October 2015

I enjoyed being a chaperon for Sasha's class field trip on the Aspen Vista hike.  We enjoyed the gorgeous yellow leaves and a fire with s'mores and hot dogs at the end.

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We drove down to see the morning ascension of Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.  This time we met my dad in the Target parking lot.  We brought the coffee and he provided the donuts!

Cookout up at Aspen Vista

We flew to visit Megan and Isaac in NYC for fall break.  We rented the basement floor of a townhouse close to their tiny apartment in Park Slope.

Chelsea Market Halloween displays were riveting.

A highlight was the (very cold!) boat tour around Manhattan

Times Square

Prospect Park Zoo was a hidden gem that we just happened upon.  The seal feeding demonstration was really fun.

Sketching and journaling at the orangutan house

Jack loves to draw these days.  He chronicled our whole trip in his little book with his pictures.

Megan and Isaac on our afternoon walk down by the river.

Megan volunteered to ride the carousel with Phil and the kids and found out she gets as motion sick as I do on those things now as an adult.

On the day Megan had to work our family visited the Museum of Natural History....

And central park

From the castle in Central Park

Back home Jack's little leaf pile that he was so excited to jump in. 

Sadly Burt Yoder Smucker died on October 27th, 2015.  He was almost 15 years old.  Not only was he the most loving cat, affectionate cat I have known, he was a steady companion for all of us.  It was a very difficult time for the kids, but we know he had a very good life full of many adventures.

38 years old!

Jack's cello recital on Halloween afternoon.  He played Song of the Wind and did very well.

Admiring her loot.  Sasha was a witch and Jack was Darth Vader this year.