Home Again!

 We were home for a couple of days and were able to catch up on the laundry and get our heads back into our work.  Then we were lucky to have Hilary and Adam in town for a couple of days while the kids were out of school for UEA.  They did various activities on their own and used our work- place apartment as a base of operations and a place to sleep.  Jameson loved the park down the street.

 One night after a quick supper, we went to Gardner Village to check out the Halloween displays and allow some of the kids to participate in the Spooky Scavenger Hunt.  Jenna and Korinne were able to identify all of the displays on the list.  However, by the time we finished, the bakery was closed so we went back home and had home baked chocolate chip cookies.  They were better anyway.

 We had a fun time even though it was very crowded.  I think the school break brought out all the little ghosts and goblins.

 The next morning we made short work of these German pancakes.  They were really high when I took them from the oven but I wasn't able to capture the picture in time to see them at their highest.

 The next morning, Steve and Adam had appointments.  I took the kids to the zoo and Adam joined us for a little while.  Steve took care of business and Hilary went to the state archives to search some records.  The kids and I had fun.  Unfortunately, Hilary wasn't able to find what she was looking for.  The only good thing about that is that she won't have to take an entire day to drive down and make that search.  She knows it's not there.

 Jameson was very cooperative throughout our zoo trip and he seemed to enjoy everything.  He was so excited to ride the train and this time, he didn't get scared.  Yahoo!  Way to go, JaMo.

 After Steve finished his business, he and I drove north to CV.  Hilary and Adam stayed another night and day to have a little more fun on their staycation.

 We were eager to get our grass mowed and catch up on yard work after being gone for two weeks.

 We love the autumn season.  Our flowers in the back bed are gorgeous and we love looking out of our windows to see the mountains, the valley and the spectacular red "blazing" maple trees.

 There are lots of those  blazing red trees in our neighborhood.  We worked had to bring the yard up to Steve's standards which included him mowing the grass twice and both of us raked up the extra grass for a couple of hours.  The weather was nice and it was good for us to be outside doing physical work.

 We took some time on Sunday to celebrate Hilary's birthday together.  As always, it is a National Day of Rejoicing. I guess Steve took the pictures on his camera and I don't have them.  We ate apple crisp and ice cream and sang "Happy Birthday" while she opened a few presents.  We are trusting that she continued her celebration throughout the week as that is appropriate.
The evening of her birthday, I hosted my annual "Food For Pies" open house and food bank drive.  I felt it was successful.  I had invited a couple of families who called off the listing sign to come to the open house.  One family is very interested in the home and I have shown it to them a second time.  Here's hoping!

I always enjoy visiting with my clients who come to the open house and bring donations of food for the food bank.  In return, I give them a pie.  Everyone is a winner here!