October Awe

October has come and went and we stayed busy with the activity of the seasons.  There were teeth lost by both the kids, but not due to the sugar snacks of trick or treat spoils but rather just the natural aging of deciduous teeth.  Merrick had a red plate day, because he was selected to be a "Playground Pal" at school.  This is a very important job and required two days of training during his normal recess.  It is now his job, when he is wearing his official vest to make sure that none of the kids on the playground are lonely and ask them if they want to play.  He is also required to always say yes if someone asks him to play and amongst all of that work he has also been trained in conflict resolution to solve any squabbles that may occur.  This of course is cross-training as he is already often placed in charge of the bathroom, to make sure everybody "Does their job and then gets out."  He and I trick or treated in the rainy cold slog of the late October rains, but we outfitted him for warmth and dryness.  We put hand warmers in his gloves and the bagel bags over his socks were a nice compliment to the rain jacket hidden under his costume.  Sophia dressed up as a Ninja and was old enough to trick or treat with friends, alas her candy was safe.

We had two trips to the dentist, but I think there were three or four teeth lost between them and was starting to question why I should pay full price for a heads that have such few teeth.  One of the highlights was a good long hike in the Nicolet, now that it was open again.  Our tribe of six hiked back to a ski chalet and had a nice little picnic near Fanny Lake.  The weather was a bit brisk but really nice for the walk and the leaves were very near peak fall color.  Week night soccer has come to end and now Saturdays will be filled with split shift games with Merrick playing in the late morning and Sophia playing in the early afternoon.  With the time changes it will be more likely that we will have to incorporate night hikes for some activity. Headlights always add to the splendor of a good walk anyways.  With the pumpkins moved from the stoop to the garden, this weekend will continue the general yard clean up of fall as we switch gears for November.