Busy Month

It has been too long since I updated this....I'll try to be short and sweet.

In early Oct., we went to Ardenwood to pick our yearly supply of popcorn. It was so much better this year! Last year the ears were full of bugs, worms and mold and this year almost everyone was good. It made for a much quicker outing, especially since Ryan was with us this year. We ended up going in the afternoon which was a mistake because by the time we finished picking, all the festivities were over (and the homemade ice cream was all gone-I thought Ryan and Reggie were going to cry!). Next year, we'll have to go a little earlier, so we can enjoy all of the activities.

The next day, we did the cub scout Rocket Launch. Ryan spent many evenings gluing the little rocket together and every morning Reggie would wake up to see the progress. He wanted to play with it so bad. The big blue one was Ainsley's and much, much easier to assemble.

Here Reggie is getting the rocket ready to launch:

Watching it go!

Disappointed with the orange rocket. Something went wrong during construction and it spiraled out of control on both launches, not even getting high enough to open the chute. We found it nose down stuck in dirt, but amazingly in one piece (I guess something went right during construction). Thank goodness we had the big, blue rocket! It did exactly what it was supposed to do. The kids and us had a blast (no pun intended!). Definitely something to do again next year.

The following weekend was the Rancho walk-a-thon and carnival. I decided to get my work-out over early that day and ran with the kids...sort of....Reggie had a side ache that kept coming back and Ainsley's hip was bothering her. She had a soccer game that morning and then ran 2 1/2 miles and I think she overdid it. When she runs, she sprints and then walks, so it was a little much, but she was much better the next day. The hip problem returned the following week after a visit to pump it up and it took several days to go away (I would watch her walk and of course my concern was that it may be early signs of my fun Arthritis). For now, we are going to assume not!

Face painting fun:

Number of laps they ran: Ainsley 10, Reggie 16, Mom 20

The following week Ryan was at his men's retreat and the kids and I had a lot of fun. Usually, I am the boring parent, making the kids do homework and eat their veggies, but I wanted to be the fun parent for once. So, we skipped school Friday morning and went to Pump It Up, we ate out a few times and went to the movies. We saw Dolphin Tale and it was amazing...the kids were glued to the screen.

Ryan had his own fun at the men's retreat, joining a mountain biking group for a 3 hour ride. These guys were real mountain bikers, with thousand dollar bikes. Ryan borrowed all the gear and thankfully, the average age of the group was 55, so he could easily keep up. He really enjoyed it and is thinking of doing it more. He has a little more time on his hands, so we shall see.

That brings us to the Friday before Halloween. Both kids had their class parties and got to dress up. Rancho teachers and staff dress up and do a dance every year and then they have a parade, followed by an assembly. The kids love it! Reggie is absolutely in heaven this time of year.
Princess Jasmine:

Pilot Luke Skywalker (he was the only one with that costume and I found it at the thrift store, score!):

The next day, we had a soccer game at 8 a.m. and decided to do a garage sale after that. It was a last minute thing....was totally irritated by all the mess and things we needed to get rid of. I have never done a garage sale before, but I think it went pretty well. We had it at a neighbor's house because they have more traffic and they got rid of a lot of big stuff and I unloaded most everything I really wanted to get out of our garage. The rest we took to the goodwill and it felt so good and we made over $100! The kids went through their stuff, so it was good for them to participate. Reggie sold some stuff, but surprise, surprise, he bought a sparkly Christmas tree from the Williams. We ended up trading some stuff, which wasn't really the plan, but oh well :o). That afternoon, Reggie decided he wanted to start sleeping in his room, so we put his bed back together and it has been great. Ryan found a Black Widow in his window, so I wasn't so sure we should put him in there, but we think he got in through the hole in the screen and was in between the window and the screen, so wasn't actually in his room. We also took down the crib in preparation for Grandma and Grandpa's visit. We went to church that night and were pooped by bedtime.

We should have rested the next day, but we hadn't seen K in awhile, so we visited him at his Aunt's house and took him to the park. Since we were half way to Six Flags, we spent the afternoon there, watching a few shows and going on a few rides.

Man, I am tired after just writing all that!