Welcome, Fall

The weather has started to turn a little cooler, so we enjoyed a nice fall afternoon over the weekend.  We went to Akron Falls and then stopped at Kelkenberg just for some cider and doughnuts (and photos of decorative gourds, of course).  

 

Mod Squad

 James is playing modified soccer at school.  Modified is what they call the seventh and eighth grade team (I'm not sure why, because the game doesn't actually seem to be modified/changed in any way.)  It seems to be like a pre-JV system (their uniforms and team name are the same as the high school, so they're the Flames).

It's a short outdoor season -- they started at the end of the summer and they'll play through October.  The games are at their home field or at other schools in the area.  They've won some and lost some, but it's been fun to watch (even the cold and muddy game where James commented that the puddles on the field were the best defender!)  Several of the dads of the other players have coached in the house league, so it's kind of fun to hear them coaching from the sidelines.  :)

Starry Evening

Way back in the summer, we bought tickets with our friends for the traveling immersive Van Gogh exhibit.  It was set up in a tent in the mall parking lot. And fortunately we had nice weather, so we ate outdoors at the pirogie place right next door.  

The exhibit itself was really cool -- there was an initial room with just information about van Gogh, then a "waterfall" room with light-show images coming down the black walls like a waterfall, and then the main room with about a half-hour of big animations of his paintings.  We all enjoyed it (although our friends with the newborns had to duck out a little early).  And then, we went back to the pierogie place for dessert!  :)

 

Seventh Grade

The boys are back in in-person school!  And it seems to be going well so far. Their favorite class is accelerated math, which they have together.  

It was raining on the first day, which was too bad -- they had made plans to walk to school with a couple of their friends, but because it was pouring, everyone drove instead.  

We went over to set up their lockers after school, and it was a little strange (but nice) to be back after so much time.  

James is doing modified soccer (we still don't know why it is called modified), which is the middle school team with seventh and eighth graders. It's outdoor and a short season, just September and October.  

 

Labor Day Outings

We didn't have too much excitement for Labor Day weekend, but it was nice to have a campfire with friends and a pretty walk in the park!