Halloween and Early November

On Halloween (a Monday this year), both the high school and elementary school kids were allowed to wear costumes to school. I thought it was nice that the big kids could have a little fun. Jack dressed as Spiderman. A lot of kids tell him he looks like Andrew Garfield, so he thought it would be funny.  Anna dressed as a flapper, but didn't wear it to school (a decision she later regretted). Luke was a general leading a dinosaur army. However, he did not go to school. He was feeling sick the day before and had thrown up on Sunday morning. We kept him home just to be safe, but he was fine. Kara was not allowed to wear a costume to school, poor middle-schoolers.

Jack had basketball tryouts from 5-6:30. That added an extra challenge into the day with having to make the drive to drop off and pick up. But, of course, we made it all work. Kara was not interested in trick-or-treating, but she put on her old cow costume and passed out candy. I walked around with Anna and Luke and enjoyed seeing all the kids in the neighborhood while Thomas picked up Jack. When Jack got home, he quickly put on his costume and joined us. However, Luke was a little slow in his costume, so Jack and Anna abandoned us to cover more ground. Which was fine, because Luke was done anyway. So, we headed home and met up with Thomas who walked the last stretch with us.

I am sad that I did not take more pictures, but here is the annual photo of the kids with Mr. Pumpkin Man, sans Jack:

Jack was already gone. I was disappointed to not get a picture with the 4 of them, but he told me he had taken a good one at school that he would send me.

Here's the only picture he had. You can almost see him (no idea who the other kid is, but he is dressed as Sid from Toy Story). Jack's definition of "good" is not the same as mine.

Luke had the best 24 hours ever during the following week. They had awards at school and he got a certificate for straight As. He also got a class award (only 2 for each class were given). His was for being "responsible" (the school tenets are "ready, responsible, and respectful," they gave out awards for responsible and respectful). Then, he was named student of the month. And, he had an amazing baseball game. He had a huge hit that and he pitched really well and got the game ball. 

Kara also got some amazing news. She was selected to be student director for the school play! It is the biggest "technical" job and she is very excited for the challenge. In bad news, Jack did not make the basketball team. He was disappointed, but vowed to keep working.

Saturday we had a busy day. I had to write out our schedule because there was so much going on. Jack had a marching competition and a YMCA basketball game and Luke had a baseball game and a birthday party. I took Anna driving in the morning, then I dropped off Jack while Thomas took Luke to baseball. Then, the girls and I went to the game, which Marta, Elizabeth and Travis came up for. We watched the game (they won) and then went straight to the band competition. We saw a few bands and then Jack's band performed. They took the field and it started to pour. It was crazy! Just one rain cloud for about 10 minutes. We were all soaked. But, the band was so good. It was their best performance by far (they got straight superiors).  

After the band performed, we went out for ice cream with Marta, Elizabeth and Travis (not Jack, he had to ride the bus with the band). After that, everyone headed home. I pulled into our driveway as Thomas pulled out. Thomas got Jack and drove him straight to Winter Park for his basketball game. Meanwhile, I took Luke to the birthday party. We all got home after dinner. It was a non-stop, but really fun day. I was glad that Marta, Travis and Elizabeth came up to support the kids in their activities. It is really nice to be near family and I truly appreciate that they want to do things with us.

When we renewed our Universal passes, we added Volcano Bay. We planned to go on October 30th, but as mentioned, Luke was sick. Thomas and I were off on Friday, November 4th so we went and checked it out. It was really empty and we walked on everything for the first few hours. We left after lunch to be home when the kids got home from school. Then, on Sunday, Thomas, Luke, Kara and I all went. Anna was upset that Thomas and I had gone without them on Friday and was convinced it would be too crowded so she decided to stay home and Jack wanted to play basketball. We missed them, but had a lot of fun, and while it was more crowded than it had been on Friday, it was not bad. I think I may like Aquatica better, but they are both amazing. And, the theming at Volcano Bay is super cool.

The following week we had Hurricane Nicole. The kids got two days off from school. It was windier than Ian, but we did not have the flooding. Unfortunately, we lost some of our pool screening. But, everyone enjoyed the long weekend. Although they all said they would have rather been in school because they already have to make up time for Ian and now have two more to add in. 

That weekend, Luke had a baseball tournament. It did not go well. Luke played fine, but his team lost all 4 games. And, the games were spread apart and about an hour from our house. So, Thomas and Luke spent a lot of time just hanging around. Anna sprained her ankle on Friday night. It was still super swollen and sore on Sunday, so I took her to an urgent care. We were fairly confident it was not broken, but decided to just make sure everything was okay, since it was still extremely swollen even 48 hours after the injury. They gave her a brace, which she hates. Today (Tuesday) the swelling has finally gone done. So, hopefully she is now on the mend. Oh and Anna dyed her hair red :)

And now, I think we are all caught up!