Fall Fun!

October has started with a bang and the fun continues.  There is so much going on, that some times its hard to chose what to do and go see.  The weekends are the best. 

I'll summarize our Island fun.

Amelia and I are on rewind and repeat but no less having fun.  Our weeks are filled with local playgroups, open swims, meeting new people and playing hard.  I am working with the Girls Scouts and have had meetings and events.  Our little troop, has "filled buckets, planned obstacle courses, made apple sauce, beach combing and made s'mores over a camp fire."  The volunteer portion has led me to into several interesting opportunities. The first is a trip off Island to Anchorage. Its a leadership conference.  The GS are flying me for the weekend to learn about troop leading, confidence building and more.  I am really looking forward to it and getting to do some shopping and eating as well!  I have also volunteered to take on planning the year end camping trip for the entire Kodiak GS organization. Yikes and Exciting all at the same time!

I have applied for a part time job with the Kodiak 4-H as a program assistant, but so far have not heard anything.  Lastly, I took a basic Pistol Safety course. I am now considered an amateur pistol shooter.  It was a fun day on the range. I even shot a bullseye!

Molly has been busy in Kindergarten.    This past weekend we had the PTA school carnival.  The entire school gets involved. Each classroom has an event with prizes, there is food, cake walks, and lots of give aways. It was fun for all. I baked a bunch of goodies for the event.  We also survived school picture day.

Andy is living the Alaskan Dream.  He is hunting, fishing, and hiking.  He has just earned a Board Member spot on the Island Trails Network Non-Profit group.  This group's mission is create safe trails and outdoor areas for Kodiak.  In addition, they do a lot of beach clean up. Check out it: http://www.islandtrails.org/ 

I don't think Andy's bio has made it on the site yet, but it will give you an idea.  Andy's hunting has caught him several Ptarmigan. Ptarmigan are a grouse type of bird. We have yet to eat it, but are filling our freezer. http://www.avianweb.com/whitetailedptarmigan.html

The community has had many fall events including Fun On the Farm, The 4-H Pumpkin Patch, a great local production of MASH, etc... 

Oh My How Could I Forget:  The Tooth Fairy!  Miss Molly has lost 2 teeth!  Pure excitement!

Enjoy the pictures:

Busy, busy, busy

Phew, Sunday.  Sunday has turned into a day of recovery and house updates.  We keep having tons of adventures, and lots of free family fun.

This past week I was busy every single night…can you believe it?  I was busy with social outings, girl scouts, family skate, and getting ready for the auction.

I’ll start with family skate. The gym is open once a month or every other month for family roller skate night. It was fantastic.  They turn the lights off, give out roller skates, play music and its just so much fun. We skated to our hearts content. Yes, all of us. Amelia loves to be in the on the action and did pretty good job.

Girl Scouts is taking up much of my time right now, getting our troop organized and attending events.  This past weekend was the Girl Scout Tri.  Andy, Amelia and I volunteered while molly, jumped rope, ran a mile and biked a mile. Thankfully the weather was clear, a little cool, but not rainy or windy. It was perfect.  Molly did her best.  We had about 50 girls turn out for free fun exercise and community entertainment.

A bonus from this event is that down the road is a construction site that has been posting free wood.  We scored on two shipping containers and little more to build a shed!  Nothing like, free wood framing, in great condition to get our engineer busy busy busy.  He is also busy this weekend installing drainage before the freeze, thaw sets in. I love a good handyman around the house.

Lastly, the Stiles-Clark Auction was this past weekend.  I’ve been hearing about the auction since we landed on the Island.  It’s a huge fundraiser than can bring in 35,000 dollars to support local charities and Santa to the Villages.  It was a massive production with raffle items, a 50/50, silent auction and live auction.  It started last night at 6pm and ended at 11pm. It was very long and lots of money was spent. My dessert paid off….I was very pleased that I had tested recipes before submitting.  They competition was still. I did ok. My cake brought 55.00. It was the most, but not the least either.   We ended up not winning any auction items, but had a great time.

I took the girls to the local quilt show this past weekend too.  Quilting is a big deal on the island. I am not into quilting or sewing but its fun to go look and the amazing hanging art work.

Enjoy the pictures. We are staying busy, the temps are cooling off, just put flannel sheets on everyone’s bed. Its hard to believe that keeping our house at 60 degrees actually feels warm.

Miss you all.

Dessert Table at Auction. Mind is the third one from the bottom.

Waiting for the bus. Sunrise is 8:30am.

A hike to the beach.

Family Skate Night.

Starburst Starfish covered in sand at low tide.