Halloween Craft Night

Since the school quarter ended Friday, we had an unexpectedly quiet Thursday night and decided to do some crafting. We began with waxing leaves. I accidentally included a black crayon with the melted wax, so the leaves came out black, but we decided they looked cool as spooky leaves:

We moved on to making a Halloween cookie house:

The final product was not a work of art, but we did have fun.

Candy Corn Trail Mix

This was one of our bucket list items (actually two, because we popped old fashioned popping corn on the stove to use as part of our mix).  It was tasty and we enjoyed it while watching the Charlie Brown special (this candy corn was very sincere):

Abby volunteered to pop the corn, looking up directions on her phone. It sure is handy to have a teenager

Fall Paint Night

We went to Muse and did fall scenes:

Little Blue Friend

Benji said this Blue Henry cousin needed a nap:

Perfect Fall Day

With few real obligations last weekend, we decided to tackle some of our bucket list items and generally just enjoy the finally-fall weather. The kids had their flu shots, which we followed up with a free Harry Potter themed escape room at the library. It was pretty easy (and we finished it "significantly" more quickly than anyone else, apparently), but still fun:

From the library, we headed out to Crabtree Falls in Nelson County. We had hiked the falls last spring and enjoyed them, but had stopped before getting to the end of the trail because it was getting dark. This time we decided we would go all the way to the top (Crabtree Falls is the tallest waterfall on the East Coast):

Going up

Abby raced ahead, but Benji stayed mostly with us

From the top of the falls

It was a gorgeous view at the top

The kids stopped and let me take some pictures on the way back down

We had to go off-trail to get this picture

The kids would not join us off-trail, but when I looked up I caught this snuggle

First beautiful fall foliage

More pops of color

You can see three levels of falls here

 

 

After 3 hours of hiking, we were worn out but decided to press on to Harrisonburg for dinner and a corn maze by moonlight. We briefly thought we had made a mistake as everyone was hangry before dinner, but it turned out to be a wonderful evening on the farm:

The maze theme this year was the Wizard of Oz

Every group was required to check in with the maze master and carry a tall flag

About to enter the maze. We got good and lost by not using the map to start, but eventually made our way to a corner where we could orient ourselves and then use the map to get out

Benji really liked the corn slide that went underground

Abby liked it too

In His Office

Benji likes to call this little space in his closet his office.  He often goes in there with a flashlight to think or work on projects:

Field Hockey Senior Night

Field Hockey's last home game was last week and, as per tradition, it was also Senior Night to celebrate the players who are graduating. Abby had a great time with all of this and participated whole-heartedly to celebrate the graduates:

The Sunday before the game, the younger players painted the graffiti wall

Creating the tunnel for the seniors to walk through

Closer up, so you can actually see Abby

The JV players lead the cheers during the Varsity game

I love to see how happy she is

Random shot of B.E.R.T. guarding the water cooler during the post-game tailgate potluck

Scout Apple Harvest Festival 2018

Kevin and Benji went out to this event last Saturday, which turned out to be a beautiful fall day:

Lasso station

Watching bottle rockets with Solly

Yankees Jersey

Last week was Spirit Week at CHS, which Abby took very seriously. Monday was jersey day, which caused her a lot of stress. The only jersey we own is an old Yankees one from kevin's closet, and she rejected it as too big for her. She ended up borrowing a UNC basketball jersey from our friend Jodi, but then wearing her sweatshirt all day to cover it up because she does not like UNC. To add insult to injury, the principal offered a free t-shirt to anyone wearing a Yankees jersey, so Abby had regrets about her decision. I would not say he was rubbing it in (ok, maybe he was), but Benji gleefully donned the jersey that evening after Abby related her tale of woe:

Homecoming Dance

Abby went with a group of friends. They had dinner at her friend Elisabeth's house first, and then she slept over at Lucy's house after. She's become quite the social butterfly!