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Susan Flies to the Dominican Republic

We dropped Susan off at the airport today around lunchtime. She is heading to the Dominican Republic for a week with her high school friends. It was a harder goodbye than I thought  it would be. I was certainly not looking forward to her leaving, but I think I have taken for granted the fact that we have spent nearly every moment of the past 6 months together.

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Susan’s 40th Birthday!

Today we celebrated Susan’s 40th birthday! It was a little different, being on the road.

The day started with opening a few gifts – from us and from Erin.

The kids had fun playing with Susan’s new neck pillow.

We ate breakfast at Cinnamon Twisp, a bakery in Twisp, which is a nearby town. They specialize in something called the Cinnamon Twisp, which is some sort of amazing cinnamon roll.

After breakfast we went for a hike outside of Twisp, to Lookout Mountain.

It took us a minute to find the hike and at first we accidentally went on the wrong trail to an abandoned mine operation that had since collapsed in a landslide. That was at least interesting.

It was a long hike up to the lookout tower.

Inside of the lookout tower.

The Cascades are back there somewhere. It wasn’t the smokiest day, but there was definitely a haze blocking most of the views.

We were a little behind schedule, so Rose took her nap on the hike.

She was so tired she even stayed asleep when I took the back carrier off.

After the hike we had a short break back at the RV and then we headed in to town. On the way we stopped at the office to pick up our mail. Susan had 17 cards and a package waiting for her.

In town, Withrop, we walked around a little and stopped by an old-time photo parlor.

We went out for pizza for dinner and Susan opened all of her cards while we waited for our food.

Pizza Party

After pizza we headed home for birthday cake.

That’s a wrap.

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Dairy Bar

Susan’s favorite place

When Susan lived in Whitley City for a year she would come here about once a week for their hot fudge cake sundae. It hasn’t lost any of its charm. It even still has a smoking section.

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Throwback Thursday

This is a story that comes up often in our house and when I saw these pictures on Susan’s dresser I decided it was time to share it with the world. After Susan graduated from college she spent a year in Kentucky, volunteering with the Christian Appalachian Project. While she was there she took some time off in the spring to visit her parents and Erin in Arizona. 

They were at a friend’s house and wanted to get a family picture with the mountains in the background. They kept scooting back to get the best shot and next thing Susan new she was in the pool. She was laughing about it then and we all still laugh about it.

the full sequence

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Susan’s 20th High School Reunion

This weekend Susan’s friends were in town for her 20th high school reunion. The Foley-Murphy’s (Andrea, Murph, Grace, & Jack) stayed with us, which was great. It was great to be able to spend so much time with them. Susan, Megan, Missy, and some other classmates have been planning the reunion for a few months – tracking down classmates, choosing the venues, and decorating.

The weekend consisted of a girls’ night at Megan’s, family time at Beaverdale Park on Saturday morning, Mass and a school tour on Saturday afternoon, and then a Saturday evening event at Noce. For the Saturday evening event Susan and I got a babysitter for the first time since Rose was born.