Our 2018 Halloween Costumes

This year hasn't been any calmer than last year, if anything, it's been busier, so I knew I wasn't going to manage any elaborate costumes. I do like making them, but between Wood Badge and work, I just didn't have the time.

I opted for hooded sweatshirts for the boys again, since they're easy and can be worn throughout the year. I searched several sites to see what was available and what was affordable, and ended up with Chewbacca for River and Darth Vader for Ocean.

Ocean's hoody has a little cape that velcros on and off. Too cute!

Ocean doesn't like having the hood up and his face covered, so he doesn't actually wear the hoody like this.

I'm so tall!

Then I really lucked out and found a plastic blaster crossbow like what Chewbacca carries at Target in the costume section. I thought I'd have to make something, but all we had to do was paint it to make it look a little more authentic. Mr M actually did this while I was at Wood Badge, since he took the boys to a trunk or treat activity at his VFW post. The spray paint claimed to bond to plastic, but it flaked off in a few spots, so I had to do some touch ups.

painted crossbow blaster

I grabbed this blaster at the same time, but haven't done anything with it yet. Chewbacca's blaster was the same white and orange, but with a lot more orange.

Lightsabers are easy to find, and I went with a red one (Ocean's favorite color) that lit up and was almost small enough to fit his hands.

Sticking with the Percy Jackson theme from last year, Sunshine decided to be a Naiad (a water nymph). She made it using clothes from her closet and a little makeup, though she didn't think the makeup was worth the effort it took to clean it off.

I think she was controlling the water here :)

I had her do some twirls and she readily complied.

I recycled my Fairy Godmother costume from 8 years ago (our first year in Virginia).

Mr M didn't dress up as anything, since he was at drill during our church fall festival, which is our main costume-wearing event. We only sometimes take the kids out on Halloween, since our neighborhood is not walkable (and therefore not trick or treat-able). There's enough activities beforehand where they get candy, and driving to a neighborhood in town can be a lot of work just for some free candy.

Weekly Mileage #83 and the Return to Normalcy

beautiful fall colors

Wood Badge is done, I've ditched my fracture boot, and we're trying to get back on a regular schedule. It's nice to feel a little less crazy busy, though there's still never enough time to get everything done that needs to be taken care of.

With Wood Badge over, I decided to start getting used to regular shoes, though there wasn't much weaning off of the boot when it came down to it. More like I went cold turkey. I just couldn't bring myself to put the boot back on.

I wore stiff hiking shoes for 4 days, then eased into running shoes. My foot is feeling better than I thought it would, though it is sore from being used more than it has been for a month and a half. The joints between all the bones in the foot are having to adjust to bending and flexing and all the movement that hasn't been happening up until this week.

My hiking staff is handy when I need to pull Ocean along a bit. And of course River has to hop in as well.

I still want to hit my 52 hikes this year, but I'm way behind. I took the boys on several short hikes this week while Sunshine was at various activities or doing schoolwork. It was good for my foot and good for the boys to get outside again.

It's also good for Ocean to strengthen his legs. I've decided I'm not carrying him any more, and he doesn't always agree with that restriction. River would only occasionally ride in the stroller after he decided he wanted to start hiking, but Ocean really likes riding on my back and can be quite slow when he does walk. It's hard to hurry him.

It's very interesting to see both the different personalities and physical activity preferences. Not to say Ocean doesn't run around, but his stamina seems to be lower than River's. I'm hoping to change that a bit as he and I work on building our endurance together.

River wasn't sure about the slide part, but once he saw Ocean do it, he gave it a try, and loved it. River is still not a fan of heights, though apparently the slides were fun enough to overlook the height situation.

We went to two trunk or treat activities this week. One was at our church, though it was all inside since it was cold and rainy that night. The "trunks" ended up being people sitting on the chairs in the hall. Pretty low key, but it worked in a pinch.

Ocean had a harder time climbing this steeper one with his short legs, but he didn't let that slow him down. 

We also went to one at the church just down the road that always hosts a big shindig open to the community. Sunshine went a few years ago with some friends, but we haven't managed to make it since then. The boys had a blast playing on all the bouncy houses they had set up, despite the soggy ground. The trunks were all decorated, and the people handing out candy matched the themes of their trunks. They definitely put a lot of thought and preparation into it.

I had to take a picture of this one for Mr M, who loves the movie Elf

We have way more candy than we need, but there you go- it's that time of year.

We also had our Primary program yesterday. We had hoped to do it in September, but the timing didn't work out for it, so it's a bit later in the year than we'd planned, but we're glad to finally have it done. It's always a bit stressful preparing for it, though it went well, as they always do.

