just a little snowfall

The kids heard snow in the forecast and started praying!  They might be the only folks in town who are anxious to see an early snowy winter!

And Thursday they got what they were hoping for, along with 50 mph winds.  It was..... windy!  But that didn't stop the boys from heading out to enjoy the weather, even though they could barely get the door closed behind them!

Three days later and the snow is practically all gone, only smaller spots remain in the backyard.  But there's more in the forecast for this week :)

Matt's on the tail end of his trip and I'm grateful for a sweet weekend with the kids.  We had the perfect slow Saturday morning, and at lunch Isaac said, "this is the best kind of Saturday, I'm still in my pajamas after lunch!"  We did eventually put on real clothes and went swimming before coming home for dinner and to watch the Hawks play some hockey.  Several other kids commented too on what a sweet laid back day it was - just what we needed!

Tomorrow is another Monday, and this week's highlight will surely be Matt's return!

leaves and pumpkins and all things fall

Last Saturday Matt and Isaac and the grandfathers had tickets to the UND football game.  On the way to the game Isaac invested in a little screen printing.  Best money he's spent in a long time :) 

Pretty fun stuff for all of them, especially my Isaac to be surrounded by those men and watching his favorite team, and all of it from the 2nd row, 30 yard line spot.  

So they had their fun, and we had ours :) Joined Grandma and Kristi and the cousins for a little pumpkin patch outing.  

cousin pictures, but no grandma pictures :(. there were no grandmothers climbing hay bales, and the two of them had a cup of coffee while the kids roamed the pumpkin patch!

That evening (Saturday) was our last as a group of 9 - Matt left Sunday on a trip, and my parents left Monday morning.  The house felt empty.  quick.  But not before we partied hard Saturday evening watching UND hockey and WFU football.

Sunday afternoon and it was time for yet another game of football.  These guys have played hours of football.  and I mean HOURS.

In one video you can hear Isaac calling "Luke, rush him, rush the quarterback" and Luke got that Granddaddy of a quarterback - and my dad wasn't making it easy for him.

Mom opened one last treat that arrived in her luggage - will be special to have one of these to light during the holidays!

We had a great visit!  And I'm so so thankful they could come!

After a warmer few weeks we are looking ahead at colder temperatures here - ten days ago the trees looked like this...

and Monday afternoon at the park the trees were looking a little more like this

The squirrels are bustling to gather their loot for the winter, and I'm soaking up every minute of cool crisp sunshine.  Pure bliss!

Hello, Winnipeg

We were all so excited for this trip with Grandmama and Granddaddy - especially the kids who were pumped to go to Canada and add another country to their list of places visited.  Winnipeg is just a few hours north on the interstate, and we took advantage of fall break to get out of town! 

First stop once we arrived in Winnipeg? The zoo!  And every good zoo visit needs a lot of map consultation :) 

The best exhibit at the zoo was called "Journey to Churchill".  Churchill is a town on the Hudson Bay in the far northern reaches of Manitoba.  It's known as the Polar Bear capital of the world and is currently accessible only by air.  It's remote remote remote, and the chances that we ever really get to Churchill are slim, so the zoo exhibit was very appropriate.  {Julianna is in the middle of a semester long study of Canada and she knew more about Churchill than anyone else!}

Seals, arctic foxes, snowy owls, reindeer, caribou, and the best? Definitely the polar bears!  The exhibit was designed so the bears swam overhead, and it was amazing.

Luke sat down in the middle of the tunnel, he would have stayed for an hour just watching them swim and play.

But the rest of the zoo exhibits beckoned and on we trekked.

The day was just perfect - still way warmer temps than typical for the area and we are enjoying the sunshine!

A short walk from Journey to Churchill was the Asia loop - tigers and yaks and camels too.  That evening we walked from our downtown hotel to a nearby Indian restaurant for a delicious meal (we do miss ethnic food and there was much discussion and one disappointed Julianna that we didn't choose Vietnamese!)

Day two the kids hit the hotel pool with Mom and Dad while Matt and I visited the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.  It was amazing!  so worth a visit if you are anywhere close by!

{The spire in the photo behind us is the Human Rights Museum.}

Lunch at an old fashioned drive in just a few blocks from our hotel and we spent the afternoon at the Manitoba History Museum before starting our drive back to America.

swing jumping

Mom and Dad came along to pick up the kids after school.

Our school tour ended at the playground and a swing jumping exhibition was just about to start :)

I think kids are so fun.  And they think it's so fun to have grandparents here visiting!

look who we picked up at the airport

We pulled up to GFK a few minutes before 7pm and Matt told the kids he'd start cutting their allowance if anyone made another small airport joke.  These kiddos have hit some big air travel spots in their lifetimes, but it didn't take long for them to see the perks of small terminals.

"Are Grandmama and Granddaddy here yet?"

"Well, sweetheart, just take a look around, if you don't see them, they aren't here yet."

And just a few minutes later, there they were!  And we were so excited to welcome them to North Dakota!

Granddaddy did a little pre-bedtime book reading and Saturday morning we were at the soccer fields for the final games of the season.

It wasn't warm, but the skies were clear and the games were well-played.

John Paul (in the green sleeves above) and Luke (lining up with his team below)

And Matt and Isaac with a final team photo.

We had Grandma and Grandpa and Andy and Kaelynn over for lunch and an afternoon of visiting .... then it was time to head to the UND hockey game.

And the game did not disappoint!  A big UND win with plenty of fanfare and lots of goal scoring.

