Fall

 Fall has been very busy.  Hubs and I started the ice install as soon as I got back from my class in Collingwood.  The good news is we have a new chiller and dehumidifiers which was very helpful and new LED lighting which makes everything on the ice just LOOK bright and amazing.  Also good news is Hubs knew mostly what he was doing and where the tools we needed were kept AND we had a great volunteer crew come out on white paint day.

So, the install didn't go perfectly. We learned many things. I kept lots of notes about what we did and what we'll do differently next year.  It took us about 4 weeks. Hubs lost 17 pounds between putting in the ice and playing Pokemon Go with C. We lost a lot of sleep from trying to put on more and more water and also from the stress of trying to make sure we were doing everything right, while they were still installing some things in the plant, I decluttered our main work areas (the last ice maker liked to keep everything "just in case") and learned way more than I did in the class. 

However, right before open house, Hubs threw the first rock of the season-on his first ice as head icemaker.

I'm very proud of him and all his work and proud of both of us for how well we worked together. 

This week was the open house and we fine tuned the ice and it's curling beautifully. I can't wait to play my first games on it this week.  Hubs is trying to get me up to speed on making the ice including using the scraper and pebbling ice.  This is because he's going on a friendship curling tour to the US in November.  We have another ice maker who will help me out but sometimes I'll be on my own.  I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure it will be fine.

Add to one adult/driver leaving and it's getting interesting juggling around here. C is in class and classes are different times every day. He's been riding his bike most days until we are headed to work around the same time as his school is about halfway between our house and the curling club.

V has thrown herself into HS.  She is in the school play, drama improv club, media club, film society and just got on the swim team which has no transportation in the opposite direction of work.  C can driver her sometimes as he's got class on those mornings and we'll have the car available but it's going to be interesting.  Oh, and that's just during the week, she's also been rowing and taking swim lessons on the weekends. Which we also often work.

I'm still trying to fit in training runs for Bad Thing which is almost here and I did take an evening to go to the local pumpkin patch/farm with a friend-you go at sunset to pick flowers and then get a little campfire under the stars.

And training runs are a great way to get outside, hang with friends. We're riding our bikes too and I'm finishing up the tennis season. I'll put my racket away at the end of October.

Had teacher conferences for H and V.  H is taking 3 classes and using his 4th period in the resource room do to homework so he doesn't have to do it at home. Any parents who doesn't have to have homework done at home knows what a relief this is!  Math's got some issues, but his Gr 12 computer science class is going really well and his teacher is impressed with his knowledge from the Gr 11 computer class he took last year as well as all his problem solving and great ideas.  His English teacher says they are really starting to get along and is happy with his progress.

V is getting high marks in all her classes.  Her struggles are that the classes are loud (she'll wear earplugs) and needing to move around during class (The hyperactive part of the ADHD). The teachers are wonderful about letting her run in the hall when she needs to for a few minutes so she can come back and concentrate.  The math teacher asked her if she was signed up for math competition (of course she is-she's signed up for everything I think).  Drama she's loving, English she's writing well and doing well on the reading tests. Tech class she's doing well in. Tomorrow she's setting off her rocket which is decorated like a dragon. The teacher is hoping it will not end up on the roof of the building and she'll get to bring it home to show it off to us.