nablopomo – Page 41 – Lemon Drop Pie

I knew it was going to be cold on Halloween this year. But I didn’t expect to wake up to snow!

Earlier in the week it had been quite a bit warmer, which was wonderful for the annual Pumpkin Patch at Lily and Emmy’s school. Kids can decorate pumpkins (but not carve them) and bring them to school for a contest. Well, it used to be a contest, but this year it was just a pumpkin show. As we were bringing our pumpkins to school, one of the moms we ran into told me she was glad she only had a couple more years of decorating pumpkins. She and her husband had stayed up late painting her daughter’s pumpkin!

I just give each kid a pumpkin and some paint, and tell them they’re on their own. It works for them.

On Halloween, I sent them to school in their costumes, another new policy at our school. Everything I did that day was Halloween-y. First was the Halloween party at my preschool, which was a huge success thanks to our awesome parent volunteers. After work, I went to Lily and Emmy’s school for their Halloween parade. It was so cold outside that the parade had to be in the gym. The kids went to their classrooms for their Halloween parties, and then had an early dismissal. Finally, it was time for the main event of the day; trick-or-treating!

Oh. my. word. So. much. candy!

I’m still helping my kids eat their Milky Ways and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups! How was your Halloween? Link up your Halloween recaps here!

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During our trip to the Painted Desert last year, we learned that we should have brought raincoats.The day started out sunny, clear and hot, at 94 degrees, just the kind of day you would expect to experience in the desert. As we explored the petrified trees and historical sites, however, we began to see dark clouds in the distance. The temperatures began to drop. Our plan was to be in Petrified Forest National Park for only one day, so we raced against the storm clouds, trying to see as much as we could before the storm started. When the lightning started to get too close for comfort, we spent some time in the Visitor’s Center.

After the storm, it was cold and drizzling. But this was a place that we would probably not visit again for years, and I had to walk among the blue mesas. In sunny weather, anyway, they look blue. In the cloudy gloom, they were layers of greys and browns. The girls and I only had sweatshirts on. While our walk was well worth it, we got soaked. It took a while to warm up, and swimming in the outdoor pool was not going to happen!

As many of you know. this past summer we ventured into Sunny California, which has been in a drought for three years. But still, based on our desert experience, I decided we all needed to bring raincoats on our vacation. For the most part, we didn’t need them.

But then…we did.

On our drive from Yosemite to Death Valley, we made a stop in Bodie State Historical Park. Bodie is high in the mountains; it used to be a gold mining town. Now it is a abandoned ghost town. Everything is left as it was left, so most of the building are locked because they are unsafe to enter.

We wandered around the town with other tourists, and could see the rain clouds approaching. Pretty soon, it started to sprinkle. I was so glad that this time, we were prepared!

We weren’t as prepared as we thought, however, because then it began to do something we really didn’t expect to see in California in the summer in the middle of a three year drought.

It began to hail.