Happy Halloween

From Mando, Bob the Minion, and Sylvie the Loki variant.

(The spider pumpkin)

With Halloween on a Sunday, it was a pretty lowkey day--Peanut and Daddy had carved a pumpkin the day before, church, kids catching up on things all afternoon, Daddy-o had to go into work (we've had some complications with work--his one employee got a new job, but has been staying on for Saturday and some Sundays, and he though he had someone new starting this past week, but then she ended up bailing at the last minute because SHE got a better offer, and so Daddy-o is stuck on Sunday duty until he can find someone else. Not ideal at all.)

Then, after a quick dinner, we met up with our group of friends that we've trick-or-treated with every year since we moved here. It was a little subdued, and as the kids have gotten older, they're not so into the trick-or-treating as they used to be, so they only lasted an hour before people were done, but it was nice to get one last walk around their neighborhood before Bean isn't with us next year and even more of the kids are done with this (we already had some protests from one of the older girls who did NOT want parents coming along this year, haha. But this being a family thing is kind of our thing. The adults like going out for a walk as much as the kids like the candy.) 

And then, that was it. I guess better than last year, with the trick-or-treating in our hallway.

Trunk-or-Treat

 This might be the first time we've actually decorated our trunk for one of these. Peanut got excited about the idea of doing a Harry Potter themed trunk, and we still had our little HP corner from Hogwarts homeschooling last year, so  I was pretty excited to move it to the trunk (and then back into storage until someone's 11th birthday next year.)

It turned out really fun and a lot of the kids loved it. I even threw on my robes to hand out candy. Although there was one little boy dressed as Harry Potter, who was completely confused when I asked him if he'd finished the 9 inch scroll I had assigned. Turns out he hasn't actually read the books yet, so he had no idea what I was talking about and just told me that it was the weekend so he didn't have any homework, haha.

And after they had made the rounds of the trunks about half a dozen times, they had the biggest candy exchange I've ever seen. What was probably the most amazing was how many kids were trying to trade away their chocolate! Kids are crazy.

There was also some actual dinner in there at one point, too. Daddy-o took 3rd place for the chili cookoff (and scored a box of Hot Tamales), and we had a little live entertainment.

One of the missionaries serving in our area used to do fire dancing at Disney World and Universal Studios and he came and performed for us. It was pretty impressive!

Boys Polo

Can't leave Bug out of a conversation about water polo. He finally got his first real season--his rec league season was cut short by Covid, and then, last year, when the high school was finally able to start sports back up, they planned a short season in the spring and he ended up having to quarantine for half of it, so this has been a couple years in the making.

But he made the most of it. He made Varsity this year and was actually one of the starters all season. It was a huge learning year for him--the game is a little different at the varsity level, both in skill, and strength, so he worked really hard trying to get up to speed. 

He had some beautiful assists and great goals (although not as many as his coach would like--that was something he kept pushing--you can't score if you don't shoot, so just take the shot, even if it's not the perfect set up.) And he's learned to steal and block. As one of the faster members of the team, he's good at getting back on defense.

And just like with Bean, this has been a fantastic way to make friends in high school and get to be a part of something really fun. Bug loves going to practice, and those friendships have expanded beyond the pool--a lot of the kids he hangs out with at lunch and outside of school are from the water polo teams. It's been a great way to break into high school--perfect since he missed most of his freshman year.

And also just like Bean, the coaching has left something to be desired. The boys get worked a little harder in practice, and their games didn't look quite as lopsided, but I really wish we could see what these kids could do if they had great coaches. But over all, Bug had a great season and it completely hooked on this game.

 

Water Polo Senior Night

Last game of the season--time to honor the seniors. I can't believe that we have one of those seniors. Bean has loved playing water polo. It's probably the thing she is going to miss the most from high school.

Being part of this team has been such a great experience.

And getting to co-captain the varsity team with her friend, J, this year just made it even better. 

These two girls have worked so hard to make this team the very best they could--from helping all the new girls feel welcome to working with those new players on whatever skill they were struggling with to coming up with what they needed to focus on in practice that day.

There have been some difficult things about this season as well. The coaching at our school is pretty awful. They've been short-changed with only one coach, no assistant, to run both the Varsity and JV teams, and this year, we actually had a full roster for both, so it meant about 30 girls at practice. 

That would be a lot for any coach to manage alone. But combine that with a lack of knowing HOW to coach--its meant a lot of confusion, not as much learning, and a LOT of losses. It's been a little demoralizing for some of the girls.

BUT, one thing their coach is good at is team bonding and helping these girls to come together as friends. They had pasta feeds almost every week and spent a lot of time and effort (probably more than wise) on polo pals and posters and fun stuff for each other. 

The water polo teams at our school have a history of being pretty friendly places and Bean and her co-captain worked really hard to keep that going. 

Overall, she's definitely glad that she played. She's learned a new sport, had so much fun being part of this team, and gotten pretty tough in the water. 

(She hates that she bites her lip when she's focusing--she's been doing this since she was tiny, so it's just a cute reminder of our little Bean for me.)

She had some pretty great moments this year, with fantastic blocks and steals, and a backhand goal in this last game. (She wanted that so bad. She hadn't scored for a couple games and wanted to finish the season with one last goal, and then, came down with a pretty bad cold the day before, so wasn't feeling great and was worried that she was going to play really poorly, but she pushed through and had a pretty good game against a tough team, and got a beautiful looking goal in the last quarter.)

