We haven't inventoried our collection of pictures in almost two years now, which means we're significantly behind in documenting the ups and down of Whompton life. Here's a snapshot series recap.
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| The maple tree in the backyard was sick and came down. It made a tremendous BOOM when it smashed into the ground. We're very grateful it did not smash into the house instead. |
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| COVID Christmas was spent at home, which may be the first Christmas in the girls' memory that we did not spend in Nashville. They need not have worried. Papa Bill still managed to share silly gifts from a distance! :) |
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| Handsome headshot of Eric showing his distinguished silver fox status. |
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| We spent summer 2021 vacationing in Missouri and we camped at multiple state parks that summer. |
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| We routinely attempted and failed to make a fire large enough to cook our dinner on. Cold hot dogs and raw sweet potatoes were dissatisfying meals, for sure. We later learned to heat up pre-made vegetarian chili from home and then celebrate if a fire was made separately. |
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| Being silly at the Butterfly House. Eric is surrounded by hissing cockroaches, which feels very similar to his old Southwood apartment. ;) |
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| When the girls were younger, we spent every weekend at Faust Park and we closed each trip with the girls clamoring all over this sculpture. They're both adult sized now and had zero difficulty whatsoever. |
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| The Finney family joined us for a south-western Missouri + Arkansas trip. |
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| Raina rejoiced at the amazing art and architecture of Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville. They have an entire Frank Lloyd Wright house on property! |
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| When they were much younger, the Finney kids + our kids went camping together with the Navigators. Now they are old enough and responsible enough to take care of the dishes independently. Parenting win! |
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| Every drive through Rolla, MO, merits a stop at A Slice of Pie. :) |
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Gorgeous girls in gorgeous country.
Smoky Mountains, hiking near Cosby Campground |
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| Smoky Mountain, nearby Cosby Campground |
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| Smoky Mountain, Cosby Campground |
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| Smoky Mountain, Cosby Campground |
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| Smoky Mountain, Cosby Campground |
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Why go to a National Park if you're not willing to do the Junior Ranger work?!
Smoky Mountain National Park |
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| Emily and Atticus joined us for part of our Smoky Mountain camping adventure. |
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| Emily definitely relished the opportunity to be out and put her tent to use on new ground. She was all smiles the whole trip. :) |
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| Smoky Mountains |
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| Whomptons @ Smokies |
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| Whomptons @ Smokies |
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| Ruby took us white water rafting! Here Emily and I are working our muscles to shove just a little more air into the raft. |
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Balsam Mountain campground, Smoky Mountains
Sometimes, all you want to do is read. :) |
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| Enjoying Shaw's Garden, Fall 2021 |
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| Bill and JoLynn celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in August 2021. The vow renewal ceremony, conducted by Stephanie, was incredibly moving. |
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| They also shoved cake in each other's faces, like at any wedding. :) |
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| Lola is big enough to sit in the front seat. It was a hallelujah moment! |
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| The STL Zoo opened up a new primate exhibit, in which the primates and people can climb around together. We explored it the first time at the Zoo Parent Picnic. |
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| We see the Sea Lion Show once a year, at the Zoo Parent Picnic. Always an enjoyable good time! |
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Lola returned back to MICDS for 7th grade.
All four Whompton women geared up for Spirit Week! |
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| They accidently dressed in matching attire, down to the same MICDS athletic shorts. :) |
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| Raina worked all three theatre shows this year. The first was Dancing at Lughnasa, in which she was Lighting Designer, Master Electrician, and logged the most hours in set building. This was the first time her name was on the front of the playbill for a show. (It happened again and again this Junior year.) |
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Hiking on Thanksgiving, a family tradition.
I love these girls so much. |
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| I just barely hold them off in height now. :) |
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We picked a beautiful weather night and explored Garden Glow at MOBOT.
I think the colors in this picture are really fun. |
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| Requisite family photo. The closest thing we have to a holiday photo! |
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| Sister sleigh! |
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| Lola has played basketball for years and years, but this was the first time she played for the school team. Putting on that MICDS jersey was an emotionally powerful moment. We're looking forward to cheering her on for multiple years to come. |
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| Just a normal day, working on homework |
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| The last day of the season. She worked incredibly hard this season and followed the coach's instructions. She progressed mightily in her shooting guard role and begrudgingly in the point guard position. |
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| Mama Jo and Papa Bill were here for the last game, which also was the MICDS-Burroughs game played on the Burroughs varsity court. |
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| MICDS crushed them. Lola had an incredibly solid game. |
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Raina teaching Lola the lightboard in Mary Eliot Chapel.
Lola wants to do lighting. It's all sorts of adorable seeing her showing similar interests as her older sister. |
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As the head lighting student on campus, Raina is tasked with all lighting design for student events. This year, in addition to the theatre shows, she did the lighting for the Upper School Dance Concert, the Lower School Choir Concert, the Upper School Choir Concert, the Middle School and Upper School Band Concerts, and the Middle School and Upper School String Concerts.
