The Beginning of Fall

Aquinnah on Martha's Vineyard

Posing among the Cottages

The Pink House.  This is pretty typical for what they all looked like.

For those of you who have asked - no we haven't dropped off the face of the earth.  We are still very much alive. It's true - we haven't blogged in ages, but we've just been so busy! First we went to Oregon for Jeremy and Ronnie's wedding and then we moved into our new apartment. I knew I needed to blog then, but we were pretty busy and I kept putting it off. Then I got crazy news about nursing school, and we went on a church retreat, we started up small groups again, and then finally my parents came out for a visit. And now there is so much to update that I'm really overwhelmed. But no worries. I am now committed to updating our five followers on the somewhat exciting life we lead.

 

First I will recap our whirlwind weekend in the PNW in August. Chad and I took a flight out of Boston after work on Thursday and we were picked up at the airport in Seattle by Steven, Stephanie, Benj, and Beth. We stayed up until one am PST (4 am EST!) talking and catching up. Stephanie and Steven have made a lovely home in Enumclaw and we were fortunate enough to sleep in the guest bedroom.  The boys stayed up into the early morning playing games while the girls chatted about all the girlie things we do.

 

We drove six hours south the next day to the thriving metropolis of Sutherlin, OR for the Piehler/Glazner nuptials. It was so great to see Jeremy and Ronnie before the wedding and get to hang out with them a little bit. We had a lovely rehearsal dinner Friday night complete with a pool party and delicious tacos made by Jeremy's parents (who by the way are the most adorable people you will ever meet).  They were gracious enough to locate a congregant form Pastor Glazner's church who has a spare cabin we stayed in.  We were not aware how remote the cabin was, up a hill and in the woods, but it was a very great stay there.  Saturday was busy with preparations. Chad and Steven were groomsman and best man respectively so they were busy with pictures in the morning. The ceremony was beautiful if not slightly long : ) It was quite a warm day (read in the 90s) and sitting in the full sun was difficult for such a long period of time. I wish I had been able to concentrate more on the ceremony but honestly the heat was almost unbearable. Apparently I soaked my dress through with sweat except a tiny triangle above my bum. How attractive! : ) We spent the ceremony and the rest of the evening with Chloe, Scott, Sam, Taylor, and Alli which was absolutely delightful. I looove those folks. The next morning we drove the six hours back to Seattle with one stop in Eugene for breakfast with the whole group (Stephanie, Steven, Beth, Benj, Jeremy, Ronnie, Chloe, Scott, Sam, Alli, & Taylor). We got back to Seattle in time to have dinner at Buca di Beppos with Chad's parents Richard & Judith, Gammy & Papa, Calley & Sean, and my mom and dad. It was really nice to see family even for just a few hours. It made flying in and out of Seattle definitely worth the effort. After a walk around the Seattle sculpture park Chad's parents drove us to the airport and we flew out at midnight only to land in Boston at 8:30 am and head straight to work. As I said before, it was a whirlwind weekend.

 

That Thursday was September 1st, otherwise known in Boston as Moving Day, The Day Students Return, or That *#$@ing Day. Chad went to pick up our moving truck on Wednesday night. He stood in line for over an hour only to be told that even though we had reserved our truck in April, they didn't have a vehicle for us to take. At first we were a little bit panicky, but everything turned all right in the end. We picked up a truck the next afternoon and with the help of Kim, Lloyd and Yev we managed to take everything over in two loads and were done by 7:30pm. We bought everyone thai dinner as thanks. We had the whole long holiday weekend to get settled. By Monday night we had unpacked everything and managed to organize most everything. Which was good because the next weekend we went out of town for a small group leaders retreat up in New Hampshire.

 

Also on Thursday, September 1st I received a call from Simmons College to say that they were accepting me into their Dix Scholars program for nursing in 2012! I had called an academic counselor the day before we left to go to Oregon and she had suggested I submit all my materials together ASAP and apply for 2011 but defer to 2012 (and use this year to complete my last prerequisite). This was not advertised on the website so I felt really blessed that she let me in on the secret. I guess by the time the real application deadline rolls around most of the spots are already filled. So this means I will be starting nursing school next year, which is very exciting!  Looks like we'll both be in healthcare after all. 


Our time up in New Hampshire on the mini-church retreat was  a lot of fun as we got the run of the retreat center and were up there with some of our closest friends.  We did a lot of canoeing and board games, and look forward to returning on Halloween for the all-church retreat. 


The final big event of past couple weeks was my parents' visit.  They flew in and after a couple days in Boston we headed down to Martha's Vineyard, which Chad and I have not yet visited.  Though there was a forecast for rain, it only rained the first evening we were there, and was sunny by the next afternoon, practically hot by the time we left.  We stayed in Oak Bluffs at a great little hotel right by the ferry, and of course quickly explored the town on foot.  The main thing to see in Oak Bluffs is the Cottage Village, which is a former campground where families long ago built cabins on campsites.  This means the cabins are understandably small, but for some reason everyone also decided to make cabins that are eye-wateringly cute as well.  We had a great time walking among them, though unfortunately our camera didn't have enough charge to take many pictures.  We stopped and talked with an old man on a porch who said that his cabin had been in the family 7 generations!  That's what life is like in New England vacation spots.  You get one and hold onto it.   Our full day on the Vineyard we rented a jeep and drove around the island, spending lunch and the afternoon in Edgartown, and neglecting to take the 1min ferry to Chappaquiddick, where Ted Kennedy had his scandal.  Dinners were great, as was spending time with my parents and seeing more of the Islands. 


Now we're waiting on a visit from the Lentzs the week before we head out on the all-church retreat, so October is looking to be a busy month, but that's the way we like it!  Love to all back home, and we hope to see more of you on visits soon!