October Fun

Another October came and went around here.  Here's a few highlights:

Our pumpkins:

(From left to right: Eli's, Nate's, Natalie's, Elizabeth's, and mine; Joe didn't make one this year)

One Sunday we got our first big rainfall.  There was a big stream of water in front of the house and the kids had to go play in it.  It was fun watching them.  They got soaked!

I got it into my head that I needed to sign up for a race to motivate myself to exercise.  I signed up for a sprint triathlon.  I only had a few weeks to prepare, and I didn't really prepare much, so it was pretty rough but I'm so glad I did it.  It was in Capitola and had an ocean swim.  I was excited about it but man it was killer.  Somehow I survived it, mostly by swimming on my back and trying to stay pointed in the right direction in the waves.  I swallowed a ton of water and was so dizzy by the time I finally made it to the shore.

Me feeling like I might pass out:

Luckily I got my bearings back pretty quick.  The bike and the run weren't bad, except that I only have a cruiser.  Joe thought it was pretty comical watching me ride by on that.  I think there was only one other person on a cruiser.  Needless to say I got passed by a lot of people. 

Almost done:

Joe and the kids were great to cheer me on when I rode by and again on the beach.  The kids even started running with me.  Just the motivation I needed at the end.

I love these cheerleaders:

49th out of like 51th.  I tried not to dwell on the ages of the people who finished before me :).

We had a blast at our ward's Trunk or Treat this year.  They had a little costume parade up on the stage.

Natalie the golden dragon (inspired by the Wings of Fire books she loves)

Nate as Harry Potter once again and Eli as a dragon again:

Here's all of us who dressed up that night:

(Elizabeth was Sophie Foster from the Keeper of the Lost Cities books.)

I actually ended up being out of town for Halloween this year but Joe said we didn't get any trick-or-treaters and he successfully bribed our kids into staying home and just watching a movie. :)