Halloween 2020

This was the first year the kids were able to carve their pumpkins almost entirely by themselves.

Our totally normal son carved cow udders into the back of his pumpkin.

On the afternoon of Halloween, I took the kids to Umstead for a hike with Andrea and her two kids who were camping there that weekend. It was too cold for us to want to came, plus after so many vacations I was tired of packing and it just wasn't worth it to camp in the wood a few miles from my house.  Anyway, we had a nice hike.

When we got back from the hike, one of the neighbors (Monica) had left some treat bags on the porch for our kids. How thoughtful!

That night, after a rushed supper, we head out to trick-or-treat with our neighbors, Kelly and her two sons. It was really fun this year since everybody was outside and had tables set up in their driveways with candy for a contact-free Halloween. I'd been so worried Halloween would be cancelled due to the pandemic. It was so nice to have one fun thing still happen. In fact, it was more fun because people came up with creative ways to distribute candy, such as this lit-up graveyard where the kids had to pluck their candy from amongst the bones.  Another yard had a long PVC pipe that they put the candy down like a chute. It also all went faster without having to run up porches and ring doorbells. I loved it.

The kids were all pretty tuckered out after about an hour.

We went back home to our deck where they did some candy trading.

What a fun day!

Simon's October fish

10-4-20 

10/28

Afternoons at the park

 The Governor said parks can open again, so sometimes in the afternoons I'll take the kids there to play.  The first time we went, I told Alice to stay away from everyone. Within a few minutes she had found some friends from school to pal around with.

Simon busied himself with some sticks and sand.

Sometimes when we go they'll just magically make some new friends.

Heading to the park with the late afternoon sun in our faces.

A day at the lake

 On Saturday, Zac wanted to go to Site One Landscaping to pick out another pallet of rocks to build the walkways, and we wanted to scope out some plants as well. Since it was halfway to Jordan Lake, we decided to make a day of it and go together and then hang out at the lake. It was beautiful day. Simon and Zac fished, I took a little hike, then Alice and I listened to podcasts while lounging on a mat. It was a relaxing day.

Fall Mountain Trip Day 3: Hike down Linville Gorge on the Conley Cove Trail

For our final full day on our brief mountain trip, we planned to do the opposite of yesterday. Instead of hiking up to a mountain top, we'd hike down the Linville Gorge to the river.

But first, a hearty breakfast.

The drive to get to the trailhead was about 10 miles of gravel road, but not quite as treacherous as yesterday. It offered some good views along the ridge when there were breaks in the trees. Here is a view from the ridge of Lake James.

Here's a view of the road.

We finally made it to our trailhead after about an hour of driving slowly on the bumpy road.

The weather was beautiful and it was a lovely hike down to the river, along a narrow and not heavily trafficked trail that was basically switch backs down to gorge.

We found an awesome cave to play around in.

There were lots of little creeks and waterfalls.

We finally made it down to the river and spent a long time climbing along the boulders there. It was gorgeous!

Simon loves rock-hopping.

Our kids are so good at scrambling up rocks!

As it was getting late and we wanted to be able to get home before dark, we headed back up the trail around 4pm. Needless to say, going up was much harder than coming down. Simon needed to relax on a rock once we made it back up to the cave. We had a good snack break and mustered the energy to finish the climb up.

Back at the cabin, Simon got the worms out of the fridge and went right out fishing. This kid is relentless.

Although our accommodations were lackluster, it was a great little trip with a perfect combination of hikes: Lakeside fishing, up a mountain, down to a river.

On Sunday we just packed up and drove home.