Happy Birthday!

 Timothy turned 18!  He had the day off from school and work and got to sleep in as long as he wanted.  We had a can "cake" celebrating his 18 years.  Although lottery tickets are not legal until 21 in Iowa, we got him a few scratch offs.  He won a dollar! He got warheads because he can go to war, tattooes, and 18 bills decorating the cake. He also got a fun surprise from Grandma...the chance to indoor sky dive when we go up to the cities for Christmas.

His birthday party was a sleepover with some friends before his birthday.  Sam's club is back to making cookie cakes, so Timothy was happy to have that back.

The evening of his birthday we went out to out favorite pizza place that was decked out with over the top Christmas decor.  Our reservations were kind of late, but it was worth the wait.  We got to look at some Christmas lights on the way to the restaurant.  

Timothy got a fun shake served up in a santa mug.

Happy Birthday to our little boy, who is no longer little at all. We are proud of him and the man he is becoming.  One who is honest, faithful, kind hearted and a hard worker!

Happy Halloween!  This was the first year Teresa did not trick or treat.  She is having a halloween party with friends and she did watch a scary movie with a friend the night before halloween.  State XC complicates celebrations a bit!  Timothy still went out with friends.  As long as he was polite and wore a costume, I support it!  We had some friends over on Halloween to hand out candy and join us for dinner.  Troy likes to dress up and chose Obi Wan Kenobi this year.  I dressed up as a cat earlier in the week, so I chose not to on Halloween night.  Troy also got into the spirt for a music night earlier in the week.  He was Hrry Potter and apparently there are a lot of people who are not familiar!

The kids carved pumpkins again this year. Timothy carved the Monster symbol--free hand!  Teresa chose a cat face.  Binx was very interested in the whole process!

 

Cross country

 Teresa decided to join cross country this year.  It actually started back in June with preseason practices all summer.  She had 8 meets starting at the end of August and finishing this past week.  She had several personal records through out the season.  She started the season running at about 27 minutes and ended the season running under 25 minutes.  That was her goal and she met it on the last two races of the season.  We are so proud of her trying something new and happy that she loved it as well!

Teams ready to start the PV meet.

Scavenger Halloween practice in October.

Team picture at Homecoming parade

Team huddle

Birthday

 Troy celebrated his birthday with a dinner out to a favorite pizza place.  It was a work day, so not much happened during the day.  Although many students wished him a Happy birthday.

After dinner out, we had a few gifts for him to open at home.  A low key celebration, but a good one.

He also had friends over the night before for some dinner and cake.  It was a lovely evening for dinner on the deck to honor a special guy!

First day of School

Today was the beginning of sophmore and senior year.  So, for Timothy, it was his last first day of school!  It was surprisingly cool for August in Iowa.  Teresa was happy to wear fall clothes for the first day and her picture.  The first day went well.  They both liked that did not have to do much.  Teresa likes Mr. Heiberger's class. (Her best friend's dad is the teacher.)  I am not sure Timothy had a favorite.  He is already not a fan of the new cell phone policy.  Timothy is done at 12:15 every day.  That was a change to have him home all afternoon.  And Teresa stayed until 5 with her XC practice.  Lots of new things this year.  Praying it will be a great year for both kids.

We celebrated tonight with dinner from Roses and Berries and a s'mores cobbler.

 

Toronto vacation

We went on a quick vacation this summer to Toronto, Niagara Falls and Cedar Point.  The kids opted to drive so we could go to an amusement park on the way home.  It was a long day of driving, but everyone handles it pretty well.  We arrived in Toronto in time for supper.  Our hotel was right downtown, so we sent our car with the valet and did not need it until we headed out of town.  

Some highlights were visiting the CN tower.  There were some fun views of the city and the harbor.  There was even a glass floor that you could look down to see the sidewalk. 

We found a small burger place right around the corner from our hotel.  We had dinner there one night.  It also had a fun ice cream shop connected to it.  We went back for some tasty treats the next day!

Chocolate coconut

Birthday cake sprinkle

We also made a stop at the aquarium.  There were some neat fish and a cool tunnel where the fish were swimming all around you.

The CN tower as viewed from the harbor tour boat ride we took one evening.  It was a lovely, narrated tour that taught us a bit about the city and the harbor.  One fun fact was a guy is paid to sit at the end of a runway to light off fireworks and scare away the birds!

The boat we rode on.

Toronto at sunset from the harbor.

Another place we visited we Casa Loma.  It is a mansion built in the early 1900s.  It was pretty spectatular to see inside.  It was neat to learn that a bunch of movies have been filmed there as well.  Teresa looks like she belongs in the mansion!

The gardens at Casa Loma

Next we went to Niagra Falls.  We stayed on the Canadian side to go on the boat tour.  Troy heard it has better views.  I was amazed how touristy the town was.  It seemed like Vegas with the lights and attractions.  I really enjoyed the boat ride.  The falls were beautiful and there was this amazing rainbow when we hit the mist.  And the power of the mist took us by suprise.  Within seconds, our hair was wet and we were trying to pull up the hoods on the ponchoes!

We rode the sky wheel at night.  This is a view of the town lit up at night.  You get a glimpse of its Vegas-like style.

The rainbow in the mist of the falls.

After Niagra Falls, we made our way to Ohio.  We stopped in Clevland, so Troy could visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  We all looked around, but it was mostly Troy who loved that stop.  And our final destination was Cedar Point Amusement park.  We stayed at the Breakers resort right near the park.  There were three pools and easy access to the beach on Lake Erie.  It was a very hot couple of days, so we did take breaks from the park to enjoy the water.  The kids enjoyed the rides and this year, Teresa went on every ride that Timothy did.

The view of our hotel from the beach.

An idea of what some of the rides looked like.  None of which I rode!

Perkins became our favorite dinner spot at Cedar Point.  It was air conditioned and had good breakfast food!

Baptsim Anniversary

 This was a belated celebration, but we finally got to Taco Bell for Timothy's baptism day.  He had just had his wisdom teeth out when his day rolled around.  It has taken us until August to get out to dinner.  But we did and we are happy to celebrate this child of God!

Birthday Time!

 Once again this year, Teresa celebrated her birthday at camp.  I miss being with her or even being able to speak to her, but we tried to make it up to her with a few other celebrations.

The almost 15 year old ready for camp!

Camp friends who I am sure helped make it a good day.

We stayed a few extra days with my mom after camp.  One night we went out for ice cream.

The next night we gathered with my brothers and Jeff made a chocolate cake for Teresa and we honored the July birthdays!

Then we got some take out from Olive garden and Teresa opened her gifts from Grandma.

And finally we had a little celebration when we got home.  So hopefully there are some good memories for this amazing young lady!