Pumpkin Carving and Halloween

We didn't make it to a pumpkin patch this fall, so we "supported local" and got our pumpkins from a local greenhouse. We found a warm afternoon to carve them!

Owen does his best but still hasn't gotten the concept of carving a pumpkin. He gets very detailed ideas in his head, despite my encouragement to stay simple. Before I could catch what he was carving, he'd already detached the whole picture he drew from the pumpkin. Maybe next year....

Chris amps up his carving tools every year...

Do cats eat pumpkin??? Whiskers was very interested in inspected and licking the pumpkin parts I was taking to the compost. 

I love our maple tree in the backyard! The little yellow one to the right is a maple too!

Willow went out with some friends on Halloween and I went around the neighborhood with Owen and a few other kids. I think next year I'll take him to Nana and Grandpa's!

Camping: Jellystone

Our Halloween camping started off as an adventure when we our camper jack wasn't working, even after being plugged in overnight. Then we learned from Kim, who arrived first, that the spot we'd reserved now had a soft-sided cabin on it. We especially liked that spot because it was close to the Caldwells, was flat, spacious, and away from all the traffic. It made me a bit nervous to see where they'd place us instead, especially since we'd paid the "lock" fee to ensure we had that spot. We arrived to find our new spot slightly angled and rather awkward with the campfire ring placement. After getting set, we came to find that our "fixed" window had popped out of its caulk in two corners and was, in no way, going to be water safe in the sprinkling rain at the time. Thankfully we'd purchased a large tarp after having leaking issues in July, then just used that for the weekend. In talking with the people next to us, they had the same issue with their A-frame and ended up just removing both skylight windows and placing plexiglass over the entire side. 

Here's the original caulking:

 Here's the replacement caulking before the corner popped out:

After we got food in everyone's bellies, we were doing fine for the rest of the weekend (I think the Christmas lights that Chris put up really helped for me!!). The Caldwells had a great corner spot and we had s'mores with them Friday night, then enjoyed lots of games on Saturday. We checked out nearby Cave Mountain Lake which had a few trails that we enjoyed. The fall colors were definitely at or near peak, which I loved. We played more games and had hamburgers with Barry and Loretta before heading out to trick-or-treat. Willow, Kim, and I had matching skeleton pajamas (next time we'll "charge" them in the sun for a while first). Owen was a ninja, Hannah was a cat, and Hunter had an inflatable suit that made it look like he was riding a dinosaur. His suit proved to be cumbersome and it was decided that inflatable suits aren't best for 2.5 miles of trick-or-treating. He said, "Any way the wind blows, my dinosaur goes!" and "My legs cannot keep up with my dinosaur face!" I think COVID year was the peak for number of campers. This year had fewer campers and more bowls upside-down (aka empty) than in the past. The same amount of walking for not as much reward. We saw kids on hover boards and commented on what a good idea that was! They still ended up with a good amount and kept good attitudes. Chris said he had the most trick-or-treaters he's ever had, though we've always been in a cul-de-sac off the beaten path. I think we've been found out!!

Here's my next favorite fall view! My camping-themed classroom when the trees are bright red outside my windows!

Vocal concert

Willow has enjoyed being part of the Burton Performing Arts program this year. They had their choral concert this fall, will have a dance performance in January, then a theater production in April.

Check out her songs here, here, and here. 

 

New Hair, New Glasses, and a lost tooth!

When we saw Meaera's hair at her wedding in August, I knew it was a matter of time before Willow was asking for the same! We found this balayage example and went back to the same beautician who did her purple last time. 

 It ended up a bit more solid blonde at the bottom vs. highlights, but she loves it! It looks really cool in a braid!

Braided a few months later (January):

Meanwhile, Owen is still losing teeth!

And it was time for new glasses! We think he looks really sharp in these! 

Homecoming

Willow got to experience her first Homecoming dance! I love that girls go with friends these days! It definitely wasn't like that when I was in high school! She went with her friends Lily and Izzy. I did her hair (a waterfall braid, thanks YouTube!!) then she went to Lily's house to do makeup together. We met downtown for pictures at the "fancy hotel" then another mom took them to dinner downtown then to the dance. They stayed the whole time and report having a great time! 

 

I loved that the other mom loved pictures as much as I do!

She even got a couple pictures at the dance: