And now for something completely different...: 2024

As Katie was finishing up her visit to Paris....

...Mikey was helping out at a car wash to benefit the drama department.

We spent Labor Day at our local county fair.

Mikey had to get himself a bacon wrapped hotdog smothered with onions.

Because. Tradition.

We brought Huzbend along with us to the fair.

He enjoyed the lumberjack show but could've done without all the farm animals.

First day of 10th grade!

There seemed to be less wildfire smoke, but we didn't escape completely.

Katie came home from London that first weekend of September.

She had a fantastic time and brought back just a few souvenirs.

There were still a couple of weeks before we had to move her into her dorm, and we spent most of that time gathering supplies and taking care of last-minute doctors' appointments.
We also all took care of our flu and COVID vaccines.

After one appointment, we grabbed lunch from a Mexican food truck.

It was super yum.

Mikey got back into the swing of school and auditioned for Dramafest.

He got a part in a comedy called "Goldilocks on Trial". He was Melvin the bailiff.

This is what our living room looked like the day before we left to move Katie in.

We all went together to drop her off.

Traffic cooperated for once and we had to stall a bit at a rest stop so we weren't too early for her move in time.

Time to move in.

Move-in was very organized and we were able to park very close to the dorm.

I think we had to make two trips total to move in all of her stuff.

Katie's roommates were already there (they live in Portland), so we got to say hi and meet their families.

Katie was in a triple. There was not a lot of room in there.
They did have a walk-in closet, which helped.

This was her bed set up.

Here is her desk.

After helping her unpack a bit, we snapped a few selfies.

There was a mandatory floor meeting that she had to attend, so we didn't have time to get dinner together.

She walked us out to the parking lot, and we said our goodbyes.

Saying goodbye was not as hard this time. Maybe because of having to let her go when she left for London?

With a mixture of anxiety and pride, we watched her walk back to her dorm.

She had five days of welcome events to keep her occupied until classes started.

We drowned our happy/sadness in pasta.

We got a hotel room for that evening so we wouldn't have to drive back that same day.

Mikey enjoyed a little Food Network.

And the boys enjoyed the hotel pool.

Not so much the pool because, as Huzbend stated, it was "fucking freezing".
It didn't seem to bother Mikey who bounced back and forth between them, cannon balling into the pool.

Ah, to be young.

While the gentlemen were swimming, I toured the beautiful Japanese garden they had on site.

The next morning, we ate breakfast and got on the road home.

Mikey had finished his drivers ed course, but he was still working his way through the required course drives.

I learned that Mikey did not enjoy driving. In fact, he hated it.

Hmmm.

We discussed over some post-drive froyo.

On Wednesday, September 25th, Katie had her first day of classes.

With October right around the corner, we decided to pair up apple picking and a visit to the pumpkin patch.

It was a wonderful late September day. Warm and sunny.

And, boy, was the farm busy. Yikes.

Huzbend is vehemently opposed to apple picking.

"Why spend a million bucks for apples that you can get for a few dollars at the grocery store?" is his common refrain.

Well, where's the fun in that?

We picked enough apples to make a giant batch of apple sauce.
Which according to Huzbend we could buy at the grocery store too.

Hmmm.

Never a dull moment.

Discussing the merits of a large vs. small pumpkin.

"You're going to have to carry it to the car, ya know."

We found the perfect pumpkins.

The first weekend in October, Huzbend and Mikey participated in a judo tournament.

Mikey got some good competition experience.

Sadly, he didn't win either of his matches.

He was disappointed, but we were proud of him taking the chance.

It takes a lot of guts to compete.

Next up was Huzbend.

He lost his first match but won the next two (or three) after that.

Here's one of his winning moves.

He ended up coming in 2nd place in his age bracket.

Both had a good time. Only downside was that Huzbend tweaked his neck that would bother him for almost a month afterwards. And maybe a slight concussion?

That evening, Mikey attended his NOT-homecoming dance.

The theme of the dance was "Under the Sea".

Ha. Get it?

I caught this brave cat slinking across our yard.

I believe he's been around for a while; I've just never seen him.
But I know that Ralph has definitely sniffed him.
It might be what he barks at randomly in the yard.

Later that same day, Ralph had a stare down with a rabbit in our yard.

As they were locked in their Stare-Off, a juvenile eagle swooped down at the rabbit.

It was able to escape, and the eagle landed on our deck.

It was friggin' huge.

The middle of October was filled with meetings, school stuff, rehearsals and all the blah that life brings.

Mikey participated in auditions for the winter play and was given the part of Ed Carmichael in "You Can't Take It with You". It was fantastic news.... except for the part about having to teach himself to play the xylophone. Gulp.

To let off some steam, we headed to the local ice cream shoppe to indulge in their fall flavors.

We have a lot of crows in our neck of the woods.

They are everywhere. People even try to make friends with them.

We have a regular crew that hangs out in our neighborhood.

Here's two of them dipping something into the small puddles on our garbage cans.

I was busy at the end of October with our PTSA council Presidents and Principals lunch, our state PTA legislative assembly where we decide what issues we'll advocate for in the coming year and prepping for the upcoming Dramafest event. Phew.

By the end of October, Katie had gotten into the groove of college life.

Doing well in her classes, struggling with group lab projects, and discovering that having roommates can be a, uh, challenge.

She even joined the rugby club.

The end of October also means Halloween and pumpkin carving time!