First Hockey Game...

Luke and Lex attended their first hockey game tonight.  And both of them asked when the next game was (apparently we spend a lot of time at HS sports)....

I have a former student (she's a freshman) who asked me multiple times last year if I could come to her game, but the schedules just didn't work (football playoffs, Kieran's basketball practices, Raider basketball games).  I had told her that I definitely would watch a game this year and she replied "not one game, but five."  The challenge was issued...

I've been to three of four games this year and will definitely reach the five I've told I need to see (it's going to slow down as the Raider Basketball team starts games this week and Lukie is going to want to watch Mary)...

Lukie asked if he could root for "Syd the Kid" and I said sure, just never call her that...Syd's cool, but won't take that...

Syd came up and talked to me before the game, but Lukie/Lex were getting concessions...they were bummed they didn't get to meet her, but I bet there will be more opportunities in the future...

FYI - this hockey team is also good enough to make a run at the state tournament...we'll see in March...I know the kids (and even Kieran) will enjoy watching the run...

Gooseberry Falls....

A couple of weeks ago, as we left Jay Cooke State Park, Luke suggested we go to Gooseberry Falls.  So instead of turning south, we detoured over an hour out of our way to the north...but you can't go wrong with visiting Gooseberry...

Even Lukie said "Gooseberry and Jay Cooke are my two favorite parks."....

And frozen (it might not be frozen now) waterfalls are cool...

The best part of the trip to Gooseberry for me was when one of the kids (I won't say who) said "you always take us to cool places and have fun with us, mom only started this summer..."

Frozen waterfalls are cool...

Of course they 'needed' to visit the cave near the upper falls...

The upper falls frozen was just as cool...

After spending an hour at the falls, Lukie/Lex wanted to go to the 'tadpole' place, which they both knew tadpoles wouldn't be there...

It was fun listening to them describe each pool in their terms and seeing how some of them hadn't frozen to the bottom yet...

Some of the pools you could pull chunks of ice out with strange features that match the bedrock below...

The picnic lava flow (tadpole place) is always a fun place to visit...

I've also got this picture from a multitude of different seasons or weather, but it's always cool...

What do you do after spending a few hours running around Gooseberry Falls?  You take a break...

Thanksgiving Movie....

Late Thanksgiving night, Lukie/Lex and I went to the movies.  We saw the Justice League and it was the second time each of us had seen it...

After getting tickets, Lex saw the standing picture of Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) and just needed a picture...remember, she was Wonder Woman for Halloween after we had seen the movie over the summer...

She even mimicked Wonder Woman's crossing of the arms when in battle...

Lukie jumped into the picture right at the end...I said he just wanted to to be in a picture with a cute girl like his sister...he said "no, I want to be in a picture with Wonder Woman!"

Jay Cooke State Park

So a two weeks ago, I asked Lukie what he wanted to do that coming weekend.  He said he wanted to stay at a camper cabin at a state park.  Being short notice, I figured we were in for a bit of a drive to who knows where, if any were open...

We got lucky and there was one open at Jay Cooke State Park for that Saturday and it turns out that it was the only camper cabin we've ever stayed at...

We got there early afternoon with a beautiful blue sky...

With a little snow and ice, the swinging bridge was looking good...

Luke and Lex were loving life...

And Luke wanted selfies...

It's cool to be that close to the St. Louis River...

One more selfie...

Then we could checkin to the cabin...

Yeah, we've been there before...

Before dinner, we did a bit of hiking around...

And apparently a lot of deer move into the park as the summer campers leave, we saw at least 15 deer in a day...

Cooking over a fire was tough...all the wood had frost on it and we had to 'defrost' the wood before putting it on the fire...

But we eventually ate and had fun outside until around 9:30 pm or so...

Early the next morning it was time for another hike...

And we had to go see the swinging bridge and area around the river...

Lukie wanted to walk close to the river...just after the picture was taken he slipped on the ice and fell...too bad the camera missed that...

It is pretty in the winter (or summer) with the conifers and bridge...

Of course we had to get a picture with the sign...

Lukie's Basketball

Lukie played in a a 3 on 3 league this summer, but has never played in an organized league.  He wanted to play this winter and tonight was his first practice...

He was pretty excited after practice...pretty tired too.  We needed to get him shoes and knee pads (because he knows Mary wears them) last week, tonight he received his jersey.  It was a good night, he'll sleep well...

Halloween...

Halloween has come and went...and with it was the end of the Raider volleyball season...

Luke and Lex had decided they wanted to go to the game in New Prague over trick or treating that night.  We made a quick stop at the fire station in town before leaving (the kids had drawn home evacuation routes and if they turned them in they would get a fidget spinner) town.  But we had to take some pictures first...

The game was a disappointing end to a great year.  After beating Glencoe twice in the regular season, the Raiders lost to them in straight sets.  Lukie was pretty bummed and hoped to get the chance to tell Mary good job and thank you for a great season, but didn't see her.  I texted her sister and passed his thoughts along and she apparently appreciated the gesture...

After the game, we hit a New Prague neighborhood for 30-40 minutes looking for candy.  They got a lot for the little bit of time we were out.  Of course Lex didn't want to wear a hat (because that would cover up Wonder Woman's headgear) or gloves...she regretted that and ended up with mine...

When we got back, the pumpkins were still burning and Lukie said "there's Mary's pumpkin."  He was still bummed about the game...

Basketball season starts in a couple of weeks and Delano girls hockey begins in a week, so I bet we'll be back at some games soon....

Carving Pumpkins

We finally got around to carving pumpkins.  Yesterday we emptied the guts of the pumpkins and then tonight we did the actually carving...

Lukie loves gutting the pumpkins...gets right at removing all the innards...

Lex is much more cautious and frankly, doesn't like the texture at all...

She said a lot of things like...this is disgusting...ohhhh...you can do mine....

Lukie didn't do any of the complaining....

When we did the carving tonight, Luke and Lex both drew what they wanted and the finished product is pretty close to what they had in mind.  I don't have much of an artistic side to me, but they were happy with them...Lukie's is on the right and Lex's is on the left...

The #12 was for Kieran and his favorite player, though when Lukie saw it, he said "oh that one is for Mary (her jersey number is 12)."  And just like that, we needed to make a CR for the Central Raiders...

You decide who the #12 pumpkin represents....