Camping

Their Boy Scout pack decided not do to a fall camp-out like they have done in the past, so Brian decided to take the kids camping on his own. He bought some new gear (portable grill, water jug, etc) and they packed up and off they went to Branched Oak. They spent the afternoon putting up the tent, then they went geocaching. That is pretty much a treasure hunt using GPS and an app on your phone. People hide the caches wherever they want to, then enter the GPS coordinates on this website and you can try to find the ones close to you. Sounds like they had luck finding several! They did lots of hiking and walking. They played some yard games, grilled hot dogs for dinner and tried to see the moon out of our telescope, but since it was so late rising they didn't stay up for it very long. They had a good time! Luckily, the weather cooperated for them, fairly warm and no rain!

I ended up staying home and giving our house and laundry the attention it needed. I did a lot of laundry and a LOT of cleaning. I did go out with some girlfriends for dinner, but otherwise, I mostly worked! 

A Weekend Getaway

Brian's cousin Patrick got married in Ames, IA in September. We went there for the weekend. We drove up on Saturday morning, the wedding was in the late afternoon. The kids had a great time drinking Shirley Temples and dancing at the reception (and they stayed up waaaaay too late). We let them swim the next morning, went to brunch and then took off for home. On the way back we stopped at Carol Joy Holling camp in Ashland, which is a Lutheran summer camp. They had a fall festival. We mostly went so Brian and I could check it out, because we're considering sending the kids there for a week this summer. They had crafts, s'mores, and the like. The boys waited in line for 2 hours to do a zip line. Grace and I did crafts and took a hayrack ride/tour of the grounds during that time. It is a fun place, I think they would enjoy going there!

The only two pictures I took at the wedding. The top is Ellen, her mom, Patricia and my kids. The bottom, all the cousins.

A couple pictures of the boys doing the zipline. This was a real zipline, and they loved it. It made the 2 hour wait totally worthwhile!

Husker experiences

OK - A thousand apologies for not posting in a month and a half. No excuses really, except I just forgot! I will attempt now to update you on our fall with many pictures and minimal words...

Early in the season, Grandma Ellen invited Will to a Husker volleyball game - they have season tickets.

That's not a great picture of Will, but he had a good time!

A few weeks later, on a Saturday morning. Brian and I were wondering out loud if the football tickets to McNeese state would be cheaper the morning of. We ended up looking on StubHub and he decided at the last minute to take the boys to the football game (Grace had a soccer game and couldn't go).

Their seats were in the west stadium, under the over-hang, so they were in the shade! They got to eat hot dogs and snacks and had a great time. Grandma Ellen went with them. 

Not to be left out, we got tickets to the Illinois game from Curt and Renee, so Grace and I were able to go. Unfortunately, the start time for that game was 8pm. Needless to say, she didn't make it much past half time and was ready to go home and go to bed. Since it was a night game, I had Brian drop us off and pick us up (that is definitely the way to navigate downtown during games). Here are some pictures from Grace and I's football game experience.

This was our view of the "Fear Ameer" by the band. We couldn't see it very well, the view from the big screen was better! 

Grace and Xander also got their chance at a Husker volleyball game this past weekend - pictures on that to come!

Thanks to everyone who gave us tickets so the kids could experience Husker games for the first time. I know I always enjoy them!