What October Looked Like

We've started playing an app called Among Us.

Caroline was the first one to get into it,

but Whitney and I like it a lot, too.

It's kind of like Werewolf online.

So fun.

Victory!

Over General Conference weekend,

we went on family walks between sessions.

Caroline is getting better on her unicycle!

She gets a little better every day!

Whitney has been working hard on it, too,

but still needs a lot of support.

Conference cinnamon rolls.

So yummy!

FHE Jackbox games

Marianne had mentioned she was going to be in Charlotte,

so I suggested that we meet for lunch.

So fun to spend a couple hours with her and Eden.

Conference coloring

We've been getting takeout every Friday night.

This week, we decided to actually GO to the 

restaurant and eat in Qdoba's outdoor seating.

It was the perfect evening for it.

Whitney was having dinner with Lauren,

so we missed her.

This BIG praying mantis hung out on 

our front porch for a couple of days.

The girls have still be cooking one night a week,

which I LOVE. For her meal this week, 

Caroline chose plant-based burgers.

We tried both Beyond and Impossible.

They were both good,

but I think Andrew and I liked the Impossible burgers

more than the girls liked the Beyond.

Dave and Buster's is open again!

Yes!!!

I've been heading over there most Wednesdays and coin pushing.

I love it!

I even managed to complete one of my Star Trek card sets.

Caroline's pajama pants from Grandma Sweat.

So cute.

We've been taking C to the tennis courts with us once

in a while. It's so fun to play with her!

She's improving!

Natalie and I got to play together on a 6.5 combo team.

I love playing with her!

Our team stinks. Stacey and I are the only 3.5s on the team.

But we've had a lot of fun anyway.

HALLOWEEN!

With COVID and older kids,

no one went trick or treating from house this year.

Andrew didn't want to hand out candy, either,

and be exposed to all those strangers.

So, we kept our lights off and watched

The Nightmare Before Christmas and

Hocus Pocus.

But, for one of our YW activities, we 

had a virtual costume party.

Caroline dressed up as her Among Us character.

Whit was Coraline.

They were both really happy with their costumes.

It was fun to hit up Goodwill and try to piece them together.

Whit and I went for a walk to the nearby

creek on a beautiful fall day.

She found a leaf as big as her face!

We've had some really mild October temps.

It has been fabulous.

The girls and I did sidewalk chalk art on the driveway.

Caroline drew all three of our Among Us characters:

Me (lemon), C (buildybear), and W (Whit)

We also drew some fruit monsters

We carved pumpkins.

The results:

A pumpkin house, mummy, Boo Covid, and an owl.

Care Bear

Drew

Me

Whit

Also on Halloween, we cleared the leaves from the backyard.

So.

Many.

Leaves.

I think it was 18 bags full, plus a trash can full of sticks.

There are still more leaves to fall back there,

but it felt good to get rid of the first round.

If you look close, you can see geese flying in a perfect V!

Andrew and I have been going up to the park and running routes.

It's so fun!
When I saw the video I realized that I don't look

nearly as athletic in real life as I do in my head. Ha!

Fall Adventures in Virginia

I don't like the way the new blogger format puts my pics in reverse order.

Ugh.

I tried clicking on them in the wrong order this time,

hoping that would fix the problem...

No such luck.

The girls and I had THE BEST time exploring in Virginia on a random Friday in October. We had planned to go with Andrew on Saturday, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we ended up going without him. The girls are still doing school completely online. And one of the bonuses is that they don't have any live classes on Fridays. So we can go on adventures!

As we were driving around rural southern Virginia,

we came across signs for a Sunflower Maze.

What. the. heck?

We'd never heard of one, but I thought that sounded 

amazing, so we drove around until we found it.

And it was awesome!

Jumping pad

Swings

Slides

Launching apples.

I felt like we were doing a Survivor challenge.

Caterpillar.

This guy was cute.

But we saw some others that were CREEPY.

These things were gross.

After we got home, I googled them and found out

that they actually turn out to be a really cool-looking

moth called a White Sphinx.

That made me slightly less creeped out.

And so many beautiful sunflowers!

Oh, it just made me happy to walk around!

We made it through most of the maze, but

just enjoyed the view of all the sunflowers.

We thought it was interesting that almost all

sunflowers just have the one bloom, but this guy

had a whole bunch.

The pre-formed blossoms remind me of artichokes.

This place was called Doe Run Farm in Ararat, VA.

We loved it and I think all of us would like to go back!

Before the sunflowers, we got to have another first-time

adventure: apple picking! I'm not sure why we've never done it!

We were apparently a little late in the season.

Some of the orchards that I called were done with you-pick

for the year. But Windy Hill Orchard said we could still come.

Yay!

We saw a whole bunch of wild turkeys there.

Look at how full some of the trees get!

It's crazy!

We had a great time picking.

But it's stinky.

So many of the apples have fallen to the ground

and are fermenting. Smelled like beer.

We picked Fuji and Pink Lady Apples.

Some of them are amazing.

And others are not.

I'm happy we did it, but next

time we probably don't need to pick ten pounds.

The man who took our picture also let

us borrow his dog for the picture.

Hilarious.

Ready to pick!

We were there right at perfect time for leaf peeping!

The ride was gorgeous.

And we got to drive on the Parkway for a bit.

Our third adventure for the day was at

Grayson Highlands State Park, also in Virginia.

We had such a great time there last year that we decided to go back.

I was curious to see if we would see ponies again.

It was a PERFECT day for hiking.

The weather was gorgeous.

It's a fairly easy hike on the Rhododendron Trail.

Two and a half miles round trip.

We got to see ponies again!

Lots of them!

Maybe ten or so.

They are not afraid of humans AT ALL.

I loved this one's mane.

They are SO cute.

It's kind of unbelievable that they just wander around

in the mountains, munching away on the grass.

This guy walked right up to us.

So cute!

And chunky.

More caterpillars.

Wooly bears this time.

 So happy to share these adventures with my girls!

We finished an audiobook on the way out,

Other Words for Home.

And then they listened to my audiobook for learning

Spanish with me. :) Grateful for this beautiful world.

And a hard-working husband who helps fund our adventures.