Reno, Kids, Halloween

I got back from Reno late Sunday night. The conference was fantastic! No school librarian should ever miss it! It was so exhausting but so worthwhile. Tons and tons of free books. Met lots of new people including my second cousin's daughter's school librarian. What a small world! I stayed at the Circus, Circus casino/hotel. Very nice. but only outlets were in the bathroom. Everything else was hard wired. Reno like the rest of Nevada is a pit. I have no desire to ever go back except on my way to California. One regret is not taking an extra day to see Lake Tahoe.

Everyone seems to have survived without me. I probably missed them more than they missed me, even though Matt missed me running interference between him and his father. Sabrina was happy to see me!

Today is Halloween. This is my least favorite holiday. I don't remember ever liking it as a kid all that much. I don't like giving candy out to parents who dress infants up just so they get free candy. I especially don't like paying bribe money in the form of candy to teenagers who can't bother to dress up. I will see both groups tonight. Matt is going out as a Ninja. Kristen may or may not be going out. She and her friends decided at 4:15 today that they wanted to go trick or treating in different distant lands which involve me transporting her there to make it happen. Not happening with short of notice. All along she has said she does not want to go trick or treating. Bought her a bag of her favorite candy. Somehow her life will go on. She went to the fall festival at church where she got candy.

My tired boy

Matt now knows what work is like. He knows he does not want to do this the rest of his life.
He was too tired to:
1. get up and get a drink and something to eat even though he was hungry
2. argue with his father or sister
3. get out of the car right away when we got home
4. to drive home
5. to change the channel
Insert drumroll and scroll down













PLAY VIDEO GAMES!

Ohh the weather outside is frightful...

The front range is getting its first winter storm today. Howling winds last night ushered it in. This morning, it can not make up its mind between rain, sleet and snow(the current favorite). Unfortunately, we have not had fall here. Most of the leaves are still green and have not dropped. It was 80 yesterday and today it is ranging between 38-40. It would be a good day to stay in, EXCEPT Matt has to be at work by 10am and I need to see if I can find cheap, nice comfortable pants and shoes to take to Reno. That comes up Thursday. Looking forward to it, but it almost seems like too much work to get ready for it. Should be fun watching all those cold Bronco fans tonight. Expected temperature at game time you ask? 28!

Sabrina has a doggy cold. She spent yesterday sneezing all day and now she has a runny nose.

Home on the Range part II

The next day we woke up to temps in the 30's. Headed to Mt Rushmore. It was raining and the kids were none too pleased to have to get out of the car to look at a rock. George was kind of entertaining since it looked like he was bleeding from a head injury due to the wet rock. Matt was whining because apparently the soles of his shoes were ripped and his feet were getting soaked. Did he bother to tell me he needed new shoes? No, of course not. We left there and explored Custer State Park some more. It was snowing by this point. Drove around and eventually ended up at the Reptile Gardens. Apparently it had won some kind of award. Nice way to spend a cold rainy day. Both kids even agreed that is what they wanted to do. It was ok. After this, headed back to the hotel to chill until we headed out to a diner for dinner. Most of Hill City shuts down after Tourist season. Tough to find places to eat. After dinner the kids went down to the pool and Randy checked messages. After listening to a zillion old messages, we heard that Matt had a message to call Don at Centennial Lanes. OK. Took my phone down to the pool and Matt called Don and got offered a job. He started Tuesday. He works till 11pm tonight and 10-4 on Sunday. He is pretty much their grunt boy. Cleaning up trash, resetting lanes, putting bowling balls away, cleaning out ashtrays,etc. Congratulations Matt. He seems to like it so far.

Home, Home on the Range where the deer and the antelope play

I am posting this from one of my very favorite parts of the west-The Black Hills of South Dakota. I love this place almost as much as the beach. We started out from Lusk, Wyoming. The weather was so-so when we started but not so nice by the time we finished. We toured Wind Cave National Park. Unusual cave but fun. Drove around the park grounds looking for those roaming buffalo. Only saw a few. Did see lots of deer and antelope playing (all in Custer State Park) as well as wild turkeys by the 100's and wild burros looking for handouts and holding up traffic. They were so funny. One looked like he was bred with a dalmation. We drove the Needles higway with all these outstanding rock formations. Went out for dinner in Hill City(where we are staying). Town pretty much is rolled up. Matt got fried steaktips, Randy got buffalo steak. Kris and I got unremarkable fare. I did get corn nuggets as an appetizer which are bite size corn fritters.

Tomorrow there is a winter storm advisory. At least it feels and looks like fall up here. Did I say how much I love this place. The kids, well that is a different story entirely. They are not handling being away from technology too well.

Kristen's conference

Other than waiting an hour to see all the teachers and having her papers and CSAP scores out where every one could see them, the conference went fine. Teachers love having her in class and she is doing well. She may be adding an honors Language Arts class either this next quarter that starts Tuesday or next semester.

The middle of October

Hard to believe it is almost the middle of October. Life is cruising right along. Time for a family update:

Randy-having knee pain and same job stuff. Drives me crazy that he complains about them nonstop and then does extra stuff that they do not appreciate in the evenings.

Kristen-Volleyball is over. We have like a two lag before art club starts. Her parent teacher conference is tonight. Not expecting problems. I think she is "going out" with Trevor(the same Trevor she said she was going to marry in 2nd grade because he had a lake in his front yard).

Matt-School who knows. I think he is holding his own. Shhh. He has a new girlfriend. No one is supposed to know. Her name is Chantl and she is cute and in his English class. Matt has a job interview today at the bowling alley. I think he probably stands a decent shot at getting it. Matt is in an Anime/Manga club.

Me-working, working, working. I work at my job and then come home and have to be susy homemaker(failing at this miserably). Looking forward to going to Black hills area this weekend.

Decisions, Decisions

The Rockies won in a nailbiting 13 inning game.

http://www.9news.com/news/top-article.aspx?storyid=78358

Now they play the Phillies, a team I have rooted for since I can remember. Neither team makes the playoffs all that often. The rockies have not done it in 12 years. Kristen is rooting for the Phillies, however. Matt is undeclared as far as I know, but will probably root for whatever team I do not.