Halloween Eve and Halloween Day

My new favorite holiday is Halloween Eve. Seriously. The best evening ever with the Birgfeld and Mason unicorn families. The flying squirrels came and represented, played scavenger hunt games, bobbed for donuts, and played mafia. The kids ran and ran and ran. What could be better?

Who knew that I should have known Miles all along? Rainbow unicorn meets flying squirrel when two six degrees of separation ends.

Bobbing for donuts. Definitely more fun for the person holding the fishing pole.

Mafia around my new portable campfire!

The creepy apple smiles Charlotte made were a hit!

Nothing like waiting until Halloween morning to carve pumpkins. This year Reed carved his minion pumpkin all by himself! Really! It was a joy to supervise!

On Halloween Day my students and I ran a joint all-school district food drive with my colleague Britt at  Shorewood and her leadership students. We were so proud of how it turned out! Way to show up, Shoreline and LFP!

More Home Learning and More Halloween Prep

The kids and I are finding a rhythm to our days of remote learning. It is a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of effort. But we can do this. Slowly and surely, we can do this. Edison and Charlotte are doing great and have been self-motivated learners throughout. Reed is turning a corner and starting to take more responsibility for and initiative in his own learning. This transformation of his makes me incredibly proud of him.

We voted!

We walked down to the LFP Town Center to mail our ballot and the kids helped me every step. On the way home it started raining, but we also got a double rainbow. I'm hoping that's a sign of better years ahead.

Weekly pancake breakfasts continue! Charlotte is crushing it!

Reed won six times in a row at the math card game Zeus on the Loose tonight. WOW! So proud of him!

Fun to see the neighborhood transform for Halloween on our morning and evening walks.

Charlotte got a new helmet this year and she is ready to ski!

Collaboration like this is precious.

]

Crazy hair day!

Reed will bring his work into my room in the afternoons while I'm in a Zoom meeting. I enjoy working side-by-side with him.

 

Book club bonfire! Cul de sac COVID-safe style.

A brisk morning walk!

Just hanging around - this is what a social distance playdate looks like. LOL.

So proud of Reed getting his work done!

Cutest Halloween pumpkin and cutest daughter ever!

A quiet evening at home - involves lots of reading here.

Lake Augusta Hike with Amy

Amy and I had such a wonderful Enchantments hike that we planned another long hike for this weekend. We changed plans last minute due to snow, but discovered plenty of snow on this hike - LOL. We did a 16 mile out-and-back hike to Lake Augusta which we accessed via Hatchery Creek. The trailhead starts near Tumwater Campground off Highway 2. It was the most perfect fall day and the colors were striking.

We gained about 6000' elevation when all was said and done with a highpoint of almost 7500'. It was physically challenging, but rewarding. The beginning was through a burned out section and involved a lot of climbing over charred trees - so we had charcoal all over our hands and sometimes on our faces.

We got up to a cool meadow with great views all around.

Then continued to hike more, gaining elevation up to Icicle Ridge where the trail intersected with the Icicle Ridge trail accessed  by the Leavenworth side.

At this point, we got great views of Mt. Stuart, Dragontail Peak and other mountains in the Enchantments area.

Blazing a trail! Glad we had the All Trails on - definitely a help in the snow to stay on route.

The larches were incredible. This second large meadow which lead up to Lake Augusta was magical. The trail criss crossed streams and small rivulets and waterfalls.

And we even got to see this beautiful larger falls.

Looking east, we could see all the way to the brown plateau of Eastern Washington.

Finally, Lake Augusta! It did not disappoint! It was clear and beautiful and the colors were stunning with the vivid blue sky.

Heading back, we tried to keep our pace up and take in the views. Also, I am now a firm believer in poles. I couldn't imagine doing this without them! We are already planning our next hike! Stay tuned...

D'oh! Turned it off by accident for one of our last miles! It was 16.0 miles, I promise!!!