Halloween/fall fun

Our traditional fall symposium:

The boys carved their pumpkins:

On Halloween, we went over to the Nieves's.  We trick-or-treated around their neighborhood and then had some chili for dinner.

Halloween is huge here and there isn't an age limit for trick-or-treaters, so Alison jumped in with the crew to get some candy.   It wasn't a big deal as everyone just had bowls of candy sitting on their driveway, with a sign of how many pieces to take.  It definitely changes the halloween vibe when you aren't ringing doorbells and it's still light outside.

 

Going to the pumpkin "patch"

It was a beautiful day to meet some friends at the pumpkin "patch". It didn't feel much like fall, but we were thankful for a dry day to get some pumpkins.  This patch of grass full of pumpkins is a farm to Long Islanders :)

 

 

Did you know that if we had gone to this patch of grass on the weekend, it would have been FULL of people, all who paid $30 a person to get in?

 

 

 

Eli was standing on his tiptoes...

 

 

The boys ran around on the playground for awhile...somehow I missed getting all of the other kids in the picture...

 

 

We also got apple cider donuts.  I hear the ones in Kansas were way better.

 

Bermuda!

{Jen's pictures}

We celebrated our 20 year anniversary in Bermuda!

The kids did an amazing job traveling to Kansas to stay with grandma and grandpa and Maya stayed with a new dog sitter, who spoiled her rotten.

Flying from New York to Bermuda turned out to be easy as pie.  We landed in the morning, but couldn't get into our Airbnb until the afternoon, so we camped out at a restaurant and had our first fish sandwich.

 

The main form of transportation on the island is by moped.   So, Ben picked up our moped and I took a taxi with our luggage to the Airbnb.  We got this little cottage on the water and this was the view from the patio.

 

 It was the perfect spot for dinner!

 

 And also had it's own little staircase to the water.

Honestly, the week kind of blurred together.  We had a blast exploring the island on the moped.  We found this spot and had a picnic lunch after a little walk.

 

The weather was not our friend and a tropical storm hit shortly after we arrived.  We were able to get groceries and make some meals in our Airbnb when it was too stormy to go out.   The owner even came over to give us tools if we need to close up the windows.  We had a couple of afternoons of scrabble (the only game the Airbnb had) and some Dark N' Stormy's (a local drink).

 

We also had plenty of time to read

 

One day, the rain had slowed down, but it was still pretty windy, so we went on a cave tour.

 

 

 

 

 

When the storm was clear, we had the most beautiful day.  We made it across the island to Horseshoe Bay.

 

 

 

Pink sand.  Crystal blue water.  Perfection.  

 

 

The next day we found this hidden gem and had this cove all to ourselves for awhile.  It was full of fish and sea glass.

 

 

 

 

It was a glorious trip and I will forever be thankful for our time there.

Cheers to 20 years!

School, activities and catching up

We changed "chapters" of our homeschool group this year.  Their format of co-op days is different and there are substantially more high schoolers.  It may not seem like much, but seeing a field full of high schoolers playing ultimate frisbee is a happy sight for me.

 

 Art time doesn't happen as much as it used to, but it's still one of my favorite times with my kids.

 Colin started taking guitar lessons!  It's so fun to hear these 2 play together!

 

And both boys are playing basketball this year.   It's also so fun to watch!  Their friend, Damian, even joined the team and they often stay after practice to play some more.

 

Colin has been obsessed with ramen, so we made a homemade batch for lunch one day.  Perks of homeschooling!

   

And a short break from school one day to get ready for Halloween.

 

 Alison and I went to see the Taylor Swift Era's movie.  Alison said it was one of her best days :)

  

 Big news!  Alison got a job at Starbucks!  The branch across the street is almost done being renovated and Alison will work there when it opens.  Right now, she's finished orientation and will start training this week.

Ben invited me to join him at a black tie event in the city.  There was a gala for Healing Waters (a non-profit that teaches veterans fly fishing) at the Metropolitan Club.

 

 

After a 4 year break, Sea Cliff hosted their annual Mini Mart.  It's like the Lawrence Sidewalk Sale on crack.  There is nothing mini about it, as it was estimated that 20,000 people descended upon our little village.  The porch pickers played for a few hours in the morning.