Minnesota schools have a wonderful statewide 4-day weekend every mid-October, and because I work the school schedule, so do I! We stuck close to home and enjoyed lovely weather.
We started the weekend out by picking out pumpkins at our favorite local pumpkin patch.
The next day we crossed the river, and visited Willow River State Park in Wisconsin. Even though it's only a half hour from our house, we had never been there! There are so many beautiful places to discover.
Another new thing we tried was the Jack-o-lantern Spectacular at the Minnesota Zoo, where there are over 5000 jack-o-lanterns on display. We had a lot of fun and it was worth the price of admission.
I'm so glad we had a good break, because the bad break came the very next week. Reggie was tackled on a kick return and broke his left ankle.
Lydia and Brett went to the homecoming dance. The arrived together, left each other as quickly as possible, and got picked up together. Neither one of them will admit to having a date, but they both reported having a good time. 😊
Lydia is a Freshman this year!! She chose a rigorous schedule, taking AP Human Geography, Honors English and Science, Algebra 2, American Sign Language, and band. In addition, she made the 9th grade volleyball team. If busy was her goal, she accomplished it.
Reggie is in his last year at the middle school. He continues to play percussion in the band and started taking Spanish. He loves his morning lifts at the high school and was on the city's 8th grade football team.
Brett decided Sophomores wear white, grey, and black and Under Armor is his favorite brand. His goal is to take a gym class every trimester of high school and he is also taking ceramics. Those are the only classes he ever talks about. His favorite gym teacher encouraged him to join the adapted soccer team, and that was a really fun addition to our fall athletics!
I also had a first day of school this year! While homeschooling, I allowed my school counseling license to lapse. I'm not set on ever returning to that profession. Ultimately, I think I would like to work in care ministry, but that doesn't compliment family life well. In January, I took a part-time job at a young adults' homeless shelter. I was scheduled to work 3 weekdays a week and there was no flexibility to change that. I unsuccessfully attempted to access some programming for Brett over the summer - that much unsupervised time seemed like a bad idea. At the last minute, Lydia got a full-time babysitting gig and I was relying on her to be some support at home. So I quit. I quickly secured a job as a skills support para at the elementary school in my neighborhood and had most of the summer off. Now I work 6 hour school days and am a mile from both our house and the high school. Some days are hard, but the payoff of being so easily available to my kids and having their same schedule is well worth it!
This video shows highlights from Brett's Special Olympics basketball season, which was April-June 2023. Life is busy and my time for video editing and blogging is limited. Better late than never and better done than perfect. Enjoy!
Over Labor Day weekend, the kids and I knocked out four more Minnesota State Parks.
On our drive up north, we stopped at Savannah Portage State Park and had lunch. It was mostly undeveloped, but there was some camping and a nice beach and picnic area - once we found it!
After lunch, we got back on the road and continued north to Lake Vermillion State Park. This is where we stayed for the weekend. It has an old mine that you can tour, but they were doing maintenance work on it this summer, so we could only view the above-ground components.
The camper cabin was much newer than the stardard ones we usually stay in. It had a little more space to hang out, a nice counter area for food prep both inside and outside, and huge lookout windows. No AC though, and it was unusually very hot over the weekend. The park itself was nice, but no beach.
So on Saturday we drove about an hour west to McCarthy Beach State Park. It is not near anything except a gas station that sold icecream😋 and bait. The beach was definitely worth the drive. Nice clear water, sandy bottom, and shallow forever! Across the highway, there was a fishing pier, which made Reggie happy.
On Sunday, we spent the morning at Bear Head Lake State Park. It was only about fifteen minutes from where we were staying and had a nice place to swim, fish, and picnic. In the afternoon, we drove a bit further into Ely and went to the North American Bear Center. There is also a wolf sanctuary, but admission was $15 each and we didn't have a lot of time so we only did the bear one this time.
We decided to look around Ely and eventually found a place to have pizza. The next day it was time to pack up and go home. I love exploring all the nature Minnesota has to offer, and am so happy my kids still enjoy doing it with me!
Happy 14th Birthday, Reggie! We celebrated with pizza and Nothing Bundt Cakes while we were in Green Bay.
Reggie is 5 ft 9 and 140 pounds. He is the only family member that doesn’t need glasses - so far! He has had braces for 3 years, and will hopefully get them off soon.
Reggie is an almost straight-A student, even while taking an advanced math class! He continues to take band and play percussion. Reggie continues to play football, wrestle, and play baseball. Sports and school keep Reggie very busy, but in his free time, he enjoys playing video games, playing outside, hanging out with friends, weightlifting, and fishing.
It’s hard to believe Reggie is already 14. He is a kind and thoughtful person. He likes to joke around, and values time spent with family and close friends. He is driven and motivated to work hard towards his academic and athletic goals. I’m excited to see what the future holds for him, but I also want time to slow down so I can savor every day of it!
This year's trip to Green Bay included meeting our newest nephew (he's #18 niece/nephew!) We stayed at a hotel with a fun pool area, and enjoyed tailgating, Titletown, and Family Night.
