Weekly Happenings: There were two main events that happened this past week that were pretty fun. The first one was the neighborhood party we attended at our park for National Night Out (a night meant for neighbors to get together and know each other a little better) this past Tuesday. Our HOA always puts together a great event at the park. This year was no different. There were tables for vendors (many who are also people who live in our neighborhood), the local petting zoo was there, first responders showed up, there was a balloon artist (one of Joseph’s favorites, for sure), the middle school band performed, there was a DJ, and there were food trucks to make sure everyone stayed well-fed. We had a lot of fun. 🙂 The other fun thing we did was to actually hike out to the dinosaur tracks in Government Canyon yesterday. Paul and I were not sure Joseph would make it (it is a five mile hike there and back, after all), but he managed to walk about three of the five miles. Paul would intermittently give him shoulder rides so that his little legs could get a rest. While looking at the tracks, we could hear a wild hog oinking somewhere farther off in the brush. This was sort of funny because we had just finished telling Joseph we didn’t have to worry about them coming out in the middle of the day (for some reason, he worries about running into one each time we hike there). Luckily, we didn’t see it (they can be mean if they feel threatened). After we finished, we celebrated by having In N’ Out and getting Joseph a Happy Meal. 🙂
The Weekly Weather: It’s been sunny and warm for the most part. Friday, we had a good-sized storm move through that brought cooler temperatures and quite a bit of rain. It only lasted a day, though, before everything was back to normal. 😉
What Paul’s Been Up To: Mainly keeping busy with work, school, and house/yard maintenance. Oh, and he helped me add Halloween decorations to the fall decorations we already had up. 🙂
What Sarah’s Been Up To: Mainly keeping busy with Joseph, piano teaching, and baby-growing. 😉
What Joseph’s Been Up To: Mainly school, the occasional homework, and enjoying childhood to its fullest (playing with LEGOS, paying outside, playing dress-up, etc.).
This Week in Pictures:
Our tried-and-true Halloween door decoration.We added Halloween stuff (mainly spiders) to the fall stuff on the piano. I love that I can flip the two craft pumpkins.The white one has a Thanksgiving saying that I keep facing out during September and November. For Halloween, I just flip it around and drape spiders over it. The orange one usually stays flipped around in September and November (so that it looks like a plain orange pumpkin) and then gets flipped in October to show the Halloween scene on it. I love multi-functional stuff!A spiderweb cloth centerpiece and a green and black bucket add some spooky to the table (I also pulled back out the bright green napkin holder since it matches).Orange lights under the breakfast bar create a spooky glow. You can also see the massive amounts of basil Paul pulled off my basil bush, er, I mean plant. 😉 I ended up blending it with olive oil and freezing the concoction in ice cube trays so that I can keep it in the freezer and add a bit of basil to things (or make pesto) over time.One of my favorite spots of the house. I love when Paul does this to our bookshelves. The jack-o-lantern lights are on a timer, so they turn on and off on their own.Spooky ghost lights.A Halloween doormat, some jack-o-lanterns, and a light-up skeleton round out the bunch. I like that we go for fun and slightly spooky for our Halloween stuff. This way, Joseph can enjoy this time of year without being too freaked out.His school shirt came in! He was excited to wear it, even though it’s a bit big. He’s got plenty of room to grow into it, I guess. 🙂Pausing in his playing to smile for Daddy while at National Night Out.Playing on the bridge at the park.Petting a bunny.Enjoying his first taco truck taco.Sampling some shaved ice…while looking directly into the sun, apparently. Whoops.When Joseph asked the balloon artist for a snake, I was intrigued to see what the result would be. The artist overheard Joseph talking about a certain Pokémon (a purple snake), so when Joseph asked him for a purple snake, this is what the result was. We were all rather impressed.My on-site handyman can fix pretty much anything.A new hook Paul hung up in our kitchen, so I have a better place to hang my dishrag while it’s drying. I love that Paul let me splurge on a “pretty” one as opposed to going with a purely utilitarian one.They clearly have a common love of LEGOS. I love that they can spend time together doing stuff like this!Hiking out to the dinosaur tracks. I wish the entire trail was like this (this part is right next to the park’s visitors’ center). There were parts of the trail that were level and dirt, but a lot of the trail was rocky and sort of challenging to navigate at times.The actual trailhead to the dino tracks.Taking a rest mid-hike. Between a pregnant momma and a 5YO, we took a lot of rests, actually. 😉A sign near the tracks, explaining different species that may have left the tracks.A cool cliff near the tracks.Paul and Joseph in front of some of the tracks.A theropod dinosaur left these tracks.He was really excited to get to see them “in real life”, as opposed to seeing the pictures that Paul showed him from when the Scouts hiked out here not too long ago.Those big indentations were left by sauropods, most likely.Joseph created a “guy” who was eating all his mini Pokémon figures…this kid’s imagination…
