With everyone settled into school, it was time to start after school activities.
First up, Mikey decided to run on the elementary Cross Country team.
They had their first meet on October 1st.
5th grade boys at the start!
One of the teams that Mikey ran against included a close friend.
They had a super fun time playing on the playground equipment after the race.
So much fun, that we were the last ones to leave ONE WHOLE HOUR after everyone else had left.
Mikey was also elected to be one of the representatives of his class to his school ASB (Associated Student Body - a group selected to represent the interests and goals of the student population).
Katie is also a representative on her school ASB. She was elected Secretary.
Ralph's guilty pleasure:
Shredding cardboard tubes.
I had a root canal!
It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
And, lucky me!
A file broke off in the root of my tooth and was cemented into it.
I was hoping to get some metal-based superpowers, but all I got was a sore jaw for a few days.
Katie loves math so much that she chose to look over one of Mikey's assignments.
Just for the fun of it.
You know what else Katie loves? Science.
She applied to be part of the Science Olympiad competition team at her school and was accepted.
Her events: Fossils, Meteorology, Experimental Design (design an experiment) and Boomilever design and build.
The team meets twice a week to practice and prep for upcoming competitions.
There are some things that we miss about Japan.
One of these things is Japanese curry.
Huzbend decided to give it a try.
Not bad!
Another of Ralph's guilty pleasures:
Cuddling.
It doesn't matter if you're laying down.....
....or sitting.
If you are on the floor, you are fair game to become a prop for Ralph's head.
One MORE activity for Mikey.
He decided to join the school district-wide 5th grade elementary band.
His chosen instrument is the trombone.
Why trombone?
"Because it was the loudest instrument".
His words.
Conveniently, band practices happen before the school day starts and are located at Katie's school.
Four times a week the olders have to walk the youngers over to the school.
Cross country meets happen every Tuesday for the month of October.
The second meet was cancelled due to field flooding.
So, it was back at the home field for the next run.
Mikey and his finisher ticket.
27.
It seems to be his number.
We decided to pick the rainiest day possible to visit the pumpkin farm this year.
I kinda like it when it's rainy. That means there's less people there.
For example, we only saw one other group in the corn maze.
Speaking of the corn maze.....
Yes. That is a giant puddle.
It was pouring rain.
Mikey was on map duty.
He did a really good job at navigating (with a little help from Katie and Huzbend).
It was so wet, that the map eventually fell apart.
So, we used one of our phones to take a picture of it.
We were able to stop for a breather on one of the elevated bridges.
I'm happy to say that Mikey did not drop the phone in any of the huge puddles.
The rain also slowed and stopped.
Yay for waterproof hiking boots.
We made it!
We headed over to the Fun Farm to play some games.
Yikes.
I guess four years equals about one foot.
We got to give an impromptu lesson on how to use a pay phone.
Katie called into the past to our old phone numbers.
I'm not sure what this is about.
Basking in the spotlight?
Sharing the spotlight with Mikey.
Spookley's House.
The kids are just a little too big for this place, but they go in it every year.
Visiting it reminds them of Spookley and then they have to watch "Spookley the Square Pumpkin" when we get home.
It's still as bad as it was the first time they watched it.
I love this picture simply for the face Katie is making at Mikey ruining her perfect picture.
She's much happier in this one.
Because the weather was so crappy, there was no line for the barrel train.
The kids hopped on.
Did they forget how crazy this ride is?
I don't know.
But it really looked painful for Katie.
Duck races!
Tether ball. Game of one.
And, she almost hit herself.
Meanwhile, Huzbend utilized his height advantage to school Mikey.
?????????
Sneezing?
A genuine smile.
Shooting apples out of a cannon.
BAM!
Finally, time to pick our pumpkins.
Um. It was still a bit muddy.
I'm not quite sure how he managed to stay so mud-free.....
Pumpkins selected, it was time to go home.
They were performing: "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged (revised)"
"All 37 plays in 97 minutes"
As you can guess, it was ridiculous fun.
Three guys played all of the parts and even fit in the sonnets.
The kids loved it.
Mikey was excited that he could now tell people that he'd, "seen ALL of Shakespeare's plays".
Here he is with the performers after the show.
Last cross country meet!!!
This course features a giant hill the kids have to run up after exiting the ball field.
That's a tiny Mikey in yellow at the top of "Heartbreak Hill".
Annnnnnd, he finishes!
Check out the wind blown hair!
Fall kicked into high gear about mid-October.
The leaves began to fall and the fog rolled in.
Dead leaves means more things for Ralph to sniff on walks.
The weekend before Halloween, I had to go to a legislative session for our state PTA.
While I was gone, the kids got to work on their pumpkins.
These are the pictures I received from Huzbend.
Ralph was chewing his foot and trying to steal pumpkin guts out of the bowls, so he had the Cone of Shame placed upon him.
Ew.
I rushed home for dinner so that we could attend Mikey's school 'Monster Mash' costume dance.
I broke out my Sadness costume.
I am not sure what Mikey's friend is.
She had popcorn on her head.
Her dad was Dr. Evil.
After this photo, Katie found a middle school friend and disappeared until the end of the event.
Unfortunately, Mikey got a big headache at the party.
A school dance is NOT the place to have a headache.
So, there really wasn't much dancing going on.
Well, just a little.
Always gotta be a conga line at a school dance.
The next day, I was back at the legislative assembly.
Some of the members of the family actually cleaned up some leaves!
One of Ralph's favorite past times is licking the inside of recently emptied dog food bags.
It's very entertaining.
When he's done licking the bag around the house he'll just stand still and wait for someone to rescue him.
Halloween.
The middle school allows costumes (within the rules, of course).
Here is Katie's costume in full effect.
She is Todoroki from My Hero Academia.
She doesn't even have to act much to pull it off.
He's pretty grumpy most of the time.
(I won't say why so I don't ruin the story)
Okay.
Maybe she was acting just a little bit.
But, all I have to do is request a picture with Mikey in it and......
Voila! Grumps galore.
He thinks it's fun to annoy her by just existing.
Mikey: Aperture Science logo.
Katie: A bunny.
Huzbend: Green Lantern symbol.
Me: Calcifer, a fire demon, from Ghibli movie Howl's Moving Castle.
(He's sadly lopsided due to premature pumpkin rot. So sad.)
Nice.
We broke tradition and headed to a friends neighborhood for Halloween.
This is their dog, Ollie, dressed for the occasion.
Some pizza before heading out.
And some pictures.
This.
This is Boo in costume from Monsters Inc.
This is a masterpiece.
Made from an old dress, expandable hampers and other assorted things...oh yeah, and LOTS of glue.
Amazing work done by one of my mom friends.
Here are all the kids.
We picked up an extra teen somewhere along the way.
And here we are.
Recycled Death Eater and Mary Poppins costumes.
Yay!
Time for trick-or-treating.
Katie was very happy. She got to meet some St. Bernards.
One last picture before the teens headed off on their own.
Our youngers continued on their quest for candy with the adults in tow.
Last house of the night.
Sorry!
One more house......
This is what is called "Trick-or-treated Out".
Time for sorting and trading.
"I've got so much candy......I JUST CAN'T!"
