More Fall Fun!

We have had one of the prettiest falls this year! While the weather has suddenly gotten quite a bit colder and some trees are already shedding their leaves, there are still plenty that have not. Lots of color everywhere! I love it!

Anyway, after I last posted, the kids had a soccer game. Both of them have improved so much this season, in terms of their playing skills! They are fun to watch! And Niko, as one of the older kids on the team, gets a LOT of play time. I love it!

Later that same weekend, we went to AppleFest up at the local ski resort. We've gone every year since moving here, so it's a tradition. And now, Gus' company actually pays for our admission and food, and hosts a private tent inside where we can eat and hang out. It became their annual family event (suggested by Gus!). So that worked out well! My parents joined us for a bit, too, though it was VERY cold. Right around freezing, and much colder (painfully so) at the top of the ski lift. But it was pretty! I didn't take a ton of pictures because my fingers were frozen, but here are a few.

(see the white spots on my hair? More on that in a minute...) The best part of AppleFest this year was this contraption, though. I could have stood there and watched them launch pumpkins all day long, ha! So, after lunch, we were huddling in the tent to try and warm up when I happened to look outside and see SNOW. What?? At the same time, my phone buzzed with a text message from my parents (who had left) saying that it was snowing on them. It came and went the rest of the afternoon. But this video was taken from my car when we got back home. Interestingly enough, I was driving over to my parents' house to drop something off. By the time I got to the center of our town (less than a mile away) it was sunny with bright blue skies. Go figure! That brings us to this weekend! It's only Saturday, but we have had a longer weekend than usual. On Thursday, the kids had an early release day at school so that the teachers could do their monthly professional development. Gus and I picked them up at lunchtime, and we headed to Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate Niko's birthday in style! We have a deal with the kids where they only get friend birthday parties every other year. On the alternating years, they can have some kind of special experience (Maya went to the American Girl doll store this year). Niko was dead set on Great Wolf Lodge. But it was SO expensive that I had pretty much written it off as a possibility. Until I got an email about a 48-hour flash sale and heavily discounted rates on certain days of the week. Everything fell into place, and we booked it! They did miss school one day (Friday), but I had talked to their teachers about it ahead of time and everything was squared away.

We got to the lodge at around 2pm, after a stop for lunch along the way. Side note: we totally went the wrong way. It took us about 45 minutes to get there, and only about 20-25 minutes to get home (via the beautiful back roads). OOPS! It's much closer than we realized, and we shouldn't have taken the freeway! The kids were instantly in love with our fancy hotel room, which had a separate little "Wolf Den" for them, complete with bunk beds and their own TV. They would have just stayed their the entire time, I think, haha!

We did, however, get ourselves changed into our swimsuits, and had a blast exploring the two water parks for a few hours. Gus and I went down the waterslides, but could not convince either kid to join us. But they were fine with that. We floated around the lazy river, shot hoops, and played in the wave pool. They didn't have any desire to go on the slides, and that was fine.

After we got back to the room and changed, we decided to go out and explore the hotel. On our way back to the room, we picked up a pepperoni pizza that was (surprisingly) reasonably priced.

After dinner, the kids changed into Halloween costumes. Not the real ones they will actually be wearing this year, but ones that fit easily into the suitcase. :) Great Wolf Lodge celebrates Halloween every single night during the month of October, and so the kids got to go Trick-or-Treating in the hotel.

After we changed out of our costumes, we went in search of Niko's free birthday ice cream. We got that (plus a scoop for Maya) and then explored the arcade. Niko was desperate to try to win a Minecraft toy. Despite knowing how these machines work and that they are completely rigged, he begged us for the chance to try. And, it was his birthday trip, so we let him (and no, he didn't win. Neither did Maya.).

And then it was time for bed. They watched tv from their bunk beds for a little bit, then hit the hay.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast in our room, we were back to the water parks! I didn't stay in as long as they did because I haven't been feeling well. So I actually got some photos! Before I got out of the water, though, I managed to convince Maya to go down a waterslide with me. She seemed to like it, but changed her story after the fact. Niko still wanted nothing to do with them. And that's okay.

I even got a few videos while I waited. The first was from the room with the wave pool: And then I took this from our table (in the other room) while we waited for our lunch. That giant bucket is the reason Maya wouldn't go on this play structure at all. I'm not sure I blame her! After a quick lunch, we headed home. We mostly just relaxed for a few hours, since we had a busy evening ahead of us. The kids had another soccer game. The weather was sunny and clear, but COLD. I was frozen all the way through by the end of this one! Niko, however, was in top form. His ball handling skills are amazing!

From the game, we ran home and changed out of soccer gear and into Halloween costumes (still not their real costumes). Then we went to the Cub Scout pack meeting/Halloween party. Niko received another belt loop (that's him dressed as a football player), and Maya had a great time. Half of the Tiger Cubs this year are little boys from her first grade class, including her good buddy, Brendan. So she had plenty of friends to talk to. :)

And that brings us to today! After a glorious night's sleep, we spent the morning cleaning. And I baked a cake for a little boy who turns 8 tomorrow:

He is currently out on a hike with the scouts, and they are making foil packet dinners tonight. The plan for tomorrow is to go out to breakfast, open presents, and carve pumpkins. My parents will come over later in the afternoon, and we will make pizza and have cake for dessert. I'm thinking that the birthday boy will have had a pretty great long weekend! :)