Halloween 2019

November 2, 2019 10:09 am

On the 30th we worked on carving our pumpkins. Which means I worked on carving pumpkins since everyone else thinks it's too gross cleaning out the inside of pumpkins.

Heather developed a cat-like design for her pumpkin. And Jess helped Corinne with a friendly-face design for hers. My design comes from the recently released game "Untitled Goose Game" in which you play a goose that terrorizes the neighborhood. Honk!

And costume pictures:

We started trick-or-treating at 6:30. The neighborhood seemed to get busiest around 7:15. Heather was scared of any decoration that looked like it might have the potential to move suddenly. Corinne was scared of any house without any decorations. But we made it down one side of the street, back up the other, and then back to the house. Then the girls were exhausted and Heather helped hand out candy while getting ready for bed (seems to be her favorite part of Halloween).

Dad's Retirement

April 6, 2019 9:58 am

Last week, we went out to Connecticut to celebrate Dad's retirement (March 29).

We arrived the night before in secret and spent the next day decorating. All the kids (and many of the grand kids) surprised Dad at his office in the afternoon. Erin, Mollie, and Megan sang a modified version of "For the Longest Time."

We spent the evening at the church building for a party. There was food and cake, the kids ran around like loons, and we played "Jobs Dad has had" Wheel of Fortune (minus the wheel).

Road Trip 2018: Craters of the Moon National Monument

December 9, 2018 7:44 pm

After our science-y adventures we finally reached Craters of the Moon National Monument.  I can vaguely remember going here as a kid at some point.  And I think we recreated that trip almost in its entirety.

I can remember hiking up Inferno Cone and the deceptiveness of the climb.  When you think you're just about at the top you find out the trail just levels out for a moment and the angle hides the rest of the cone.  Heather and I went to the top....

While Jess and Corinne waited at the bottom:

We saw the snow at the bottom of Snow Cone:

And look, pictorial evidence that I was on this trip!

That evening we had dinner at another Culver's, this one in Twin Falls:

And we pushed on to Elko, NV and found a hotel with a pool for the girls to do some swimming.  The next day it was all the way home and the Great Road Trip of 2018 was finally over.