We were a bit disorganized with the pumpkin carving this year. Simon carved two (the first one rotted too soon). Harrison helped. I don't know if Alice ever even carved one. We failed to really take pictures of them.
We had a neighborhood "Haunted Trail" in addition to our traditional trick-or-treat party at Andrea's.
Alice started year-round swimming in September and had her first swim meet this weekend. She did great! She was very nervous though. The swim meets here are different in that the teams are huge and the kids are mostly swimming for their best times, rather than any sort of team competition. The meets are also spread out over several days. It's a bit ridiculous, to be honest.
Alice's transition to middle school has gone really well. She's learning to play the flute and work on managing her after-school time for both flute practice and swim practice. She gets herself up at 6:15 am, gets herself ready for school, and waits for the bus (accompanied by Zac) around 7am.
Alice and Simon were among the select few invited to Izzy's birthday party / dinner party this year. Simon had no qualms about being two years younger than everyone and the only boy. But I also didn't point it out to him and he probably didn't even notice. Natasha arranged a treasure hunt for the kids, the played outside on the trampoline, and we had a lovely dinner.
I had to pick the kids up early from school to go get their flu shots, but we had a bit of time to kill before the appointment, so we stopped by the flower fields at the art museum for a bit. It was beautiful!
