happy halloween!

today the girls dressed up for school to celebrate halloween.  little sister wore her powerpuff girl outfit, and big sister wore minimalist black with just a bit of bling.
after school, we changed it up and veered from our long-standing tradition of taking the girls trick-or treating in our neighborhood.  big sister had an away football game (yes, on halloween, and on a school night!) and little sister decided to hang out at home with some friends and pass out candy.  her friends rounded out the powerpuff gang!

either way, i able to sit on the couch by a warm fire and watch tv for a nice change.  i think i may have to insist on this as our new tradition!! 

UIL area

we finally made it to the last of 5 consecutive saturdays of marching band competition...affectionately called by some "bandtober!"  today our school hosted the UIL area competition, which means the kids were busy from 8am until after 10pm.  unfortunately our school did not place in the top 10 to go to finals, so they were done after just one performance.  the top 4 bands from the finals qualified for state competition.  we are very proud of big sister for her dedication and hard work in her marching band.  we love to watch her play and march!

during their midday break after rehearsals but before performing,  big sister came home for a couple of hours and wanted to carve her pumpkin.  and it was a gorgeous sunny day for carving in the driveway.

washed out

tonight's football game went on in the rainy mist, while the band only stayed for about an hour and then went home to get dry and rest up for tomorrow's UIL competition.  big sister was happy to get home early for a change.

in costume

daddy took big sister and two of her friends to the fan expo event today.  looks like they had tons of fun dressing up, and they came back with lots of merch!

pumpkins on the prairie

 an early dismissal from band today meant there was time for a quick trip to the pumpkin patch for our annual pumpkin patch photos.  i am so thankful that the girls are still willing to do this for me!

sunny saturday

it was another day of competition as the marching band performed at the UIL region 24 contest.  they actually hosted at our stadium, so the kids were close to home for a nice change.  big sister had to report for rehearsal at 8:30am, then had a rest break from 11:30am-1:00pm.  the band performed at 3:00pm, and big sister helped with holding up props on the field during the show.  the band earned straight 1's, and placed in the top 10 to advance to the area round next saturday.

meanwhile, little sister had a soccer game at noon and it was super hot.  the field they played at has virtually no shade, or breeze.  luckily, we provided our pop-up tent to shade the player bench.  the fusion girls outscored their opponents and took a 7-0 victory.  only two games left in the season!!

lobos v redhawks

big sister had a rare thursday game tonight to attend with the marching band.  the recent cool front we got made things a bit chilly once the sun when down.

the game was tied up until the last few minutes, and the lobos came thru and scored to win 27-24.  the band was appropriately excited!!

lady lobos v mcmath

little sister wrapped up her 8th grade volleyball season tonight, with her team taking on the tigers and winning in 2 games (4-25, 19-25) to remain undefeated for the season.....and she scored another 9 points!!

heading home

the only thing on our agenda today was to catch our flight home.  we enjoyed one last ride in our rental car and chilled at the airport before our nonstop 10:50am departure.  we landed at 1:25pm and got ready for the normal routine for the rest of the short week.

more driving

we woke bright and early today in detroit lakes, minnesota.  we seemed to be the only guests at our hotel enjoying the free breakfast - not sure if we were the only ones up, or if we were truly their only guests on this monday morning.  it was 34 degrees with the sun starting to shine when we got back on the road at 8am.  our destination was duluth, and a waterfront boat cruise tour on lake superior.  

during a stop for fuel around 10am (37°/feels like 30°), i received a call that, sadly, our cruise had been cancelled for "lack of interest" - awe, man!  we were interested!!!  but i guess we were the only ones...they offered to reschedule to tomorrow, but i told them that wouldn't work, so they initiated a full refund.  so, we adjusted our plans a bit and just drove thru duluth, heading now toward the michigan border.

most of the highways were slow going at 60 mph with 35 mph slow downs thru the tiny towns, so we were happy to see i-35 for a bit around duluth.  but the interstate travel didn't last long and we were back to the slower roads soon enough.  at least it let us take full advantage of the crisp fall color that was nearing its peak show.

unable to agree on a lunch spot in duluth at 11:30am (the original plan of lunch on the cruise was no longer an option), we ended up stopping at an arby's in ashland, wisconsin closer to 1:00pm.  it was very cool to see lake superior up close (actually chequamegon bay).  of course, we had to take a few quick pics....

it had warmed up to 39°/feels like 34°.  after another hour or so, we made it to the michigan border at 2:15pm.  we stopped at a michigan visitor center for information, pit stop, and to take a photo with the welcome sign.

knowing we had a good 215 miles to our hotel for the night, we forged on along the rural highways and took in more scenery.

we decided, while driving, to detour a little and go to the mall of america before stopping for the night at the hotel.  one last hurrah to take the place of our cancelled cruise adventure.  being somewhat south of the twin cities, we bypassed minneapolis and took i-35e alongside st. paul.  we also witnessed a pretty spectacular sunset in the process.

we reached the mall in bloomington around 7:00pm, and our main goal was to find dinner.

the girls were captivated by the nickelodean universe.
we settled for the food court where each of us could pick out our favorites.

by 8:45pm, we were finally headed for our hotel for the night.  downtown minneapolis was all lit up as we passed by.  the temperature was back to 39°. 

total day: 588 miles