Christmas prep got started a bit early this year. The kids were super excited about trains, two trees (sigh!), and lots of decorations.
RJ's favorite drum had been missing a drumstick for 6-7 years, but Sara stumbled upon it! With two drumsticks and a lanyard, the kids made enough noise to be a full marching band.
For the history of the drum, see: http://dougsara.blogspot.com/2012/12/merry-christmas.html.
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Julia imitates RJ's 1 year old pose |
While RJ is playing hockey, Julia has been practicing piano. Steady progress is starting to show!
With off-season rates in effect, the family decided to try 9-holes at the Whitetail golf course. This was Sara and Julia's first time on an actual course.
On a gorgeous November day, we showed up late so we wouldn't get in the way of any real-golfers. From the very beginning it was clear we were NOT golf pros. After loading our clubs into our carts, we took off towards hole #1. Unfortunately we headed in the wrong direction and ended up closer to hole #3. Then using the map, Doug figured out we were at the end of hole #1, so we drove back to the beginning.
After the first tee-off, the course marshal drove up to us and gave us some pointers on how to make things a little more enjoyable. He was very polite and nice as he suggested some ideas on how we could finish the course before midnight.
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RJ putts while Julia tends the flag |
After 3 hours of golfing, we managed to get in 7 holes. This included the following highlights:
After all was said and done, RJ looked pretty good as a golfer and declared
it was the best possible way we could have spent the day!
RJ and Doug got another round of 9 holes plus 40 minutes on the practice green. RJ's main complaint was that we didn't play 18 holes. Thank goodness for winter rates.
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RJ chips onto the practice green after we played 9 holes |
Halloween 2020 involved sweets, costumes, treats, trick-or-treating, candy, pumpkins, cookies, and more sweets. The neighborhood gathering was cancelled (bummer since Halloween was finally on a Saturday), but there was plenty of people giving out candy.
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RJ carves "Door Prize" which was appropriately rated as
challenging |
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At the end of the night we ended up with a living room full of candy. I didn't take a picture, but a picture would not have done the situation justice anyway. |
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The garden was a success this year due to some awesome dirt from Grandad and the lack of an extended summer vacation trip away from home.
The team braved a cold wet day to sell butternut squash and bags of peppers. Towards the end of October we were still getting lots of butternut squash, lots of peppers, some tomatoes, mint, kale, and some tiny squash.
The family spent an entire day climbing playing in the woods. Mr. Brad found an old abandoned bike trail which the gang decided to rejuvenate. The trail featured many turns, a jump, 3 bridges, and a stream crossing (almost).
Here are a couple pictures from the stream crossing.
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| Kids add rocks to fix the broken bridge |
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| Classic Construction Scene - 1 worker / 5 supervisors |
After twelve years, we are still having fun ...
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| Whitetail house, skiing, and Covid-19 |
Or put another way ... after 15 minutes of picture taking ... a Julia tantrum ... and 30-40 pictures ... this was the best we could muster.
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| Selfie stick photo |
