Fall Break Fun

Quick stop at Minnesota's Largest Candy Store (that doesn't accept anything but checks or cash!)

Old Firetruck that was super fun to climb

Petting some mini kangaroos.  Fun Fact:  These kangaroos are the size of a cherry at birth!

Alpecas but they looked a lot like Llamas!  They had gigantic eyes and long eyelashes.

Balloon Pet

Finn at the learn to Skate for first year players

Corn pit

Ready to Go!  Mom fail....I forgot hockey socks.  I am so used to the boys having those already in their bags.  Thankfully, Dad had one in his bag and we found one in the lost and found.  But, we had a cool jersey and a new stick!!

Liam could have played with the animals all day long

So much fun!

Sever's Fall Festival

Corn Maze with our best buddies

Iowa Football game with Grandpa

Go Hawks!

Boys had a blast

The weather was decent.  Little rain but nothing terrible

Finn and his souvenir 

We had a very nice fall break with two days off from school.  We finally made it out to one of the orchards and enjoyed an absolutely gorgeous fall day.  The weather could not have been any better and we had lots of fun with our friends, the Bakken's.  The orchard we tried this year was a new one for us.  As the boys are getting older, there is not as much desire to do some of the things we have done every year for the last 11 years so we decided to mix it up a bit this year and try something new. Ironically, the orchard was down the street from Minnesota's largest candy store so we made a trip to the store on our way home.  The place was amazing with candy and treats from floor to ceiling.  The only downside was that they only took cash or check.  No credit cards!  The boys handled it well as we divided our only $20.00 in cash among seven boys!  Lesson learned for the next visit.....

Luke, Liam, Aiden, and Finn also went with John for a quick trip to Iowa to attend the Iowa vs Purdue Homecoming Game.  They had a lot of fun getting to see Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers, cheering on the Hawks, and swimming at the hotel pool.  It as a quick trip, but lots of memories were made and the boys wore all of their black and yellow gear proudly.  We were fortunate to have a weekend without any hockey practices or games so that everyone could enjoy the trip.

Next up...Aiden's tryouts for travel hockey start this week!  Good luck AJ!!

Two Down, One to Go

Finn got to bring home "Remington"from school.  He took Remington around to various places with us and then we recorded the trips in Remington's journal.

Luke and Liam at a sleepover birthday party with some of their good friends

October has been busy thus far for us.  By the beginning of November, we will have three kids in travel hockey.  Luke and Liam just finished their PeeWee tryouts over the weekend and Aiden will begin Squirt tryouts in another week or so.

In addition to the busyness of tryouts, we have also had lots of rain and quite cool temps for fall in Minnesota so unfortunately we have not enjoyed our typical trips to the apple orchards or other fall activities (at least not yet).

Luke began tryouts first at the end of September and finished last weekend.  Liam began in early October and finished yesterday.  Both made great teams and we are very excited about their upcoming seasons.  They are on teams that will challenge them and will be very competitive.

Luke landed on a PeeWee AA team with only three other kids his age.  He will be playing the highest level of competition available for him at his age as a goalie.  All of the kids on his team (except two) are at least 1-2 years older than Luke.

Liam made one of two PeeWee B1 teams.  He was in a very small group of first year PeeWee kids (most were second year kids) so this was quite an accomplishment for Liam and we are very excited to see him advance this year.  Last year, tryouts were very disappointing for Liam.  He ended up making the most of everything and grew a lot during the season, but the experience was very hard for him.  This year, however, was a much better tryout for him and he is very excited about his team.

Aiden is next for tryouts.....needless to say, it's not my favorite time of year.  I think it is more stressful on the parents than the kids.  

Fun Run 2019

Finn was VERY excited to run the FUN RUN for his school this year.  He has been watching his brothers at the Fun Run for the last 5 years!

Lining up to get started

His class flag

Finn and his buddy Haakyn 

Aiden and his buddy Mavryk who ironically is the older brother of Finn's buddy above (Haakyn)

Aiden's 4th grade class

Finn and Haak (pronounced like Hawk)

Finn and his kindergarten class

Many thanks to our families who donated to our Fun Run at school.  We greatly appreciate your pledges and support of the school to purchase computers, books, and other supplies throughout the year.  This the biggest fundraiser for Aiden and Finn's elementary school and it was very successful this year thanks to your donations!

The boys loved participating in the Fun Run, especially Finn.  He has been watching from the sidelines for the last five years and was very excited to participate this year.  We had some weather issues this year with lots and lots of rain this week so Finn's portion had to be rescheduled to the following day due to a downpour in the middle of the run for the second graders.  I was volunteering at the time and got pretty soaked, but the weather managed to clear up the next day so that the kindergarten and first grade kids could run.

It was a fun event for the kids and parents!  Thank you for your support!