Soccer

 Annaliese has been playing on a fall soccer team. This season we chose to do Rebel Rec which is all played at Bender Field here in Lynden. They started out with a couple of practices and then have been playing two games/week for 4 weeks. It's an interesting format; my not-skilled-at-soccer-self thinks it's hard for the kids to learn without regular practices but there are a lot of people playing in this league so they must have some idea of what they are doing! 

The season wrapped up this past weekend with a double-elimination tournament. They had a two-hour break in between games and their coach used the time to do some coaching! It was incredible to see how that little bit of practice and teaching made a difference in their play. Unfortunately, they still lost both games. In between Annaliese's games, we were also able to watch Malachi and Elias play, making it a full afternoon of soccer. Thankfully, the predicted rain held off and it was actually turned out to be a nice day!

Learning some of the fundamentals of soccer!

Online School

We spent two weeks during the month of October home from school, doing virtual online learning. I know a significant number of people had to do this all last year, but we were fortunate enough to meet in person all year so this was a bit of a struggle for us! Basically, the entire school was sent home due to high numbers of COVID cases at school and the school not being compliant with the health department's requirements. 

The teachers did an incredible job putting together packets for each student and recording videos explaining their lessons. It did mean that the girls all spent a significant amount of time on the computer, and Haleigh still needed step-by-step assistance so I was able to brush up on my second-grade math and Spanish skills! 

School is more fun with classmates!

We did discover that when you stare at the computer all day, it is extra important to get outside and get some exercise. One day, we met Kelsey and planned on going up to Artist Point. However, they were doing construction and the road was closed so we changed plans and decided to do Excelsior Pass. Unfortunately, the parking lot was closed due to clearing trees. So we turned around and ended up hiking Horseshoe Bend Trail.

Another day we met Kim, Kelsey, and my parents and went for a hike at Galbraith. 

We also hit up City Park three days in a row! And made a trip to Berthusen Park as well. 

Despite our fun adventures, we were very glad when this past Wednesday rolled around and everyone was able to go back to school. Things are a little bit different but not anything that's too big of a deal. We have to do a home screening and give the girls a sticker saying they don't have any symptoms; they have assigned seats on the bus; there are specific doors to enter the school based on where their classrooms are; chapel is smaller groups instead of the entire elementary school. 

A few School Activities

 The first few weeks of school were off to a good start. The kids love their teachers. Annaliese is participating in something called CREW, which is for 4th graders. Her group makes cards and then at some point, delivers them to the local retirement community.  They had chapel once a week with the entire elementary school. Things came to a bit of a halt at the beginning of October and we had to do a few weeks of online learning. 

Lydia's class had a nature walk to City Park. I was able to go along and help out. There are 19 kids in her class, which is just incredible! None of the girls have ever been in such a big class:) After not being able to be at school for anything last year, it was fun to get in the classroom and see some of her classmates. 

The same day was the jog-a-thon which was a way bigger deal than I realized. Parents were there running with their kids, they had tables of snacks and all together they raised $116,000! I wasn't prepared to run with the girls, but I was able to get over to the track to see them briefly. After Lydia was done with preschool, we even walked a few laps with Auntie Kim!

Haleigh...this was right at the beginning..she was still getting warmed up and ended up running 10.5 laps around the track!

Annaliese is in lane 5...sprinting towards the last checkpoint with only a few seconds to go. 

Annaliese's friends from her class...Esme and Savannah

Auntie Kim is on the right.

Uncle Thane is in the middle in the bright blue t-shirt.

A Bit of the Day to Day

 It's been a while since I've scrolled through the pictures on my phone; it's always fun to look back at some of the smaller yet still fun activities that we've done. 

There are always quite a few selfies. Haleigh is pretty quick to pick up on my phone password, but they can access the camera without having to unlock the screen as well. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure. 

As per our normal, we've spent quite a bit of time at local parks. Between Berthusen, Bender, and City Park, we have pretty good options here in Lynden!

Several weeks ago, Kyle and I were able to go out on a date. We dropped the kids of with Kim and Thane for the evening and went bowling and out for dinner. It was pretty windy and rainy that night and the power went out at Kim's house so they had to get creative and do things like flashlight tag instead of baking cookies (which was the original plan!)

Best game either of us has ever bowled!

And a few random pictures from at home...

We saw this owl in our backyard!