All the kiddos were intelligible (this is definitely not always the case), even the Sunbeams and 4 year olds. Even the nonverbal autistic kiddo was able to participate using his iPad (they had it say a phrase in the microphone). I missed the prep work on that one because I was at Wood Badge last weekend, so it was a surprise to me. I thought it was super cool that we were able to include him as well.

Weekly Mileage
Wednesday- 1.25 miles hiked
Thursday-1.75 miles hiked
Friday- 2.30 miles hiked
total- 5.30 miles

25 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

321.14 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
265.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
588.28 miles total

Sunday Funny

Our trash cans have been dumped over and the trash bags torn into a few times this summer. We thought it was skunks, but the most recent occurrence was definitely not caused by skunks.

I haven't yet met a skunk that could dent our trash can like this, and I wouldn't want to :)

We're pretty sure this was done by a bear, though we haven't seen any other signs. We're keeping our eyes open, though.

Our 2017 Halloween Costumes

I wrote this post last year, but didn't have a picture of Sunshine or Mr M and I in our costumes, so I didn't post it. With Halloween upon us again, I decided it was time to take some pictures and get this posted.

The past few years I’ve spent September and October making elaborate costumes for the family (Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc). I love the creative process involved in designing and making the costumes, but it’s a lengthy process that I just did not have time for this year.

River has a Captain America hoody with a built-in mask, so I found a Captain America shield and called his costume done.

Ocean didn't want his hood on, but it has a see-through Spiderman mask like River's hoody.

Ever since we watched the LEGO Batman movie, Ocean goes around saying “I’m Batman, I’m awesome” (though you have to be familiar with how he talks to know that’s what he’s saying).  I thought it would be super cute to dress him up as Batman, so I tried to find a similar Batman hoody for Ocean, but I couldn’t find one that was affordable. I was able to find a Spider Man hoody, so we got that and called it good.

I was talking to Sunshine about costume options, thinking she’d want to be a super hero as well, but she immediately suggested going as a Camp Half Blood camper (from the Percy Jackson books). I could have made the shirt, but it was easier and quicker to buy one on Etsy.

She was going to carry a cheap foam sword until I found a Wonder Woman sword on clearance for a great price. The Wonder Woman sword looks a lot more like what a demigod would carry than the foam sword J Sunshine finished off the costume by stringing some wood beads that we painted like ones mentioned in the books on a leather lanyard. She also covered a dollar store foam shield in foil.

We somehow missed getting pictures of her last year, so I totally took these pictures today :)

I bought a Wonder Woman shirt for me and a Super Man shirt for Mr M. Easy and inexpensive.

I was a bit sad not to be all dressed up, but honestly, not stressing about getting all the costumes done was totally worth the decreased effort this year.

Weekly Mileage #82 and Wood Badge #2

Wood Badge ax and log totem and the McLaren tartan

This last week was another busy one, but this coming one should be a bit calmer.

I took Sunshine in for a checkup. She needed an updated physical so she can get a couple more teeth pulled- they just aren't falling out and there's no space in her mouth. She's in the bottom 3% for height, which is lower than it was at her last appointment, which has the doctor a bit worried. She has to go in for a height/weight check in 6 months so we can monitor where she's at. She's at an age where we can do something if she's not growing as expected, but if we wait a couple years, that won't be the case.

I had an appointment with my orthopedic doc and he said I can start weaning off the boot, but only on flat, stable surfaces at first. I thought about bringing a shoe to wear at the indoor portions of Wood Badge, but just opted to wear the boot the entire time. I'd be tempted not to put the boot back on, but the camp is hilly and very rocky and not at all what I should be walking on without the boot.

We haven't been able to pinpoint any other reason for my constant exhaustion, so I was referred to a sleep lab. I had that appointment last week, and I now have an appointment for an overnight sleep study in December. Depending on what that finds, I may or may not stay at the sleep lab for a daytime narcolepsy study after the overnight portion.

Wood Badge prep continued last week as well. I worked on my ticket, fleshing out the details for each goal. I went grocery shopping for our food (we cooked our own meals this weekend, and I volunteered to do the shopping for my patrol to make sure everything was gluten free). I tidied up my uniform patches and re-hemmed my pants (they were too long and seriously bugging me). I packed all my gear. And I worked on the display for our group presentation.

