Congratulations Abby!!

Abby has had a monster week.

It started on Saturday, November 11th, with the Miss Parkview Pageant in Lilburn where she was the first runner-up. Her cheering gallery included Mom & Dad, Chace, Julie, Izzy, Gramma Jan and Bill.

Abby, Izzy and proud Dad John

Second up was the Parkview High School Cross Country Awards Banquet on Tuesday night, November 14th. She received a number of awards including her third varsity cross country letter (count does not include her track letters), the scholar athlete award, and a Coaches Award from Coach Richard King. The latter was very special to Abby, as it was totally unexpected and is a good commentary on Abby's improvement over the four years she ran for Coach King.

Abby with Coach Richard King

Abby with John and Sharon

Third was hearing from the University of Georgia on Friday, November 17th that she has been accepted into their Class of 2022 through their "Early Action" process. Abby was nervous about her application given the competitiveness of being accepted at UGA these days. She had a few fallback schools, but really wanted to join brother Chace at UGA. Her efforts and prayers were answered.

Congratulations Abby!! We all are proud of you!!

Click here to see more photos of Abby's week.

Abby’s 2016 Cross Country Season

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Abby at the Coach Wood Memorial race

Attending Parkview High School cross country meets has become a staple part of our fall activities since Abby took up the sport during her freshman year.  We have enjoyed watching her develop as a runner and have gone to as many of her meets as possible.

We missed a good bit of Abby’s 2016 cross country season due to our swing through Canada, but got back in time to enjoy the last three events – the Coach Wood Memorial on October 15th, the 7A Area 4 Championships on October 22nd, and the State Championships on November 4th.  Photos of the events are included in the Gallery (see links above).

These meets were special to Abby and her teammates.  First, individual runner performances at the Coach Wood Memorial were used to select 7 Parkview varsity runners to be on the state team.  Second, the results of the Area Championships determined which teams would go to the state championship meet, and third, participating in a state meet is just way cool.

Abby qualified for the Parkview state team, the team reached the state meet, and they ran well, finishing 16th out of 24 teams in the 7A category.

Gramma Jan and I attended the end of season banquet for the Parkview High School cross country team on November 15th to help Abby and her teammates celebrate their season. The team’s three coaches did a great job of recognizing the efforts made by and results achieved by each of the students who participated this year.  Abby made several trips to the awards podium. She received another school letter (her fifth sports letter in three years; earned in cross country, track, and lacrosse), she was recognized as a scholar athlete based on her academic performance, and she received the “Most Improved Female Varsity Runner” award.

Well done Abby!  We are very proud of our #1 granddaughter!

Congratulations Chace!

Photo of Chace with his high school diploma

Chace being congratulated by a faculty member after receiving his diploma.

Chace, congratulations on graduating from Parkview High School!!  All of your family are very proud you, and look forward to watching you move into the next phase of your life at the University of Georgia next fall.

Sharon, John, and Abby were joined by Gramma Jan, Bill, James, and Dan at the graduation ceremony on May 21st.  Julie sent her best wishes from Las Vegas (business trip) and Gretchen and the boys sent their best wishes from her and James’ new home in Decatur.

Photos of the graduation ceremony have been added to the Chace Graduation Activities album in the Gallery.  They need no introduction — Chace is easy to spot in all of them — he is the tall person covered by an ear to ear grin.

Chace’s Last Week!!

photo of Chace and his family

John, Abby, Chace, and Sharon at the Baccalaureate Service

Chace begins his last week as a student at Parkview High School this week.  I’ll let that sink in for a moment. Chace is graduating.  How can this be?  He is only six!  We wish.

Our congratulations go to Chace, John, and Sharon.  You all have made it happen and we are proud of you.

The past several weeks have been an enjoyable whirlwind of activities leading up to Chace’s graduation this Thursday, May 21st.  I won’t try and recap the activities here, but refer you to the “Chace’s Graduation Activities” photo album in the gallery.  Click here to view the album.

Incidentally, May 21st is also GrandMa Cobb’s birthday.  It would have been her 96th.  I am confident she is beaming with pride over the prospects of one of her great-grandchildren again making that day special.

We have a short timer …

John, Abby, Chace, and Sharon at the Parkview Track Senior Recognition event in Lilburn.

John, Abby, Chace, and Sharon at the Parkview Track Senior Recognition event in Lilburn.

Chace has officially adopted a “short timer’s” attitude.  I asked what he was looking forward to this spring, and his answer was “getting out of high school”!  We’ve been there Chace and can commiserate with you.  Mom Sharon is doing her best to motivate him to stay on top of his remaining studies.

Parkview’s Track Senior Class of 2015 was recognized on April 3rd at the Parkview Stadium.  It was nice to see the coaches and team recognize the Seniors for their contributions over their track careers at Parkview.  A few photos are in the Gallery; click here to view them.

After the ceremony, we adjourned to their favorite local Mexican restaurant to continue the celebration and send off John, Sharon, Chace, and Abby to their vacation cruise (they left home at 3:30AM the next morning).

Catch-up time!

Bet you thought I forgot about posting here!

Oliver and Izzy visit after dinner at our November Birthday Bash.

We have two new photo albums in the Gallery.  The first is from the family’s annual November Birthday Bash which was held at James and Gretchen’s home on Sunday, November 16th.  Thanks to Gretchen and James for hosting it, and to everyone else for their food contributions.  Grandma Jan and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with the adults, but as you will see from the photos, the grandkids were the highlight of the event.  It was great watching them interacting and getting to know each other better.

Chace and Abby with John and Sharon at the Carrollton Invitational Cross Country Meet in September.

The second album chronicles Chace and Abby’s end of year Cross Country Awards Banquet.  I was able to attend a number of their meets this year and really enjoyed watching them and their teammates compete with teams from other schools and enjoy the camaraderie that only team sports brings.  The banquet, organized by Sharon, was the icing on the season cake for Chace, Abby, and their teammates.  Congratulations to our elder grandchildren for their great seasons.

If you missed our photos of Chace and Abby in action at  several 2014 meets, click here to view the album.

Gallery Updates

We’ve actually been quite busy, although you wouldn’t know it from our (lack of) posts here!  I’m sure Jan has a plan to make me atone for my sins of omission, but while she was coming up with something I got busy and posted a few new photos to our Gallery.Continue reading