It's Fall in Seattle - What happened to Summer?!

I say this every year but I swear time goes faster and faster the older I get! We are already past the "back to school" mode and I'm sure that last week I was celebrating the fact that Taylor had just graduated. Wow!

We did have a great summer - you'd never know from our weather but otherwise it was fabu. The last time I wrote we were on our way up to Mammoth Lakes for 10 days at our cabin. It has been very weird to see that our relatively obscure vacation spot is in the national/world news this week as the place where the adventurer Steve Fossett's remains were finally discovered. This picture is from our trip this year - the boys were on their mountain bike ride down from the peak of Mammoth - the Minarets are the pointy peaks on the left in the background...

Our time in Mammoth was extremely relaxing - we spent our time hunting down new hot springs in the area (including a surprise "clothing optional" spot - I've never seen Alexander do a 180 turn so fast!) we did a couple of new hikes and one old favorite, finished one big jigsaw puzzle, read, slept and generally did nothing but relax.

When we returned to the real world it was time for Alexander to start football practice. He is playing on the freshman team for Nathan Hale. We knew that high school sports were more intense than the usual rec. league teams we've been involved with but you are never really prepared until you experience it first hand. The day he came home and told me "practice was great - I threw up today Mom!" I had to do a reality check.

School has been in session for about a month now, football is going strong - he is enjoying it for the most part although he isn't playing very much. Might have something to do with the fact that he is one of the smallest kids on the team. This shot is warm-ups before one of his games. He is #37.

Alexander is mostly enjoying school and we are very happy with his classes and teachers. We get lots of communication from the staff and it is a small enough high school that the kids are actually known!

Taylor has started classes at Seattle Central Community College and so far so good. He is easing into college with two classes this quarter. His writing class is themed around the election and he is enjoying it and doing well. He also has algebra. When he isn't at class or studying, he is usually hanging with friends or doing his dog-walking job.

Well, I'm relatively caught up at this point. I might even do another post soon about our experience at the Allison Krauss/Robert Plant concert last night. Who knows?

More later...