September 2026

 September was a pretty big month for Steve. This is his first September not having to go back to school. The feeling of retirement has set in. He also had his right knee replaced on September 9th. He is doing amazingly well in his recovery. He is working very hard rehabbing it. He wasn't down for long. He was back to driving in less than three weeks, the day after the doctor cleared him. Nothing stops this guy!

Sophia is having fun at school. She has gone home a couple of weekends to help around the house after Steve's surgery. She has cooked us amazing dinners including a couple of Korean dishes. She is an incredible cook.

 

Sophia is having a blast at school. They had their fall recruitment event which is always fun.

Suzy and Ellie came up for an appointment. We were able to have dinner with them and hang with them a while. It is always good to see them.

 

Our pets are all doing well, though I don't have many pictures of them this month. 

August 2026

 Where did the summer go? I can't believe it is August. 

Sophia went to Boston to present a poster session at MathFest. There were several groups of students and professors that went. The conference was fun. They ate at different restaurants every night, stretching the box a little with Indian and Ethiopian cuisines. They were pretty busy and they didn't get to explore a lot of Boston but they had a blast. And Sophia and her peers poster won an Outstanding Poster Award. There were only 25 winners out of the 110 that were there. So proud of her.

We got to see Heather and Katlyn before both Sophia and Katlyn went back to school. I can't believe we didn't get any pictures. It is amazing how much both have grown. Our babies are now women!

Sophia watched a YouTube video about a revolving sushi place in Japan and wanted to try one. She found a place about 30 minutes away and we went to celebrate "Family Day", the day we met Sophia in China. The food was great and the whole concept fun. Sophia tried different things and now knows what to order and what to avoid if she goes to a traditional sushi restaurant.

 

 

We moved Sophia into college on August 19th. She is living with five other girls in a campus apartment. Together I think they have all the possible kitchen gadgets. Sophia will need to cook more this semester as she is on the five meal per week cafeteria plan.

 

Sophia is already involved in sorority activities. She helped freshmen move in and also was at the enrichment fair. 

 

Steve and I went to spend some time with Nick and Mari. We celebrated Nick's birthday, albeit a couple weeks late. 

 

And of course, I have to end with the pets.  

July 2026

July was another fun month. Sophia and I went to Ohio with Wren and two other families to compete at World Equestrian Center. It was a HOT weekend and Sophia had rides late afternoon. The first ride was outside at 2:00 followed by an indoor ride at 4:00 on Friday and then a 4:00 outdoor ride on Saturday followed by one indoors at 6:00. They were long, very hot days. Kids and horses were a bit sluggish. Sophia's rides got better each day but she did not get that second 60 that she was hoping for. This is the place with the ride up Starbucks. Such a fun touch and much needed on these hot days. We also enjoyed hanging out with the two families over dinner in our cottages. Such a fun show.

I have been enjoying knitting and I am currently working on a warm mitten for the cold days at the barn

Nothing else exciting to report. Sophia continues to enjoy her internship. She comes home on the weekends and tends to bake bread!

And our pets are all loving life. 

June 2026

June flew by quickly. Sophia started her summer research project with a peer and her math professor. She is enjoying it. She comes home on the weekends because there isn't much going on during the summer at college. 

Sophia continues on her sourdough kick. We made the most delicious pizzas from sourdough. They were better than pizzas we get at restaurants.

Sophia competed in a dressage show at the third level. She is hoping to get her bronze medal on Wren this year so she needs to get two third level test with a score of 60 or above. She got one this weekend! One down, one to go. This is a huge accomplishment. Wren isn't build for dressage. He has a long body and neck with his head pretty high set. But they have been working very hard and making it all happen. He is really developing the muscle to perform dressage. 

    

Our animals are all doing well. 

May 2026

May was a relatively quiet month. Sophia finished up her spring semester mid-May and then just over two weeks later we moved her stuff into a temporary dorm room which she will spend her weeknights in while she is working on an 8-week Faculty/Student research project. Last summer she did this for 6 weeks with her Computer Science professor. This summer it is 8 weeks with her Math professor.

Sophia also started making sour dough bread. One of Steve's friends gave her the starter. She has watched videos and is into making delicious breads. She would like to continue making this at school in the fall and perhaps expanding beyond just bread with her sour dough starter. 

First weekend in May is the Sheep and Wool festival. The weather was beautiful, no rain this year. It was even cool enough to wear sweaters. This is one of my favorite weekends of the year!

  

Our pets are all doing good. Loki has a bit of a GI issue but that has cleared up. Otto had an hour plus long adventure outside when he snuck out as Sophia was bringing stuff back from school. It took us 45 minutes of scouring the neighborhood, with the help of a neighbor, before we found him. Our neighbor spotted him and then we were able to grab him and bring him back home. It was dinner time with people coming home from work. I was so worried he would be hit by a car. He got pretty far into the neighborhood but was in a wooded area.

I love it that all our pets get along with each other, they truly like each other!