A River Adventure

One of Kent and Kurt's favorite things to do is go to a nearby creek. They call it a "river" but it is indeed a creek. There are a few fish in it and some ducks, but what they really like to see is crayfish. Or "crawdads" is what I always called them. This time of year though, you don't really see many of them. At least not alive. But that doesn't stop the boys. They gather up all the parts and pieces they can find and put them in ziploc bags to take home. Oh joy. They usually take them to school the next day to show their classmates.

We always see some interesting things at the river. This time we saw a big bird. Now, I'm not a bird expert, so I don't know what it was, but Kent and Kurt insisted it was a pelican, so I had to agree. Even though we are a state away from the ocean. And it didn't have a big beak. And there is no point to it being at a creek...errrr, river, because the fish are like 3 inches long. In any case, we were able to creep up enough for me to zoom in on it right before it flew away.

However, the most thrilling thing for me was the siting of the very rare Kent-outside-without-sunglasses-guy and I was able to snap a photo right before he put the glasses back on. No one has been able to capture a photo like this for at least 5 years.

This past Sunday was the last time we will travel to the river for a while, as it's finally turned "cold" here (and I use that loosely...just means I must wear socks). When it warms back up (oh, say like in February), I'm sure we will be back over there looking for those live crawdads. Eww.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November is flying by...things we've been doing:

Grant's football banquet - while he didn't get a special football award, he did get an academic award for his 4.0 GPA. We'll take that any day over a football award.

Flag Football: Wyatt continues to play.

Soccer: Fall season is over, but winter season starts today. There is no end to the sports in this family! A few moms and I put together soccer books for all the players:

Stingray Exhibit: New at the zoo. We were there the first day it opened standing in line to get in.

As far as Thanksgiving...it's just us this year so we are going OUT to eat! Woohoo!

Hope everyone has a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving.

And on to November...

...I actually have jeans on! OK, I admit, I had shorts and flip-flops on most of the day. But at least now when we go to a night game, it's cold enough for jeans and close-toed shoes. Sometimes I even wear socks.

Halloween was a blast, as usual. This year I really didn't have the energy to do the 3-hour-trick-or-treating-with-adult-beverage-in-hand deal. All day I was telling myself "ONE hour and we are coming home!" However, when I picked up K&K from school and a friend called out to me "My house. 5:30. Margaritas." I quickly responded "we'll BE THERE!" Oy. I am so weak.

So this year it was 3 1/2 hours out. Perfect weather...I even wore capris. As the kids trick-or-treated for candy, the adults were handed "drinks" at friends' houses along the way. Don't we have such a neighborly neighborhood?

Since DH was off riding in a helicopter that day and didn't get home until late, Grant was designated as the candy-giver-outer. He and a friend manned the door until DH got home and then they headed out to meet up with some friends. He didn't actually trick-or-treat, since he wasn't dressed up. No need though since his brothers brought home gobs of candy.

Wyatt's costume was put together about 10 minutes before we left. It went like this:

Me: Wyatt, what costume are you wearing?

Wyatt: I don't know.

Me: Here, put on Grant's football pads, pants, and helmet and your jersey and cleats.

Wyatt. OK.

Heh.

Kent and Kurt, however are another story. We start deciding on costumes about 2 months in advance. Kurt wanted to be Jango Fett, but I could not find a costume anywhere, even online. So I had to head to eBay and pay way more than I usually do. Kent was easy, when he saw the Bionicle costume, that was it.

Every year I have to tell the boys of when I was a student and going to Catholic school and we always got the day after Halloween off because it was a Holy Day. So my siblings and I got to stay up as late as we wanted. The boys always then ask if they can go to Catholic School. Heh.

I'm loving this time of year...my absolute favorite. Can't wait for all the rest of the holidays.