Fashion Farm

I talked Cam into going to Fashion Farm with me after school today.  He had passed on going with Nick and Meg yesterday, but after talking to them he was interested in seeing the grass maze for himself.  The theme this year  was counting and numbers.  It was a little lame, but we expected that from what Meg had said.  Cam and I had fun looking at the pumpkins just the same and finally found all ten of the hidden "ladybugs."

After we walked through Fantasyland, we headed straight to the grass maze.  It was actually better than we expected, but overall not very challenging.  Cam could see over it throughout the entire maze.  We did find a tube to roll in and a new arrow puzzle to solve.  I got a kick out of watching Cam try to master both of them.  Before we left, each of us picked out a pumpkin plus some gourds and a few miniature pumpkins.  Cam made sure to grab a bag of pumpkin donuts for the ride home.  I sure appreciated Cam going with me.  I enjoyed spending time with him and keeping our tradition alive.

A Wonderful Weekend at Home

Although Cal wasn't able to come home this weekend due to homework and interviews, the rest of us enjoyed a wonderful weekend in Syracuse.  Brett went to mass at 11 a.m. and met up with Nick and Meg there.  While they went to Fashion Farm afterward, Brett went to the movies with Grandma and Grandpa.  Both groups had a great time.  Nick and Meg got a kick out of the new grass maze that replaced the old corn one.  It definitely didn't pose much of a challenge for anyone over four feet tall.  Brett arrived home shortly after they did.  He said that the movie was exactly what he had hoped it would be and was happy for a chance to see it.

Doug and Cam attended 8 a.m. mass this morning as they had to lector and serve.  Cam spent his afternoon watching football and playing Madden on the PS4.  Doug had time to finish the bedroom upstairs, exercise and mow before the Bears started.  I got everyone's laundry done before their 5:30 departure time.  Brett, Cam and I even had time to play Exploding Kittens before dinner.  Meg had requested chicken curry for her last meal of the weekend, and it was delicious.  She was sad to say goodbye to Nick, but they made plans to see each other again the first weekend of November.  She will have midterms, fall break and a retreat with the church before then which will make the time pass quickly.

As soon as they left, Doug and Cam headed to the high school to play tennis.  Cam was happy with his play.  The last time he and Doug matched up he lost 8-1.  Tonight's score was 6-7 with Doug winning once again, but as Doug said when they got back, "it's probably his last victory over Cam."  The rest of the evening was a quiet one.  We watched one of Doug's favorites, Midnight Run.  Meg called a couple of times.  She had forgotten her Crimson Card, but her RA was able to help her out until we bring it down Friday night.  I was glad for that and that they got back before ten.

Only Saturday Home in Eight Weeks

I was so tired last night that I could barely keep my eyes open.  Nick brought Meg home around 10:20.  We visited with them for awhile and then headed to bed.  This morning I didn't wake up until 9:00 a.m.  I slept so hard that I didn't know where I was when the alarm went off.  I met Mary, Paula, Cheri, Debbi, Betsy, Wendy and Cindy for brunch at Maria's.  It was great to catch up with everyone. I know that several of us got together last weekend, but it seemed longer than that.

I was glad that we were at home this afternoon as Doug told me that we were gone the past five weeks and would be out of town the next two as well.  It felt really nice.  Doug used his time to finish painting the extra bedroom and working outside.  He also took a walk with me after I unpacked and started on Meg's laundry.  Meg went to get coffee with Gabby this morning and then lunch with Nick.  They hung out at house afterward until they went to Grandma's for chicken and noodles.  Once dinner was over Meg and Nick headed to Bethany for the boys' soccer game and then a haunted house in Columbia City.

Brett arrived home close to 6 p.m.  He had spent three hours beforehand in Terre Haute.  He met a girl there that he had been talking to from Catholic Match.  They had a nice lunch together and then toured the local art museum. He was very happy with his day.  After eating dinner the four of us called Grandma and Grandpa up to play Oh Hell!  For the first time ever Brett was glad to be the big loser as the booby prize was a Angry Bird Pig.  Meg texted us while we were playing to let us know that the wait was two hours for the haunted house.  Since they had already paid, they decided to stay.  I know that it was frustrating to wait that long, but they were happy to spend so much time together.

Home Sweet Home

Brett had to work this morning, so he went to bed early last night.  I was wiped out from my trip yesterday so I slept in, but was still up and ready by the time he got home at 9.  I needed to get his new clothes ironed before his interview at 11:15.  He sure looked the part by the time we left.  We didn't talk about it much on the way to SPEA.  Brett was nervous and I didn't want to make it worse.

I drove to Read after I dropped him off and parked in the back lot.  I ran into Meg as I was getting out of the Pilot.  She was coming back from a tutoring session with Mark for Finite.  I walked with her to English class and then got some steps in going to the Union and back to Read.  It was fun walking with her.  She had run into Cal and laughed when she told me about his reaction.  I realized that I was the only Mom in the area, but I didn't mind.  It reminded me of walking to class with my friends thirty years ago.

Meg and Brett were both back at Read by 12:30.  We had lunch at McAllister's Deli which we all enjoyed.  Brett filled us in on his interview and felt really good about it.  Our next stop was his apartment.  Meg and I picked up all of my bags and told Brett goodbye.  He had to work at the Union at 2.  He was happy as the executive at Bell Trace stopped him this morning to tell him all of the wonderful things that she had heard from the residents about his work effort.  That was awesome to hear.

