Good Stuff: corn mazes, pumpkins, costumes, parades and even more birthdays

Fall is passing too quickly.

The leaves are falling, the morning frost is getting thicker and lasting longer, and nights are cooling off earlier.  Today I kept the fire in the fireplace going all day long.


: : Missoula Maze


My kids love the Missoula Maze.

It was almost impossible to figure out when we could go this year since the kids all have such varied schedules and the maze is only open a few day a week. We finally decided we'd try it at night this time, so we could wait til Israel was done with practice and join us.

The sun was just going down when we got there, so we still had a little daylight--enough for Lex to go through the little maze.

Israel and Andrew had to try it too.

Of course they totally cheated and just ran over the tops of the bales. Teenagers.

The kids also had to challenge each other to races through the obstacle course.

Azia & Zoran

Zoran was all about the competition.


Lex couldn't be left out. He jumped right in the middle of Azia & Zoran's race and tried to beat them both.

Lex just isn't a baby anymore. It's really sad and sort of cool all rolled into one.

By the time we got to the actual maze it was pretty dark. The kids all decorated themselves with glowsticks which made them a little easier to keep track of.

I went through the main part of the maze with everyone except Israel and Andrew (who we lost before we even started).

After a lot of wandering around I eventually lost Azia and Zoran, too, because they were tired of waiting for Lex and me. Lex was very excited at first, but after twenty minutes or so got tired and bored and then we went in the same circle about four times before we made it out.  ( Lex had decided he was done after about the second circle.)

It was still pretty fun though, and we found some random ears of corn to turn in for prizes, so we have some free food at a downtown sandwich shop we need to redeem at some point.

: : Studious Azia

Azia has spent most of her waking hours (when not at school) sitting doing school work this week.

Except she is easily distracted. (Which is largely the problem to begin with.) The tissue box was sitting next to her while she was supposed to be doing her book report. I came back in the room to check on her and she'd created a whole garland of ghosts. Halloween decorations are so much more fun than schoolwork:

The next time I left her working on math and after I returned from an ambulance call I discovered she'd painted a mask on Lex's face and covered his whole chest with a painted-on Captain America shield. Costume makeup is also more more fun than school work.

Azia has such a long list of things much more fun than schoolwork.



:: Bryce's Birthday


Azia following our wide path through the field to the best friends/ cousins a few yards away.

Bryce had his party Sunday. We're finally making it to the end of all the October birthdays.

These boys had the traveling party all weekend. Kellen's birthday is two weeks after Zoran's (and a week after Bryce's) so Kellen had his party Saturday. Cheyenne and Kristin took the boys up to Kalispell to stay in a hotel and swim and go to The Zone. They got back Sunday afternoon just a few hours before they all headed to Bryce's party.

Azia and Maysa. "BFFs" with whipped cream faces. I love how much these two love each other. Azia has all sorts of other friends too, many more closer to her age and many who have more in common with her. But for the past few months, she tells me all the time Maysa is her best friend.


And these two are pretty fond of each other, too.

Some times it's a bit scary. They are quite mischievousness.


The older girls organized all the games for the kids.

The three legged race was one of the favorites.

And the other favorite activity was not part of the party planning.  I looked over and the kids had escaped the fence and were climbing the baseball dugout and fence. They were pretty annoyed when I made them all get down.

:: Halloween

tearing into his Headstart Halloween treats

We had all sorts of Halloween fun  Monday. Of course Lex's favorite may have been the candy.

 We had two small superheroes, a gang of 1950s kids, and some sort of camouflaged sniper. (Or maybe he's Bigfoot?)

Gwen and Aodhan waiting for the Spook Parade at the school to start. 

The kids trick or treating. . . Azia showing off all her cool swag from trick or treating at Brandy's. Lex had a few bags full just from Headstart.

:: Day of the Dead

I took the kids down to the Day of the Dead parade in Missoula last night.

They had so many participants this year! It was a really long parade.

Of course Lex wanted to watch from the middle of the road. He was pretty into all the skulls and skeletons. I was surprised how much he liked it.

Azia was pretty into it too. Ms. Batichuck had talked to her about it at school, so she was pretty excited to see what it was all about.

Unfortunately Azia and Jenna seemed to have forgot that they live in Montana and that it is November. Also, it was nighttime. Luckily I grabbed them jackets, but when I looked at them when we got out in Missoula I realized they had ignored my telling them to go put on warm clothes before we left. Azia had a little skirt and Jenna was wearing shorts. Guess I should have actually checked. When I asked Azia why she didn't change she just said "I thought it was going to be warm!"

So they spent the first ten minutes or so while we were waiting for it to start sitting on the sidewalk like this.

Downtown Missoula  (in every season and at nearly any time a day) is one of those many things I miss about living in Missoula.




: : We've Survived October!

We made it through the end of this hectic month. October is always crazy: practices and games for two soccer teams and a football team; birthdays for Dad and me, the two boys and three nieces & nephews; dentist appointments;  Homecoming; teacher conferences and conventions; Halloween and Halloween parties,  and then just all the other day-to-day stuff that is always going on or coming up. I was thinking November was going to slow down a little and then I ripped off this calendar month and realized next is already just as packed and it's only starting. I forgot it's pretty much overstuffed days from the last of September through the New Year.

It's not a bad dilemma, though, this problem of having too many good things to do. 

And now it's full speed ahead into November, our superheroes leading the way. . .