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I have to admit that this is my favorite time of year in Virginia.  The temperatures stay in the 70’s by day and 50’s by night.  The humidity is all but gone.  The air is fresh and the skies are clear.  Last weekend we took advantage of a gorgeous weekend and drove to Markham, Virginia, where we went apple picking at Stribling Orchard.  The orchard has been in the Stribling family for almost 200 years and it is a beautiful place set in the mountains roughly 35-minutes from our house. 

We spent some time at the orchard picking apples (mostly Delicious and Macs), and then the kids picked out a couple of pumpkins for halloween.  There were quite a few people there as the weather was just right and the picking season is in full swing.  On the way out, we grabbed a quick bite to eat as they were selling grilled hot dogs and chicken by the main buildings. 

After leaving the orchard, we drove west about another 15-minutes to Front Royal, VA, and briefly stopped by the Skyline Caverns.  Like Luray Caverns, Skyline Caverns is an underground series of caves where there are lots of impressive geological formations.  Although we didn’t take the tour this time (we have done so a couple of times before), we did tour the gift shop and took some pictures of the kids by the fake dinosaur in the park (we have similar pictures from about 5 or 6 years ago).

We left Skyline Caverns and drove a couple of miles into the Shenendoah National Park on the Skyline Drive.  We drove about 4-5 miles in and stopped at Dickey Ridge, where we parked and took in some beautiful views of the Shenendoah Valley.  After getting some pictures, we crossed over the Skyline Drive and took a short 1.2 mile hike along the Fox Hollow Trail.  While hiking along the wooded trail, we came upon a couple of deer.  The first one startled a bit and jumped up, otherwise we would have probably never seen it.  We stopped and once the deer settled a bit, I was able to get about 15 feet or so away from it.  I got a couple of good pictures (see the photo slideshow below, which includes pictures from the Orchard and Dickey Ridge as well).  It ended up being a great family day.  We may head back over to the Shenendoah National Park again today.  I purchased an annual park pass (it only takes 2 visits to break even on the $30 annual pass price). 

This past week, I ordered a new trumpet for Ben as he is now in the school band.  I found a quality trumpet at a reasonable price that is made by the LJ Hutchen company.  I purchased it through Amazon.com as I had a $50 gift card from them from the “picapp” promotion I did with my websites a couple of months ago.  I was amazed that we ordered the trumpet on Monday night and it was delivered on Thursday (even with UPS Ground shipment)!  It is the perfect trumpet for a new band student.  It is well made and has a very nice tone.  Ben has started practicing and I can help him while playing my trumpet with him.

Tags: Family Update

Ben and Delaney have now been back at school for 2 weeks, starting back up on 2 September.  So far they are really enjoying it, but the logistics have gotten a little more challenging.  Ben has now moved on to middle school, and because he was selected to attend a specialty school with emphasis on math and science, he no longer has the ability to catch the school bus at our house.  Instead, we have to drive him to the elementary school where he is picked up by a bus for the ~10 mile drive to his middle school.  This isn’t so bad, but the bus picks up at the school at 7:20AM, over an hour earlier than Delaney needs to catch the bus to school at our house.  Since I usually leave the house for work well before 6AM, Karen ends up having to bring Ben to the school to catch the bus, which means Delaney has to get up early and go along for the ride.  On the other end, Ben gets dropped back off at the elementary school at about 3:15PM, which is about a half hour before Delaney gets out of school,  Karen then picks him back up (if she is not working at the school).  If she is working, Ben stays at the elementary school until it lets out and rides home with Karen. 

Ben is excited that he will be able to join band this year and is currently contemplating which instrument he will play.  He thinks that he would like to play the trumpet, but he is also considering the saxophone and the trombone.  He seems to have a real interest in music, and would eventually like to learn to play guitar.  At the end of last year, Delaney was identified as a gifted student and selected for the SIGNET program for gifted learners.  This is the same program that Ben was in, and he loved it.  She begins her SIGNET classes this coming week, and she is really excited about it.  The program is offered at her school and takes her out of her normal class for one day a week for specialized instruction.  It focuses on spontaneous and creative problem solving, as well as independent learning.  The county does a nice job on this program and we are glad that both kids were selected and had the opportunity to participate in the program. 

Karen has been volunteering at Delaney’s school and is on the substitute teaching roster for Delaney’s school.  Her first day as a sub comes later this week, but she has already spent a couple days doing volunteer work in Delaney’s class.  Unlike last year when she worked as a teahcer’s assistant, she will have more flexibility and control over her schedule this year as a sub.  What we have found is that she can work as much as she wants as a sub, as there are usually plenty of opportunities. 

Less than 2 weeks in, Ben has already missed 2 days of school.  Last Sunday he got sick and was running a fever of 103.  We thought he had strep because of his history and the fact that his throat was inflamed and had white spots, but the culture came back negative.  It turned out to be viral.  The good news is that he recovered fairly quickly and the rest of us have managed to avoid it so far (at least the fever).  Usually when this happens, it flows through the family. 

I attended a Transition Assistance Program (TAP) seminar held at Bolling AFB a couple weeks ago.  It was a good first class in prep for my planned retirement next year.  It focused on the financial realities of retirement and on resumes, interviewing and salary negotiations.  I still have other classes to attend and a lot of work to do to get my retirement plans in order, but I have about a year to pull it all together.

In other news, I started a regimen of walking and have a goal of walking 20 miles a week.  I have mapped out a few routes from the house that range from 3.5 to 4.5 miles in length.  I have managed about 16 miles a week so far in thefirst 2 weeks, as I have been hampered a bit by my schedule and some weather.  I try to average about 4mph on my walk, so I am usually moving at a good pace.  Idieally I would like to do some during the day at work (lunchtime), but it is usually hard to get away from the desk for that long.  We’ll see how it goes.  I also have an eliptical trainer, recumbent bike and a treadmill in our finished off basement.  These will come in handy during hockey season which starts in about 3 weeks.

Tags: Tobin Family Update