State Meet

Emma ran in the state meet today. It was cold and rainy. She came in 16th place. There were thousands of people out of the race. This race was all middle school students in the state (both public and private schools attended). Overall, it was a good experience to have but quite a long day.

Emma with her coach Mrs. Zenner.

Emma and Lily being silly. Plus a few more of Emma in action during the race and the final after race hug.

MEA break

We visited my parents house to make candy corn this year. Emma's favorite candy is candy corn but it is made with food coloring that may be linked to cancer. We looked and looked trying to find a kind that was sold without the food coloring but couldn't find any. So we took to making it ourselves.

It was quite a process to melt the sugar and get everything at the exact temperatures for mixing.

Overall it was an intense process that took us about 2 1/2 hours. Analise seemed to be the only one in a silly mood today. Everyone else was focused on not getting their fingers stuck and following the instructions so we wouldn't have to start again. The recipe was four pages long and had a lot of trouble shooting notes. There was no room for slipping up.

The food coloring actually worked out really well. We thought it would be really light but it turned out to be a nice deep yellow and orange without much added. After freezing the dough-like candy for a bit, it was much easier to cut (We didn't learn about the importance of the freezer though until we made quite a few mistakes). Emma and Ani made some giant candy corn when the dough exploded across their tray. In the end, they looked somewhat like the store bought ones. The real proof was in the taste. Emma said that they tasted just like them but were definitely fresher.

We also went hiking as a family near Lindstrom, Mn. We started out by some smaller ponds with lots of grasses.

Then we hiked up and down some hills which had great views. Many of the leaves were starting to change.

Next we took in some great sunset pictures and found great trees to climb in.

We ended up exploring the pennisula and going out all the way to the end.

There were lots of great places to kayak and canoe in this area. The lakes were gorgeous. There were so many great spots for photo opportunities.

This final one was our favorite of the day.

After the hike, we and went on a pumpkin walk in Wyoming, Mn. Wade, Li Ming and Kiris joined us for the event. We started by hanging out with the farm animals and fun kid activities.

Don't forget the ostriches. But beware. They have a mean look in their eye and those necks sure do swing fast.

Emma and Kiris feeding the alpacas.

Analise and the kangaroos.

Watch out for those camels. Best to use the big scoop when feeding them.

Then we headed for the trail.

Again there were lots of great places for photos. Kiris was so excited by the 1,000s of pumpkins they had on display. It was fun to be there with a five year old. Five year olds definitely bring the excitement and wonder back to things that may seem rather ordinary to the older crowd we have become.

Emma seemed to take to walking Kiris around and showing her everything she wanted to know about.

Although the weather was dreary this past week, it was decent evening and we enjoyed time together.

Corn Mazes and Squash Hunting

We went to Xdahls today to check out their pumpkins and squash. They have a large corn maze and lots of goats to feed. The girls enjoyed trying to find the pumpkin that was most perfectly shaped. They found a squash that is shaped like a snake. It even had a vine that looked like a tongue.

Cross Country Season

Emma decided to try cross country this fall. She seems to like the long distance running much more than the track experience last spring. She has two meets to attend. In the first meet she will compete on the Junior Varsity level and the second meet she will compete at the middle school level. Here is the perfectly posed photo that we usually don't buy. These photos remind me of trips to JcPenny where they would pull down a background for you to choose. I guess the team went with the "forest experience" for their background. Hopefully we will get some shots of the Emma in action at the meets.

Here is a photo from the first meet in Howard, Mn. They left school at 2 pm and didn't get back until 8:15 p.m. It was a long night. We are thankful everyone did their best and that the weather was good for the event. Emma got 4th place in the girls' run. She is excited for the next race in a month.