I don't know what the deal is right now, but it feels like it's been about a month since Carter and I took our little nature walk last week. And I kid you not, when I was uploading pictures and videos last night, I had to think for a second to realize that the bulk of pictures in this post actually just happened the previous day. Between work, school, society, and normal household stuff, I guess it's a lot to process these days.
It ended up being a pretty great weekend as a whole, but it was the end to a tiring week, mostly due to work and ongoing annoying political stuff--both out in the world and invading life on social media via arguments and general differences of opinion. I honestly cannot wait until this election is over, but I do worry what's waiting on the other side, regardless of the outcome. Friday itself ended up being crazy--work was exhausting, a local famous lawyer died in a small plane crash, President Trump and his wife got diagnosed with coronavirus, and all the political stuff just had me on edge. So when this rainbow showed up while I was cooking dinner, it was much needed.
On Saturday morning, I had volunteered to go to work. I regretted it a bit when I had to drag myself out of bed, but it's been so long since I've seen people or been on campus that it seemed like a good excuse to get out of the house for something different. Normally it would have been Meliora Weekend, the epic reunion weekend that usually involves long days and a lot of fun, but it was canceled this year. Instead, there were swag giveaways to undergrads. Usually that's just a tiny part of the weekend, but it felt like a big deal this time around--especially for the event lead who started in January and never had much of a chance to get used to things before everything shut down. We'd never even formally met! In the end I didn't have to do much--mostly just standing around and helping out the student workers when needed--but it was nice to be out on campus and seeing colleagues and talking to students, which is always really interesting since they come from everywhere and usually have really fascinating career aspirations. It was a really chilly morning, but once the sun came over the building, it wasn't too bad.
Zoom in on this one. It's such a cool little spot on the quad, statue and all.
Fall color on Wilson Commons, designed by I.M. Pei
After my shift ended, I headed home to take Jacob to his basketball championship game. He's been pretty frustrated with this team, so I'm not sure if he was more excited to play or to be done with the team! We figured they wouldn't win--and they didn't--because they were playing a really good team, but Jacob made the most of his chances. He hit all of his shots, one three-pointer and two foul shots, despite not getting a lot of playing time. His team made a good comeback but it certainly doesn't help when one of your best shooters is on the bench down the final stretch! Now we're onto the next team, with some new challenges already! We'll see how that goes! But we did some takeout that night, and overall it was just a good, solid day of activity and a nice break from the monotony.
Last weekend had been exciting because were finally able to go back to church--well, Carter and I did, anyway. Jacob had basketball tryouts so he and Craig missed it. It was so good to be back, and the topic was on race and inequality, so it was a really amazing service. We had hoped to go again this week, but I didn't get a chance to RSVP in time. It worked out okay, though, because we ended up using our morning wisely and doing our annual Stokoe Farm visit! It wasn't the best morning - a bit chilly and overcast - but I was hoping it might mean the crowds wouldn't be too bad. Wishful thinking, but it was manageable. And of course, we had to do it all masked!
For whatever reason, we decided to do the corn maze this year. It looked foolproof enough based on the map!
Carter liked pretending to be a zombie emerging from the corn...
There was still so much corn on these stalks! All dried and funky, but sometimes you could find a giant, intact cob!
Ah, portrait mode, you're fun. He looks so imposing standing out from this shot!
Jacob kept turning away from us, and somehow we all ended up getting a little turned around. I exited at an "unofficial" exit, Craig and Carter came out another, and while we waited for Jacob, Carter hung out with the giant corn cob.
Jacob finally arrived! On to more fun!
Carter checked out the kid ropes course...
...and then it was time to shoot apples!
Always fun to see them splat on the bus!
There were some new animals this year in a different spot. There were camels...
...and wallabies!
Who knew I could be a chicken portrait photographer?
After a snack, the boys tackled the hay bale mountain...
I always liked taking pictures here, so I gave it a shot...
Turns out I got a better one, but I'm holding it for the Christmas card, I think. We don't have a lot to use this year, for obvious reasons!
There wasn't a sign on this one, but I'm pretty sure these were kangaroos (and not wallabies like the others). The wallabies jumped similarly, but these looked legit kangaroo-ish.
Watch them jump! So cool!
I also saw this ridiculously cute, tiny goat. It was probably barely more than a foot high. It had such interesting color and very intense silvery blue eyes!
And this donkey came right up to me when I walked over. We couldn't feed anything this year, so me and my phone were probably a disappointment.
The big slides are always a highlight, and fueled by our tasty snacks, we took on Billy Goat Mountain. I noticed this tiny weedy flower on the way up the hill. It's so pretty.
At the top of the mountain, there was a lovely view of some of the only color change. Oddly, lots of trees are a couple weeks ahead of schedule, but most of the area around the farm was greener than it usually is. But this patch (with pumpkins in a field in the foreground) looked beautiful.
We did a lot of sliding! We took turns holding apple cider slushies and sliding with the kids, and my body definitely knew it that night! On one of the races Craig did, Carter got an inadvertent head start!
Carter proved himself when he raced me, though!
I did the giant tube slide, too, but Carter chickened out after some kid jumped into the slide and busted a water bottle in his pocket. After letting a bunch of kids go down, it seemed dry enough, so I chanced it. I was just a little damp afterward, but nothing terrible--and totally worth the ride!
We grabbed some donuts and a couple decorative pumpkins to go before heading home for some football. Pumpkins to carve will have to wait for another day...or maybe just a stop at Wegmans this year since I rarely get much participation in the pumpkin carving and Wegmans is cheap and easy! Our normal indoor place canceled their activities, so it's either Wegmans, a roadside stand, or another farm market. There's one I've been eyeing up for years, but we'll see how it goes these next few weeks.
I'm hoping this week goes a little better but I'm already sitting here wondering how it's only Tuesday, so...probably not the start I was looking for. Trying to stay positive, though--some warmer weather is coming back and I'm desperate to do some leaf peeping this weekend after Jacob's game. Fingers crossed more fall fun is ahead!
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