle school kids grow in their musicianship from one year to the next: 

As First Chair Tuba in Guilford County, Luke was invited to perform in All County Orchestra (as the only tuba player).  He enjoyed the clinic and instructor, and the concert was wonderful:

It's kind of like "Where's Waldo" to spot the tuba among the strings....

When you have the best girlfriend who comes to all of your concerts

Teacher workdays this month meant college tours for our junior!  We visited UNC and Duke this month, and have a few more schools to check out in the spring:

Someone was not interested in posing for a picture at Chapel Hill's iconic Old Well. 

"The Southern Part of Heaven"

Will he be a Tarheel?!

Or will he bleed Duke Blue?!

My two favorite boys.

We've brainwashed him to feel this way about Blue Devils.

I did this same tour almost 30 years ago!

Duke University Chapel

Oh, how we love the Gothic architecture at Duke!  

Meanwhile, Leah shined in an academic competition this month as she was chosen to represent NWMS in the statewide Twelve Team Competition:

Twelve students make up each team, and the competition consists of twelve rounds (with twelve questions each) of trivia and knowledge on various subjects.  Categories include physical science, life science, math, literature, North Carolina state symbols, physical education, writing, world history, art & media, US history, and a wildcard.  The NWMS students did an amazing job and tied for 4th place in the state!

Landis & Leah followed in their brothers' footsteps as Twelve Team participants!

It's fun to that these sweet friends all are on the team together!

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Kernersville with Grandpa, Beanie, Mimi, and Gawa:

Millie was hoping for some turkey, too!

Grateful for family, memories, and our many blessings!

Arizona Day 4- Hiking /Tlaquepaque

On Tuesday, Mark, Luke, and I left the resort early for a hike in Sedona while Leah rested.  We hiked the Bell Rock trail and it was a crisp, clear morning. The colors were breathtaking, and it was one of those picture perfect days with bright blue sky as a backdrop to the gorgeous Arizona red rocks.  Mark and I commented at every turn how beautiful the scenery was, which finally caused Luke to respond, "I don't see the big deal... Rocks really aren't my thing."   We howled with laughter at our surly teenager, who was so unfairly subjected to his parents' wonder and awe. 

After our hike, we visited Tlaquepaque Village.  This Sedona landmark contains galleries, shops, and restaurants, and is fashioned after a traditional Mexican village.  The cobblestone walkways, stucco walls, colorful tiles, and lush landscaping add to the beauty of the grounds.  The village is bustling during peak hours, but we planned our visit just as it opened so it felt like we had the place to ourselves:

After shopping, we drove back to the resort to pick up Leah and headed to Phoenix to catch our evening flight.

I need to mention how much we loved our accommodations in Sedona.  We stayed at the Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock.  It was gorgeous, and we had a 2-room suite with a living room and kitchen.  Mark and I enjoyed cocktail at the outdoor firepit and our room had beautiful views:

Note teenager looking at his phone instead of the outdoor vistas.

One of our favorite things about the hotel was that I upgraded our package the week before our trip to include the "Hilton Honors" breakfast package.  I wasn't sure what that meant, but it was worth it to me not to have to find a grocery store and deal with shopping/storing food for our several days on vacation.  When we checked in, we were told that breakfast was served at the formal restaurant at the resort, and that we could order as much as we wanted each morning (and that all food and gratuity was included in our package):

Each day, our breakfasts were delicious and fancy.  We were able to take Starbucks coffee, bowls of fresh fruit, chocolate croissants and bagels to go, so we had treats for our daily excursions.  It truly was a special part of our vacation. 

  We had a wonderful few days in Arizona and we are so glad we were able to fit this trip into our busy fall!

 

Arizona Day 3: Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend

Day 3 was a travel day, as we drove up to Page, Arizona to visit two unique sights.  We were amazed at the varied topography along our drive, and I was amused by the varied species pictured in the "animal crossing signs": 

Elk Crossing signs in this snow-covered area.

Snow-capped peaks.

This part of the state felt more like Colorado with its evergreens and mountains.

Bison/Steer crossing in this desert region.

Painted Desert.

We reached our first destination by mid-morning:

Lower Antelope Canyon is located within the Navajo Nation and is only accessible by guided tour.  

It is a slot canyon carved by water and wind over millions of years, and requires descending a ladder to walk through the narrow, winding passageways:

The following are unedited, unfiltered photos that I took along our hike in the slot canyon.  There aren't words to describe the beauty of this place, and the best way is to view these pictures and join us on our underground journey:

After wandering through the paths of the slot canyon, we ascended stairs to exit. It was other-worldly to emerge out of a tiny crack in the ground:

There's no way you'd know that there is an entire world under there!

Out guide pointed out these dinosaur footprints near the exit of Lower Antelope Canyon.  I did some research to validate the authenticity of this claim, and all signs point to these being real tracks left by dinosaurs. Pretty cool!

Our next stop was Horseshoe Bend, which is also on Navajo Nation territory:

When we pulled into the parking lot, this is all that we could see:

We hiked for 3/4 mile along the trail and arrived at the overlook:

After visiting Horseshoe Bend, we had one more surprise stop on our way back to Sedona.  Through the canyons we drove...

...and arrived in Tuba City!

The bullet holes on the sign add to the authentic Old Western feel of this town!

Our tuba player rolled his eyes when I asked him to take a picture in front of the trading post, but we were tickled by the tuba-themed merchandise sold inside:

Tuba City is the largest community on the Navajo Nation and shares a border with two Hopi Villages.  In the 1870s, Mormons settled in the area and befriended a Hopi leader named Tuvi.  They had trouble pronouncing his name, and "Tuvi" became "Tuba".  The historic trading post has been a place to buy and sell authentic jewelry, textiles, pottery directly from artisans since the early 1900s.

Mark and I got such joy out of our stop in Tuba City, despite our teenager's irritation at our glee. Tubas are such a part of our lives as Luke's parents these days, and we even sent a photo to his band directors (who were equally delighted that Tuba City is an actual place). 

Day 3 was jam packed with sightseeing and travel, and we all slept well after our busy day!