October

Hard to believe that we've already approached the halfway point in the first quarter of the kid's school and October is almost over.  Here's what we've been up to:

A few weekends back the girls, myself, and my sister-in-law participated in a color run in La Crosse. The run marked Ainslee's first walk/run race she's ever participated in, and I have to say she rocked the 3.1 miles.  We were extremely fortunate that race day was one of those unseasonably warm (read: 80 degrees!) days and we didn't have to bundle up.  Here's a little pre-race bubble chasing, pre-race group photo along the beautiful Mississippi (you can faintly see the fall color in the background), and post race complete with dye packets and medals!

Just about the time we were crossing the finish line, Alex surpassed a milestone of his own.  He shot his first deer during the 2015 youth deer hunt.  I have to admit that the week prior was certainly a test in one of those 'letting go' moments as a mother.  Seeing my ten year old taking control of a high powered rifle, when you won't handle one yourself, can be a little anxiety provoking.  However, I have faith in his instructor, so as hard as it was, I did manage to take a few deep breaths and just enjoy watching the excitement in his eyes.  My heart swelled when Jason said that he almost cried when he knew the kill was a success because he was so happy.

This past weekend marked the last game of Alex's first tackle football season he has ever participated in. He played in the Holmen Youth Tackle Football program which was phenomenal, he had a wonderful coach and the program overall was very well organized and motivating for the kids.  A big thank you goes out to all of his fans who came to watch him in all 5 games, between grandparents, his Aunt Deanne and friends he always had a cheering section.

And to wrap up a busy, fun-filled couple of weeks and weekends we checked out an apple orchard that was hosting a music festival.  There was something to do for everyone young and old from tractor rides, cornhole, caramel apples, face painting, to a beer garden.  Not to mention the music, it was a pretty cool, diverse, place to just hang out-we'll definitely be checking it out again in 2016 but can hopefully stay longer to take in the variety of music.  

Even the warm temperatures are starting to wear on me, the Asian beetles are awful around the house-so bad that we'll probably need to buy a leaf blower just to clean out all the crevices and cracks of the exterior of the house!  And deer ticks, not so much the concept, but the sheer number that I've pulled off of Ava or found in the house within a 24 hour time frame is crazy.  One day I found 11 within a matter of hours.  Apparently the deer tick is more 'normal' on this side of the state rather than your typical wood ticks we are used to. . so for that, I'm actually hoping for a good frost to take care of the bugs!