Wow - how did Thanksgiving come around already? Time sure flies when you're having fun!
We always have a Thanksgiving Feast on the last day of school before Thanksgiving - and mom and dad get to come to school and have a Thanksgiving meal with us.
Here's dad and Sam eating together.
And here I am having lunch with my friend Daniel.
And one of my very best friends got to come back and have lunch with his family, including his brother who is one of Sam's best friends. This is me with my buddy, Carson. We were so excited to see each other again. He's going to a different school this year - and I really miss him!
Then came the actual Thanksgiving Day - we got to have a yummy dinner at Uncle Noley & Aunt Christy's. Sam and I even got to help carve the turkey.
Then there was some serious eating! Sam loves the family sweet potatoes!
And my favorite is the family stuffing. Delicious!
Then there was a lot of playing, a nap (mom!), and finally a yummy selection of desserts.
The rest of the weekend was spent at various family gatherings - a family breakfast, a weekend sleepover and just some good times all around.
Sam Alert: Hey everyone - Sam here. Enjoy a couple of cute pictures of me from this week.
First up - a typical piano practice session. Yes, that's me under that helmet. Dad cut eyeholes for me to see out of and boy, this helmet sure comes in handy . . . . in case I fall off the piano bench, or something . . . .
And then - we found this fun wig in Uncle Noley's toy closet. How do I look as a brunette? Handsome? Of course! Crazy hair and all - I'm just plain adorable!
We had some "firsts" over the last few weeks. The first of anything is always fun!
First Snowfall of the year. We didn't get much by way of accumulated snow on the ground. But it was enough to throw some snowballs at each other.
I was in my first Geography Bee at school. I won first place for my grade level (4th grade) and then the top two from each grade level moved on to the school bee. So I was in the top ten for my school. It was fun - and it made me want to learn even more about geography!
Sam and I got to go to our first hockey game. It was cool - loads of crashing and a very fast-paced game. It was loud too! We loved it!
Then we had our first piano recitals a few days ago. We are both doing really well at piano and picking it up quickly.
Sam played first - he played Yankee Doodle and Fire Fly. Our teacher, Anna, played with us both.
Then it was my turn. I played Copy Cat and Bugle Boy. We sound great, don't we!
Sam Alert: Hey everyone - Sam here. This is what I looked like for most of the hockey game. It was loud and my little sensitive ears hurt. But I loved the game!
And here I am getting ready for school one morning. My teddy bear (Bright Eyes) came downstairs wearing half of my uniform. Silly bear!
We had a great Halloween this year. Since Halloween proper was on a Saturday, that gave us some extra time for celebrating.
We had round 1 of pumpkin carving. We both entered our pumpkin carving contest at school this year so we did all our own carving this year.
Dad took lots of pictures of us carving - the facial expressions are excellent!
Enjoy!
See - told you!
Then dress up day at school was Friday.
Sam was a Knight in shining armor and I was a Cowboys football player this year.
Here we are on our way to school.
Then on Friday night, we did some trunk or treating with Uncle Noley and Aunt Christy.
It was "hard work" so I took a break to enjoy some candy.
Then we had round 2 of pumpkin carving. These are the pumpkins we grew ourselves this year.
And then there was some official trick or treating around our neighborhood.
We present again the football player . . .
. . . and the knight in shining armor.
Brothers!
By the way, this is what you do when you are waiting and ready to go out trick or treating but it isn't quite time to go. Reading is always a good thing.
Happy Halloween!
We went to the kids workshop over at Home Depot yesterday. We made some jets.
Absolutely no fingers were injured in the hammering this time.
It was a great time - we love doing this activity.
what is it they say . . . time flies when you're having fun!!!
Let's wrap up all the things that happened in the middle of our October.
First up - we finished with this season of football. It was a great season - both Sam and I really improved our skills this year.
Here's Sam pulling a flag.
And here he is after he pulled another flag. He really was a star player this year.
I loved football - I was aggressive - I had a lot of fun!
I played some great defense!
And I played some great offense too - here I am running the ball.
We can't wait until next season.
Next up - our annual fall vacation to Jackson Wyoming. We are lucky enough to have access to a condo for a week every fall in Jackson.
We stopped at Grandma G's cemetery in Star Valley on the way up. It is such a beautiful spot!
And, as usual, Sam and I get to drive the car on the dirt roads in Star Valley. Here's Sam - having fun!
And me too - we love to drive!
After we got to Jackson, we found out that they have built a new mountain coaster up at Snow King resort - - - and it was still open. It is called the Cowboy Coaster - and we road it 3 times. Here's me and dad going up.
Here's Sam and mom.
Mom made this video of her and Sam going down the coaster - enjoy!!! We sure did!
On the third time - I got to go all by myself - and drive!
It was A M A Z I N G ! ! ! !
Here's mom and Sam coming down.
We did some of our traditional things around Jackson that we love - we found the big giant bear chair.
We cracked some geodes.
We went to town square - and took our picture under the elk horn arch.
We went to our favorite bookstore and spent some quality time reading.
We went out to find animals - - and we found this beautiful bull elk.
We went to String Lake. Here's Sam balancing on the post.
I choose to sit on the post. I think I'm taller than the post now and that made me a little nervous.
Taking photos at String Lake early in the morning is a beautiful thing!
Here are the boys.
A family picture.
We went to Oxbow Bend - mom's favorite place.
We went to Signal Mountain (after a yummy breakfast at Signal Mountain Lodge - we close that place down every fall).
We took pictures at the "elephant tree". We've taken pictures here every year since Sam could barely walk.
Uncle Noley and Aunt Christy met us up on top of the mountain. Here we all are at the elephant tree.
We hiked around - found this cool old tree stump.
Here's another picture up on top of Signal Mountain. Isn't it amazing there?!
We threw rocks - lots and lots of rocks.
One more family picture.
More hiking around.
Then we had some more rock throwing time down at Leigh Lake.
We tried to skip rocks - we still have some practicing to do.
And - of course - I got wet.
Me - hanging out on the rocks.
There was a lot of football playing in the backyard.
And more football playing in the backyard.
There was some television watching - ah, relaxation time!
And there was lots of good food. We decided to try a bunch of new restaurants this year and ended up finding some yummy ones!
Here we are on our last morning in town.
The leaves were beautiful.
One more family picture at the Lander Cutoff on the way home. A wonderful vacation was had by all!
Next - we set up a playdate with some of our friends after school one afternoon. Mom took us all to Cornbelly's and we had a load of fun!
Here I am on the zip line.
Me with my friends Ben and Daniel.
Here we are, with Sam, bouncing. Poor Sam - his friend ended up not being able to come at the last minute and he didn't weigh enough to ride the zip line. The best part of the evening was when we ran in to some of other friends from school - Boston and Carson. We all had such a great time together!
Finally - yesterday we were able to meet up with Grandma L and some of our cousins at the pumpkin patch.
Here we are walking out to the pumpkins.
There's nothing better than sharing the work with a cousin.
It's always hard to narrow the wagon down to just the pumpkins we're going to buy.
Here is a family photo - so much fun.
This is something that we all look forward to all year long.
Sam Alert: Hey everyone - Sam here. Mason is on a robotics team this year and I get to tag along for some of their activities. We got to have a tour at Adobe a few weeks back. It was cool - what a fun place to work!
I loved our trip to Jackson. Mason and I love traditions and love being outside.
And I LOVED the pumpkin patch.
Sometimes it's just nice to sit on a pumpkin, relax, and do a little thinking.
Ok - Sam out. Have a great week! Halloween is coming up - I can't wait!
