Halloween and ice skating at the rec center

Khloe had a skating performance at the rec center. It was part of their big Halloween celebration. We went early so the kids could attend the festivities. We'd never been and it was pretty cool. They turned the lap pool into a swamp. I thought it would be crazy crowded. There were a lot of people there but they had so many activities in so many places that it really wasn't bad.

I was really proud of Khloe. She got out there and did her thing even though the Halloween blow ups on the ice were "scary"! 

Khloe is the butterfly on the left.

Val just chillin. She has gotten very smiley and giggly in the past week. Not that you would see that in this picture.

Khloe checking out her stash.

Pumpkin Carving

Sean's not a big fan of the guts.

Don cheated and used a power tool to carve his and Sean's pumpkin. Power tools make quick work of carving.

Be still my heart. This is the cutest pumpkin in the world.

Posing with their work.

Popcorn and the many faces of Valentina

I bought a popcorn maker so we can give out popcorn on Halloween (and the school can borrow it next year for Tech Trek). Sean wanted to try it out in advance. It pops fast and makes a lot!

Just because this kid is so darn cute.

She's decided that food is good.

Drive home

We did one  last hike "The Sounds of Silence." It was very pretty. We hiked down a dried river bed. We saw lots of rabbits. 

We stopped in a town called Tabiona Utah. It's a town with a population less than 200 people. The school is K-12. We ate at the diner which also serves as the hotel and grocery store. Years ago it sold gas too. It was funny, we were such outsiders. The cook who is the owners granddaughter greeted everyone who came in by name. She asked one guy "did you get a deer tag?" He said, "nah, I don't wanna kill nuthin." We saw a lot of beer sold and a tank of propane. It's hunting season and Duschesne county is hunting territory so the inn was full. Or maybe it was full there were two guys there. There 4 wheeler broke down somewhere on the reservation and they were tying to figure out how to fix it.

We ate at the counter sitting on some tattered stools. The cook actually made the hamburgers from a package of hamburger and not frozen patties. 

Kylie asked me why I got Sean a smaller bed. I said "I didn't." She said "yes you did, it got smaller." I said, "no you guys got bigger."

Dinosaurs

We left Midway around 10 and drove to Vernal. I had never been to the quarry. They built a building around an area of dinosaur fossils. They believe it was a river or lake where dinosaur had died in mass. Then as the mountains were formed the fossils shifted up with the mountains. It's pretty amazing to touch a 165 million year old fossil.

We took a hike and looked at petrogrylphs. There were lots. We stopped and did some mini hikes.

We went to the Field House Museum in Vernal before we headed home.

It's nice that the kids have shared childhood experiences even though they are raised in different families.  The other day Sean said "wouldn't it be weird if you ended up in a different family then your own. I said "you did." He said "no, I mean if someone stole you." I said "Jennie would say I did steal you." He asked why she would say that and I told him because she blames me that foster care took the girls. I told him she could have gotten the girls back if she had done what the judge said. Sean said, "I don't mean like that, I mean if I was in a different family then mine"! I told him I sometimes wonder what he would be like if he had stayed in his original family and he said he didn't think he would be as happy. I think that is true.

Zermatt and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

We stayed at the Zermatt Resort. I remember when it opened 15 years ago. There were so many advertisements. I thought it was OK. The next day we stayed at a Marriott Homestead and the kids all said "this is sooo much nicer." I think they just liked it because it had a big kitchen with a fridge and stove.
They all liked the goats at the Zermatt and the indoor/outdoor pool.  You could swim from inside to outside and there was a hot tub.

The highlight of our stay in Midway and probably the highlight of the entire trip was a horse driven wagon ride at Soldier Hollow. While we were driven around we heard the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. A horse with LED lights on it's eyes chased the wagon and zombies and ghost would come out and hit the sides. Sean was so scared he climbed down in the middle of the wagon. Brie threw herself on top of him to protect him.

The stars were incredible up in the mountains away from any artificial lights. 

Homestead Crater

We decided to take a mini vacation over UEA and bring Kylie and Brie. Sean wanted to go to the Bahama's or Florida. I had planned on going to Yellowstone but it was too cold so we decided to go to Midway and Vernal.

We had lunch at a restaurant at the Homestead. It was on a golf course. The weather was perfect.

There is a place in Midway near Heber called the Homestead Crater. It's a 10,000 year old hotpot located underground. They teach scuba diving there.

The water was around 95 degrees.

The kids got bored pretty fast. The soak times are for 30 minutes. That was about 10 minutes longer than their attention span.

Afterwards we climbed up on top of the crater.

Pumpkin Patch

Khloe would only allow Sean to push her. They did the pumpkin patch different this year. Instead of going out in the field and picking the pumpkins they were already picked and just set in the grass. AJ said he liked it better because he wasn't getting bit by mosquito's. Last year there were biting flies in the fields too

We met AJ and Steph at the pumpkin patch after Sean's basketball practice.

It was too early to carve the pumpkins and the kids wanted to do something so they painted them.

Making his pumpkin face.

A Khloe masterpiece.