This year Hunter and Morgan dressed up as Buzz Lightyear and Jessie from Toy Story, and Brinley and her friends dressed up as middle school boys. They were all off with their friends, so Cahl, Jasen, and I set up a fire pit in the driveway, had some friends over, and had pizza while we handed out candy.
Cahl had one last opportunity to go to Alaska this year, to bring the boat back down for some work, and this time he was able to take Jasen with him. They flew over to Seattle to meet Mike, then flew up to Wrangell the next day. They spent a full day in Wrangell getting the boat loaded and ready to go, then took off on their way back down to Tacoma.
The first day they made it from Wrangell to Ketchikan, where Jasen was excited to see the town and do a little souvenir shopping.
The next day they crossed into Canada, and they stopped at Prince Rupert for the night. Since the drinking age in Canada is only 19, they were excited to take Jasen out to the bar and buy him some drinks!
After Prince Rupert, they spent the next night in Khutz Inlet, followed by a night in Namu. This is the stop Cahl had been most excited about! Namu is an abandoned fishing and packing village, and has sat vacant since the 1980's. When the packing plant closed down, everyone packed up and left, but they didn't take much with them- many of the stores and buildings still have things left on the shelves and furniture. There is even still mail at the post office! They said it was pretty creepy to walk around and look at everything, and some of the buildings have fallen into the water now. I hope to someday be able to go there- it looks so cool!
The next night was spent in Alert Bay, where they enjoyed a nice dinner on land and a few more drinks!
Their last night in Canada was spent in Comox, and the final night on the boat was spent at Waldron Island, Washington. Once they made it back to Tacoma and dropped the boat off, they had one last day to check out Seattle- they hit up the Space Needle and Pike Market before heading home from their 10 day journey.
Tyson turned 5 years old today- a whole hand! He really is the best dog ever, and we sure love him, and we're so happy that we have him. He got lots of extra loves, and enjoyed his special treat- a whole apple!
Our annual trunk or treat was this afternoon, and even though it was pretty cold, we had fun. Brinley and I threw on some football jerseys, and Hunter put on his Robert Obest shirt- very last minute, but it worked!
Brinley's NJHS group at school has been hard at work for the last few months, planning the annual Husky Howl. She was excited to help set up and run some of the events, and it was a little bittersweet that this is our last year enjoying the event with a middle schooler!
Today our stake had a service project, picking apple out at the church orchards in Caldwell. There must have been a few hundred volunteers, and I think we picked close to 100,000 pounds of apples! It was super fun, and the kids and I had a great time. We even made apple butter with the apples we smuggled home!
For tonight's mutual activity, Hunter's group and the older girls carved pumpkins, which the leaders then judged. Hunter and Morgan won 1st place!
Many months ago, I saw that Brinley's favorite singer, Macklemore, was coming to town, so I got her front row tickets for her birthday. She has been counting down the days, and it was finally concert day! We were both so excited, and absolutely loved the show! I think she's caught the concert bug, so hopefully we can go to many more in the future!
We spent last weekend up in Salmon, so Hunter and Cahl could go elk hunting. It was a success- Hunter got his first bull elk first thing opening morning! He is stoked, and we are so proud of him!
