Trick or Treat 2016

This is a bad picture, but her nails looked really cute.

Nothing like waiting until the last minute. She's the only one who carved a pumpkin this year...and she did it about 2 hours before trick-or-treat.

 

Tyler wasn't feeling well and opted to stay inside and hang out tonight. He didn't feel like carving a pumpkin either, so he let Danielle carve his since it was bigger than hers. (When you wait until the last minute, there aren't many big ones left!)

Finishing Up October

October was a busy month.

School volleyball is now over. There are 2 divisions in our conference. We were the champions in our division, but we lost to the winners of the other division. So, I think the girls finished 16-1. They had a banquet last Monday to bring things to a close. Now we can look forward to club volleyball, which is much more rewarding for Danielle. Club try-outs were Saturday morning. She will be playing for the same club she's played for the past 2 years.

Tyler marched in his last regular season football game this past Friday. They will still perform in the playoff game, but they aren't adding any more songs. So, he is done with after school practices and is looking forward to having a little more free time. He thoroughly enjoyed marching band, though, and did a great job. It was so fun to watch him. Thankfully our football team is pretty good, too, so we got to enjoy a little football as well. They finished the regular season 9-1, and most of the wins were blow outs. Tyler will be heading to Philadelphia and NY with the band over Thanksgiving, so he still has that to look forward to.

He's the 5th one from the left.

He's the 2nd one from the left. He lost his plume early in the show. Someone else lost a hat and he said a couple people fell in the mud. So, the plume was rather minor in the grand scheme of things. :)

Danielle's softball team played in a one day tournament a couple weekends ago. They didn't do very well overall, but Danielle had a pretty good day. She had a beautiful diving catch in centerfield that, of course, I didn't get a picture of. We were supposed to play in another fall tournament but the coach decided he didn't want to, so we put an ad out the following weekend for Danielle to sub on another team. A really good team invited her to play with them in a one day tournament, and they ended up winning the whole thing. The girls were exceptional, and it was a really good experience for Danielle.

 

This was the team she subbed for. They have players from 3 states on their team.

 

My brother adopted two sweet little kitties. He let Danielle go with him to help him pick them out, and she is very much in love with them. I think he is, too.

I took some pictures for a friend at her daughter's baby gender reveal party yesterday. Danielle has discovered how much fun photography can be. She came with me and was a huge help. Plus, she's very good company.

Now we're looking forward to Halloween tomorrow night and then on to November.

Today's Pic

Field Trip

Danielle got to go on a field trip during the school day today for selling a certain amount of items in a recent fundraiser. This is where she spent her day:

Thank you to everyone who bought something so she could go. She was disappointed she didn't get to pick who she hung out with and didn't end up in a group with any of her friends, but she enjoyed the tour and not being in school. She also enjoyed teasing Tyler with pictures of the band room.

Wrapping It Up

Tonight Danielle played the final regular season volleyball game for school ball, and I can't tell you how glad I am that this is almost over! Her team has tournament games on Saturday and then one night next week if they win everything on Saturday. School ball has been quite the disappointment for us. They finished the regular season 14-0 and also won 4 scrimmages. That sounds good, but the competition was really nonexistent. You wonder how other teams could be so terrible. Surely if they just practiced after school for a couple hours they would be at least a little competitive. We do have good players, but ugh. The new coaching staff has been a bit of a disappointment as well. There have been many nights when Danielle has come home from practice close to tears. But...Danielle has played well and has had a good attitude. She displays good sportsmanship and is a good team player. She has had 2 hour practices or games every week night since mid August, so a couple free evenings will be nice, too. Club volleyball tryouts are in a couple weeks. It will be nice to be on a competitive team with a coach who better knows how to develop the players and foster teamwork.

Parade Time

Tyler's band marched in the Italian Festival this past Sunday. The parade includes a band competition but since they won last year, they couldn't compete again this year. They did get to play, though, and they sounded great! It was the first time they've been in a parade since Tyler's been in band. I am still so amazed every time I watch him. I know he was hot and tired from marching all that way, but he never let up. That trumpet was held high, the feet never stopped, and he played his best. I just love watching him. It's a perk that the band sounds so good, too!

Ron and I went to the festival early to get some lunch before the parade. Danielle had a softball scrimmage so she didn't go to the parade with us. We got there before the food stands were officially open, so we sat on the steps to a church and enjoyed the sites. This sign was at the top of the stairs. We noticed later that it still didn't deter people from sitting there to enjoy their meals.

I liked the fresh bread display. I posted one picture the other night. Here is another.

Ron's lunch. I had baked lasagna. We listened to an adult band play a variety of Italian based songs while we ate. It was actually very enjoyable.

Here are some pictures from the parade.

Thankfully there were folks with shovels following the horses!

He's the first person in the 2nd row (from the front).

They have fun cadences. They are so fun to watch.

He's the first person in the middle row.



This is one of my favorite band pictures of Tyler. The sun flare on the bell of his trumpet makes it look even neater. Photo creds for this one go to Ron!

So Me

From the freckles to the faces that get you in trouble, there's no denying she's my kid!! ;)

Today's Pic

Tyler's Bday Gift

Tyler's birthday gift from Uncle Ron was an hour long introductory flight lesson. He had his lesson today.

Tyler's flight instructor was Mike, who is a surgeon by profession. He was very easy to work with. We mentioned that Tyler thought it would be neat to fly over our town, so Mike looked at the map and decided they could do it. He also offered to let Danielle join them since he had an extra seat in the plane and hadn't met the 1000lb limit. (The weight limit includes everything the plane carries, including fuel.) He showed Tyler how to check the fuel to be sure there wasn't water in the tank and that the right type of fuel had been used. He showed him the engine and had him go over the plane with him for his preflight check. Then they tucked into the little plane, settled their headphones, and took off.

Ron and I watched them take off and then walked past the hangars to the old control tower where we could hear the pilots talking over the radio. The kids said Mike wasn't sure exactly where our town was, so he headed the plane in the right direction and trusted Tyler to find the right landmarks. He eventually spotted one of our town's water towers.  (Tyler took over the controls shortly after they took off.) They circled over our neighborhood and both of the kids' schools. They flew around a bit more and then headed back to the airport for a smooth landing. They had a great time! Even Danielle, who was a bit hesitant, really enjoyed it.

That's our development off the tip of the wing.

Thanks, Uncle Ron!