Is it November already? 2 months of blogging...

  Caleb had a great soccer season and improved a lot.

Josie gradually grew less scared of the ball and the other kids on the field: also imrovement.

 

Kendall is our official greeter for neighbor kids.  She is very social.

 

 

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 Practicing her climbing skills

 

 still enjoying warm fall weather.

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 We went to ChuckE Cheese's to celebrate Mikiah's 3rd birthday.  Some of our kids liked this car ride. 

 Little Elephant trick or treating in the rain

 back home, digging through the stash.

 Excited and ready to go (and still dry in the garage)

Preschool and other stuff

 The big shot preschooler...Josie has been waiting to be part of the school group for quite some time. 

 looking a bit nervous?

 Little miss social, so excited to greet the neighbor kids when she spotted them 5 houses away. 

Soccer Saturday

Caleb and Josie are both involved in AYSO soccer this fall.  Josie plays 3 on 3 on a pretty small field with no goalie.  Caleb plays 5 on 5 on a slightly larger field but still no goalie. 

 This group of 4 rides the bus together in the morning, and plays together in the afternoon and evening (plus Josie).  Great to have great neighbors with great kids!

1 year old!

 happy birthday to our beautiful, happy and fun 1-year-old! 

1 week's time...

One week ago, we spent 2 days at Joel and Shontel's new house, and had a blast spending time with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandpa and grandma, and lots of warm water.  Thanks, Joel and Shontel for the party!  

Not pictured: we celebrated with Ben and Kim in their wedding, and spent a great couple of days with Chris and Syd.

 We went to pick Blueberries on Monday afternoon.  Mostly because we all love eating them.  Only 3 of the four of us liked picking them.

These 2 went to tennis camp this week.  One of them liked it. 

Another new skill

 

Kendall started walking about 2 weeks ago and has been getting a lot of attention for it (not to mention she claps plenty for herself each time) and We've been chasing her around trying to keep her from hurting herself.  This Monday, Josie decided she wanted to try no training wheels.  About 30 minutes later, she was zipping down the side-walk.  Plus, Caleb is a superstar helper (getting her started and turned around) and cheerleader.

 

Charlevoix and Mackinac Island vacation

We headed up to Charlevoix, Michigan on Wednesday morning, thinking we'd spend a couple of days at the beach, the hotel pool, and biking.  

 

 

Here's Kendall ride that we borrowed from some friends.  With the exception of wearing her helmet, she really likes riding.

 

 Caleb and Josie took turns on the tag-a-long with Kyle...the other one rested in the trailer behind me and Kendall.

 Interesting choice, Caleb.

 

 Sleeping on the beach (thanks, Janet for the little tent...it worked out great, though we looked like idiots trying to figure out how to fold it back up.)

 

Poolside applesauce

The splashpad in charlevoix right by the harbor.  Beautiful.

 Thursday night, we picked up pizza and ate in a park.  The bay area orchestra was giving a free concert in the park that night, so we thought we'd try sitting through a couple of songs.  These 2 got a little cozy during the concert.

We decided Friday morning to head to Mackinac Island since the kids all seemed to like their bike positions and we were already most of the way there.  Kendall was a happy camper the whole day, even without a great place to nap.  It was mid-fifties and rainy most of the day but we still managed to have a pretty good time.  The kids loved spotting the horse poop.

If it was a nicer you could see the amazing view from the governors mansion. 

Riding the Island, pre-rainstorm

Kyle took the day off from architecture to build this rock tower.  He let the kids help a little.  

What to do when it rains on Mackinac:  annoy some store clerks

 

Visiting Fort Mackinac.  pictured with some random pretend soldier, John, who's quick to tell that his official rank is musician.  (Pretend musician?)

 Kids with guns