13 October 2013 - Cookies-n-climbing

While Jessica and Emily were at swim practice on Friday, Madeline and I went to watch one of my students who's on the C of I women's soccer team.  Alas, they gave up an early goal and ended up losing 1-0.

With Joanne in Utah for Jennifer's birthday, we decided to have an outing of our own on Saturday.  We went to the Black Cliffs southeast of Boise.  Here's Emily on the rappel rope.

Madeline disappearing over the edge of the cliff.

After some rappelling, we got into some climbing.  Here's Emily.  This climb turned out to be a little too difficult for all of us.

Madeline made really good progress despite her relatively shorter reach.

Jessica got the highest of all of us (including me), but the top of this particular route eluded us on Saturday.

If you were ever around the North's house when we we were kids, you probably know that sugar cookies were a tradition at Halloween (and Valentine's too).  I missed the old sugar cookie days so on Sunday after church, the girls and I made sugar cookies.

We always had pumpkins and ghosts when I was a kid, so those were a must, but the girls also found a bat in Joanne's stash of cookie cutters, so we had three.

Here's a close up of the finished product.

6 October 2013 - Puerto Rico

This week Joanne and I went to Puerto Rico.  Every fall I attend the annual conference of the International Association for Computer Information Systems, and this year's conference was in San Juan.  Aunt Kathy stayed with the girls while we were gone.  We arrived on Tuesday and spent the afternoon in Old San Juan.

Here's Joanne in front of the Christopher Columbus statue.

Despite the government shutdown closing the forts, we were able to walk around the outside of them.

On Wednesday we took a catamaran snorkeling trip to a small outlying island called Cayo Icacos.  When we arrived at the island, some on the boat with us saw these fish in the water and thought they had found some small sharks, however the guides explained they are actually a harmless fish known as Remora.

The water was bathtub warm and crystal clear.  It made me want to never leave. I did not have an underwater camera, but even if I did, I doubt photos could do justice to the wide array of tropical fish, coral and other marine life we witnessed.  We spent hours swimming around the reefs, chasing the fish and basking in the sun.

A view of the mainland lighthouse on the boat ride to Icacos.

On Thursday evening, the conference sponsored a beach party.  Many members of the IACIS have become good friends over the years.  It was good to spend the evening with them enjoying good food, good weather and music.

This is the Condado Beach sidewalk near the Marriott hotel where the conference was held.

We made it home safely late Saturday night.  The girls had a grand time with Kathy, so all went well and we were grateful for the experiences we had.

29 September 2013 - More Home Improvements and Swimming

Joanne's shelf work has come to fruition.  If she had to sell these shelves for a profit, she might have to charge a thousand dollars, but she's had a good time making them and they look great. These are Jessica's

Here are Madeline's shelves.

Emily's shelves flank her Argentina flag.

On Saturday, our stake had a Fall Harvest dance.  We didn't dance much, but we went and had fun.

Joanne has been hard at work decorating the family room...

..and the kitchen.  The house is feeling more and more like a home all the time.  

This weekend we also had a birthday party for Shaylee.  We had a bonfire at Eric's place, then had presents and cake.

We have a large picture window on the landing of our stairs.  Joanne is quite resourceful and figured out a good window covering for it.

Saturday was also the girls' first swim meet of the season.  It was a time trial meet.  Here is Emily in one of her freestyle events.

22 September 2013 - Karate and More House Work

Madeline is taking a break from swim team this fall and trying her hand at karate.  After two sessions her teacher moved to the older kids class because she was wailing on the kids in her age group too much.

Now she's the one getting wailed on, but she's having fun and holding her own.

Joanne had to leave a number of shelves behind for the kids' bedrooms because they threatened to pull the paint off the walls.  She went to buy new ones but couldn't find what she wanted at a reasonable price, so she has started making her own shelves -- table saw, miter saw, router, the whole nine yards.

She took a break from making shelves to be a chaperon for Madeline's pioneer field trip.  This is Madeline's class at school.

Among plenty of other activities, they did three-legged sack races.

On Saturday, Emily came out and asked me if I'd teach her to mow the lawn.  How many kids ask to mow the lawn?

The garage is starting to get organized finally.

I spent almost all day on Saturday building shelves and putting stuff away.  It's coming together.

15 September 2013 - Getting Settled

This week marked one month since our arrival in Idaho.  We've been getting settled in and finding routines. On Tuesday we went to the church orchard and picked (and ate) peaches.

On Saturday morning we had a meeting for the swim team, and we had to drive past Krispy Kreme to get there.

While at the YMCA in Boise, the girls climbed the endless climbing wall.

After the meeting at the Y, we went to Bogus Basin and bought our family season ski passes for this winter. No snow yet, but we tried out the ski lifts anyway.

Looking forward to getting some snow!