Halloween 2016

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This Halloween was a blur, as we spent the first half of the day driving back from the wedding. We’d stopped in Freeport overnight, but that meant 3.5 hours of driving with two wound-up kids and two tired parents.

I considered skipping trick-or-treating this year — I think the kids would have been OK with that — but after spending the majority of the day cooped up in the car, it was a relief to walk around and stretch my legs. After we got home, I told the kids to put on some costumes from their costume stash and we were off for the candy hunt.

Gwen went as a ladybug (note the pants are inside-out and backwards, a personal best), and Ellie went through a few costume changes before she settled on the above, claiming she was a maid.

Can’t tell they dressed themselves, can ya? 😉

Summer adventures

The end of a season is always bittersweet. On one hand, I adore fall and all the wonderful things that come with it; on the other, it feels like summer flew by. The hottest days were relatively few and far between up here in the north, there was not nearly enough lake time, and I could have taken a few more weeks’ vacation and not felt the pull of work.

The kids are clinging, driving both their father and me nuts, so it must be time for them to go back to school. Tomorrow we’ll put them on the bus and restart the school-year routines. I feel entirely unprepared and frazzled. I may be in a bit of denial, particularly with regards to Gwen, who turns five in two days. So many mixed emotions!

September also begins a three-month-long string of events that will probably make the rest of the year fly by. There are work trips planned to British Columbia and Spain, my brother’s wedding, more home improvements, birthdays, and holidays.

It was a good summer, a solid summer. Looking back on these photos and thinking about everything we’ve done, it’s clear we made some new memories. Bring it on, autumn. We’re ready for you!