Its a Mystery...

Jeff, Gabe and I went to the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz.  It is a mountain where gravity does not behave normally.  We had a fabulous time exploring this cabin that was mysteriously pulled to the center of the anomally.  There we were able to experience the full force of this mysterious enigma.  We stood like supermen on tables.  Balls rolled uphill, and we hung at angles from the wall.  We could walk up ladders.  We could definitely feel the effects of the gravity anomaly as it gave us quite a headache!  Throughout the entire place, Gabe kept saying, "This just isn't the right physics!".....or is it?  We had a great time at the mystery spot.

Walking into the sunset and rising with the dawn

As we hit another anniversary, it feels a little like we are walking into the sunset.  Our family that lives at home has been cut in half, our daughter is getting married, and a son is preparing for a mission.  But as this picture show us walking into the sunset of the "raising children" chapter of our lives (we still have many more years of minor children ahead, but we are 3/4 of the way done), it also feels like we are preparing to embark on a new chapter of life.  One that is full of promise and possibilities, like the rising of dawn.  I am grateful to have spent many years with my husband and look forward to spending many more years with
him in a new walk of life.

Way Down South

Yesterday, Gabe, Jeff and I went to the Civil War Reenactment.  As it turns out, the biggest, and bestest civil war reenactment west of the Mississippi happens with 100 miles of where I live and I have never been there.  I have dragged my family to Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Manassas (Bull Run) and other civil war sights, but haven't seen the best reenactment west of the Mississippi.  So last Saturday, I decided to drag my family (or what was available) to see the battles.  I thought that my husband and son would enjoy the show, but they were more hesitant than I thought they would be.  Eventually we compromised on half a day with 2 battles.  Since Maddie had a Civil War type costume, I dressed as a Southern Belle, while Jeff tried his best to look like someone from that time period.  Gabe flat out refused to wear anything but a t-shirt and shorts but it turned out he fit in with the crowd a little better than we did, but didn't have nearly as much fun.
The event was fun.  We arrived just in time to see a cannon demonstration and catch the last dance of the afternoon.  Jeff agreed to dance with me and we had a great time whirling around the floor.  I have to admit, it is much more fun to dance a Victorian dance in a hoop skirt!  After the dancing, we saw our first battle.  It was interesting.  The troops maneuvered around the field, always staying about 150 feet away from each other and then shot at the other side.  Someone would fall "dead" (although not many people "died".  My guess is that many more died in the war and it was probably a lot noisier because the real wounded ones probably were screaming).  They were shooting real guns with blanks in them, so it was very noisy.  The cannons were being fired on each side, and they even had a calvary battle with brandished swords in the background.  It was fascinating.
After the battle, we wandered around the campsites.  They looked very real, I think that several people were really staying the night and "living" in the time period, cell phones excepted.  We saw photography demonstrations, newspapers, dressmaking, and other things.  Then they had another battle at twilight.  The fighting wasn't very exciting, they were simulating a real battle where the North just marched across a field to engage the South and were completely slaughtered along the way.  So the troops didn't manuever, but since it was dark, the rifle and cannon fire lit up the night and was very fun to watch!  We had a great time spending half the day 150 years ago in a land far away.

Halloween

With all the sewing I have been doing for other projects over the summer, I just wasn't that into halloween this year.  Gabe wanted to do a theme from a video game with one of his friends, and Allie was going to wear her costume from last year. I made my costume for the volleyball tournament, and I thought that I was done for the year.  But then I discovered something about myself.  I really like dressing up!  I always said it was for the kids, but no, I couldn't do it, I could not go to the ward halloween party as myself.  So with 24 hours left to go, I decided to make costume for Jeff and I.  I just went simple, Sugar and Spice.  Allie thought it was so cute, she wanted to join us, so I quickly added Everything Nice to our theme.  We were very cute (when together), and had a good time at the ward halloween party.
Halloween night the kids went trick or treating with their friends.  Again, I felt like I was missing an important part of the holiday!  Since we don't get trick or treaters, I couldn't face the concept of just sitting at home and missing the holiday celebration.  So for a mini-date, Jeff and I went around to see some of the creatively decorated houses in the city.  There was a really scary one, complete with skelton projections on the window that really looked like skeletons trapped inside the house.  Another was completely decked out like pirates of the carribean.  It was a really fun, simple and satisfying way to celebrate the holiday without trick or treaters.

V.B.B.C (Volleyball Best Birthday in Costume)

This Saturday, I had a bit of a conflict.  Allie's marching band had a large competition and they needed all hands on deck to help out as volunteers.  It was also the day of the doubles beach volleyball tournament.  It was originally scheduled for September, but was postponed October.  The preference for the volleyball tournament was obvious, but I was feeling a little guilty about the band.  After a quick thought, I came to the conclusion that for my birthday, I wanted Jeff to work in the snack shack while I played at the tournament!  What a perfect solution.  It was a costume tournament, so I went as Pebbles Flintstone.  It was a round robin doubles tournament, so we played with a different partner each match.  Then we added our individual points from each game to get a score.  I had a great time playing in the pool play, and was surprised that I just barely squeaked into the playoffs!  I was out in the first round, but very happy that I made it at all.  The beach was lovely, a perfect day, not too hot, not too cold, with a gentle breeze wafting across the sand.  It was a perfect birthday.  It turned out that the volunteer assignment only slightly overlapped with the tournament, so he was able to come and watch me play for a while and still get back in time.

Frightful Days

Yesterday Gabe and I went to Universal Studios.  We have season passes this year.  I just wanted to see all of the halloween decorations for the season, so I had to go before the end of the month.  We didn't have much time, but that is the beauty of the season pass.  You can go for just a few hours and not feel too bad!  We went for about 2 hours, saw all of the decorations, and a few small halloween shows, a monster stomp and a vampire haunt.  Then we watched the Waterworld show so we could sit in the splash zone and cool off.  Then we were done for the day!  It was a great little side trip.

Scouting

This week Gabe's scout troop had a court of honor.  It has been a little while since the last court of honor for our ward, so it seemed like all of the boys were receiving multiple awards.  Gabe earned 11 merit badges, including 8 eagle merit badges.  In addition to the merit badges, he moved up three ranks, having completed his 2nd class, his 1st class and star ranks.  We put the pin on him for his 1st class during the ward presentation, then the star award was given later.  He was a little bummed, the pin for first class was much larger than the pin for star, and he only got to wear it for 10 minutes!  We are proud of our little scouter.