Happy Halloween Week!

Raven's Halloween week started this past Friday with a costume birthday party. She dressed up as a vampire - a pretty good one, if I do say so myself.

Then Saturday was a busy day of Halloween fun. We had the annual Morey Halloween party, the kids were a "pair-o-dice" for the party and will be again tomorrow for Trick-or-Treating.
Saturday evening we took our Brownie troop to the Camp DaKaNi Haunted Hayride. It was a bit more haunted than any of us leaders expected :) The girls had fun - if you want to check it out - here's the blog that I keep up for our troop. (click on that link & it will take you there)

We have a GREAT dozen Brownies this year!

Raven is getting quite a bit of of scouting this year, maybe it's her age, maybe a new troop dynamic, who knows.

On Sunday, my birthday, we spent the day as a family in the car going to Altus to pick up the buffalo parts (head & hide) from the processor. I hear that the meat will be ready this weekend, but Ben is going to hold it for us for a week or so - we are splitting it with the Crawfords. Here's the link for JB's interview the day of the auction at the Wichitas. He was a local celebrity when we stopped in Frederick on Sunday for lunch!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Luke's Bobcat & High Seller for Den 2

This past Thursday at Pack 90's meeting, Luke received his Bobcat badge!

The custom in this Pack is a face painting ceremony. It was really neat and Luke enjoyed Mom painting his face :)

They also announced the top popcorn sellers for each den, and Luke achieved that for Den 2. That meant that he got to pick someone to "pie" in the face. He wanted to get Raven, but she hid and they didn't want to let kids-pie-kids, so it was Mom by default; I think that Luke enjoyed it a little too much :)

Way to go, Luke!

Quartz Mtn Saturday

While JB & Ben rock climbed with ropes, Raven, Luke & I hiked up Quartz Mtn. It was a great hike and a good combo of hiking trails, bolder hopping and navigating around while off the trail. The kids were great! Luke found this little alcove that the kids took a brief rest in - and it was a nice view from there, it took a bit of coaxing to get Raven to make the rest of the trek up the mtn. We had a snack at the top then headed back down.
Another day of wonderful fall weather.
The Quartz mountain area was teaming with people, as was the Wichita Mtns, for Fall Break. We (me & the kids) were fortunate enough to not run into too many on our hike, the dad's not so lucky :)

Me, the kids & a buffalo on Mt Baldy

Raven, Luke & I hustled up Mt Baldy on Friday while JB & Ben looked for caves on top of Elk Mtn. The dad's didn't have much luck finding the caves they were looking for, but we found a lone buffalo on the way down Mt Baldy. The fall weather was wonderful! It was a great day for a hike.

JB's Wheeler Peak Summit

Wheeler Peak NM'>Click here to see all 27 of the pics.
JB will update with his commentary later. I don't know what all to say except - what a view!

Spirit of Survival

This weekend was our family's 1st 5K run, Spirit of Survival. We enjoyed the weekend with the Crawfords in Frederick.
JB, Ben & Felisha got up before the sun on Saturday to head to Medicine Park for the 5K up Mt Scott. I brought the kids over for the family 5K at noon.
Everyone finished their races, the dads did a total of 10K - 5 up Mt Scott & 5 with me & the kids.
It was a great event and our families had a great day on Saturday in Medicine park and the Wichita Mountains. I think we are all hooked and look forward to our next run.
Luke wanted to win, but towards the end, just wanted to finish. He ran with JB and they finished the 5K in less than 40 minutes. Raven & I took longer, but this was my 1st 5K and longest distance since knee surgery (ever actually).
Delia & Ben did really well too. Delia ran across the finish line like a little trooper!
As far as the 5K up Mt Scott goes - wow! Ben, JB & Felisha did GREAT! If you're interested in finishing resluts - they are posted online.

SOS part 2

Here's Ben & Felisha finishing the Mt Scott run.
And Raven Luke and Delia at the end of the Family 5K.
Then the kids at lunch at the Riverwalk Cafe in Medicine Park following the races.
It was a GREAT day!

Raven's Special Sunday

The tradition in the United Methodist Church is to present Bibles to 3rd graders each year. Raven received her's Sunday, September 21. She was excited about the day and to make it better, Jeni asked her to help serve communion. That was very special to Raven. We are very proud of our girl. She is growing so fast!

Family Fun Night @ CT

Luke loved this bouncy-thing! It reminded me of the summer show "I survived a Japanese Game Show". After many tries in the middle of the velcro Luke decided the trying the side was a better idea . . . check out the video.
He also made good use of the ER room with head, neck and eye injuries :)
I didn't get pics of Raven because she was busy being a girl with her friend Kesha.
It was a very good night!
After returning home to see Dad, we decided to head to the Drive-in to see Clone Wars. All in all a good Family Fun Night.

Something fun - Myachi

I saw this today - seems reminiscent of the hacky sack, but more like a mini-bean bag. It's called a Myachi. Looks like they are available locally at Mardel's.

Fall Picture Days

This week is Picture Days at school. Decided to have the kids coordinate their color's this year. They both got hair cuts. Raven was happy about hers but Luke HATES getting his hair cut.
Just had to throw in this pic of Jake, too. :)

Luke, the Cub Scout, in a Wolf Den . . . .

Luke had his 1st Boy Scout - Cub Scout meeting today. And boy was he ready! He has been at more Girl Scout meetings than any boy should ever have to endure! (He has been a very good mascot though, and we are very proud to have him help out when needed)
Luke makes quite the hansom Cub Scout, if I say so myself :)
Boy Scouts is quite foreign to me, but I am ready to jump in and get Luke all scouted up! Raven & I have been Girl Scouting for 4 years and Luke sure has been a good sport and been a partner to many a girl when we were at odds. (odd # of girls that is)
We Love You, Luke! Thanks for many years of support and we are excited to support your Scouting now!!!!! Love, Mom & Dad.

OK Fair 2008

JB had the afternoon off on Friday, so we checked the kids out and spent the afternoon & evening at the fair. (remember when we used to get a day out of school - a real "fair day" and they would send tickets to the schools for the kids to get in free!)
It was a great day for us. Sunny with a nice breeze and a few clouds. The buildings were forgettable, but we got the arm bands so that we could ride as many rides as many times as we wanted. The kids really took advantage of that on the log ride. Since we got there relatively early, there were virtually no lines. After 6 it started to get crowded, but it was still fun. The Roc&Roll got the better of JB & Raven - they were both a bit yellow when it ended.
Toyota had a 4-wheel course set up w/ either FJ's or Tacomas to test drive - we tried the Tacoma. They had a guy that sits in the passenger seat telling you how to take the hill, bumps and inclines - the truck sat at a 30+ degree angle - pretty impressive - JB says that the FJ can handle even more, but I don't know if I can :)