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...

Unrelated to the image above of Josh chewing on a stick, here's a description from Susan of Josh's first taste of a milkshake. Turns out he really really liked it:

I had had about half of a small vanilla milkshake in the car and figured I would share some of the rest with Josh. I knelt down when we entered the house and gave him a sip from the straw, and that was it: he clutched the cup and bent his head over the straw and sucked for dear life! When I tried taking it just so we could walk to the kitchen, there was a major protest. Finally I did get us to the kitchen, and knelt there again. suck suck suck suck suck suck. He scootched around, still clutching the cup, so he was sitting on my lap, sucking away happily. At some point I realized that there would be no sharing the rest of the shake... it was his. It was the love of his life. 

Josh tries to say E-I-E-I-O

Fine art

Personally I like the castle in the upper right, and the ice monsters marching away from it. 

New game!