Schenck Forest for Black Friday

 On the day after Thanksgiving, we did our usual avoidance of shopping centers and headed for the trees. We went to Schenck Forest for a hike after breakfast. It's a very pretty hike through a fern-filled forest. The first half of the hike went well, but Simon, wearing a watch, had arbitrarily decided that we should turn around and head back at precisely 12:00pm. So when Zac and I insisted we continue until the end of the trail and we didn't head back until 12:26pm, Simon had cried and been very upset with us. Alice was also very moody. The pictures always make it look like we're having fun, and often times we are, but there's a lot of strife and misery as well.

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Simon was very happy again once we were home, had eaten lunch, and he could play Jenga on our front porch with the neighbor while wearing a bicycle helmet like a totally normal person.

Thanksgiving

 We started off Thanksgiving right: having pumpkin pie for breakfast! Then Zac and I cooked and cleaned the rest of the morning to prepare for hosting Thanksgiving. To give credit where credit is due, Zac did most of the cooking. I just put the ingredients in the bread machine and started it on time.

The meal was delicious!

Simon spent most of the day with his chosen family: the neighbor kids and their visiting cousins.

In the evening, we had a bonfire (not pictured).

Yates Mill Pond with Izzy and Natasha

 Because I absolutely love fall hiking, I try to schedule as many hikes as possible this time of year. On Saturday, Alice and I met Natasha and Izzy at Yates Mill Pond for a fall hike. Then Alice went home with them for a sleepover. Here are the obligatory tree pictures we take every year at this place.

Leaf Pile of Fun + Fire Fun

 Simon and Liam had great fun playing together in the giant leaf pile this weekend.

Later that night, Simon invited the neighborhood kids over for a fire in our backyard. It wasn't very relaxing for us, as we had to keep them from stabbing each other with their fire spears, but they had fun.

Basement time!

 Now that it's dark and cold out after supper, the kids always clamor for "basement time." It's when Zac goes in the basement and plays with them in that brief time between supper and bedtime snack. They play a version of soccer with a giant yoga ball, and various other improvised games, plus lots of general rough-housing. Sometimes they blow up the bounce-house.  As I'm upstairs cleaning up supper, packing lunches and cutting up fruit, I always hear lots of squealing and screaming.

School, at home

 When I was sweeping, I found this little set-up Alice made on the floor of the art room. Apparently Darth Vader is teaching class.

I found this on the desk: Simon had made his own color-by-number picture.

Jordan Lake fall hike - New Hope Trail

 We went hiking with Jess, Rosa and Anna on the trail we hiked on all last winter: New Hope Trail at Jordan Lake. It's a truly wonderful trail. It's not too far away, never crowded, plenty of parking, a restroom...Plus, the hike itself is the perfect length for an afternoon excursion: it's about 3 miles long (although it always feels like at least 5 miles). It has great views, fairly interesting terrain, and a variety of places to stop and let the kids play for a bit. 

Simon practiced his rock wall climbing skills on the bottom side of a fallen down tree's root system.

Simon is really good at skipping rocks.

Neighborhood litter pick up

 Our neighborhood HOA organized a community workday for Saturday morning. We volunteered to pick up litter. We went all up and down the main road where people might just throw trash in the woods (as opposed to someone's front yard). Zac had the foresight to have us bring the two wagons. We had one adult and one kid plus a wagon on each side of the road. We got A LOT of trash, even although a lot more must've been obscured by the fall leaves. We stopped to unload at the dumpster a couple of times. The funny thing was that Simon wanted to keep all the best treasures he found, such as a small bottle and a couple of balls. It was a beautiful day and we were glad to help keep our neighborhood clean, in addition to teaching the kids about doing volunteer work.

Simon's weird meals

 We will never not be amused by Simon's bizarre self-prepared meal combinations. He's like that hungry caterpillar in the Eric Carl book.

Halloween

 This year we resumed our normal Halloween tradition since moving to this neighborhood: Gathering at Andrea's for pizza then trick-or-treating in her end of the neighborhood. This year, Jess, Rosa, and Anna were added to the group.

Here's a picture from the first year, 2017. It's  Glenn, Genevieve, Murphy, Alice, Emory, Simon.

This year: Simon, Anna, Genevieve, Alice, Izzy, Glenn (Murphy is somewhere...but not in the picture)

The kids like to trade candy afterwards. Alice doesn't like most candy, so she gives a lot away.

Hemlock Bluffs fall hike aka "The Great Mushroom Massacre"

 I took the kids, against their will, to nearby Hemlock Bluffs for a little fall hike. They resist hiking these days, which makes me sad. Part of the problem is that their hiking styles are incompatible. Alice likes to hike, see the next thing, move, move, move. Simon likes to stop and play, stop and climb, stop, stop stop. So at any given time, one of them is whining that we're moving or stopping. I just try to focus on enjoying being out in nature.

It had rained recently, so there were lots of mushrooms in the forest. Simon had brought his rubber band sling-shot, initially with the plan of hunting squirrels. Since the squirrels were scarce, he turned his attention to shooting the fungus among us. I didn't worry too much about his mushroom destruction, figuring they grow fast and mentally equating them with weeds. However, when we were leaving the park and I saw a sign posted saying to leave all the mushrooms alone. I felt very guilty then. Simon single-handedly destroyed at least 70% of the mushrooms within sight of the path. Oops.

The kids generally refuse to cooperate with pictures, and make horrible faces instead of smiling. Apparently hugging trees makes them want to smile, though.

Simon loves these little lichen bugs.

Screens

 Alice's obsession with screens is a bit out of control. We still limit her screen time, of course, but she's very addicted. We have to yell at her a lot to get her off in time for supper.