While this year’s picture party before the Homecoming dance was at a different house, it was overall a very similar experience to the past two years.
The common thread throughout the years is this group of terrific guys and close friends:
Danny took his friend Kiley as his date:
And humored his mom for a photo as well:
Danny had a great time all night, reporting good music and fun with friends. Hard to believe he just has one more!
Although Laura had not played on a volleyball team since the fall of 5th grade, the threat of running cross country at Marist proved enough motivation to secure a spot on the Marist MS Volleyball team! Okay, perhaps some raw talent helped as well, because a number of girls did not make the cut.
She was one of the least experienced girls on the team, but as the season progressed, so did she. She went from a less than 40% serving accuracy to greater than 80%, and her confidence on the court grew in equal measure.
She balanced all of this with her somewhat significant soccer commitment, all while adapting to a new, definitely more rigorous school. We are really proud of her, and had fun watching, too!
When we first knew that Clare would spend her fall semester in Santiago, I dismissed the idea of going to a football game. Laura, however, quickly put a stop to such a notion. After the last two years, she is a fan and didn’t want to miss out. Didn’t take too long to rally last year’s troops (minus the grandparents, who will hopefully reconvene for the senior year blowout). We also added a buddy for Danny - his friend Cam.
Danny and Cam met up with their Marist soccer friend Fligg and crashed with him Saturday night, which was a good change of pace for them.
Meanwhile, adding Mallie’s daughter Sarah to the mix was fun for Laura and Quinn.
Since Marist had no classes on Monday, we took this opportunity to stay so that the boys could take prospective student tours. This made for a lovely and leisurely Sunday (a.k.a. my birthday). We went to mass at the Basilica, lunch, bookstore, napped (we moved to The Morris Inn for Sunday night), and then had a delicious dinner at Rohr’s. My kind of celebration!
Monday was a picture-perfect early autumn day, absolutely ideal for a tour. After an alfresco on-campus lunch, we made our way back to the airport and flew home. In the end, it might have been a bit too much ND exposure for Cam, but I think the rest of us thought it was just
After a summer with an unusual lack of travel for our family, most notably for Laura, Tim and I decided a quick trip to the beach was warranted for our Labor Day Weekend. The kids only had Monday off, so we chose Hilton Head as the closest option. While the water is never our favorite, much like in July 2020, the destination fit the bill perfectly. (But seriously, the jellyfish situation is the worst.)
Danny brought Luke, Laura brought Meghan, and we set off after school on Friday. As usual, Tim found us a great place to stay, this one a condo on the top floor of a five-story complex. The views were gorgeous, the walk to the beach brief, and the pool even closer.
We beached, we pooled, we watched football and soccer, we ate, we played board games. The guys golfed on Sunday, so the I took the girls to a mini golf and arcade place just down the road from us - and we topped it off with giant ice cream cones.
Monday morning came quickly, but I think we all felt as though we had truly gotten away from home and relaxed.
As Danny begins his Junior year and Laura embarks on 7th grade, it’s a new era of me having very few carpool duties. It’s glorious!
Danny is busy and ambitious as he heads into a pretty important year of high school. And Laura is more relaxed and confident than we could have hoped, which is wonderful. Her time with the volleyball team has proven to be a good entry point, and I also just think she was READY.
To celebrate this momentous first day, Danny woke himself up early and went and got them Chick Fil A for breakfast. That’s a pretty sweet brother!
Here’s to a great year, you two!
Yet another season of the Byrnwyck Blue Dolphins is in the books for Laura! This one was award-winning, too, as she came away as the Runner Up for High Points Scorer in her age group - and the first place gal is a year-round swimmer. If Laura put her mind to it, I’m pretty sure she’d be a pretty terrific swimmer!
But the important thing is that, despite the annual objection that kicks off every season, she and Meghan once again had a great time and made poolside memories with neighbors.
