Yet another month has passed, and yet again I vow to myself not to let so many days pass between blog postings... October and November have been busy for us again. In the picture above, Kenny and some of his friends pet a rabbit at a special fundraising hay maze his school put on this year (they're trying to raise money for new playground equipment). Kenny was also an honor roll student (hopefully, the first of many), for which his pleasure on receiving this award (and blue ribbon) is quite clear:
Kenny earned all A's, for which we were particularly proud, and his (generally) good behavior also got him a different award. Of course, the big excitement in October (after Beth's birthday, of course) is getting ready for Halloween. Below, Beth and Kenny dig into pumpkin carving:
Stephen also gave it his all:
The net result was pretty scary, especially given the way our little camera blurred the image:
Below are our trick-or-
treaters, including
lil' Beth as a witch, Kenny as a zombie, and Stephen as the most terrifying sight of all on Halloween--a dentist!:
After I took the kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, they helped us pass out candy:
Kenny and his fellow Cub Scouts also got a Monticello police officer to come speak to them about various things:
Interestingly, the officer was Kenny's baseball coach from a couple years ago. Kenny and Beth just had two days off from school for a teacher
in-service, so we decided to spend several days camping. The weather was cool but clear, and the fall colors are just starting to get serious down here. Below, Hope and the kids on a short paved trail in the White River National Wildlife Refuge:
We had a campsite at Village Creek State Park in east-central Arkansas, perhaps an hour west of Memphis. This park is on Crowley's Ridge, a long, narrow, sharply elevated ridge in the flat farmlands of eastern Arkansas. Below, Stephen enjoys a flop in freshly fallen oak leaves:
The first day of our trip was spent getting camp set up, and a little hiking around the state park. The next day (Friday) we drove into Memphis and met up with Mike Shelton, a retired Forest Service scientist friend from my first years in Arkansas who we have kept in touch with over the years. Mike's watched our kids grow up, and delights in their antics. We went from his house to the Memphis Zoo just a few blocks away, and spent an action-packed morning there, including a neat show of sea lions performing tricks:
We then spent the afternoon at the Pink Palace Museum in Memphis. The Pink Palace is a large, pink granite mansion once owned by the founder of the
Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain, but now turned into a very nice museum, planetarium, and
IMAX theater. After the Pink Palace, we said goodbye to Mike and had a tasty
barbecue supper at the world famous Interstate BBQ in Memphis before returning to the park. Below is a picture of our campsite, taken after the first crisp night:
There weren't a lot of other people in the campground, which meant our somewhat
noisy kids didn't disturb too many people. Beth, even though she was coming down with a cold, seemed to enjoy the trip:
On Saturday, we drove to
Jonesboro, Arkansas, about an hour north of our campground to visit a new nature center built in the hills of Crowley's Ridge by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. We took a hike around their trails, including a stop at an overlook tower:
Kenny and Beth enjoyed goofing around with their stereo telescope:
On Sunday, we returned home to Monticello. Late in the afternoon, I took the boys to a friend's birthday party while Hope and Beth went grocery shopping.
Yet another month has passed, and yet again I vow to myself not to let so many days pass between blog postings... October and November have been busy for us again. In the picture above, Kenny and some of his friends pet a rabbit at a special fundraising hay maze his school put on this year (they're trying to raise money for new playground equipment). Kenny was also an honor roll student (hopefully, the first of many), for which his pleasure on receiving this award (and blue ribbon) is quite clear:
Kenny earned all A's, for which we were particularly proud, and his (generally) good behavior also got him a different award. Of course, the big excitement in October (after Beth's birthday, of course) is getting ready for Halloween. Below, Beth and Kenny dig into pumpkin carving:
Stephen also gave it his all:
The net result was pretty scary, especially given the way our little camera blurred the image:
Below are our trick-or-treaters, including lil' Beth as a witch, Kenny as a zombie, and Stephen as the most terrifying sight of all on Halloween--a dentist!:
After I took the kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, they helped us pass out candy:
Kenny and his fellow Cub Scouts also got a Monticello police officer to come speak to them about various things:
Interestingly, the officer was Kenny's baseball coach from a couple years ago. Kenny and Beth just had two days off from school for a teacher in-service, so we decided to spend several days camping. The weather was cool but clear, and the fall colors are just starting to get serious down here. Below, Hope and the kids on a short paved trail in the White River National Wildlife Refuge:
We had a campsite at Village Creek State Park in east-central Arkansas, perhaps an hour west of Memphis. This park is on Crowley's Ridge, a long, narrow, sharply elevated ridge in the flat farmlands of eastern Arkansas. Below, Stephen enjoys a flop in freshly fallen oak leaves:
The first day of our trip was spent getting camp set up, and a little hiking around the state park. The next day (Friday) we drove into Memphis and met up with Mike Shelton, a retired Forest Service scientist friend from my first years in Arkansas who we have kept in touch with over the years. Mike's watched our kids grow up, and delights in their antics. We went from his house to the Memphis Zoo just a few blocks away, and spent an action-packed morning there, including a neat show of sea lions performing tricks:
We then spent the afternoon at the Pink Palace Museum in Memphis. The Pink Palace is a large, pink granite mansion once owned by the founder of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain, but now turned into a very nice museum, planetarium, and IMAX theater. After the Pink Palace, we said goodbye to Mike and had a tasty barbecue supper at the world famous Interstate BBQ in Memphis before returning to the park. Below is a picture of our campsite, taken after the first crisp night:
There weren't a lot of other people in the campground, which meant our somewhat noisy kids didn't disturb too many people. Beth, even though she was coming down with a cold, seemed to enjoy the trip:
On Saturday, we drove to Jonesboro, Arkansas, about an hour north of our campground to visit a new nature center built in the hills of Crowley's Ridge by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. We took a hike around their trails, including a stop at an overlook tower:
Kenny and Beth enjoyed goofing around with their stereo telescope:
On Sunday, we returned home to Monticello. Late in the afternoon, I took the boys to a friend's birthday party while Hope and Beth went grocery shopping.
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