Home But Not Home

Just for the record, we left our Wisconsin home in middle October after being there nearly nonstop for the entire summer. I believe the time spent there for 2015 was 126 days or about 1/3 of the year. Pretty nice!

Although we are supposedly back in Iowa, we continue to get out and about. Over the Halloween weekend, we were in Minneapolis to visit both Jessica's and Will's families and to celebrate Kathie's birthday. This was our first joint visit there since Jessica and Mike moved there from Marshall. (Kathie had been there for a couple days earlier in October.) Their new startup business is off to a rousing start. If you don't know about that, take a look at the Local Crate web site by clicking here.

Leo and Maia seem to have finally taken to their new surroundings, and Maia is enjoying her preschool. I don't know what Leo was trying to accomplish here, but he and his Nana are cute just the same.

The day before Halloween, we visited Maia's preschool so that we could see their Halloween costume parade. Jessica helped Maia don her Supergirl outfit.

Leo needed some attention too.

The array of businesses next door to the preschool were kind enough to allow the parade to wind through all their offices so that the kids could get an early start on their candy gathering. There were lots of different kinds of costumes, but the superheroes (Supergirl, Batgirl, Captain America, and others) were especially well represented.

In the afternoon, we went to Anders' school (School of Engineering and Arts or SEA). Last year he told us about the annual pumpkin drop. Each class creates a contraption that is meant to protect a pumpkin when dropped from the roof of their two-story school building. In preparation, each student gathers information on possible methods by doing the same thing with an egg from a six foot height. Most of the pumpkin contraptions involved a cardboard box and then all manner of foam, bubble wrap, stuffed animals, marshmallows, tape, and who knows what else. Some parachutes were involved as well.

The school janitor, decked out in a pumpkin outfit, launched all the contraptions. In those cases were parachutes were involved, I think he didn't do a very good job of helping them to unfurl, but who am I to criticize? I recall there being twenty or so in all––there are several classes for each of grades one through five. Kindergarten classes merely observe but, as Anders did last year, begin to dream about their involvement when they begin first grade.

After all contraptions have reached the ground, representatives from each class describe their class's construction while their box is opened

Anders provided part of the commentary for their box. His class was one of only three that succeeded in getting their pumpkin to the ground intact.

This same day was Kathie's birthday, and everyone came to Jessica's house for a very nice trout dinner, some cake, and other fun. Honest, I tried to get a nice photo of these women, but they weren't very cooperative.

The next day, I hung out with Will and Anders for most of the day, since there was lots of football to watch, including the Iowa-Maryland game. I sat back on the comfortable couch, but these two guys evidently always position themselves right up close so that nothing interferes with their watching. (By the way, Iowa is now 9-0 after beating Maryland that day and then Indiana this past Saturday. Hold onto your seats. Three games to go to complete the regular season. Anything could happen!)

Later, everyone else showed up, and then these three, accompanied by their parents, went out trick or treating in Will and Sandy's neighborhood. Kathie and I stayed at the house and manned the candy supply as numerous other beggars came by looking for handouts.