Fall Break and Halloween

I can't tell you how much we were looking forward to fall break..mostly just a break from school and the routine...the home work...the studying....the hounding to be studying more...trying to create motivation... preparing more....exhausting.
 As usual the fall weather kind of threw in a change of plans but it all worked out and the break was just wonderful even with the rain.  We ended up staying in town and checking out our new climbing gym.  It turned out to be a lot of fun-something everyone in our family enjoyed and could do!  Kind of rare to find something everyone enjoys.  Brayden and I took the belay class...although seeing him belay the other kids still made me nervous.  We spent a ton of time at the gym and finally left as everyone's arms and fingers were just done in.

 James is a little monkey...with really strong muscles, he kept going and going.

 I was not a huge fan of these auto belay ropes...but they were great being able to let more people climb without needing someone on the ground.

The kids and I also made it out for a nice hike around Turkey Mountain-we ended up exploring out by the YMCA and different area than we normally hike and had a great time.  Thankfully we were under the trees as it was pretty wet.  Unfortunately Andrea came down with a pretty bad case of poison Ivy we think from this hike.

The kids thought this ditch was just too fun...I think they were here 30 min jumping over each other.

Since we were home we actually did a little pumpkin carving...before Halloween weekend!  Kind of easy this year as everyone wanted to carve their own pumpkins-even James wanted no help and really didn't even want us to look at his till he was all finished.

 Guess who still loves to bake?!?  Halloween cake anyone?

We did make it out of town for one day....to OKC for a soccer game.  We decided to explore a new park and take the climbing gear along.  As usual with Ok state parks there is little info but thanks to some boy scouts we were able to figure out where to set up to get in a couple rappels before having to leave.

 Andrea was not into this and cheered everyone on from the bottom.

 Brayden's team..still playing most weekends.  This was a pic from the weekend after losing in the finals. 

Andrea's team all smiles after a huge game where they all played pretty hard.

 Andrea made it to a Halloween party with some friends-lots of games, such a fun age!  We all did make it out to trick or treat but complete with cold and rain.  Brayden wasn't into the night-lots of school drama with different parties so after a little walk to see neighbors he and Ron stayed in for the night. 

 An adult pic!!  rare....yes our neighbors give us wine when we trick or treat.