Fall Break

We just got back from Atlanta, my first time in Georgia.  The trip was supposed to take us 3 1/2 hrs.  We left here right around 4:20 and didn't pull into the hotel until 11:00 at night!  I guess there was a huge accident on the freeway and we got stuck in the craziest traffic and we didn't know the back roads well enough to get us around it.  We did get off on a back road that we thought would help us miss the traffic but it ended up being just as slow--a dead stop.  We turned around and tried to find somewhere to eat but the town was so small and all the restaurants were closed so we got back on the freeway.  The kids were starving and we all had to go to the bathroom when we finally started moving again.  It was 8:30 by then and we weren't even an hour from our house!  I'll admit, we were so close multiple times to throwing in the towel and going back home.  None of us slept well and Mike woke up in a foul mood and it all just seemed frustrating for a session at the temple.  But, we made it! We went to the temple, the company was great (we went with some friends), and we got home in 3 1/2 hrs.  I'm glad we stuck it out!

This week was fall break.  We only get two days of fall break here instead of the week we were used to in Colorado.  It was sunny for most of one of the days and poured rain the next day...and the next day...and the next.  It has rained a heck of a lot here the last two weeks.  And actually, it was beautiful weather for our trip to Atlanta and started raining once we got to Knoxville.  Anyway, my point in talking about the rain is that there wasn't really a lot to do for Fall break.  Mike had the GPS and I don't have a smartphone that tells me how to get places so I didn't really know where to take the kids.  I didn't want them playing the computer all day long for two days straight so I decided to throw an impromptu Halloween party.  My thought was just to have a few games that didn't require much work on my part and invite the neighbor boys.  When I told their mom my plan she jumped on board and decided to make goodie bags and mummy hotdogs and cupcakes.  It ended up being a fun party for the kids.  My part was the easy part--the games were pretty chill.  We played Halloween Charades, the Donut game (what is the real name?), and try to catch the "pumpkin" (really an orange balloon and a funnel).  I also contributed some witch broom pretzel treats and some banana ghosts but other than that, I didn't do much.

Earlier in the week on another raining day Eli and Jacob (one of the neighbor boys) decided to ride their bikes in the rain.  We are one house from the corner and around that corner is a very steep, long hill.  It's pretty hilly here in Knoxville, by the way.  The boys thought it would be awesome to take their bikes to the top of the hill and then ride down super fast.  At the bottom of the hill was a big puddle of water and Zach, the older neighbor boy, told Eli to turn to avoid the puddle so Eli turned last minute and crashed pretty good.  His elbow got all scraped up and he fell into the bike.  The handle bar jabbed into his armpit and he got a nice circle "tattoo."  It was pretty sad.  It probably wasn't the best idea and I should have told them "no" but right before the accident (they went down a few times) I heard them yelling "Whoohoo!  THIS IS AWESOME!"  So at least they got some good fun out of it before they fell.  (Jacob also fell but his wasn't as bad)