Monday

We had a nice weekend with a lot of fun Halloween activities. On Friday the YMCA had their annual Not So Scary Halloween Trail. Anna had a slumber party starting at 5PM, so we dropped her off and then went to the trail. It was just getting dark when we got there, so it was a little bit spooky but the kids had a great time. It wasn't too cold, so the place was packed! After the trail, we went inside the YMCA for snacks and goodie bags. I think everyone was surprised by the number of children in attendance, because many of the groups were scrambling for more candy! While we were at the YMCA, we ran into all of the girls from Anna's slumber party. (The party was at Anna's friend Lauren's house...Lauren's mom is one of Noah's preschool teachers, Mrs.Fabich. She was helped out by Mrs.Stafford, Noah's teacher from last year. That's the joy of small town living!) The girls all surrounded Amaya, saying how cute she was in her little witch costume. So, Amaya started twirling around in circles and putting on a show for them. It was so cute!

On Saturday, the downtown businesses all had trick or treating for a few hours in the afternoon. Once again, it was a beautiful day (sunny and around 50 degrees, nice weather for October in Northern WI) so the event was packed! Anna had yet another Halloween party on Saturday, from 3 until 5, so I dropped her off at the party while Kindra helped Noah and Am change into their costumes. Then we walked downtown (only a block from the hotel) and went trick or treating. It was a lot of fun, it's always neat to see all the little kids in their costumes! It also got us inside some of the downtown businesses we'd never been to before, which I'm sure is a big reason why they do this every year! I have to admit, it was a little strange taking my kids into a bar or a liquor store to go trick or treating...but it's truly a cultural thing up here. There aren't many restaurants, but there are pubs everywhere....and they have the best food!

On Sunday we had planned to take the kids to the haunted house in town, until we heard how scary it was! Even with the lights turned on for the special children's time, I thought it would be too scary for the little ones, so we just skipped it for this year. Instead Pavan took the kids swimming. I was invited to a stamping party at 3, so I walked over to the Hope Center for that. It was a lot of fun, and I made three cards. Those of you who know how un-creative I am will understand what a big deal that was for me! After the stamping party, we all went to Mike and Meg Beske's house for supper. We've known Mike and Meg since we moved to Rhinelander. Mike works in pathology at the hospital, I knew Meg through a Bible study and she is also on the board of directors with me at the pregnancy center. They are an older couple, with kids the same age as me and Pavan. For dinner they invited us, their oldest son and his wife and three kids, and another couple from their church and their 2 kids. It was a great time! Mike grilled salmon and venison steaks, it was all great! Kindra even ate 2 pieces of the venison!! The guys invited Pavan over to watch the football game tonight, and they invited us all back for supper again next Sunday.

One more thing before I go...apparently the house is mostly dried out because all but one of the blowers are turned off. The cats seem much happier without all that noise, so that's a good thing. Unfortunately, my fish died, which was really sad for me. We had a little funeral for him on Saturday, buried him outside. Angel fish are very sensitive, and I just don't think she tolerated the time without filtration or heat very well.

There is still one blower going in the laundry room. It has about 6 long hoses attached to it, which are inserted in 6 holes in the laundry room wall. Big holes...big hoses. What a mess! Still no clothes for the kids, Pavan called the guy last night and he said they should be back this week. Seems like we've heard that before! We did find several of Kindra's hoodies stuffed in a bag of trash, she was in tears once she discovered what had happened. Her DeSmet, SD and Mt.Rushmore hoodies were in the bag, and they were so nasty by the time we found them. We headed to the laundry mat yesterday and were able to save the DeSmet one, but the Mt.Ru one was very mildewed so I think we'll just have to throw it away. Pavan told the guy about it, and he was very apologetic. Hopefully they'll go through all the other trash bags and make sure there's nothing important inside! Also ruined was Kindra's very expensive PB Teen messenger bag that I had embroidered with her name, it also has MP3 speakers built into the bag. Very sad! Kindra's stuff took most of the water, and a lot of her things were completely ruined...like her stereo system, papers in her desk, etc. Poor kid!

Better get going.

More later,

Rebecca