Carving Pumpkins

We got our pumpkins a week or so ago. We were out for dinner and decided to stop by the grocery store to get them on the way home. There were lots of pumpkins to pick from, and it was convenient, so that's what we did this year. Both kids went to a pumpkin patch & corn maze with friends last month, so I don't think anyone felt like they were missing out. We did document our 2017 pumpkin patch experience, though:

This afternoon we carved our pumpkins. Tyler's is supposed to look like a zombie from Unturned. I've never seen one, so I don't know if it does or not. Danielle's is supposed to look like a softball with her number in the middle, but I think it looks more like a football. Like always, Tyler didn't want to touch the guts and Danielle threatened to rub them on him. He called her names, she touched him with guts, etc. Good or bad, it's tradition.

 

 

 

 

 

What We've Been Up to Lately, Part 3

Although Danielle chose not to play school volleyball this year, she has been keeping busy training for softball. She is still taking hitting lessons once a week. She is also going to a strength, agility, and quickness class twice a week. The class is taught by someone who played football at the Ohio State University and for the NFL. It is hard work, but she really enjoys it. It should help her be ready for track when that season rolls around again, too.

Last weekend she had 2 tournaments. I couldn't go to her tournament on Saturday because I had to transport Tyler to the school for his band show. She played center the whole day, but not many balls made it her way. She lead the team in hitting for the day. They lost in the semi-finals. If I had to miss a tournament, I'm glad it was that one because the tournament on Sunday was so exciting!!

Danielle played short for a couple innings but spent most of the day at center. She had another great day batting, but it was her fielding that was so fun to watch! One of the parents uses a gopro to record the games. His daughter is a catcher, so putting it right behind the backstop gets most of the action for them. We got some video footage from it, which Ron compiled into a short highlight clip, but it is much harder to see the centerfielder. It is better than nothing, though, so here it is:

The double play was awesome because she was still in the grass but her throw to the catcher was spot on. The very last catch in the video was awesome not only because it was a pretty good hit but also because it was hit by a school ball teammate and that was that girl's only out all day. :) The other two catches, though. Oh my goodness. I so wish I had been taking video. I was sitting across from the outfield and had a much better perspective. In the third clip, the ball looked like it was going to be way past Danielle - definitely an in-the-park homerun. Danielle took off at an angle and at the last possible second, when it looked like there wasn't a chance she was going to get it, she leapt into the air, stretched out her arm, and snagged that ball right out of the air. It. Was. Amazing. And then the very next out she gets by making a sliding catch and almost makes a double play. It was a great catch, too. [Both catches (and her hitting/base running) were so good, in fact, that the opposing team's coach sought us out later in the week to see if Danielle might be interested in joining their team for a national tournament next summer.] We ended up coming in second in that tournament, but it didn't matter. Our team played well, Danielle played great, and it was a beautiful day for watching softball. I certainly felt like I won. :)

Here are some pictures from Sunday:

What We've Been Up to Lately, Part 2

Marching band season is quickly coming to a close. We so enjoy watching Tyler march. He takes it so seriously and works very hard at it. Our last home game was last Friday. Our last regular season game is tomorrow. We made it into the playoffs, so we will have at least one more game next week. We enjoyed having Ron's parents and my mom, Jack, and Ron watch the home games with us. The weather was unseasonably warm most of the time, and it was just a nice atmosphere.

The band participated in a band show on Saturday. Tyler's band is considered a showcase band, as opposed to a competition band. The band show included other bands in the same category. It was a really fun evening with a lot of great entertainment. Here is my favorite song from our band's performance that night.

Our band director went to high school at one of the schools in our conference. That school's band was also in the show. When the show was over, our band and that school's band took the field to perform 2 songs together. They stood still for one song, but here is the song they marched to. They practiced together twice before performing it at a football game a few weeks ago but haven't practiced together since. I love it.

Danielle had a softball tournament the same day but she and Ron rushed over to make it in time for the show. The three of us had a really nice time watching the show and Tyler, and Tyler enjoyed performing. It was a great night.

In addition to band and softball (which I will address in the next post), Ron has been keeping himself busy with fishing. He decided after vacation that he wanted to learn to bass fish, so he has. I admire the way he learns a new skill. In this case it's fishing, but I've observed this is how he handles most situations when he wants to learn or improve. He gathers as much information as he can - online resources, videos, asking experts, social media, talking to friends, etc. - tries to apply the information he's gathered, and then makes adjustments based on his own experiences. I am impressed with his patience. His bass fishing has improved considerably over the past couple months. Here is his latest and greatest. It's kind of hard to tell in the picture, but most of the fish is actually on the ground next to his shoe - his size 13 shoe! He weighed it; It was a 5lb monster! He was pretty proud of himself.