And I'm just going to finish with this--the varsity team's Ole cheer--one of tho moments of sheer joy for these girls each game. This is the part I hope she hangs on to.

Early Rain

Early rain this year meant the creek was running! It didn't last long, but we had water for a few days, and hope that this will be a good season. Rain in October is always happy news.

Peanut and I got out for a walk so we could enjoy the puddles from the night before.

And then we hung out down by the water for awhile, racing sticks in the creek and collecting nature treasures (which Peanut ended up with too many of and we had a very difficult walk home, but it all worked out in the end and those treasures are now safely stored in our shed, waiting for the day that I get tired of them and put them out in the yard under some bush, haha.)

 

Russian Ridge

Two hiking days in a row? Yes, please!

We got to check out a new park--Russian Ridge--where we found this cute little pond.

Not a bird in sight, which was a little disappointing, but it was still pretty.

Cattails are always fun.

Then, after the pond, we met up with friends for the rest of the hike which included a chunk of Bay Area Ridge Trail for me to cross off. And I didn't get anymore people pictures, haha. I kind of hate that I take so many pictures of the random daily moments, but then, sometimes, when I get to see friends that I hardly ever see, I forget to take a picture. But maybe that's okay because I'm just enjoying getting to be together. So, here's some cool lichen.

And puffy clouds over the hills.

And tree-lined trails. It was a beautiful hike and we had a great time getting to catch up with J & J. We're hoping we can make it a regular occurrence.

Find Fall

Nature Explorations in Redwood Regional Park this week was absolutely magical. We lucked out with misty weather, but no actual rain, and even a few pops of glorious colors. We talked about how redwoods grow from a tiny little seed to the tallest trees in the world, they drew redwood cones and leaves, and then, it was time to head out on our hike.

I love getting to meet up with friends twice a month to hike and just be out in nature together. It's been great to encourage friendships, and gets us out doing things that just aren't always as fun on our own (Peanut definitely feels this way--he hasn't complained once about hiking on these trips, but I hear plenty if it's just the two of us ;) ).

And to be fair, his friends are more fun than I am, haha.

This isn't an old growth forest, but it's still beautiful.

After the main trail, most of the group had splintered off to make their way back to the parking lot, but one other family stuck around with us to head up into the hills and circle back on a longer trail. We had lunch on a log at the top and then meandered back. It was a perfect way to spend our Friday. We're kind of doing a four-day week this year, except that we often listen to audio books in the car, and I totally count hiking and exploring nature as school, so it still counts.

 

First and Last Homecoming

Bug got to go to his first high school dance. He went back and forth for awhile trying to decide if he even wanted to go, but he started hanging out with this group of mostly water polo players and they were all going, so he decided to do it and I think he had a good time.

He's grown up so much this past couple years. So handsome!

And his friends seem like a fun group.

I'm glad that after last year being mostly at home, he's been able to find some kids he likes and that he can do things with on the weekends.

And after I finished up at Bug's friend's house, I ran over to Bean's to catch the tail end of picture taking over there. These girls are great and I love that they have made high school so fun for her. 

This gorgous girl is starting all the lasts. . .last first day, last high school homecoming. It's going to be a year of counting down to that big last day of high school.

But for now, she's just soaking up every little bit of fun. They missed out on a lot the past 1.5 years but they're cramming it all in this year. These girls go out to lunch once or twice a week, have been going to all the football games, and getting together whenever they can on the weekends. I keep crossing my fingers that Bean might end up at the same college as one of them. There are a couple who are applying to some of the same UCs, so maybe they'll get lucky.

Woodpecker Sightings

Nature group met up at Sycamore Grove this week to learn a little about woodpeckers. 

We started off with a scavenger hunt around the native plant garden while we were waiting for everyone to get there.

And then we did a little nature jounrnaling before we headed out. It can be hard to journal on the hike, and often the kids are too excited about everything they are seeing and climbing and running around, so I thought we'd try doing a quick sketch first while I talked to them about some woodpecker basics.

I brought along pictures of the birds, which in the case of live animals, is also so much easier than trying to draw a bird that is moving around. They seemed happy with this arrangement.

Best part of it--we actually found some woodpeckers on our hike! I was a little nervous since with animals, you can't really guarantee they'll be there, but we lucked out.

I did know that we could find the trees of the acorn woodpeckers, which is cool enough on it's own. the kids were pretty fascinated, and I shared how they search for the just right hole, and then come back later when the acorn has shrunk a little and move it to a new hole, always keeping them in tight spots.

The kids got a chance to be woodpeckers. I brought oatmeal raisin cookies, ballpoint pens, and toothpicks. They were challenged to get the raisins out using the pen to break off the cookie like the bird breaks into the tree with their beak, and then the toothpick to pick out the raisin like the birds use their tongues. The kids really liked doing this, and then most of them ate the cookie crumbs.

That inspired a lot of practice being woodpeckers with the actual acorns. They found sticks and actually pried out quite a few. I hope the birds weren't disappointed when they came back. I tried to get the kids interested in finding just right holes for them after, but that didn't sound as fun.