Half Marathon

I've been really enjoying going for long walks after walking Cooper to school in the mornings.  I decided to walk the half marathon in Lawrence recently.

A bit chilly (windy) at the start, but it was near 60 by the end.  Gorgeous morning.

One of the best pit stops I've seen on a race.  Particularly when it's a bit chilly at the beginning:

Not a lot of walkers, so there were at least several points in the race when I was bringing up the rear:

Finished!

Portland

I made a quick trip up to visit Carmen and Vada in Portland.  Vada introduced me to her chinchilla:

We went to a pumpkin patch:

Tall sunflowers:

Dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and Vada helped make guacamole table side!

Tea party with the dog and Vada's stuffed animals.  We had toast, sprinkles, tea, and marshmallows.

At Vada'a favorite dumpling restaurant:

Kelly and Vada modeling halloween masks at Michaels:

Brand new couch!

The arts

Cooper is in the Cougar Chorus, which meets before school at 7:10am.  They had a fall concert recently.  It was wonderful and, surprisingly, it lasted all of 26 minutes!  Brilliant!

Coop is also in the Honors Choir, a select group of chorus members.  He's one of four tenors.  They sang Seasons of Love at the concert:

Coop got a part in the fall school play, too!  It was called "Writing a Will can be Murder," and it was super clever.  I was so impressed with the kids!

Halloween

Coop and I decided to have our Halloween skeleton friend ride in the car with us.  We call her Nana Beverly.

On Halloween day, Cooper went to school as his choir teacher, Mr. Viets, who wears a name tag with a bunch of ribbons on it.

For the school's trunk or treat event, Coop dug out a giant 6-foot tall giraffe costume.  This is his good friend Renee:

With friends and his school principal (in the middle):

He went trick-or-treating Halloween evening with Molly and Eliza, who dressed as toothbrushes:

I happened to be at the law school on Halloween for a meeting, and I ran across this student:

Who was dressed as my headshot for halloween!!!

The Lights Fest

Coop and I headed to the middle of Missouri one weekend for The Lights Fest, where everyone releases a paper later in to the sky.  But first, we stayed at this fabulous AirBnb with alpacas!

At the event:

Decorating his latern:

Getting ready to release the latern:

fall misc

Doing homework:

Hugs in the kitchen:

At a charity event for Alexandra's House:

Dress for Success Wednesday:

Our October car companion, who we've named Nana Beverly:

Coop was reading some old notes from 3rd grade:

Lyons

Cooper and I went to Lyons with a BIG secret:

We were involved in the planning of (and lying about!) a surprise birthday party for Grandma Joan's 70th birthday:

The moment of surprise:

And the zwieback that were at the heart of our deception (and were also very, very tasty!):

While we were home, Coop drove the gator:

Exhausted after all the festivities: