Traditions

Every Thanksgiving, Austin participates in a pickup Turkey Bowl football game on the Norwich rugby field with young men from our church and various folks from the community. We woke up this morning to four inches of fresh snow and freezing wind. But traditions must go on! Here's my crazy husband wearing cross country ski boots and gaiters, several layers of shirts and pants, and a warm hat. He grabbed his scuba gloves from the barn and headed out to play. He came back happy two hours later, full of stories about how he schooled the youngsters again.

 

 

I stayed home and built up the fire. Some friends had invited us to dinner so I didn't have much cooking to do. But I did get out the traditional Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feast for the kids: jelly beans, pretzels, popcorn, and toast. My kids won't eat turkey, or stuffing, or even mashed potatoes, and rather than being frustrated by this I've decided to just embrace new food traditions.

 

 

So the kids were happy with their junk food Thanksgiving, and Austin was happy about getting tackled over and over into the snow. As for me, I was pretty happy today too. I came downstairs to find this note on the silverware rack of the dishwasher, which had been mysteriously emptied without my asking:

 

Now THAT'S a tradition I can really get behind!

Swim Meet

 

Saturday the kids participated in their first-ever real swim meet at the Upper Valley Aquatic Center in White River, about 45 minutes away. The meet drew junior swimmers from all across Vermont, New Hampshire, and coastal Maine. We made a few swim-meet-rookie mistakes, such as putting Gavin in regular swim trunks, which he tearfully declared would surely fall off as soon as he dove into the water and then what would he do. Luckily, a vendor was set up and we were able to get some racing trunks just in time for warm-ups. I am pleased to report that not only did his new trunks NOT fall off, they helped Gavin swim the 50 breast and 25 free in true swimmer style.

 

Practice dive off the blocks.

A slightly slow start on the 50 free.
But she sure looked great.

 Lucy got a new suit out of it too, once we realized that she had brought her favorite off-shoulder fashion swimsuit that looked more appropriate for a day at the beach than a competition swim. True to form, she adamantly refused to get a racing suit in the darker navy or black colors most other swimmers wore, opting instead for the brightest one she could find. Then she paired it with Gavin's orange monster swim cap instead of the official team cap. The upside: she was very easy to spot. 

Enthusiastic cheering section for the 100 breaststroke.

Collaborative design a la Picasso.

It was a very long day. We were there for nearly 11 hours, since Gavin was part of the morning group and Lucy the afternoon. But they both had a ball, hanging out the whole time with their pals on the Central Vermont Swim Club bench, cheering on their teammates, and using the coach's Sharpies to decorate each other. (The marker finally came off later that night after what seemed like hours of rubbing with sunscreen, and an extra bath apiece. I think next time they will choose to be a bit more conservative with their body decorations.) Luckily, Austin and I brought books and snacks and had some nice parents to chat with in the stands. The kids have declared that they can't wait to do this again (and Lucy has asked to pick up an extra practice-night each week to get ready) so I think that means I'll be spending many more hours this winter in the humid, chlorine-saturated pool air watching these guys swim.

Halloween

 

It has been such a gorgeous fall. The weather was glorious until about a week ago, when the leaves all fell, a deep freeze came on, the horses went home, and a wind gust blew the trampoline into the branches of the apple tree. (The tree will likely recover, but we may have to retire the trampoline.) It can't be Halloween without dismal weather. True to form, Halloween night was 35 degrees and rainy.

Zombie Minnie and Zombie Ariel

 The kids were not dissuaded by the weather from the week of Halloween festivities. Lucy and her friends went to the middle school dance (First dance! Squee!) dressed as Zombie Disney Characters and won best group costume.

 

Treebeard the Ent

 Gavin stuck to his resolve to dress up as Treebeard from the Lord of the Rings. He has been talking about this costume for six months. I was rather hoping he would forget, and opt for something easy I could get in the cosume aisle at Wal-Mart. But he persisted, and I did my best with some foam, fake ivy, twigs from the yard, an entire roll of brown duct tape, and a couple of felt Hobbits.

 

Hobbits Merry and Pippin along for the ride.

Our huge pumpkin-carving parties of years past have given way to a nice little family night in. I've decided October is too busy and too crammed with other parties. And I love carving pumpkins, but never got to carve one of my own when I was busy being a party host. We had a yummy dinner and listened to spooky music and let the creative juices flow. Afterward, we watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. It's a classic for a reason.

Carving is serious business.



Austin's Teenage Mutant Ninja Pumpkin

Spooky!

 A satisfying Halloween season was had by all. There were three Halloween parties, one dance, and two nights of trick-or-treating (Halloween night and Halloween Eve at the Norwich dorms). The kids ended up with pounds of candy. Even they are going to have a hard time consuming all of this before Christmas!

 

Trading loot with Trick-or-Treat pals.