The Half-Schells

Last weekend, before we went to Evan's party, we were in Athens visiting the Schells. The Schell's [pictured below with us on our wedding day] are two professors who live in Athens who are near and dear to us. They're a blend of adopted parents, mentors and friends. And they're both professors, so we sometimes refer to them as The Professors or lately, just The Schells. And because we spend so much time at their house, they jokingly call us The Half-Schells, 'cause we're like family, but not. Because of this connection we have with them, we asked them to be the officiants at our wedding, and that's why they are in full academic regalia here.

This past weekend only the female half of the Schells was home, and the boys took the opportunity to monopolize Barbi. Her given name is the more formal version of that name, but its not nearly as easy to say as Barbi, so that's what they called her. 

We all went to a favorite lake and nature trail area in our favorite college town, and Barbi led the way on the boardwalk that crosses the lake.

 We stopped and peered out, and Cole insists he saw a frog.

 

And rested with Dada on a table. Dada claims he used to come out here to study when we were in school, but while we were there this particular Saturday many a cute coed ran by in shortie shorts, so I'm questioning how much "studying" happened.

 It was shockingly cold our at the lake, so after a quick walk around the trail we went in search of some of this.

And we found this heavenly beverage at a really funky place where they roast the beans for the coffee chain above. If you've not been to Athens, you might not recognize it, but there are several locations of this particular establishments in Athens. I, even before my sleep-deprived, kids-having state of constant fatigure, would go to one of the locations to study during college. There were no cute guys running around in shorts, though. 

I loved the funky vibe of this place.

The adults got lattes, the boys got water in their sippies. They did enjoy taking the stirring stick and dipping it into the foam and then licking the stick. A few fingers even made it into the coffee and got rubbed over faces, as you can see below.

 

 Barbi wasn't so sure about the constant flash of the camera.

 We had a great time chatting, but from time to time Cole and I get distracted.

 But we're easily brought back to conversation. Or I am, I should say.Cole is too engrossed in licking latte foam.

Here's the look I usually get from Keith when I lose my concentration.

We're heading back to Athens in a few week so we can also see the other half of the Schells, but we sure had a good time with Barbi. Cole did too, really. He was just busy taking in all the funkiness of the place.