September

Sniffing for fall & cooler weather in the air.

(photo courtesy Keenan) 

We began the month with quite a bit of parking practice with Keenan.

Sometimes Kevin got out of the car to point him to spaces, other times he sat in the passenger seat.

I usually stayed in the back and tried to stay quiet.

For Labor Day weekend, Kieran decided to drive to visit a good friend in The State Up North.  One of his other good friends was able to fly in for the weekend as well.

A Mom (& good friend) arranged a sailboat cruise onto Lake Michigan one beautiful afternoon.

Pretty sure he had a blast and glad he had a chance to spend time with these guys.

This poor guy has been restricted to supervised yard time due to ripe apples on & falling off the trees.

And ripe figs attracting all manner of stinging creatures.

The Friday following Labor Day brought Cross Country's biggest meet of their season:

Friday Night Lights

Starting in the late afternoon, they begin running wave after wave of races with thousands of teams and runners from NC, SC, and VA coming to race.

Keenan had a better finish, and was happy to celebrate a teammate breaking the school record.

Then on Monday he and I drove over to the DMV in Winston to take his road test to get his drivers license.

After weeks of stalking & refreshing the DMV appointment page, one slot had opened up on his birthday.

We waited for a while, then he got called back and I watched he and the DMV employee drive out of the parking lot.

And I prayed.

When they pulled back in he walked past me in the lobby & gave me a wink, and I exhaled.

Then I got dropped off back at home and he drove himself to school.

While I watched his progress on our ap:

The next day Kevin dropped him off at school since he had a meet in High Point that afternoon.

It was hot and sticky, and looked like rain when they began.

We figured the boys race should be able to finish before any storms began.....

And we were wrong.

The first rumble of thunder was heard about five minutes in, followed by more.

The host school started clearing spectators, but our concern was for our runners.  Finally as the top finishers were approaching the line, the race was called.

It was a chaotic few minutes with a storm fast approaching, people & teams scattering, bags and tents spread across the field, and our coach eventually running back onto the trail to find our runners.  Then after throwing our teams stuff onto the bus, Keenan & I sprinted to my car as the bottom fell out.

We drove home through and absolute downpour.  Kevin had stopped back at his office and we should have stopped there with him.

After finally getting home, showered & changed, a little ice cream was well earned.

That weekend Keenan had an early release on Friday, and we picked him up and hit the highway to have dinner with this guy:

Was so good to see Kieran, spend some time together,

eat at our favorite place in Columbus,

then go watch some football.

The next morning we packed the car, went to church with Kieran, then grabbed a quick lunch before heading back down the highway.

We made great time until we started down the mountain.

Then we ran into a wee bit of fog.  Yikes.

The following day I noticed some lovely yard art by one of our neighbors down the street.

Excellent taste.

The following Saturday was a predawn wake up-Keenan's team was running in a big meet down in Charlotte, so back in the car we went.

His time are improving-he just needs to trust his training at this point.

One of the best parts of the meet was getting to see one of Keenan's best friends who moved over the summer.  And cheering for his teammate who came in first overall.

The rain caught up to us for the girls race but thankfully the wind was not too bad.

After all of that, the racer got a honey pimento cheese sandwich from CFA.

Did I mention the race was during a tropical storm?

The slow moving storm gave us some much needed rain, but thankfully that was it for us.

And thankfully the next day, Rebecca was able to fly down for a very quick visit.

Good thing, since it was Homecoming week and Keenan needed some help with his wardrobe choices.

Monday was biker v surfer.  He went as a mountain biker & I forgot a photo.

Tuesday was career day & to make a teacher laugh, he went as Lil Keeny (ask him to explain).

Tuesday afternoon Rebecca flew back & we attempted some photos....

And the following day was tacky tourist and another XC meet.

And Thursday was Celebrity.

Hello Ted Lasso.

Friday was Senior Recognition during the soccer game, then Saturday I spent the morning at school helping decorate for the dance in the evening, while Keenan reffed several youth soccer games and made some money.

Then he came home, cleaned up, and headed to the dance.

And just like "that" it's October.