What We've Been Up To Lately, Part 1

My brother ran a marathon the weekend after the Italian Festival Parade. My mom spent the night so we could get up early the day of the race and go watch him. Despite training for months, things didn't go quite as well as he had planned. He pressed on, though, and finished all 26.2 miles. His time wasn't nearly what he had hoped it would be, but sometimes the victory just has to be in the finishing. Or, as one of his runner friends said when they were exiting the course, "Sometimes you just need to cross the line and get your f@#%ing banana." It probably summed this marathon experience up nicely for him. As for me, I enjoyed hanging out with my mom, cheering my brother on, and having lunch out together afterward.


Still feeling good.

Thinking about dying.

Not an ideal time but still faster than those ladies in pink who only went half as far (although they do look like they are enjoying it more than he is). ;)

Almost done

I know Ron. He didn't hit his goal this time, but he will keep training and racing until he does. And we will be in the stands cheering him on.

That same weekend the metroparks displayed the photos entered in their contest. Danielle was too old to enter anything in the children's category, so she didn't submit anything this year. I submitted 4. 2 of them I picked because I liked them and wanted to share them even if they didn't win. 1 was the kids' choice for me to submit, and 1 was because I thought it would win. And it did. It came in 2nd place. They hung the picture the wrong direction, which I found frustrating. (Look at the raindrops! There's no way the drops would look like that if the petals were vertical rather than horizontal.) Danielle and I joke that they always pick a black & white picture as a winner in the flower category, so we thought it was amusing that it won just like we thought it would. Since this is the 3rd time I've won, I have to enter the advanced photography category from now on. Time to up my game. ;)

 

Bye, Bye Butterflies

Yesterday I released my last monarch of the season. This was the last of 21 I just released. In all, I released around 70 this summer. It was a good monarch season for me this year.

 

This was a couple weeks ago.

 

I planted Mexican sunflowers this year, and the monarchs loved them!

 

 

Clara watching a monarch take flight. She really wanted to eat it.

 

Busy Band Week

Tyler had a busy week with the band last week. On Wednesday, the band kids left during 1st period and were gone until the last period of the day. They went to most of the other schools in our district and played for them. They always do this during homecoming week. It's a fun day for the band. They get to spend the day playing, seeing old teachers and little kids who think they're a bid deal, and they stop by the park for a pizza picnic. That evening there was a homecoming parade. Every year the homecoming court is in the parade, the band marches in it, and every fall sport from k-12 rides a float. The kids in the parade throw candy. The kids watching the parade scramble to pick up as much as they possibly can. Everyone knows everyone. It was a really nice time and made me thankful once again to be raising our kids in a small town. After the parade there was a bonfire at the high school. Tyler had to play for that, too. Wednesday was a very long day for him, and he was dragging by the time we picked him up to come home.

Tyler is the 2nd from the right

Each week the band learns and performs a new song. Here is the one they performed at the homecoming game Friday night. I thought this was an especially fun song, and I really enjoyed watching them perform. For most of the song, Tyler is the second kid this --> way from the kid in white.

 

 

 

On Sunday the band competed in the Italian Festival marching band competition. They won the competition two years ago and could only perform in it last year since they were the previous year's winner. Tyler said there are judges all over the place - from the time the band gets off the bus, in the staging area, throughout the parade route, in the performance tent, and stationed at other places - all to anonymously judge the band on their behavior in addition to their performance. They sounded amazing yesterday, but they didn't win. They did win best drum line, though. And Ron, Danielle, and I had the most amazing pizza ever! Mmmm!

 

 

Some of their cadences are fun to watch. I like the one where they turn around while marching, but I didn't get that one on video.

 

 

 

Danielle says band is Tyler's happy place. I agree with her. He is certainly in his element, and I love watching him.

Homecoming

Our homecoming was this weekend. The dance was yesterday evening. Tyler asked a girl from band to be his date. Her parents dropped them off at a restaurant so they could have dinner out, and then picked them back up and took them to the school in time for the dance. He had a very nice time.

The lighting didn't seem to cooperate for my pictures, but I thought he looked very handsome. His date looked very pretty, too, and they looked very nice together. It was fun watching him figure all this out - from the asking out, to the clothes, to the nervousness of meeting her parents, etc. He's a good kid, and I'm glad he could have a fun evening out with his friends.

Getting some help from dad.

I asked him for a sock picture. :)

Interestingly enough, this picture popped up on my FB timeline yesterday. It's from 5 years ago. I cannot believe how much he's changed in so little time.