Halloween

Henry opted for carving his pumpkin along with some paint.

Ralph opted to go for the painted approach.

Happy Halloween!

Fall Break 2022

While we didn't take many photos we did manage to escape for a few days to Kansas City.  We left the Sunday morning of Fall Break and returned roughly 55 hours.  After spending most of our time in Kansas City after school was out in May doing "educational" or "historical" things I decided this adventure should be a little more "fun".

The Great Wolf Lodge was our destination.  We knew it didn't have all the same activities as the one we had visited in Minneapolis in 2019 and was prepared for that.  We were not prepared for a smaller lazy river which seemed to go in a smaller oval than around the perimeter of the water area.

We played Sunday afternoon until our room was ready - mostly riding the innertubes down the various slides.  The 3 slides all required climbing up 4 flights of stairs - Each slide used a different innertube - two slides used a 2-seater innertube and the 3rd slide could fit 3 on the innertube. By the time we left the water park Sunday the boys had a goal of tipping the (3-seater) innertube over when they came out of the tube. Some runs were more successful than others and some gave them war wounds.

Supper Sunday took us to the nearby Bob Evans restaurant - a restaurant Ralph came to know while traveling in July to Summit Bechtel Scout camp.

Monday we visited the Arabia Steamboat Museum.  The Arabia Steamboat hit a tree stump in 1856 and sank - everyone but a mule survived.  All the cargo/belongings aboard the steamboat sank with it . . Fast forward to the 90's when 5 guys (a dad, 2 adult sons, and 2 other adults) researched the steamboat based on some comments and discovered its location and excavated it . . .There's 4 short videos to watch as you enter - roughly 4-5 minutes at each one . . . and you move closer to the artifacts.  There's a theatre to watch a video that was done closer to the excavation (or when the museum first opened??) . . . then you enter the Museum part and just read the signs and view the amazing artifacts.  The quantity of some of the artifacts is just unreal.  

After lunch at Chick-Fil-A and a little break (and an even longer break for Ralph as he was working on some homework) we returned to the water park for the afternoon.  Time was split between the slides and "Big Foot Pass" - cross from one end of the pool to the other end using "lily pads" to step across and cargo nets to hold on to above.

Supper was at a nearby Chili's.  While we have a Chili's in Lincoln it is not a place we frequent.

Tuesday morning we headed out, stopping at a McDonalds for breakfast.  From there we stopped at Mike's cousin in Fairfax (his aunt also joined us) and then on home.

Ralph: 1st Orchestra Concert at East

Back on September 26, Ralph had his 1st orchestra concert of his high school career.  We found out a few weeks prior to the concert that he would need a black suit or tux.  I put a post on facebook just to see if anyone had a suit they had outgrown or didn't have a use for anymore AND we found one though my sister-in-law's dad in Kansas.  We could not have asked for a better fit for not knowing many of Ralph's measurements.  There are a few areas that could be tailored but all in all it is great!

Never knowing where to sit and get a decent view (ie. his face not blocd my another student or a music stand) we did get a bit lucky at this concert.  I think he spied us too based on the look below.