Spring Break with a College/Soccer Twist

 

As hard as it is to believe, Callie needed to spend her spring break visiting colleges to start narrowing down the possible options for her next chapter. John stayed back with Reese who had soccer practice and Callie and Sarah hit the road for a four-school southern tour. The first stop was Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Callie thought the campus was really pretty and the tour guide was very good. The food was good and Callie came away from the tour knowing this was going to be on her list.

They left Nashville after the tour and drove to Atlanta for the next two visits. Number one stop was Emory University. The campus was pretty and close to downtown, but Callie was not impressed. Emory did not make the list. But Sarah and Callie took advantage of their time in the city to visit the Botanical Gardens and spent a couple of hours checking out the exotic plants on display.

 

After leaving the gardens the two tourists ventured to Piedmont Park and decided to rent scooters to cruise around the area. The spent more than an hour cruising around, seeing the sights, and getting a feel for the scooters. Fortunately neither of them fell although there were some close calls. 

 

One of the things that Callie has said is that she wants to go to a school that is in more of an urban setting, and Atlanta is certainly a good option. Spending a couple of days in Atlanta provided the opportunity to get a feel for the city, including a nice breakfast place Sarah and Callie ate it before their next tour.

 

Georgia Tech was stop number two of the Atlanta segment of the tour. Callie thought the campus was beautiful and enjoyed some of the work spaces for students she got to see on the tour. This campus is much closer to downtown Atlanta but its campus is definitely its own place. Overall, both Callie and Sarah were impressed by what this school had to offer and this made the list.

 

The college tours were closely intertwined with important food discoveries. They found a place called Cava in Atlanta which they loved, and in Winston-Salem they discovered some really good crepes. Their next tour at Wake Forest was marked by heavy rain and no umbrellas. This was not the reason Wake Forest did not make Callie's list, but it didn't help. 

 

The college tour portion of the trip ended in North Carolina for a good reason. Both Callie and Reese were playing in a soccer showcase outside of Winston-Salem, so John and Reese drove down to join the party on the Thursday of spring break. Each girl played three games over the course of three days in some relatively chilly weather.

Both girls played well over their three games and the teams themselves performed well. The only issue with these showcases is you only play one game each day and then have a lot of time to kill. But at least both girls were playing in the same general area on the same weekend. Once Reese's final game ended we were ready to head west toward Lexington to prepare for school to start up again.

Winter 2025

 

The second half of the school year started off with a major delay. We got back to Lexington from Connecticut just before a major snow and ice storm hit that made life difficult for those in charge of clearing streets and driving buses. In the end the girls ended up with about five snow days in total. They weren't exactly crushed by that fact, but it certainly didn't help them get back into the swing of things once they finally got returned to their respective school buildings.

 

The weather couldn't stop the important celebrations in the city for MLK Jr., however. And for the first year since we have lived in Lexington we attended the Unity Breakfast. This was a special treat since Reese was an honored guest. Her essay on Unity had earned her third place in the city-wide essay contest. She was very satisfied with this because while she got a cash prize she did not have to read her essay out loud to the hundreds in attendance.

 

Along with her fellow honorees, however, she got to meet Mayor Linda Gorton and got her picture taken. Those who have who have been with this blog for years may also recall that Reese had her picture taken with Mayor Jim Gray after her baptism. Getting pictures with mayors is apparently her thing.

 

The cold weather lasted well beyond January but February and March are still busy with soccer activities. The girls practice during the week at night in the cold and our wonderful visitors got to watch a couple of games in freezing temperatures. Fortunately, Nana Banana and Sport are hardy sports fans and used to the harsh weather, so this was not a problem for them. At the very least they came prepared.

 

Although it was a short visit we we were able to get some good meals together and Nana Banana and Sport had front row seats to our crazy daily schedules. The girls love having them in town and appreciate the moments of conversation and laughter.

 

With the exception of soccer we tend to stay indoors as much as possible during the winter months but we are fortunate to have friends who remind us it is important to get out and spend time with each other. This picture captures the girls with Kelly at a spontaneous brunch after church one Sunday. We all agree that we need to do this more.