Solar Eclipse

Like the rest of the mid-US we were excited for the mostly solar eclipse.  We weren't as excited as some people because we failed to get solar glasses before they sold out.  But I'm almost glad we didn't because it was pretty fun to hang out in the back yard and make pin-hole projectors using a colander, our hands, hair, trees and whatever else we could figure out.


First Day of School

I failed at getting a first day of school picture of the kids so you'll just have to trust me when I say that they did, in fact, start school.  Ruth is pretty happy about all of her classes, and Jared is only excited about band.


Scavenger Hunt and Renaissance Fair

On Friday night we dressed up as Harry Potter characters and participated in a scavenger hunt to win comic-con tickets (yes, we already have some but that's beside the point).   We checked our team in and were given clues to 10 locations around the city.  So for the next hour and half, we walked all around downtown looking for the clues and taking pictures at each place.  It was fun because there were a couple hundred of us all in costume playing, so we'd just ask other players when we got stuck on particular clues.   We were pretty exhausted and running out of time so we jumped in our car to get our last two clues and then made it back with 5-10 minutes to spare winning the tickets.   Go team!

The next morning we dressed up again, this time in our old-fashioned clothes to attend the Renisance Faire.  This event's been going on for a few years but we've never been able to go.  It was pretty fun. We saw lots of craftsmen and dancers,  I had a swordfight with a Viking, and Ruth had a dancing lion vomit lettuce in her face.  There was a scary moment when one of lancers lost control of his horse and was thrown into the audience, luckily no one was hurt.   All-in-all a pretty fun day even though we were hot and exhausted from the escapades from the night before.

Stake Choir

Saturday night my smaller choir performed for the adult meeting of our church conference.  I didn't have as many sopranoes as I wanted, but overall that performance went well.   Sunday morning was our big conference and my choir sang two numbers.  They but turned out really well and I was happy with them.  I had chosen some very difficult music this year and was happy that my choir stepped up to the challenge.

This was like the 3rd day of school, but at least I got a picture.  Jared refused to get his picture taken. 

Chuck and Ruth playing Viking games at the faire.

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Our cousin Ben got back from Germany!

Gearing up for Back to School

Ruth got laid off her job this week.  The heating and air company she worked for decided to pull all of their salesmen out of the Lowes stores and go to phone solicitations only.  Ruth wasn't that sad about the layoff but she will miss the paycheck.  In a way she is relieved to not have a work obligation with school starting next week, she can focus on the new school year and the debate team without distractions.

I spent a couple days this week volunteering with the high school PTA getting all students pictures taken and ID's issued.  The high school here is super overcrowded. The sophomore class is something like 1100 students.  They've started building a new high school that will open in two years.

Almost two years ago I started taking over the music room with all my cosplay stuff.  As my collection grew the music stuff got squeezed out more and more until finally the drums were moved to the exercise room and the keyboard to Jared's room.   Jared's spent hours a day all summer practicing drums, guitar, and bass in the exercise room.  As his collection of instruments grew, he started to feel really squeezed in his space. So finally this week Jared moved all the stuff out of the exercise room and declared it his room.  (Sorry Kaitlin, next time you and Ben come you'll have to sleep next to the treadmill.)

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Lazy Summer Continued

Things are still really quiet at our house. Last weekend Kaitlin and Ben came down for a couple days for a friend's wedding and we enjoyed visiting with them.  We got Kaitlin hooked on watching the Great British Baking Show while she was here.

This week we did some school shopping for Jared. He's grown several inches over the summer so was in need of new clothes and shoes. He wouldn't let me take a picture of him but here is a selfie of me and Ruth with the Target dog.   Jared is quite label and fashion conscious in addition to being in that in-between size, clothes can be quite tricky to find.

Ruth's been busy with work and spending time with friends.  She did a yard sale fundraiser with her debate team a few weeks ago and has done some volunteering with the city youth council.  Last night she spent several hours volunteering as a parking attendant at the city's Endurocross event. She had thrown her hat in the ring to be youth council mayor next year - so we'll see what happens with that.

 Chuck and I went on a date this weekend, out to dinner and then to watch the practice rides at the Endurocross. (The Endurocross is held at our rodeo grounds - it's where they set up a track of obstacles for dirt bikes to traverse).   We drove our motorcycles on the date which made it extra fun.

I've mechanized the wings on my Pharah cospay this week.  This required that I totally redesign the backpack to cover the linear actuator that I installed. It's taken a little doing but it's all working now, so just a few finishing touches and it will be finished. I'll post a video.