Meg and I ran to Target next to pick up a broom for her room.  We then spent about thirty minutes cleaning her room.  It wasn't bad at all.  I just wanted to dust, clean the bathroom and get a few items organized.  I knew that way all she would need to do when she got back was make her bed and put her laundry away.  We left IU around 2:45 so that we could pick up Nick at Purdue at 5:30.  Traffic was horrible, but we still made it to his dorm with ten minutes to spare.  Meg and Nick were happy to see each other.  He showed her his dorm before we left.  The trip felt long, only because we had already been in the car three hours before we took off.  It was a fun ride, however, as we listened to Disney songs on the way home.  I dropped Nick and Meg off at his house at 8:25.  Doug spent his night painting and had ordered a pizza for us when he was done.  I was thankful for that as I was starving when I got home.  I was so happy to be out of the Pilot.  It was a long drive, but I was glad to have picked up Meg and Nick.  I remembered what it was like when Doug and I lived apart from one another.

A Quick Trip to Bloomington

I left this morning for a quick trip to Bloomington.  I departed a little later than I had planned as I walked, cleaned and packed after I dropped Cam off at school.  The trip down wasn't too bad.  There was some traffic and construction, but I was still able to pull into Brett's apartment complex well before 3.  He had just gotten off of work and I thought that we'd have time to hang out and relax before his mixer tonight with Grant Thornton.  It didn't quite work out that way as once we started talking about his interview tomorrow, we realized that he needed some new clothes.  We called Doug to get his opinion on what to buy and soon were on our way to the mall.  Although it took a little time, we were fortunate enough to find a khaki pair of pants, blue tie, blue shirt and black belt.

Brett and I were both relieved that we found exactly what he needed, and that we got done just in time to pick up Cal and Hannah-Marie.  Cal needed a ride home and HM had class.  We gave her her birthday gift as she turned twenty today, dropped them off where they needed to be and still had plenty of time for Brett to get ready for his dinner.  I took him to Irish Lion close to 6 p.m.  We practiced on the ride over making small talk and thinking of questions that someone might ask tonight.  He felt more than prepared by the time we arrived.

I stopped next at Meg's.  She and I then met Parce at Taste of India to celebrate his 70th birthday today.  Cal thought that he would be busy, but in the end joined us as well.  We hadn't seen him in awhile and enjoyed catching up.  Meg and I ordered the buttered chicken while Cal tried the goat curry.  Parce tried some of Cal's goat and ordered chicken for himself as well.  The dinner was delicious.  We stopped at Starbucks afterward so that Parce could get his birthday coffee and then dropped Cal at HM's for her birthday celebration.  Meg wanted to study so we took her to the library.  I spent the next hour at Parce's apartment visiting with him about his trip to North Carolina and upcoming camping excursion.  I hadn't met his dog, Eleanor yet.  I knew she was a Great Dane, but was still surprised with just how big she really was.  She was really friendly and loved to be petted.

Brett called around 8:40 to let me know that he was done with his dinner.  I couldn't believe how long he was there.  He was very happy with how it went and filled me on all of the details including who was in attendance and what was talked about during the dinner.  It was fun to listen to him talk.  I was glad to be a part of his adventure.

Tennis Sectionals

Cam spent the evening at Northwood for the first round of the tennis sectionals.  Bethany had drawn Goshen and felt that they had a good chance of winning as they had competed well against them in the regular season.  The entire junior varsity team rode over to watch them play and for awhile it looked as though Bethany would advance.  Every court except for number two doubles had won the first set.  Thus, we were completely surprised when Cam texted us an hour later and let us know that the team had lost 2-3.  The good news was that number one doubles won which put them in the individual sectional draw.

I picked up Cameron and Jacob at 7:15 at Bethany.  They had enjoyed going to the match even with a Bethany loss as it was the first time that JV had had their own bus.  Even with the disappointing end, it was an awesome season for all of the boys.  They not only learned a lot on the court, they had fun along the way.  That should be a great motivator for offseason training.

EEE Virus

Several weeks ago we received an email from Bethany stating that the Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus was found in several horses in Elkhart County.  The EEE virus had been spread through infected mosquitos.  Although no humans were infected yet, concern was high as deaths had already been reported in Michigan.  I was impressed that Bethany took the news seriously.  Students were required to wear bug spray at all sporting events.  They had stressed it so much at school that Cam didn't need reminders from us to be diligent about putting it on anytime that he had to be outside.  That included at school and all events that we attended as a family.

I was relieved that Cameron had no problems following the rules, but noticed that he had also enjoyed making fun of me for my new obsession of staying away from mosquitos.  I was sure that I had found a bite the other day.  Cam looked at my arm and said, "Mom, I don't even see anything."  He was right.  This morning I was positive that there was a mosquito in the van on the way to school.  Cam laughed and quickly pointed out that 1) it wasn't a mosquito and 2) it was on the outside of the windshield.  It was then that he also told me that only 4% of mosquitos even carry the EEE virus.  I knew that he was correct, but I still planned on sending a full bottle of Deep Woods Off with him for tomorrow night's tennis match.