La Rentrée

First Day of School

School started in late August and it was easy for Kate.  We weren't in a new state, and it wasn't a new school.  In fact, she reported to the same classroom with the same teacher who decided to loop with the class.

The start of school for James was eventful as he started Kindergarten.  He was in the same school for preschool so everything felt familiar, except there was a lot less playing and lot more work. Well, that's how he described it anyway.

We hit the wooden boat festival this fall for the third time and added to our collection of homemade boats. We enjoyed the late harvest vegetables at the farmers market and we harvested our own carrots and potatoes.

Rainbow carrots from our garden

"As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."

Potatoes are so fun to grow, mostly because they take zero effort, and are super rewarding to harvest. Our little garden yielded somewhere around 100 tasty Yukon gold and purple magic molly potatoes.

We also found some new fall activities like attending a Homer Mariner football game.

Kate with the Homer High School Mariner mascot

The sand hill cranes migrated through Homer and our yard this fall, and the moose are still wandering around as well.

Sand hill cranes

This is not my photo, but it is the McDonald's in town.
Homer has one stop light,one blinking light, one McD, and a Subway.

Moose in our driveway

The kids have quite a little gang in the neighborhood.  Two other older sister little brother combos make great friends and neighbors.  In true Homer fashion they are having some sort of drumming circle below.  

Kate, Thea, Frida, James, Paul, & Lukas

The girls ride their bikes to school most mornings.  As I type this, it's mid-November and very dark in the mornings, but the wind, rain, and darkness have not stopped these hardy girls.  They have fancy bike lights and we have also recently purchased studded bike tires for the icy and snowy mornings that can't be too far off.

Bayview bike gang

We took the pedals off James's bike to make him a Strider-like bike. He has great balance, but little desire to put the pedals back on and give it a go big boy style.  It might be next summer before we can master the skill, so for now I'm still pulling him in the trailer for family bike rides.  When we get to the hill in town I make him get out and walk though.

Kate ran cross country again this fall and if the ship was in Brian joined the team on their beach and trail runs.  This photo shows Kate picking up pace to finish first in the Orca Fun Run.  Only in Alaska would the race route be changed mid-race to avoid a moose on the trail.  

Orca Fun Run

Kate also joined back up with the swim team and swam in her second meet this fall.  

As both the kids are in school, Brian and I have had a few Fridays to adventure on our own as the ship often takes Friday off when in port.  We finally hit the local par 3 golf course with some friends. 

It was so fun that I went back the following week to play again.  The fall has been particularly warm and dry.  The fall colors (pictured below) are about as colorful as I've seen since arriving.

We also had a family wood cutting adventure this fall as Brian obtained a permit to cut felled trees and then borrowed a chain saw from the ship.  We added to our leftover wood pile from last year and now feel ready to keep the house warm as the temperatures drop.

The kids loved carrying and stacking wood.  Who knew?

This Halloween, Kate carved her entire pumpkin and we celebrated with yet three other families who have the older sister, younger brother combination.  The dads took the kids out while the moms sat under the propane heater drinking hot toddies and handing out candy to the 200+ trick-or-treaters who came by.

The kids are in a full sprint to get to the next house for more candy

Halloween was a clear night and not too chilly by our standards.  We woke up the next morning, however, to snow falling.  We got 6 inches!  It only lasted a couple days and now we're back to warmish and rainy weather, but we have pulled out our skis for the year and now everyone is waiting for more snow.

November 1
 First snow of the season