In Which We Read Books and Taste Apples

As we careen into the holidaze, my blogging gets more sporadic.  "Winter" has arrived.  It's 55* and we've had rain a couple of times.  The lesser amount of sunlight sends me into hibernation mode.  

But we're still reading books.

And playing games.

The bat books were flying off the shelves last month.  (Yes, I drew the bat on the board.  I had a tutorial.)  

Still fighting sickness in the house.  I was feeling better when Paul brought home a new strain of ick from work.  He ended up taking a couple days off, which rarely happens.  Jack also took some time off work.  (I just keep hacking and complaining while I continue to do all the things that have to be done.)  

Inspired by our recent airplane museum visit, Jack and I fired up the Crickey and made some stickers for his lunch box.  

My quilting rulers worked great for figuring out how big we wanted the stickers to be.  

I kinda thought we were past trick or treat age, but Josiah asked if he and Miss M could take the girls around the neighborhood, so I pulled out the Madeline costume Hannah never wore last year, and Katie grabbed a knight costume, and off they went.  (I had planned to pop popcorn and let them watch movies, but I'm glad they got to enjoy the time with Josiah.)

Fall Concert was indoors this year, HUZZAH.  Katie, second from end on right, on the handbells.

Both girls in choir.

And more books.  This tells me how long it's been since I posted.  We usually hit the city library once a week.  

We didn't make it to Apple Hill this year, but I decided we could still have our own apple tasting.  I chose apples that all looked similar.  

Josiah liked the firm Cosmic Crisp.  Jack and I preferred the Pink Lady.  Hannah and Katie liked the softer Gala.  Paul said they all tasted the same.  Poor Fuji; no one chose that as their favorite.  

This is my voting picture.  It was Jack's first time voting.  I would have taken a "real" picture, but he had Einstein hair going, having been home sick.  We sat down and went over our ballots together.  Not telling him how to vote, just sharing information.  We dropped our ballots off together yesterday.  How is my 7th child such a grown up??  

Castle Air Museum - The Indoor Stuff

In addition to the gift shop, there's a small indoor museum at Castle.  

Hannah has a thing for swords.

Ejection seats have a special meaning to us now that that's what Eli does all day.  

Oh look, Jack is touching things again.  There's a plane nose/cockpit that's shoved up against the outside of the building, with a hole cut out so you can see into it.  (Or reach, as the case may be.)

Artifact with bullet hole

Threadbare Nazi flag

Literal bomber jacket, with bomb patches with names of cities

Nazi paraphernalia

 

embroidery on a uniform

Model plane with invasion stripes

Someone's "fruit salad" and other pins

A more modern seat

Overall, it was a lovely day.  We hit traffic on our way home and stopped for pizza, because who wants to sit in traffic when you're feeling mildly sunburned and the sun is beating down on your face?  I'm really glad we used our days off to do fun things, and I'm looking forward to our next time off in the hopes of doing some more.  

Castle Air Museum - Mostly Jack Touching Things

I was going to show more plane pictures and then this post, but I realized endless plane pictures only appeal to a very small audience, and I'm pretty sure that's a different niche than what usually reads here.  So you get Jack... 

touching

tapping

petting

caressing

fondling

admiring

feeling

patting

palpating

and generally enjoying the aircraft in a tactile manner.

And encouraging others to do so.  

One that Hannah could reach.

Oh yeah, I was there, too.  Jack asked me if I wanted a picture, and I picked the plane with invasion stripes, since Normandy is still fresh in my mind.  I was pretty melted by this point, but I appreciated being included.