Fall is officially here. We closed down the pool this month. Another clue that Summer is gone is the autumnal decorations that Mom has put up around the house. We even have an “Autumnal Tree” in the corner of the dining room.

We did our yearly Labor Day weekend with friends at Deep Creek Lake again this year. During our stay at the lake, we made a side trip to Morgantown, WV to replenish our supply of Smilies and, since we were in the vicinity, stopped to have a quick visit with Ross.

Ross appears to be adjusting to college life. He managed to get a selfie of himself and the WVU President. Hopefully, his GPA at the end of this semester will also reflect his commitment to higher education.

Owen passed the written portion of his driver’s test and now is the proud owner of a Learner’s Permit. Now, all he has to do is complete a state-approved driver education program and wait nine more months to take the driving portion of the test. Pop-Pop said it was much easier back in his day – get a learner’s permit, six months later at age sixteen take the test and be done with it, no strings attached.

We spent the first weekend of this month at the annual Family Reunion in the hills of Southwestern Pennsylvania.  Prior to going our separate ways until next year, we all met for the traditional Sunday morning breakfast at the local King’s Family Restaurant.  All was fine until Owen went looking for some Frownies and discovered these iconic treats had gone to the Big Pity Party in the Sky.

During the second weekend, Mom and Dad took Ross to Morgantown, WV to begin his freshman year at WVU.  Mom and Dad returned with a supply of Smilies, which are much better than Frownies anyway.

Owen is on the Tuscarora High School Cross Country Team again this year.  He’s been running daily with the team as they get in shape for the upcoming season.  He has also been interrupting his 24×7 gaming for a few minutes each day to study in preparation for obtaining a Learner’s Permit.

And last, but certainly not least, Owen decided he needed a newer faster PC to maintain his status as a big-time gamer.  He opted to refurbish his existing PC rather than buy a new one.  Once the parts he ordered arrived, he got Pop-Pop to help him perform major brain surgery on his existing PC.  Just about all of the major components of his existing PC were replaced.  The PC now has a new Motherboard, CPU, GPU, and an SSD as the primary storage device.  They also installed a copy of Windows 10 to manage all this stuff.

During our “Rocky Mountain High” we:

• Checked out the University of Colorado Boulder Campus,
• Went to a Rodeo,
• Spent time roaming around in the Rocky Mountain National Park.  We even made to the tundra at 12,000+ feet.
• Took a tour of the Stanley Hotel.
• Did some major fly fishing in the Big Thompson.  It was Mom’s first try at fly fishing and she actually liked it!
• Did some star-gazing at the Beavers Meadow Visitor Center.
• Spent our last day in the Rockies wending our way back to Denver via the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway.  We made stops along the way in Allenspark to see the Chapel on the Rock, Nederland to ride the Carousal of Happiness and Red Rocks Park in Morrison.  Out last big event of the day was Buffalo Steak for dinner at The Fort in Morrison.
• Did a bit of sightseeing in downtown Denver before heading to the airport for our flight back to reality.

While we were gone, Pop-Pop and Granny did the dog-sitting.  All went fine except for one act of Puggery.  Toby dog-napped Piggy’s Lambie, but he was apprehended a few days later and brought to justice.  The Lambie was returned intact to its home in Piggy’s doggy bed.