Halloween

Zara made their own Totoro costume - which doubles as a really super cool hoodie. As a senior, they got to wear the costume to school and trick or treat at the various advisories. Amity will get to dress up at school next year (8th graders are the seniors of the LV) but d/t soccer this year, we didn't know if she was even going trick or treating until the day before. Luckily practice was cancelled, so she was a cactus and Ansel was a venus fly trap. Notable this year, Z went trick or treating with Isabel (Mario in the above picture), A and A went to Catherine's house, and Wes and I stayed home, gave out candy (in between rain showers) and had a lovely "grown up" dinner. We've defiitely moved into a new phase of halloween around here, but a good time was had by all.

Apple Picking

Kiddos had a day off from school, so in between play rehersals and soccer practices we took a super quick jaunt up to Carter Mountain. Drank hot apple cider, ate donuts, picked apples, admired the beautiful place we live in, etc. Just your typical early fall, late morning jaunt.

Ohio College Visits

We all had a blast visiting Oberlin - how could you not love a school where the halftime show features the Taiko drummers, and a member of the women's varsity soccer team also happens to be a drummer?

Here's Z in Tappan Square.

And A posing, too.

Amity's favorite part was definitely "the grass" aka the practice field she trained on while Z and W toured campus.

We also played soccer while our other half toured Case Western... and posed on signs.

Corn Maze for Days

Amity was surpsingly devoid of soccer games this weekend, so we took advantage of the lull in her schedule to venture out on a full family college visit to Northeastern Ohio! But first, we stopped for some afternoon adventures.

This maze came with a pretty comprehensive map, and it turns out at least some of us a very good at map reading. Amity seemed mildly annoyed that Zara and Wes were running the show, but every time she was offered an opoportunity to map read or lead, she basically declined. Below is a re-creation of what it tended to look like when we'd stop and plot.

However a good time was generally had by all. It was a beautiful day, and it handily broke up the drive between C'ville and Oberlin.

The maze was fun, but since they marked all 18 places you were supposed to visit in order to complete the game, it was really no match for our mad skills. There was a smaller subset that had unmarked clues, but we smiliarly conquered that quest, too.