Here she's answering crowd questions about her lighting design.
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Lola was tech crew and lighting board operator for Story Theatre, the 7th/8th grade play.
She's been bitten by the theatre bug as well. |
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| In Junior year, Raina started visiting some colleges to get a feel for their campuses. We toured the University of Tulsa as stop #1 on our Spring Break 2022 adventure. |
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She's ready to dominate this theatre program!
(Post-note: they have since ended their theatre program. Raina is no longer considering UTulsa as a candidate.) |
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| Junior Rangers, Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico |
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| El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico |
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| Painted Desert, Arizona |
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| Painted Desert, Arizona |
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I've wanted to take the family to the Grand Canyon for years. I finally got my wish.
Can you see that I am beaming with joy? I was so excited to share the majesty and grandeur with them. |
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| We arrived in time to watch the sun go down. |
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| Grand Canyon, South Rim |
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| We watched the sun rise on the rim the next day. It was unbelievably cold and snowed on us while we waited. |
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| Snow clouds + sunrise |
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| We embarked on the Bright Angel Trail with full confidence. Our previous hiking experience had set us up for success, for sure! |
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| The signs made it clear that maybe we had overestimated the situation. |
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| And the icy trail without crampons made it clear that we didn't belong on this trail. We slid down the trail on our butts and we did four-point-of-contact crawling back up the trail. Now I know what the "mountain climber" exercise is in real life. |
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| We chose to walk the Rim Trail instead. It was significantly less scary! |
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| Shoshone Trail |
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We marveled at the view for so long. We would have sat there all day, if Eric had let us.
Shoshone Trail |
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| Eric took photos of us while we checked out the view. Can you find us in this picture? |
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| Look closer. Can you find us in this picture? |
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| It started to snow on us when walking back on the Shoshone Trail. |
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| Junior Ranger, Grand Canyon National Park |
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| An absolute blizzard came though, whited out the entire canyon from view, and at moments caused a rainbow (snow-bow?) to form in the sky. The flurries are just beginning here. |
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| Hiking in Canyonlands National Park, Utah |
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| Hiking in Canyonlands National Park |
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| Hiking in Canyonlands National Park |
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| Sunrise at Arches National Park, Window hike, Utah |
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| Sunrise at Arches National Park, Window hike |
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| Arches National Park, Delicate Arch |
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| Junior Ranger, Arches National Park |
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| College Stop #3: University of Colorado-Boulder |
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| Boulder is pretty, y'all. |
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| The Troubadours production is normally staged right before spring break. This year, due to COVID, it was postponed until mid-April. Raina and her tech buddies are hiding in the black. |
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Raina designed the lighting for this show, which included a fun disco ball and window lights.
This is what it looks like during tech week. |
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| Raina went to prom! It was also Tech Week, so she went shopping in Samantha's closet for a dress as a definite time-saving method. |
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| She's beautiful through-and-through. |
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| Raina and her friend were inseparable for the night. |
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| Eric and I tried not to bother her too much as parent chaperones, but we still snapped a few photos of the After Prom party. Dance-Dance-Revolution is still a thing. Who knew? |
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| Lola joined the Middle School Track Team. She ran the 100M and the 4x100M relay. |
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| She also put her notable strength to use and threw shot. |
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| Our baby girl is officially a teenager. |
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| 4/5 of Whomptons shown. Raina is setting up a Art Scavenger Hunt in the Museum behind us. |
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The Finneys have chickens, chicks, guinea pigs, and a cat. Lola is in animal heaven each time we visit.
This is photo #1 of 35 of her + a different chicken in her lap. |
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| Lola + Leia |
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| Lola kept capturing chicks, cuddling them, releasing them, and then capturing other chicks to cuddle. |
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| The Pulitzer Art Museum has an exhibit titled "Assembly Required." We went for a Family Friday Fun Night and interacted with the art. |
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| All dressed up for Recognition Day (Middle School) and Prize Day (Upper School) Assemblies |
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| Raina won a Prize Day Award! |
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| So we didn't know in advance which award she was winning, just that we should come to the ceremony. As a teacher of some many of the recipients, I spent the majority of the assembly saying "Oh, yay!" and then crying my eyes out. I didn't come prepared with enough tissues. These kids are special and I love them lots. |
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She also earned a Lighting Theatre Award for her work in Romeo and Juliet! And a Set Building Award for most hours spent at Seldom Scene! And a Latin Book Award for five years in a row of Summa Cum Laude on her NLE tests! It's awesome for her awesomeness to be recognized by others.
(Technically the black ball of tape set award is shown if you look hard enough. Latin book not pictured.) |
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| More college visits. This one is the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I believe. |
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| Raina cheered on her friends as they won their very first State title in soccer! The head coach of the team had been Raina's advisor for the past three years, so many of her advisory showed up to celebrate a great end to his last year at MICDS. |
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