On the drive out from Iowa, we stopped at the Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park as well. Carrie was still a fourth grader and had a free National Parks pass. We spent some time visiting Grandma and Grandpa Birgen in Las Vegas as well. Mariah flew out to California for her high school reunion, and Jeri flew back to Iowa so she wouldn’t miss work, so Brian did most of the drive back to Iowa with just Zac and Carrie. On the way home, we stayed with cousin Jake in Denver and visited Rocky Mountain Nation Park.
Jeri is now a senior in high school, though she is taking very few high school courses. She is taking Chemistry and Calculus at Wartburg and Sociology and Psychology at Hawkeye Community College, all for high school credit. She is also busy working at the library and applying to college. During the summer Jeri and Brian went on an epic college road trip visiting fourteen college in five days, trying to help Jeri decide between the various East Coast schools she was considering. Jeri’s biggest challenge is knowing that she can attend Wartburg College without paying tuition, but she wants to get out of Iowa. Every college must exceed Wartburg in quality if we are going to pay tuition to attend, and it turns out that Wartburg is better than you might think. Some of the schools that Jeri is applying include Swarthmore, Vassar, Wellesley and Macalester. It should be pointed out that Brian was happy to accompany Jeri on her epic road trip, because he was able to find geocaches in six new states along the way and complete a string of contiguous counties with a geocache found all the way from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. We don’t anticipate knowing where Jeri will attend college until Spring 2018, but we are looking forward to seeing what the future holds for her.
Zac is a freshman in high school. He has definitely found his people. He has a group of friends with whom he regularly plays online video games and often gathers with on Friday nights to play Dungeons and Dragons. He ran cross country this year and his best time was under 22 minutes on the 5K. He also was in the high school musical production of “The Music Man” as Oliver Hix, a member of the barbershop quartet. He is looking forward to a series of roles of increasing prominence during his time in high school.
Also in May, Zac was able to accompany Mariah to the British Isles while she taught her Historical Roots of Math and Physics course. Mariah had fifteen students whom she led around England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. This was her second time teaching the course and things went much better this time around. She had a more diverse group of students, including one student from Zimbabwe, who had to stay in the U.K. while the rest of the class went to Ireland because he didn’t want to pay for yet another visa. They visited Oxford University, Cambridge University, Trinity College and Stonehenge. Zac enjoyed the opportunity to get a few more stamps in his passport and see London, Dublin and Edenborough.
Carrie has been accelerated in her math classes. In fourth grade, when the teacher introduced fractions it became apparent that Carrie needed a bigger challenge, so she was moved up into fifth grade math. At the beginning of the school year, we decided that she was still finding math too easy, so she was moved up another grade in math. She is currently in fifth grade at St. Paul’s school, but she takes seventh grade math at the Middle School. She takes pride in being in advanced math and enjoys the challenge. She also plays the flute in the band and the bass in the orchestra. Of course, she would rather spend most of her time playing in the yard with her neighborhood pack. Even when there is snow on the ground she enjoys being outside with her friends roaming the neighborhood.
Mariah has been extra busy at Wartburg. She has been serving on Faculty Council which means she is responsible for many of the big decisions made regarding resource priorities. This includes which positions get filled and which positions get eliminated. Mariah has also been serving as a governor for the Iowa Section of the Math Association of America, although her most recent action involved a re-organization so her position has been renamed as representative. It does mean she is required to attend all the national meetings, so she and Brian attended the meetings in Atlanta back in January and Chicago in July.
Brian decided to get into local politics. He was just elected to Waverly City Council and will start in January. It helps that no one else wanted the job; he ran unopposed. Mostly the job involves a great many meetings and setting financial priorities for the city’s infrastructure projects. However, in recent years there have been some very dysfunctional behavior on the council, so Brian is looking forward to bringing some common sense and collegiality back to the council.
We had another trip to California in June, when we attended the wedding of Kelsey, Brian’s niece. We appreciated that Kelsey and Brett joined us on the Grand Canyon hike. We also spent time with Mariah’s brother Torrey and family when they stopped by Iowa during their move. Torrey was transferred from California to Virginia, so they took the time drive out and make many stops along the way. We also welcomed Brian’s niece Jessica to the Midwest. She and Owen and son Charlie moved to Minneapolis. Brian and Jeri met them when we visited Macalester College. Jeri’s favorite part of Macalester may be its proximity to Charlie.
May you have a great 2018! We know there are exciting changes in store for us and we are looking forward to where our next adventure leads.