Boo!

Here are some pictures from Halloween.. We got together with a friend from work and some of his neighbors and their kids to trick-or-treat near campus. Allyson is a cat, Ryan Harry Potter, and Isaac a firefighter. While we were out, a local fire truck stopped to distribute candy, and Isaac, by virtue of his costume, made a haul. Here the kids show off:
And more of the same:

And here's the whole crew. As these were the children of friends of a friend, I have no idea who they are, but we made for quite an entourage walking down the street.

An Ode to Getting Older

(Sing to the tune of "Oh, What Do You Do In the Summertime?")

Oh, what do you do with those stray gray hairs

When all the world seems blond?

Do you pluck them and tweeze?

Yell, "Go away, please!"?

And sit on your bed and cry?

Is that what you do?

So do I.

What do you do with those stray gray hairs

That grow all short and coarse?

Do you pretend they're not there?

Obsess over your hair?

And cover them all with dye?

Is that what you do?

So do I.

More Baby Pictures...

Evan and I spent some time Monday evening being silly. Here the little guy is airborne. Note his ridiculously cute dimple.
And here's a closeup of Evan on my shoulders.

A Week in Utah

Our most recent trip was a lot of fun. We especially enjoyed spending so much time with family; we got too little Catherall, but lots of Turner, including Benjamin's blessing. Here are some selected photos from the trip:

On the way up we stropped in Monticello and let the older kids run around a bit at the temple.

We did the same at a park in Wellington (how they were allowed here, given the sign and all, beats me).

On Friday we went to the This is the Place park.. We got there near closing time for the actual village, so we just milled around at the monument; we'll go back for the historical stuff another time. But since Summer now gives me permission to take her photo, here's one of her and the older kids.

And here the kids pose by the monument commemorating the 1997 trek reenactment.

Sunday was the big day, so here are some random candids (read "pictures I took when I wasn't busy posing with my family, and which I took without being able to see well what I was doing") of family as we prepared for the real photo shoot.

Movin' On Up...

We have made a big decision...it is time for Evan to join the rest of us at the table for meals, even though he's eating naught but milk. So Summer cleaned off the high chair and we set it up. Here Isaac gives his baby brother an orientation to his new seat:

Three Rivers

This past weekend, our plans for meeting Mom and/or Michelle in Moab for a fall camping trip rained—or more appropriately, snowed—out, and Evan upset at getting a series of shots at his two-month checkup, the older kids and I set out Friday afternoon for a brief southern New Mexico camping trip. We drove south past Socorro, then east to Carrizozo and south towards Alamogordo. We stopped at a BLM campground 25 miles north of Alamogordo, Three Rivers (no affiliation with the former ballpark in Pittsburgh) Petroglyph Area.

The campground lies at the foot of the Sacramento Mountains overlooking the desolate Tularosa Basin, home of the White Sands Missile Range. The Trinity Site, where the first nuclear blast was set off, lies off the road to Carrizozo, about 35 miles from our tent site. Here are two views from the campground. First, looking east at the Sacramentos:

Next, sunset over the San Andres mountains:

After setting up camp, we set off on the signature hike, which rambles for a few miles (we went about halfway) over a series of smallish hills. The hills are home to over 2,000 assorted petroglyphs, all etched into the lava rock that makes up much of the terrain here. Here is a view of the campground from the first hill:

And here the kids pose by and on a set of rocks:

After eating, we set off on another hike. This trail leads southeast from the campground toward the river for which the area is named. Along the way, we passed through an area that has been variously inhabited for thousands of years; archeologists have unearthed and reconstructed a few examples of prehistoric habitations—pithouses and small above-ground structures. Here the kids stand outside one such reconstruction:

Saturday, after getting up and ready, we made a quick run down to Alamogordo. We made a trip to White Sands National Monument last year, so we decided to pay a visit to the New Mexico Space History Museum this time around. This modest museum covers topics as varied as the history of rocketry, meteorites, NASA projects, and the newfangled X Prize. But the kids loved it, and the boys both want to be astronauts when they grow up.
But their favorite discovery was something we almost overlooked. A museum employee pointed out a display on Ham, the first chimpanzee in space, who is buried on the museum grounds. Here the kids celebrate finding Ham’s marker:

My Blogging Daughter

Just a note on "Checkers." I came home from work last week and was greeted by Allyson waving a sheet of paper in front of my face. she had spontaneously written an essay about playing checkers. The English teacher in me was so proud, and we decided it would be fun to post this to the blog. So Allyson now has an email address and authoring privileges on the blog. Pretty fun.