Playing Catch Up: An Epic Disc Golf Tour

With graduation approaching, we asked Will what he wanted out of the experience. He wasn't particularly interested in a party, so we opted for a semi-fancy dinner out with our family of four plus all four grandparents. There wasn't anything significant he wanted as a gift, so we offered - in lieu of a gift (and because we saved a little money by not throwing a party) - some kind of graduation trip instead. We let him think about it for a while, and eventually he decided he wanted the disc golf trip of his dreams. 

In the end we had to pare down his dream disc golf trip a little (if given complete freedom with regard to time and money, I think he would have created an itinerary that included at least one course in all 48 contiguous states...and we didn't have that kind of time or money), but the trip he ended up with was still pretty incredible.

Over the span of 10 days, we hit Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska, playing 15 different courses, two of which were "bucket list" courses and one of which I'd describe as the nicest course I've ever seen in real life. Along the way and as we passed through the Midwest states, we visited my sister and her family, my parents, Tom's parents, and Tom's sister, many of whom joined us to play or walk various courses. 

In the middle of the trip, we paused in Iowa City for freshman orientation. Tom and I enjoyed returning to our old stomping grounds, and by the end of our visit, I think Will was looking forward to returning to our old stomping grounds without us and Tom's big dad energy. 😉

In no particular order, some of the highlights:

The BEAUTIFUL driving range (first course I've ever seen
with a driving range) at the nicest course we've ever played.

Eagle's Crossing

The course was incredible.

In addition to beautiful scenery and perfectly manicured holes,
the course has life-like animal sculptures scattered throughout.

My favorite.

My least favorite. I knew this giant (probably 12-15 feet long and
a foot in diameter) snake was fake and still couldn't go anywhere near it.

On every course I took a picture of Will...
literally and figuratively walking away from me.

A glimpse into the physicality of the
nicer, harder, more complex courses.

Home sweet home during my junior and senior years of college.

Playing what is now his "home" course in Iowa City.

I don't that I've ever taken a hotter, sweatier, dirtier trip in my life, but we had an incredible time together crossing the country and playing this sport that Tom and Will love so much.

Playing Catch Up: Oklahoma City Ballet

Shortly after returning from her cruise in June, Hallie spent three weeks at Oklahoma City Ballet's senior summer intensive. 

This wasn't her first intensive, but it was her first time staying in a dorm, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous about how she'd handle being away from home - and without me, Tom, Will, and/or her besties - for such an extended period of time. 

I shouldn't have worried. 

She forced her (introverted) self to jump headfirst into the experience, and she proved that she is more than capable of finding her way, overcoming challenges, making friends, and taking care of herself. She's still a couple of years away from heading off to college, but this experience gave her a lot of confidence going into the big life changes that lie ahead.

Saying goodbye to Will. 😓

The main studio space at OKC is INCREDIBLE.

All of the dancers in her level.

With her friend and roommate, Savannah.

They went to Target A LOT.

They cleaned!

And did laundry!

With their suitemates-turned-wonderful friends.

It was hard to say goodbye.

They had a lot of fun around Edmond on their days off.

There's a place near the dorms (it's a gorgeous campus)
where lots of dancers do photoshoots, so Hallie and a
couple of friends spent a little while there one evening, just
snapping pics with their phones. It's a gorgeous campus.

I asked Hallie if she wanted to go back to OKC next summer, and to my surprise, she said no. When I asked why, she explained that the experience could never be replicated...and if she went back, she'd just be disappointed that summer two couldn't live up to summer one. So she'll go somewhere else in 2026, and the summer of 2025 at OKC will remain its own nearly perfect memory.

*Hangs Head in Shame*

I feel a lot of guilt when I don't keep up with something I mean to keep up with, so here I am, feeling a lot of guilt about not keeping up with the blog these last three months. 

I know it's perfectly acceptable for me to take breaks, first during the final two months of Will's senior year of high school, and then again throughout the past three months as we traveled (what felt like) a million miles back and forth across the country and crammed in Hallie's summer ballet intensive in Oklahoma, Will's senior trip across seven states, Tom's brother's wedding in Washington, Will's soccer tournament in Colorado, and then finally moving Will to the University of Iowa. But I still feel guilty...and now on top of that, I also feel overwhelmed as I face the mountain of catching up that awaits me.

I know that someday I'll stop writing here, and now - when I'm so far behind - would be a reasonable time to just call it quits. But I also know that I'm not ready to walk away just yet; I value this creative space and the history these posts will one day (already?) provide for Will and Hallie too much. 

So now I'm going to get back to it. Posts might be a bit more sporadic, and I'll likely intersperse real time posts with catch up posts, but I'm committed...at least for a couple more years. 

With no context, no explanations, and in no particular order, here are a few tiny teasers of what the catch up posts will include...

I'll be back soon, I promise!