Girl Scout Camp

Norah and I spent a weekend with our Girl Scout troop on the eastern shore. It was a beautiful camp and we really enjoyed it.

Norah was pretty good at archery

 

And then no one was surprised when Norah made it to the top of this alpine thing. Her first attempt she didn’t get very far but was determined and was the only one in our troop to make it to the top.

A really fun weekend
 

Fall trails

 

Family time

Norah has been complaining that she doesn’t see enough of Colin. He gets home and then leaves for swim practice 15 minutes later. A lot different from a few months ago when he never left the house. We added it up and he was only gone in school less than 10 days in 18 months. 

She was thrilled to have a weekend with tons of family time. The weather was perfect so we went kayaking and canoeing and then hiked some trails. 

Norah and Joel are convinced Colin is heading off to college soon. Norah is already asking for a phone - not to call Colin but to be able to FaceTime our neighbor Juliauna when she leaves (she’s the same age as colin) 

Joel’s take is that he doesn’t want to pay for greater Xbox storage because in a few years Colin will be gone and then he will just delete all of Colin’s games. He said he’s thinking ahead to make better financial decisions. 

The joke now is that Colin is leaving tomorrow for college. It’s coming closer than I’d like but as I told Colin, at least none of us want him to leave. For now we will enjoy as many family weekends as we can.

 

Parades

We are headed to the Christmas parade in a few minutes and Norah was disappointed to not be marching in it this year. I keep reminding her that she was already in two homecoming parades the fall so this time she can sit and enjoy the parade.  

Our girl scout troop was asked to be in a high school homecoming parade and then Norah's running club marched in another homecoming parade. 

Norah came and sat with us during halftime and then spent the rest of the time at the other end watching her favorite cheerleader. 

 

Boo

 Our neighborhood spends October Booing each other. You leave a bag/basket of goodies on the front porch with a note saying you’ve been Booed.If you get a basket you hang the boo sign on your door and go Boo someone else. By Halloween all the houses with kids have been booed. It’s gotten harder lately to surprise each other because everyone has the ring cameras so Norah was determined our neighbors wouldn’t recognize her in this getup. 

Halloween

We started out our Halloween weekend celebrating a sweet little boy's birthday. Harvey was born on Halloween so a costume bike parade party it was.  Colin was at a swim team Halloween trunk or treat where the older kids organized games and prized for the younger ones. 

This year Joel didnt know what to be. It kept changing constantly.  But then he mentioned dinosaur so I went with it and got him this costume. All the other kids loved it.  It was a little hard to move in and at the end his tiny arms hurt having to be in that position.  I told him that's probably why they went extinct.  

Then on Sunday Brent and the kids carved pumpkins and went trick or treating in our neighborhood. 

Colin took Joel around.  He and Matthew thought they were too old for trick or treating. But we said in our neighborhood you are never too old.  All the other teenagers went around.  

Norah went around with Juliauna again. 

Brent went over to a neighbors and hung out by their firepit and I passed out candy. 

Colin ate Joel's one York peppermint candy. It was the one candy Joel was excited to eat. They couldn't remember which house they got it. Thankfully Norah had two and gave them to the boys. 

The kids sorted candy and went through all we had left and then we went to a neighbors to hand out. 

It was a great night and we were very glad the kids didn't have school the next day. 

Apple Picking

We met Mom, Dad, Sarah, Mary, Robbie, and Elizabeth a few weeks ago for our annual apple picking.

 

Chloe

Our beloved guinea pig died a few weeks ago.  

She was the most magnificent creature in Joel's mind.  There was never such a loved piggy.  She went all over the neighborhood on the back of a contraption the kids named the piggy mobile. She was played with constantly. She came at a great time through quarantine and homeschooling/virtual learning and was a good first pet. 

 

Joel

 We are in the season of wearing layers and having to find clothes that fit my growing boys. Colin has outgrown everything but Joel refuses to wear some of his clothes.  For example, Colin has sweatpants that have the VT logo.  Joel - "Why would I want people to know what team I like?"  Joel at the moment likes plain and boring.  But its also much cheaper so I'm not pushing it. 

The kids had their yearly physicals. Joel had the prostrate cough exam for the first time.  I'm not sure what its really called. But Joel was like what?  Why do you need to do this?  She explained she was looking for hernias.  He thought for a moment and then asked her how many she had detected doing that test. She replied around 50.  He then asked how long she had been a doctor.  She said 11 years.  He was quiet for a minute and then said "I think next time I'd rather just take my chances"  

Joel tried out for GBTV. Its their morning announcements where they run their own news station.  I'm surprised he wanted to try out but he was excited and made it.  We heard he was the first person they picked.  They have two different teams that rotate different week. This week was his turn. He wasn't anchor until Friday. And his nerves were building all week.  He didn't sleep at all on Thursday night. He was afraid he would mess up. We got a picture from our teacher friend who said Joel was great and all the kids clapped and cheered for him when we walked back in his classroom.