The second session of Wood Badge was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We had to arrive even earlier this weekend, so I was up at 3:15 am, loading the car and heading out. We camped at campsites with tent platforms, but we provided our own tents and did our own cooking.

my little corner of our campsite

Since I was camping without little ones, I decided to give hammock sleeping a try. Of course, the forecast was calling for colder weather than we've had yet this season, so I had to make sure I was properly prepared. I had a mosquito net, rain fly, hammock quilt (hangs under the outside of the hammock, like a taco shell, for warmth), a sleeping pad, and my sleeping bag. As my troop guide said, it's an awful lot of gear for something that's supposed to be simple and easy.

from outside in: mosquito netting, hammock quilt, hammock, sleeping pad (not visible), sleeping bag. Not set up yet: the rain fly to cover everything.

I also brought my tent for my gear and as a backup sleeping location. This proved to be a very good decision, as Saturday night we were hit with rain, high winds, and temps in the high 30s. I ended up quickly grabbing my sleeping bag, pad, and quilt and running for the tent as the rain pelted down. If it had been just rain or just wind, I wouldn't have gone into the tent, but I decided my chances of getting wet  on a cold night were just too high with both wind and rain.

embers from our campfire, shortly before the rain started pelting down, driving us into our tents

It's been 20+ years since I last successfully went tent camping in the cold, but I stayed warm all night and slept pretty well. Mr M and I had an unsuccessful attempt at camping at the Grand Canyon in December a number of years ago. We froze and ended up sitting in the car, waiting for the sun to rise so we could take a few pictures before getting back on the road.

This weekend was much calmer than the first weekend, which was nice. We were still busy, but we also had more time with our patrols during meal prep and such, so our schedule wasn't quite as full.

Friday we did a lot of walking between our campsite and the indoor learning center. Combined with the very early morning and lack of sleep from not being able to fall asleep, despite getting to bed at a decent hour, and I was very tired. Not as tired as I was on Friday of the first weekend, but it was a close second.

I'm not counting hiking around camp as actual hikes, since the distance is broken up by classes and meals, rather than being uninterrupted. I am still counting the mileage in my tally, though.

Now that the Wood Badge training sessions are over, I can take a deep breath and get caught up on some of the things that got pushed to the back burner during the last two and a half weeks. I've got my plan of action for my 5 ticket items and should be able to have them finished by this summer, if not sooner.

My patrol, with our course director (in red), at the end of Wood Badge. I don't think any of us were truly warm all over until we drove home in our heated vehicles. It was a cold day!

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 2 miles walked around stores
Friday- 6.5 miles hiked around camp
Saturday- 2.6 miles hiked around camp
Sunday- 2 miles hiked around camp
total- 13.1 miles

22 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

315.84 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
265.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
583.68 miles total

Sunday Funny

Ocean decided he'd rather sit than walk on a recent hike, and River coaxed him into getting up and getting going again.
too cute!

This summer I was hiking with the boys while Sunshine was at camp.

River made a comment about liking to toot. Ocean agreed with him. Then River said something about tooting in the water in the bathtub making bubbles, and both boys started laughing.

Apparently finding humor in bodily functions starts younger than I thought.

Weekly Mileage #81 and all the Glow Forging

totem etched on leather

We went home from Wood Badge with more homework than I anticipated: finish our patrol project, finalize my ticket (5 projects I need to complete in the next 18 months), make a patrol flag, meet with my patrol twice, meal plan and shop, and prep to plant a tree for the course service project. We're doing our own cooking this weekend, so we have to bring everything for it. Since I know what I need when it comes to being gluten free, I volunteered to do the food shopping. It's one more thing on my plate, but it means I won't have to worry about my food, so it's worth it.

pocket hangers with our totem

Needless to say, last week was super busy and I didn't get everything done that I needed to. Exercise didn't happen, other than walking around while sourcing. While not fast walking, it's tiring on several levels- walking up and down every aisle, the standing while scanning items, the very hard floor, the bright lights, all the different colors of packages, the noise... Those last three are all related to my being a highly sensitive person (HSP). Too much visual and auditory stimulation is exhausting for me, and is why I like things quiet and uncluttered.

smaller feathers for hiking poles, larger for patrol flag

I volunteered to head up making the patrol flag, and I was thinking about how I'd do it as I drove home from Wood Badge Sunday night. My initial thought was to use canvas, but then I realized I had leather and a Glow Forge. I could etch our totem on some leather and use that for our flag. I could also do some little dangly things with the Glow Forge. Then I got thinking about the pole for the flag, and I realized we had some wood that would probably work, so I wouldn't have to buy a broom handle. Then I thought, maybe we have enough wood to make hiking staffs (staves?) for everyone.

