Halowe'en!

Sam was a dinosaur, and Joshie wore a glow-in-the-dark skeleton sweatshirt. Cool night, but no wind or rain.

Dianka babysat Josh and handed out candy while Susan and Sam went out trick-or-treating. Quoth Dianka, "Watching Joshie the almost two year old put candy in his little bag ad the take it all out only to do it again. Lol very funny!"

skype captures

Skyping from Providence...

Josh is tickled. Shortly thereafter tries to grab the screen. Susan convinces him to wave instead

Sam is an old hand at this

Sam playing with his ears unselfconsciously. Have to have at least a few photos he'll be embarrassed by when he's older.

While Susan's putting Josh down Sam and I chat--which means Sam describes to be in detail all  his recent Pokemon trades

Skyping with Susan later, after (we thought) the boys were down: Susan models her reward for a harrowing 48 hours!

More to come...

Pre-Sandy

Sam and Josh on the fold-out bed in the family room (one floor safer in case the giant oak out back decides to donate some large branches) watching Shawn the Sheep as the storm bears down on Rochester

Notice that Rochester is unnervingly close to the center of the projected hurricane path as it tromps across the Northeast

And here's the view of downtown Providence from my hotel room where I sit, wishing I were home with the family!

Breaking news: Now forecast to go directly over Rochester on Hallowe'en. Fortunately by then it will have weakened to a Tropical Depression (aw) and will have much slower winds

Hallowe'en Party

Some photos from the Hallowe'en party put on by the youth group for the youthier youth:

Face painting! A dragon, in this case

A craft

A better shot of the facial dragon

"Win it in a minute", in which you have a minute to see how many chapsticks you can stack using chopsticks. Dan Veenje presiding

A totally unrelated shot of Joshie falling asleep in the van the following afternoon. So peaceful.

Fall Campout

Sam and I are in Calvin Cadet Corps this year--the CRC version of Boy Scouts. Badgets, camping trips, the whole nine yards, with Bible lessons added.

This past Friday night we went on the fall campout an hour south of Rochester on some private property in the hills of Poag's Hole. It's a lovely spot, as you'll see below, and Sam, with the other kids, had a great time. 

This is Danny, the primary leader, speaking to the boys, who have just been reminded what "FALL IN!" means.

Kids and parents slept in a camper, in a cabin, and  in three tents. This is the tent Sam and I shared. It got down  into the low 20s, making us very grateful for our warm sleeping bags!

Sam, wandering around in the woods. There were no showers, and the only toilet was an outhouse. We wore the same clothes the whole time. And this, according to Danny, is the cushier of the camping trips!

Sam, getting strapped into the zip-line harness...

...and zipping along!

A fire was kept going for much of the camping trip. Very pleasant

The only thing not shown is the time spent launching the model rockets we'd made the week before. We set them off and the boys charged after them to try to catch them on the way down--or at least recover them.

Tomorrow night is a regular Cadets meeting. The Bible lesson will be on risks we take to share the gospel. A good reminder for us all.

Closing up for Winter

Closed up camp last weekend. Got to spend a day first enjoying a fine fall day. Well, not completely--Susan at that point had undiagnosed strep throat. But we tried to make the best of it. Here are some photos:

The boys lounging at camp

The fall colors--so nice!

Loved the reflection

Found a playground at the Colton-Pierpont Central School. Josh enjoyed the Extremely Safe Swings

Leaves floating in the cold, cold water. Thanks to the new well,  and Mom and Dad's taking out the deck in August, I didn't have to get wet. Phew.

Sam, passing the time drawing, while Zoe looked on

This is out of place, but I like it. It's Josh at the garden outside the Play Museum. So many neat things about being 1.5!

Josh, going for a two-fer!

This past weekend Sam and I did a camping overnight with the Calvin Cadet Corps (or, as we call them, the "Calvinistas"). Photos from that soon...