A new month...I guess that means it's time to update the blog. My last post was in celebration of Keaton's birthday. (October 27th...the other best day of the year!) He had a scrimmage at KVCC that night (which K won...YAY!) so Matt and I picked up an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen to take down to the dorm to celebrate with Keaton's girlfriend and roommates. After a tour of their newly-cleaned suite (and it looked clean...but I didn't do the white-fingered cotton glove test for dust or look under furniture or in drawers to see if they just shoved everything out of sight in a frenzy before the parents arrived) and presents, it was time to light the candles and cut the cake. Well, we tried to cut the cake. TRIED...that's the key word here. You'd think that after sitting out for an hour that the ice cream cake would get a little soft. I couldn't get a butcher knife through it. Matt couldn't get a butcher knife through it. I had the bright idea of throwing it in the microwave for a few seconds to help it soften. Matt was in charge of microwave duties...which I accept full responsibility for anything that was about to happen because we all know how things tend to happen to poor Matt. He may have heated it just a little too long because when he started to pull the cake out of the microwave, everything kind of slid off the cake. Thankfully Matt has quick reflexes and grabbed the cake and icing with his hands and somehow managed to keep most of the icing on the cake. Oh, did I mention it was red icing? Our hands still have some remnants of red food coloring on them after almost two weeks later. ;-)
Matt and I headed over to the lake shore to enjoy the last Saturday in October. It was a beautiful fall day and quite a few trees still had lots of color on them. We wandered around Saugatuck and visited some shops and a craft fair. I found some fabulous things to copy and make at home...if only I could remember exactly what they were or what they looked like. After shopping, we drove over to South Haven for a walk out to the lighthouse. I swear sometimes it felt like an optical illusion...the lighthouse seemed to keep getting farther away the more we walked toward it. We enjoyed a late lunch and did some more shopping. I love the cute little shops in beach towns. I always find interesting (and funny) things to buy and get lots of ideas of things to make at home...again, until I get home and then forget exactly what it was I was going to make. I found birthday presents for my sisters that made me laugh hysterically in the store and still makes me laugh when I think about them! I can't wait to see the looks on their faces...ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I am the best sister ever. Really. (It's too bad you can't see the devilish gleam in my eye.)
Halloween was a little lonely without Keaton. I was hoping he'd agree to be one of the Seven Dwarfs (of course he'd have to kneel)...but he had basketball practice and had to stay at school. It was still fun to sit on the porch and hand out candy...and be dressed in costumes. I knew I wanted Cyrus to dress as a skunk for Halloween, so I tried to think of something that would go with a skunk costume. The only skunk I could think of was from the Disney movie, Bambi. But, Bambi costumes brought to mind images of strippers or exotic dancers. So, I decided that Cyrus was a woodland creature and I would be Snow White. Matt usually doesn't get a vote and is good-natured enough to just go along with my theme. (He does draw the line at spandex or tights, though.) Kids loved Cyrus and he received many hugs from all sorts of costumed kids that night. (I always wonder what in the world he thinks of strange creatures coming up to pet and hug him. He seems fascinated by the whole Halloween thing...or traumatized. It's hard to tell.) This year, the fairytale ended about 8 p.m. when I went inside to heat up some left-over beef stew for dinner. (Yes, REAL princesses cook...and clean their own castles.) I did like dressing like a princess and think this may be my new cleaning outfit. I guess I could just wear a tiara with my sweats when I do housework and get the same feeling...and have a better range of motion. Gowns really do limit your ability to move! Matt, being Matt, had one funny incident happen while passing out candy. After we came inside for the night, he knelt inside by the front storm door (a full-length glass door) and opened it when kids came to the door. Well, I guess he wasn't fast enough with the door because one girl walked right into the glass. BAM! I guess this princess just might clean her doors and windows a little too well.
The number 20 may be the magic number this year. Keaton is now 20 years old...and he is now #20 for the Kalamazoo Hornets. (It's also his old high school number, so we're hoping it brings him good luck this season!) Keaton scored his first official basket of the season in the exhibition game against Western Michigan University! YAY!! It was great to see him on the court at WMU and he did a good job trying to guard a guy that was 7' and outweighed him by at least 100 pounds. Seriously. The Broncos were HUGE! It was so great to see him walk off the court without limping or grimacing from pain in his knees. Now he has pain in his hip flexors...but hopefully that won't be nearly as big of an issue as his patellar tendonitis. He thinks he's still growing, so we'll just have to wait and see. He's happy to be back playing basketball and we're looking forward to another good season of K basketball! Go Hornets!!
We took a road trip this past Saturday to pick up the motor home from being serviced up in Grand Rapids. We had the check engine light come on during our last camping adventure and the mechanics found that a critter had been chewing on the electrical wires under the hood. Matt is now trying to invent something to keep them out from the engine...humanely because he knows I'll cry if he hurts anything. (Seriously, I never even kill a spider...I just relocate it to a new home outside.) We took our good friends along and decided to have a whole day full of fun while in the Grand Rapids area. First, we hit the casino where I won $30 on my favorite slot machine, Sex and the City. (Those girls are so good to me!) We changed into some warmer clothes, put on our bike helmets, and hit the trail at the White Pine Trail State Park up in Rockford. We rode our bikes along the Rogue River for about 10 miles and had a great lunch at a local pub. It was a little windy, but with four layers on, I was definitely warm enough. (As a matter of fact, I think I looked like a fluffy pink marshmallow.) We stopped for some pictures along the way to add to my scrapbook. (You can never have too many pictures!) It was a great day with great friends. Soon the snow will be falling and we'll be trading our bikes for our snow shoes to hit the trails with our friends. It's nice to have such good friends to share adventures with us. It's just too bad that they're State fans.
