Halloween

We tried the night corn maze again this year.  We went with a few friends.   It was a muddy mess.  The kids had a good time, not all of us were able to find all the stations though.  This is at the farm we usually get $1 pumpkins from but they didn't have them this year.  Apparently it was too soggy to get to the back field.  

We went to do the night time corn maze again!  It was muddy and nasty, but we all had a good time!

Landon and Dillon

Aidan and Dillon

We had to go to a different pumpkin patch then usual this year.  It was nearby and the kids still had fun picking out pumpkins. 

It was really nice to have the shop this year. No need to haul the kitchen table out of the way.  We set up a propane heater and carved pumpkins out there.

We straightened Kayda's hair as part of her reaper costume.  She looks so different!

Despite COVID our kids were able to trick or treat.  Some people were adamantly against it.  A friend of ours kid actually got yelled at.  If you don't approve, turn off your porch light.  That's the unwritten rule for trick or treating.  Apparently a coworker, also one of Kayda's teachers, lives up there.  He created a candy chute.  He sat up in the room above the garage and slid candy down a decorated pvc pipe.  It was really cool and fun for the kids.  Carson was hacker, Dillon arranged with friends to be "gangsters", Kayda and Ivy were reapers together.  We went up around CJ's neighborhood.  They swear they have the best trick or treating... we also live in an area with few houses so we had to find somewhere else.  We may just go to our old neighborhood next year.  

Leelan, CJ and Dillon

Visiting Vegas Friends

Covid quarantine sent us out of state again.  This time to visit Theresa and Davin.  Kayda's best friend Ari moved to Vegas a couple of years ago.  They became even closer after she moved.  They video chat and text regularly.  So when we found cheap airfare we scheduled to go visit.  It was just a long weekend situation.  We actually went down Thursday night and I did my classes from there on Friday.  

They took us to a few places on the strip.

Us with Theresa and Davin

The kiddos with Gibson and Ari.

Brian and the kids did the Coca-Cola tasting.  Most were not to their liking, some were foul.

We went to the conservatory.  The figures are all made with real plants so that was fun to walk through.

We went and watched the fountains at the Bellagio.

We spent Saturday on the boat on Lake Mead.

We saw the Hoover dam.

Then they took us to some cliffs to jump off.  All of us went off the highest cliff.  I thought it was interesting that they had their kids wear life jackets.  We just went with it so it didn't cause problems for them.

Sunland

We went out Labor Day weekend and went to Sunland.  This is usually a big "no"  for me.  I'm not interested in Labor Day traffic.  We opted to head home Sunday night though so we didn't get stuck in the nasty traffic.  

Annette and Rick have a place in a community there.  We parked our trailer, along with Grandma and Papa H, on their property.  We spent our day Saturday swimming on the Columbia river.  Of course, we went out on Grandma and Papa's boat.  We were there with Annette's daughter

 Becky and her family also.  Unfortunately, no kids the same age as mine but Becky's boys are close to Carson's age, so they still had fun.

First day of school online

Today was the first official day of school.  It's entirely online, myself included.  We've got 4 people on virtual meets.  Carson has a bunch of meets spread out over the course of the day.  Kayda and Dillon have periods 1-3 M/W and 4-6 T/Th with a short six period day on Friday.  

Note from July:

The kids were bored, it was hard to keep track of what they were supposed to do and they got sick of being home and away from their friends.  It took a little while to get into a routine and Carson had to learn not to come in during my meets.  Otherwise it went fairly smoothly.  Most students don't have their cameras on which is boring and awkward.  Then put in the fact that they won't talk and will rarely do anything in chat.  Just talking to a bunch of letters on a screen.