Liesl's 9th birthday

We celebrated Liesl's 9th birthday today with her favorite foods, some presents, hanging out as a family (with Grandma and Grandpa Raab!), playing new games and reading new books -- and also a soccer game in the middle of the day. (Although yesterday's Blunicorns game, in which she scored 4 goals, felt more celebratory than today's tough game.)

Liesl came down to flowers, a birthday balloon and banner, and then her favorite breakfast - challah French toast with bacon and mixed berries.

She got to open cards from Sebastian and us as she ate. Seb's was funny, featuring the prescient words, "9 is a great number. I remember that the entire year I was 9 people kept saying 'Wow! You're almost 10!'" Two people today said that exact thing to Liesl. :)

Grandma and Grandpa, who are visiting for a few weeks, came over for breakfast as well, bringing another balloon, bright yellow mums, a funky fat pillow, and a card promising a special dress shopping trip.

And then our girl finally (finally!!) got to open her presents.

A blue hoodie, a game called Gonuts for Donuts, three books -

We all gathered to play Gonuts for Donuts, which Sebastian had learned to play in school. He explained the rules and we tried it out - it was really fun for everyone, with a little luck, a little strategy, and some laughter. Steve and his dad kept picking the exact same card, which was bad for both of them because it meant neither got to pick up the card - again and again and again.

And then we cleaned up and got ready for Liesl's noon soccer game at Delta Park. She played well but the team fell apart a little bit in the second half, which was a bummer. Afterwards, we had pizza and salads at Life of Pie and tasted the Halloween flavors at Salt & Straw (including one with pig's blood and one with actual bugs - mealworms and crickets). This was Liesl's face on trying the bug ice cream. She was so brave - I couldn't get there for the bugs, although I did try the chocolate blood pudding.

And then back home - the kids read and played Gonuts for Donuts while Steve and I took Jasper for a walk in Forest Park, and then we started on dinner while they played hide and seek with Jazzy at the school field. At Liesl's request, dinner was steak, polenta, and various raw veggies, and her dessert of choice was carrot cake.

A few small things - slime, face paint for Halloween, hair elastics - and a card with her big present: tickets to see the Hip Hop Nutcracker show at the Keller, with a friend.

I was happy to make carrot cake again this year - it feels so festive and is a tasty fall dessert.

Harvest Fest

The school had their annual Harvest/Halloween party tonight, with a costume contest, dancing, a Mad Science show, various treats, and lots of running around and hanging with friends. Claire came over to our house after school and had dinner with us and then went to the party with Liesl. They had a fabulous time with friends.

card games

It's fall, which means it's cold and dark and often raining, and so as usual we have rediscovered our stack of board games and card games. We've played Clue (Seb won), Monopoly (Liesl crushed the competition and bankrupted the bank), Battleship (unfinished), Racko (many times), Max, Boggle, Mancala, Uno, Go Fish, Crazy 8's, War, rummy, and solitaire. And then tonight I taught them how to play blackjack, which was great fun. Amazingly, for our final hand of the night, all three of us got 21! Vegas here we come!!

Jasper and I continue to run together in Forest Park every weekend. We managed 8.5 miles today in the mist and mud -- he was happy until the last mile or so, and then became a very sad and tired puppy. I let him curl up with Sebastian at bedtime.

Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island

We had only one soccer game today, at 4:30, and no other commitments - a rare, rare stretch of free time - and thus we ventured out in search of a pumpkin patch and corn maze, despite the near certainty of rain. And indeed, the rain came, but it was at least intermittent (blue sky, mist, pouring rain, blue sky, drizzle, soaking rain... fall in the PNW) and so we had a lovely adventure. The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island purportedly had the best and largest corn maze, so that's where we went.

The maze was indeed huge, over 2 miles of trails, and the corn was super tall. There were numbers at various points along the way to provide reassurance that you were in fact making progress and getting through the maze. But we definitely got turned around a few times and walked in circles ("oh no! is that number 4 again?!") and had a moment where we felt trapped in a dead end.

 Liesl and Seb decided to do part of the maze as a trust walk, with L blindfolded.

 Ack, we're lost!

Near the exit, there was a wooden bridge that you could climb up to gaze out over the corn field you'd just traversed. Pretty fun. Liesl was disappointed that there was once again no candy prize for completing the maze, but the (overpriced) kettle corn mollified her somewhat.

 

After the maze, we picked out some giant-size pumpkins for Halloween carving and then headed to Russell St. BBQ for lunch. Getting lost in a rainstorm makes you hungry! And then we felt badly about poor Jasper, who had been sitting patiently in the car while we explored the corn maze, so we went to nearby Irving Park to check out the dog park there. Jasper ran around with his doggy friends and we tried to catch the leaves as they fell from the trees. It's so hard! We were almost entirely unsuccessful. But the sun was out and it was sweet to be hanging out and laughing as a family, with some free time and the gorgeous fall colors all around us.

We came home and got started on scooping out the pumpkin guts, and then Liesl had a Blunicorns soccer game at 4:30. She didn't feel very well after their warmup and went home for the first half (there was the possibility, happily not realized, of vomiting). She returned to her team and watched for a bit, and then asked to go into the game during the second half. Amazingly, she played really well - she was super fast - and scored a hat trick during her 20 minutes of play.

Tomorrow is back to our regular schedule -- three soccer games, and Steve flying to SF. Hopefully we'll finish carving our pumpkins too!