The tree

Thanksgiving and a run

Thursday was thanksgiving and it was great. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, Zeb's stuffing, and lots and lots of gravy, oh and there were some vegetables too I think :) but seriously, the food was great and the desserts were too. It was great to spend the day with the family. The weather was a little rainy so no football this year but Jack, uncle Scott and I through the ball around for a little while. 

Saturday, we took the kids on their first 5k run at the Quakertown Rotary Habitat for Humanity 5k. They did pretty well. A bit of complaining and some walking but they made it to the end and both medaled in there age group. Nora got a silver, Jack got a bronze. They had pizza and hot wings at the finish, so that made it all worth while :)

Just 4 weeks until Christmas... Man, time flies.

Other notes, Jack's quote of the week, " mom, I can-nada open my can-nada dry."

Also, aunt missy, uncle Ryan, Eric and Cole sold their house in Kennet Square and moved to Connecticut the week before Thanksgiving. They seem to be settling in and their new house has a pool, so maybe we will head up for some ice skating :)

Thanksgiving is next week

October was a pretty fun month and I can't believe November is half over. We took a trip to Lancaster and while visit Leigh's friend we did some fishing and Leigh caught her first fish ever. We also stopped into Hershey for the chocolate tour with a promise to return on a better day to go to the park. 

We got pumpkins at Traugers again this year and the kids enjoyed the apple cider slushies. We carved some rather festive jack'o lanterns in preparation for Halloween later in the month. 

We celebrated Leigh's birthday with the family. The morning of the party, jack took a roll down the stairs at Sunday school and ended up in a soft cast/split that he enjoyed having friends sign. We were just glad it wasn't a break. 

Halloween was fun and the kids got lots of candy. 

Leigh went to a conference in Ashville, NC and I went to WhiskyFest NY with Scott and Ashley. Good times. 

Missy, Ryan, Cole and Eric sold their house in Kennett Square today and bought their new home in Connecticut today, so hoping they have a smooth transition into their new digs. 

Looking forward to some tasty food and hanging with the family next week for Thanksgiving. 

Anniversary

Last weekend, the kids went to grandparents camp and Leigh and I had a getaway for our anniversary. We went to Cape May and stayed in a condo. It ended up being huge with a beach view. We had a nice lunch at the Rusty Nail and took a walk on the beach. The weather was overcast and a little cool but the sound of the waves and fresh air was great. We had a late dinner at the Blue Pig at Congress Hall which never disappoints. The food was delicious - Caesar salad, crab cakes and veggies plus some chocolate cake dessert. 

Sunday was clear and we enjoyed the view from the condo while we had coffee. Then we took a yoga class together. It was a great way to start the day. After yoga, we packed up and checked out before brunch at George's. Then we did a little souvenir shopping before heading home. These weekends always go to fast but it was great to getaway. 

From the stories we heard from the kids, it sounds like they had a great weekend too. Mini golf, a trip to the movies to see Storks and lots of tasty food. Thanks num-num and pop-pop!

Crazy Weekend

It was a busy weekend filled with lots of fun and a few challenges. On Saturday morning, the dryer stopped working which was not a great thing to start the day with, but there was no time to investigate that. The kids had a ninja warrior event at Nora's gymnastics gym. The course was pretty cool and they both did well. After that, we stopped at Pizza Hut before heading out to Shartlesville to the Mountain Spring Arena for a demolition derby. We got some ice cream and Nora got cotton candy before the cars rolled into the arena. The first heat was pretty wild but then the youth age group came in which included 12 - 15 year olds. Now they were wild. A couple of cars on fire, clouds of oil smoke and a lot of wreckage. The kids were getting tired, so we left a little early to find that the parking lot did not have an exit. The cars were parked in a V, so I took a few rails out of the split rail fence so we could make an early exit. When we got home, I tore the dryer apart and found that the heat element had failed. I found the part on Amazon for $13 (it arrived today, Monday and I was able to install it over lunch), so that was fortunate that we didn't have to drop a couple hundred dollars on a new dryer.

Sunday was the church breakfast, so I was up early to help in the kitchen. The kids came over for some breakfast and then Sunday school. We got home around noon and Leigh told me that the garage door broke, so I spent a few hours getting the tension cables back on the pulleys. In the end, I got it back together and it is working, so that was lucky. The kids watched a movie and then road their bikes for a while. Jack and I played basketball and he is getting pretty good. We wrapped up the day reading Harry Potter. I let them watch only what we read, so the are finding that a lot gets left out of the movie. 

I also worked on the 289 engine that I bought for the mustang. I removed the intake, connecting rods, heads, valves, water pump, and took out the first piston to clean it. It took a couple hours but it's looking pretty good.  Hopefully I won't need to replace too much to get it running. I am really enjoying the process of understanding all that goes into an internal combustion engine. 

Today, was back to school. The kids are really enjoying their teacher, Ms. Borzak. Tonight was Jack's first night of Boy Scouts. He is excited to get his uniform. It ended up being mainly an information meeting so he is looking forward to the next one where there will hopefully be more activities.