The first Saturday in October, Katie had to wake up early to take the SAT.
After her test, which she said didn't seem as hard as she thought it would be, I dropped her off at work.
Instead of driving home, I left the car with her and had Huzbend come and pick me up.
As I waited for him to come and get me, I took a moment to spy on her.
I couldn't resist.
Don't worry, I was far away and behind a tree.
Looking all official with her badge and radio.
I decided to stop being a creepy stalker and let Katie do her thing.
At home, Mikey volunteered to do some yard work in exchange for money.
Of course, he had to make sure he did it in Mikey style.
It was STILL abnormally hot and dry.
With very minimal rain, we had already experienced the driest summer in Seattle history with only .5 inches of rain.
With the sun and dry continuing, it turned into the driest October ever.
We also hit a record number of 70-degree days...in OCTOBER.
Not normal.
believe it or not, it had all of us wishing for rain.
The second Saturday of the month, we met Katie at the pumpkin farm after her morning shift.
It took us TWO HOURS to get to the parking lot of the farm because there were so many people trying to get there.
Note: The farm is about 12 miles from our house.
While Katie waited for us, she got herself some kettle corn to munch on.
We hit up the corn mazes first.
Mikey led the way through the first maze.
It was another uncharacteristically warm and sunny day.
Probably close to 75 degrees.
Crazy.
Mikey did a pretty good job of leading us through the larger of the two mazes.
"Walk this way..."
Mikey was able to navigate us to a bridge in the corn maze.
Corn maze bridge selfie.
Katie led our way through the smaller of the two corn mazes.
I'm not sure why they thought this would work.
Huzbend decided to give it a whirl.
Literally.
They also had hammer and nail logs, but sadly there were no nails that hadn't been used.
I was able to find one off in the grass for them to share.
They just hammered the same nail in and took it out again.
Katie's turn.
This picture is so much better than the SAT headshot.
Okay.
Why was it so hard to get a picture of my kids standing in these beautiful sunflowers without their eyes closed?
Try #1
Try #2
Try #3
I gave up.
It was time to pick out our pumpkins.
Huzbend had his in record time.
Probably less than 30 seconds.
Let the great search begin!
Oh.
Snap.
That was quick.
Katie selected two pumpkins - one for home and one for school.
You would never see this in a normal October.
Usually, the pumpkin fields are a muddy mess.
Yep.
I got myself a pumpkin too.
In mid-October, Katie auditioned for a part in a Shakespeare play at the local high school but didn't get one. She decided to help out as part of the tech crew. She also continued rehearsals for the one-act play she was already working on.
Mikey joined the Robotics club and began work with his team to build their robot.
And there was still no rain.
Ugh.
Since it was still so "summery" we headed to our favorite ice cream shop for a frosty treat.
Over the course of the month, we all got our flu vaccines and COVID boosters.
Anything to try to stave off that nastiness.
Ugh.
Katie took another SAT at her school at the end of the month.
Two tests in one month. Ew.
On the last Saturday of the month, Katie's school held a costume carnival.
She and a team of fellow ASB (Associated Student Body aka student government) officers had been planning this event for months.
I'll tell ya, they were SO lucky that it was unseasonably warm and dry.
It would've been a huge downer if it rained that day.
I was able to volunteer at the Donut Bob station.
I tied donuts to the canopy and the kids had to eat them off the string using no hands.
Of course I had allergy friendly options.
And believe it or not, Katie was the ONLY one that needed them.
She had a lot of donuts.
Back when we were at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, we tried to pick up an almond sweet corn cake treat but the place they were being served at was closed. So sad.
So, I found a recipe online and tried to replicate it at home but making it gluten and dairy free.
I think I succeeded.
Okay, so my white chocolate drizzle did not work out so well.
But they still tasted good.
Mikey wants me to make them again.
It was time to empty out those pumpkins!
Ralph is always willing to lend a paw.
Or a snout.
Mikey had some technical issues with his carve, but Huzbend helped him out.
Here's Mikeys carve.
It's the Japanese kanji for "Death".
Katie's took a bit more time.
She decided to go for a shaving technique.
She eventually got her skull to shine through.
I kept my design simple.
You can look back to our January trip to Disneyland to read about it.
Halloween was upon us!
Katie dressed as Yor Forger from Spy x Family.
Mike dressed as a Jungle Cruise skipper.
All of our pumpkins were lighted and ready to go.
Huzbend's design was the Nova Corp symbol (from the planet Xandar).
I decided to stay home with Ralph to hand out candy.
Huzbend volunteered to walk around the neighborhood with the kids, so he threw on his warm wolf onesie.
We had a last-minute substitution.
Robin dashed over from her part time job at the Scoops Ahoy to trick or treat.
Huzbend decided to stay home and let the teens wander on their own.
Bye!
(And remember to say "Trick or Treat!" and "Thank you!")
They walked the entire neighborhood and were out for about an hour and a half or so.
They came back in to warm up and survey their candy hauls.
Damn, that's a lot of candy.
They were able to trade between themselves for their favorites.
I also purchased safe chocolate for my kids to trade for.
I ate way too much cheap chocolate.
I always have to try at least one of all the old favorites.
Blech.
"Gimme all your Peppermint Patty's....
or else!"
The kids got down to business and started stuffing their faces with as much candy as they could.
"Don't judge.
You would do the same."
Happy Halloween!
