We kicked off October by heading out on a ghost tour down in Portage. It was a walking tour through a historical home, along a haunted trail, and through a cemetery where they supposedly see a shadowy figure of a woman walking through the graves. Yeah, right. We didn't hear anything or see anything, which was disappointing. I would have loved to have seen something or heard something...but nothing can touch me. That would be disgusting. I have serious germ issues and anything dead touching me would be beyond horrible. I don't think there's enough sanitizer in the world to disinfect awful, rotting, putrid, dead germs. We did work up an appetite out in the cold, crisp air and we now have a new favorite Mexican restaurant with really yummy food...and even better...fabulous margaritas! Ole'!!
The next weekend, we packed up the motor home and headed over to Ft. Custer near Battle Creek for Matt's adventure race. (Biking, canoeing, running, and orienteering. Yucky, dirty, sweaty, and not for me.) He and his friend finished the race with their best time (4 hours and 43 minutes) and found all 29 checkpoints. They had a great time and finished in 30th place...out of 70 teams. Team Lost Dumasse (supposed to be Lost Dumbass...but the race organizers frown on profanity) is taking the winter off and will resume their training in the spring. I will not be joining the team unless channel surfing and drinking are included in the race.
The following weekend, we headed over to Flint to catch all the kiddies play in their various sports. We were able to watch Cody and Hunter play some football on the big field under the lights and I especially loved watching McKenna get her cheer on. (She was pretty darn cute!) The weather was fabulous and it was fun to go back to high school. I have to admit I don't remember a lot about high school...it must be a side effect from all the fumes from the Aqua Net I used for my big hair in the 80s. (And I did have some big, crunchy hair!) We were able to watch Trevor play some great defense in his soccer game before we headed back. Karie and I attacked Kirkland's (the best home store EVER!) down near Detroit and were thankful we brought McKenna along so she could guard all our stuff (and we could blame her when we kept knocking stuff over!). The poor girl sat on a bench as we kept piling stuff around her. She was a good guard dog and didn't let anyone take our treasures. A lady commented on how well McKenna did holding out her arms to rest them on our stuff so other shoppers couldn't take anything. After our second round in the store to buy even more stuff, we called it a day. We couldn't fit anything else into Karie's car and we could barely squeeze McKenna back in the car. Next time, I'm bringing a U-Haul!
We were thrilled to receive a text from Keaton after K's (Kalamazoo College's) first basketball practice. He LOVED being back on the court. He was so excited and pumped after the first practice. We're thrilled he has his passion for basketball back. He's loving the laundry service for athletes. He puts his practice clothes in a bag and it's all magically cleaned, folded, and waiting neatly in his locker for the next practice. They did a lot of pre-season training by running, lifting weights, and doing various workouts. They sprinted up hills (and in Kalamazoo, the hills are HUGE!) and worked their way up to jumping rope for 1,000 repetitions and doing 100 crunches in a row. Ouch. He never complained and didn't even mind the 6 a.m. practices. He and his roommate were the first two at the gym for their first official practice. They showed up at 5:17 a.m. Practice didn't start until 6 a.m. but they were too excited to sleep. The coach was probably thinking...oh boy, freshmen. Who knew he'd like to get up early? He actually said he prefers the early morning practices. Keaton is happy and is loving college life!!
Matt and I went on our short fall color tour along Lake Michigan one night. We stopped in Saugatuck and climbed Mt. Baldy (insert own joke here). There were 300 steps to conquer it, but the view was awesome! I had on flip-flops, of course, so it was a little tricky on the sandy steps on the way down. Luckily I made it without falling...or ending up on YouTube. We headed over to the lighthouse in South Haven and took a few pictures before heading to a local restaurant for some fresh seafood. It was yummy!
We spent another fall weekend camping over in Allendale. Since Cyrus was the only youngster with us, we made him pose for fall pictures in the pretty leaves. We went with our camping compadres and had fun carving pumpkins and playing cards. Once again, we lucked out with the weather and made it home before the tornado warnings and hurricane winds.
Keaton's 19th birthday came quickly. We showered him with presents in his dorm room before we took him out to dinner. He was impressed that I could pull off a mobile party...complete with an ice cream cake, punch, plates, napkins, cups (all matching, of course!)...and even birthday candles. Move over, Martha Stewart! It was really strange not making Keaton chocolate chip pancakes for his birthday breakfast. (He's had them every year since he turned two.) It was nice to at least be able to visit with him for a little while on his birthday. We'll just have to start a new tradition...like me getting presents on his birthday. I did all the work, after all...WITHOUT any pain meds.
Matt and I donned our Halloween costumes over the weekend to pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Matt liked his costume so much that he even wore it to the Lions game on Halloween. Cyrus was so good and didn't bark once at all the kids...believe it or not. He sat on my lap and calmly let kids pet him. I think he was dazed and confused at all the costumes...or he got into my hot chocolate with Buttershots. Either way, it was another nice Halloween. It was a little bittersweet not to have Keaton pose for the annual Halloween picture with Cyrus and the pumpkins on the front porch. (I can name every single costume Keaton has ever worn...in order. I don't think that's too obsessive. I just think I have a fabulous memory.) I'm sure Keaton was happy I didn't make him wear the Santa costume. But, there's always Christmas, right?
