Happy Republic Day, Anniversary, and Halloween!

October? Where did it go?

There wasn't one weekend where we didn't have something going on.

Since we traveled up to Michigan for Cathe's HS reunion over Columbus Day weekend, soccer season was cut short. Both David and Kate had great season's and they're already looking forward to next year. To make up for missing the last two games, we loaded up Bob and the kids and headed to Sheridan's for frozen custard. Bob LOVES Sheridan's because they make vanilla "Puppy Cones" which he now consumes in a single bite! He couldn't wait to show us just how happy he was!










We had a great trip, although it was much too short. On the way north we notices the leaves changing from green in Memphis to brightly colored as we ventured into Kentucky, Indiana, then Michigan. Although we have passed close to Mammoth Cave, we had never stopped. Since the kids had never been in a cave, we got an early start so we could stop on the way up, this time visiting Diamond Caverns. Kate had been covering the topic in her science class and both had seen pictures in their science books in Kazakhstan, so they were pretty excited.







It was a steep descent into the cavern. Thank goodness for strong hand-rails!










The view was spectacular and we're looking forward to our next spelunking adventure!


As we continued our journey north, we decided to make a quick pit stop and noticed a Russell Stover candy shop. Our chocolate connoisseur could not resist the opportunity to pose with a sign sporting what is now her favorite slogan!







When we finally arrived in Michigan, we packed a lot of activity into a very short time. Between visiting an apple orchard and pumpkin patch, we also ventured through a corn maze. While Kate relaxed with cousin Elizabeth, David dug worms and demonstrated his angling prowess, catching several sunfish and a northern pike.


Although Fall has oficially arrived and we have seen some heavy frost, we have not seen early snow flurries as we did in early October last year in Kazakhstan. There was no snow, but driving through the mid-south countryside, we did see snow-white fields of cotton waiting to be harvested. Kathe thought it was pretty neat, but David was not impressed. "We saw that in Kazakhstan, " he said.


Kazakhstan Republic Day arrived quietly as we celebrated our one year anniversay of becoming a family with a pizza feast. Was it really just a year ago that we were sitting in the courtroom telling the judge just how much we wanted to be a family with these children? On the other hand, the memory of the judge puting the children through the questioning process and David being absolutely at a loss for words seems like just yesterday. Not once since have we seen our children at a loss for words!

And how could you wrap up October without mentioning Halloween? Both David and Kate knew about Halloween, although it isn't celebrated in Kazakhstan. David also wanted to tell us about all the scarry movies they had watched before coming to America. We told them we would watch scarry movies, but nothing like what they had watched before (we often preface the statement, "In Kazakhstan..." so anyone overhearing us doesn't think we sit our kids down to watch the Saw series). We'll go with more "thill" and a lot less "gore." Early on, they picked their outfits for Halloween: Kate would be the Easter Bunny (does she know that the Easter Bunny doesn't do the Fish Face?!?!?), and David would be a doctor, "Trick-or-Treat Specialist" to be more specific (and asked to have that specialty embroidered on his scrubs too, just in case it would help him get more candy and make up for lost time in the Trick-or-Treat department... It did!).

Another part of Halloween which they had not participated in before was Pumpkin Carving. Both were very proud of their artistic results! They looked awesome sitting outside the front door , greeting all comers. Lastly, David, being the good brother, constantly reinforced with Kate that they had to look both ways before crossing the street so they didn't get squashed like a ghoulish display in a neighbor's yard depicted. (Kate took several looks to be sure that the foot sticking out from under the tire wasn't real!).

Since our first measurements last October, both children have filled out and put on several inches in height. David is now 4 1/2 inches taller and Kate has grown a full 3 inches. It's funny to see them sporting original sets of pajamas which are now "high waters." They continue to amaze us with how much they have learned in such a short time and how well they are doing in school. We are VERY proud of them and hope that we can keep up!