Halloween

CP's den did "Boo @ the Zoo" at the Lincoln Children's Zoo. We've been here over two years now, and I still have not been to the kids zoo. CP is Boba Fett from the Empire Strikes Back. He was quite a hit with the over-30 crowd.

GP, being the modern man he is, chose a character from the new Star Wars trilogy and went as Anakin Skywalker. He played the part better than whoever did it in the movie. As you can see by the Blue Lightsaber, he was the Good Anakin.

We trick-or-treated around our neighborhood and it was a perfect night out of a movie: clear sky, 45°, NO WIND, and all the houses were beautifully lit. The kids gathered several pounds of sucrose-based snacks that will go over well at work.

Mississippi Palisades Color

After getting all the work done to the Grammas' house, I took the boys for a walk out at the Palisades. I really miss that place. JP & I used to go there nearly every weekend before the boys. Sometimes we would arrive with grand plans to climb, hike, etc. only to be overtaken with extreme relaxation once the tent was pitched.
We parked at the Amphitheatre and walked down to Bob Upton's cave. The Amphitheatre used to be a hot climbing spot until a very large part of the cliff decided it had hung around long enough. Now the place is overgrown and off-limits. The sign to the cave is gone and the trail is rotting into the jungle. The boys enjoyed the cave once we finally made it after a grueling 1/4 mile walk.

I have been hiking all over the park for the last 15 years and never saw any ticks until this trip. I had a normal one on my hand, and JP found a tiny deer tick on GP's leg. Maybe the tick problem we have here in Nebraska is part of a giant midwest epidemic...

As we approached Illinois, we were amazed at the fall colors. In Nebraska, leaves go from green to brown, with no fluorescent reds, yellows or oranges in between. The afternoon at the Palisades was drizzly, which really brought out the colors. I had the boys get out of the car near the campground and search for the biggest Sycamore leaves they could find. At first they were moaning, but when they saw how many huge leaves had been blown into drifts, they started having fun.
I really miss the Palisades; I should have brought my tent and taken another day off of work. Maybe I'll do it when we go back for Thanksgiving...

Den 11

I volunteered to be a den leader for GP this year. At our first pack meeting, all the boys got their Bobcat badge and were surprisingly well behaved throughout the entire meeting. JP planned the after-meeting activity: pumkin relay races with brooms. Fun.

Our first field trip was to Pioneers Park where we did leaf rubbings on the downed leaves. The snake lady was home and we all got to see her pets.

We have 5 boys in Den 11 and are looking forward to an exciting year.

Trip to Illinois

The kids are off of school this week, so we loaded up the minivan and went back to Illinois for a long weekend. We saw Walter, Brad's cat that looks a lot like Worf did, but about 20 lbs lighter.

We went in to Woodstock and saw Mary's new house. Lunch at the Pub on the Square was excellent as usual and then it was in to Deer Park to hit JP's favorite stores. Restoration Hardware has a new color for our living room. JP picked up a sample and is ready to start repainting.

I took some tools (not enough) and took care of the Grammas' todo list. We installed a dimmer for their kitchen table, a new humidifier on the furnace, hung fresh wallpaper in the powder room and then put up some crown molding and a chair rail. It looks very nice.