I checked the shed, and sure enough, we had the wood I thought was there. We bought the wood years ago for a project, then moved and never built what we'd planned. Two moves later, we're still hauling that wood around, and it's time to start using it.

I met with my patrol on Saturday to put the flag together and discuss all the stuff we need to have ready for Friday. We finished earlier than I thought we would, so I took advantage of the fact that nearby was a Walmart and a Target across the street from each other that I'd never been to. I found some good finds to send in to Amazon, then headed home.

I still need to foam the owl decoy in place on top. It's been sitting in the shed for several years after serving its purpose of scaring woodpeckers away from our porch columns. We were spit-balling ideas for the flag and someone mentioned using an owl decoy, which reminded me that we had one. It's hollow, so it doesn't make the pole too top-heavy.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 2 miles walked around stores
Wednesday- 4 miles walked around stores
Friday- .5 miles walked around stores
Saturday- 2 miles walked around stores    
total- 8.5 miles

22 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

303.44 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
265.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
570.58 miles total

Sunday Funny

River has some pointy, expressive eyebrows that he likes to wiggle around and make faces at people with.  He used to be really good at doing angry eyes, just by drawing his eyebrows up into a point.

Unfortunately, we've talked too much about it and now he doesn't do it quite as unconsciously. It's still funny to look at though :)

Weekly Mileage #80 and Wood Badge #1

80+ degrees in October is just wrong, though it did make for a beautiful hike

Tuesday I rode my bike for 5 miles. I tied my boot to the pedal, and it worked better than I was afraid it would. Even better, as long as I was careful about how and where I was putting pressure on my foot, it didn't hurt.

Thursday the kids and I went for a short hike. I knew I'd be doing some walking over the weekend, and I wanted to get an idea of how it was going to feel. We only did just over a mile, and it didn't feel too bad. It didn't feel great (there was still some pain), but it was definitely an improvement over how it's been feeling. I was pretty slow though. It's awkward to walk fast in a boot that prevents you from bending your ankle.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I attended the first weekend of Wood Badge. Wood Badge is leadership training offered by the Boy Scouts. I've been trying to take it for the last 5 years, and I've finally managed it. The first time I could have taken it, River was born in the weeks between the Wood Badge sessions, so that was a no-go. Two years later (our council only offers it every other year), Ocean was only two months old and still breastfeeding, so another no-go. Last year I was registered and paid and ready to go, and then the council canceled the course two weeks before it was supposed to start because there weren't enough people signed up.

After the course was cancelled last fall, I decided I'd do it in the coming year, and I'd go out of council to do it. I tried to take it in the spring, but ended up waitlisted. I was able to find another course in a different council this fall that worked with our schedule (there were several that didn't work with our schedule) and registered for that one. After I broke my foot I contacted the course director, and he said I could still come- if I needed help getting around, they'd take care of me. It turned out that I was by no means the slowest person, and we have two people that have to get rides everywhere because of their limited mobility.

The first weekend was intense, Friday in particular. I generally don't sleep well and I had to get up super early to get to the camp on time, so I was tired from the get-go. We did a lot of sitting during presentations, but because it was a very long day there was also a lot of walking and a lot of standing. Doing that much in a single day was more than I'd done in the entire preceding month because of my broken foot. The walking would actually be better classified as hiking, since we were camping in the woods. Needless to say, my foot was killing me and I was exhausted. I slept better that night than I have in a long time :)

We slept on cots in canvas tents on platforms, but we ate our meals in the dining hall. I'd communicated with the course director about gluten free options and I was told they'd have gluten free options available, but I brought a bag full of food, just in case. I ended up not eating any of that food though, because the kitchen staff took good care of us. There was 8 gluten free people between participants and staff, so it wasn't like I was the only one. I missed out on a few desserts, but there were gluten free substitutions for everything else, and it's not like I need to be eating desserts. I survived the weekend without getting glutened, so that's definitely a win.

Because I'm stepping up the pace on my sourcing for Amazon, I'm doing more shopping, so my store miles are increasing as well. I'm not completely sure about the miles hiked around camp, but I'll try to be more accurate during the next weekend.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 2 miles store walking
Tuesday- 5 miles on the bike
           2 miles store walking
Wednesday- 1 mile store walking
Thursday- 1.07 mile hike
Friday- 3 miles hiked around camp
Saturday- 2 miles hiked around camp
Sunday- 3 miles hiked around camp  
total- 19.07 miles

22 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

294.94 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
265.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
562.08 miles total