One highlight of this fall has definitely been introducing our kids to the joys of collegiate sports.  I didn't grow up watching hockey, but I did spend a lot of time watching college athletics and it's fun to share that experience with the kids.

They think it's pretty great too.

More fun to be had this week with Mom and Dad and the kids begin fall break on Wednesday.

fire station fun

Another field trip!  Luke and his kindergarten classmates and the fire station - can't beat it!

I really learned a lot on this trip and the kids did too - they had some great questions for the firemen.

This small town fire station serves a really large geographic area, 10 full time fire fighters rotate on/off 24 hour shifts and they have an additional 25 part-time firemen who wear pagers and are always available.

Luke in the ladder truck

I was reminded that I need to teach my kids to call 9-1-1 (not a skill set we've spent any time working on while overseas) and reinforce that firemen and all public safety officers are here to help (also not something they would intuitively learn while living in Asia....)

This fireman was good with the kids encouraging them that "when I'm wearing my gear I look and sound really different but I'm still just me, even if I look a little scary, and I'm here to help you."

He did sound different with his mask on, and all that gear makes him look a bit more intimidating too.  But he invited the kids to gather around and touch him and all his stuff - and they took him up on his offer!

We got a fire station tour and they have some cool gear, including a boat for water rescue ("please don't play near the river unless you are with an adult and wearing a life jacket").

Grateful for these men and the work they do.  {Did you know that when I was 8 years old our house caught on fire and trucks and ladders and fireman arrived and worked hard to put it out, but not before it sustained major damage.  Everyone in the family was safe.}

trains and the Wednesday drive home

Yesterday afternoon we heard the whistle and I slowed the car down, hoping we would get "caught" by the crossing barriers.  Yep!  First in line at the tracks.

worth it!

John Paul's eyes in this picture!

The train viewing began a long conversation about graffiti on train cars (is it illegal? how old are the people who do it? why? what does it spell? why do the letters look like that? what kind of paint do they use? do they paint at night? do the train people wish they wouldn't do it? .... my longest ever conversation about graffiti and you know, I just don't know a lot of the answers).

Then we finished the drive home and Wednesdays are my favorite because NO HOMEWORK!  I'm a homework wimp mom and I just wish school stayed at school and the 3 oclock bell marked the END. But oh well, we will enjoy the Wednesdays :)

My kids are fascinated by this book that Lydia checked out of the library.  It's pretty high class literature people...

While I'm sure I would never check it out, I sure am glad my girl did.  It is really funny :). This would be awesome road trip reading, each page a new "which is worse?" question.  Lots of groans and laughs and "eww gross" comments and we will read War and Peace another day.

swim team practice

The girls are solidly into week #2 of swim team practice!  I'm so proud of them for diving in (ha! pun intended!) to this activity :)

They practice three times a week at the UND pool... and it's chilly enough when they get out at 6pm that they need hoods on those wet heads - even though they are still in sandals.

The two weeks (this one and last) when soccer is not yet finished and swimming has already started... well, it's tricky.  I'm not a huge fan of the current schedule because eating dinner together gets to be almost impossible.  For these overlapping nights Matt and the boys and I eat at 5 and then get them off to practice then I run and get the girls and they put plates in the microwave when they get home.  Boo.  I don't like it one bit.

But I can do it for two weeks.

And I'm thankful for this swim team, and for girls that are handling the responsibility of keeping up with swim bags and locker room showers and wet towels pretty darn well.  They walk out with a bit of swagger in their step - it must feel pretty good, huh?

There are many more weeks of flip turns and stroke practice in their future, and though we won't be here for most of the competitive swim season, they will get to participate in two meets before we leave in December, so that's something to be looking forward to!

camping - soccer - camping

So we really wanted to camp some more.  But soccer on Saturday mornings?  what to do?

We camped at Turtle River State Park on Friday, drove in for Saturday morning games, drove back for more camping Saturday afternoon and evening, then drove back for church Sunday.  It's only about a half hour to get out there and totally worth it for the camping!  

We arrived Friday late afternoon and the kids started raking right away.  The leaves were the biggest attraction all weekend long.  Yay Grandma for packing the rakes!  

 Grandma and Grandpa had the camper set up and dinner cooking.  Pretty sweet start to a weekend! 

We woke to another perfect day, the warmest Saturday since soccer started.  We invited a few families to come hang out for the afternoon (post-soccer game) and it was a huge treat. 

Roasting hotdogs (yep! that's a lot of boys!)

hanging out with friends (and leaves)

walking down to the river 

one particular frog had a more difficult day than he was anticipating 

heading back to the campsite with a troop of boys

these four girls had to stick close together to counteract all the boy :)

And my John Paul, with the only other John Paul I know :).   Look closely at one of the pics above and you'll notice this same pairing, with my John Paul on the big John Paul's shoulders.  It's a sweet little friendship.  

That night I was so happy tired - such a great day but people-worn-out.  I crawled into the back bunk room of the camper and snuggled up next to Luke and fell asleep.  Problem was I was in the bed Julianna was slated to sleep in (we've been letting Luke fall asleep in there and then moving him to the couch in the main room when the big kids go to bed - the bigger four taking the bunk beds).  Well  Julianna decided she would tuck in next to John Paul for a few minutes while Matt woke me and then moved Luke.  But she didn't last long!   "He smelled gross!" she told me later, "I couldn't sleep with him!"  I asked if he smelled like a combo of sweat and river and forest.  "Yes!"  Camping doesn't get much better than that!  

We did shower before church the next morning :)

And now the camper is winterized and will wait till spring for it's next journey.  We have so loved camping with Grandma and Grandpa this fall!