Leah and I had a ski trip to Vail planned this winter, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to cancel. In early March, we made lemonade out of lemons and planned an overnight trip to Winterplace, WV. We stayed at the Resort at Glade Springs near the mountain and had a fun mother/daughter weekend. Since it was the end of the season, there were no crowds, and after a full morning of skiing, Leah decided to try snowboarding for the first time. Despite her report that snowboarding is HARD, Leah was a natural! Here are some photos from our weekend at Winterplace:
As winter weather turned into spring this month, both kids spent time on the water. Leah fished at our neighborhood lake and Luke spent every afternoon at Lake Higgins for rowing practice with his crew team:
Luke is wearing these silly pink sunglasses as his trademark look for all rowing events this spring, and it cracks us up!
The first rowing regatta of the spring, the Higgins Henley, is held in mid-March and is fun kick-off to the spring competitive season. Luke is rowing in the Mens U-19 division and has earned a seat in the fastest quad and double with North Carolina Rowing Center. We are proud of him and how hard he has worked to compete at this level.
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| NCRC A-Quad |
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| Doubles Partner for the Henley: Comer! |
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| Launching for their race. |
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| Luke & Holden: sousa players in the fall, rowers in winter/spring. |
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| Kiley came to the Henley to watch Luke row. |
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| It's a tradition for each team to race the jon boats at the end of the Henley. |
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| North Carolina Rowing Center Youth |
March = Spring Joy.
Whether it's flowers picked from the tulip farm or afternoons reading on the porch and watching the redbuds bloom, we love spring so very much:
March will always be the anniversary of my cancer journey, and I am so grateful for health and the ability to use my experience to be a light to other women who have been diagnosed. In this case, that light took the form of headlamps:
My dear Pink Sister, Angela, and I organized a surprise chalk and sign party for our friend who is undergoing breast cancer treatment. This occurred 3 years (to the exact day!) after my sweet neighbors spread joy in my driveway (with Bible verses and inspiring messages) the night before I began chemo:
I include this to reference one of my favorite quotes about cancer (from Kate Bowler's interview with Rabbi Steve Leder): "If we have to go through hell, don't come out empty handed."
And to my sweet friend, Victoria, know that you do not walk this path alone!
I also had a great Moms' Weekend Away in California in March with two of my closest friends. We stayed in the cutest AirBnB in Santa Barbara and spent the weekend at the beach, wine tasting, dining, walking, and shopping. The weather was gorgeous and we had the best time together!
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| Our bungalow |
Meanwhile, Leah traveled to Williamsburg, VA for the annual LCMS Southeastern District Middle School Youth Gathering. Our church youth group had 13 students attend this year, and Leah loves this event every spring:
While Leah was at the youth gathering, Mark and Luke hung out with Bean & Poppy in Williamsburg and went to Busch Gardens. Mark is not a roller coaster fan and always uses the excuse that he is "too tall" to ride them, while Luke still fits into height requirements and adores all the wild rides at the park:
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| Photo evidence that he really is too tall! |
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| Luke is on this one somewhere! |
March also means baseball season, and BB Emily and her son, Liam, came to NC for a Wake Forest baseball game. We had such a great time with them as we cheered on the Demon Deacons:
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| As we wrote in our college covenant, "BB Kids will play together"! |
March ended with our much anticipated German exchange students arriving. It deserves its own post, but until then, Auf Wiedersehen!
