Kite Flying

We seem to have no shortage of wind out here in the desert, so last week we made the most of it and went kite flying. It was Desert Boy's first experience kite flying.

You can see from the expression on his face that he thought it was grand. He crashed the kite a bunch of times...

but he managed to keep it up in the air most of the time.

I wasn't sure if the really thin thread on our dollar-store kite would hold up, but it did. In fact, we definitely got our money's worth!

Kite flying is something difficult to appreciate in still photos, so here's a little video:

Playdate

We headed over to the gym last Saturday morning for the kids to run - or crawl - off some energy. Isaac and Emma can really get around now.

It's always nice for the kids to have a good place to run. I am always envious of all the energy they have!
Emma was thoroughly enjoying herself.

Charlie and Desert Boy thought rolling basketballs was great fun. For about ten minutes. Then it was on to the next activity!

That included Nomi and Charlie dragging Desert Boy around the gym. He wouldn't let go, he thought it was the best game in the world.

I wonder if I can clean my kitchen floor that way?
I gave Emma a ride on a little bike. I had to stay relatively close to her, so I ended up with lots of photos of her.

It was a little dim in the gym, so most of my other photos came out fuzzy.
Like this one, Jenny pulling Ava and Charlie. This is always another favorite. I imagine we'll be appreciating the gym even more as we enter the colder months. It's so wonderful to have a place to go!

Ready for Winter

I couldn't resist sharing this photo. They're all ready to go outside and play!

Mud Boggin'

I finally downloaded all the photos from my cameras and found that I had some that I had forgotten about. Like these, from a walk I took when Desert Boy was in preschool. I took Desert Girl in the stroller and decided to take a different route from my usual three-mile loop.

The weather was overcast and it had rained recently, so the desert smelled great.

Nearly all the roads in the area are gravel, which isn't a problem.

It was when I got to the dirt roads that I had some trouble. Because water + dirt = mud.

I take the jogging stroller about everywhere, but this trip was a first - I literally couldn't go any farther. The mud bogged the stroller down so much that the wheels wouldn't turn.

At all.

When I pushed, the entire stroller just slid in the mud.

The stroller weighs 45 pounds empty. And Desert Girl is pushing 20 pounds, so I felt like I was getting a very good workout.

I quickly decided I had better turn around and get back to the gravel road.

Desert Girl was blissfully unaware of all this.

The mud on my shoes was several inches thick, making it not only hard to push the stroller, but also hard to walk.

I had to laugh at myself. It's not often we have to deal with mud, and I was obviously woefully unprepared.

The clouds over the recently harvested fields were a welcome change. They made me glad that I had tried a different route, even if the mud had impeded my progress. Sometimes you just have to try a different path. The stroller still has little bits of dried mud on it from our little adventure, reminding me of the fun walk.

According to the weather reports, we're going to be seeing some more clouds in the next few days, with maybe even some white stuff coming out of them. We've been enjoying some wonderfully warm autumn weather, with golden leaves blowing in a southern breeze and the warm sunshine caressing our faces. I think we'd better get the hats and gloves ready.

Goodbye, Indian summer! We sure enjoyed you while you were here!

Halloween Hayride

Last year our community had a hayride for Halloween, and it was so fun that we decided to do it again this year. What's more fun than trick-or-treating? Trick-or-treating with your friends!

All ages were invited, and cute little Aron had the candy theme going right from the beginning.

Little Miss Emma was adorable as an ear of corn. She was also fairly immobile, so it was a good thing she was tired.

There were some great costumes.

I had my long underwear and coat on, but some of the trick-or-treaters didn't seem to feel the cold air.

Desert Boy was so happy to hang out with his cousins. He doesn't really know who Dumbo is, so he just told everyone he was an elephant. The costume was perfect for keeping him warm and letting him have plenty of mobility.

Some of the costumes were a little scary, while others were just so darn cute that you couldn't help but smile.

Our hayride was a little delayed, so we started walking to our first spot to go trick-or-treating.

Then the surprise hayride appeared--an old fire truck, lined with hay bales. It was a first for everyone!

In the community center the bright lights let everyone enjoy the costumes, and there were plenty of treats for everyone to start out the night with a sugar high. Yum.

The Halloween dessert before the ghosts and goblins dug in.

Carol did a great job getting into the spirit of things and having the center open for all trick-or-treaters. Because we have a lot of people who wanted to give out treats but live out of town, this was a place they could come to stay warm and enjoy the trick-or-treaters.


I love this costume!

It started getting dark. Everyone piled on top of the fire truck and off we went, visiting most of the houses with lights on in our community. Living in such a small place we don't have to decide what neighborhood to trick-or-treat in, we just go everywhere!

It was a fun evening, and the nice weather was very welcome. Hopefully we can do it again next year!