Fall So Far (or Fall THUS Far, if you prefer)

We're at about the mid-point of fall and it's time

I shared some of our adventures with the grandkids.

Brianna is playing basketball for the Fire in the
Upward Church League.

Hunter is playing for the Dragons in his first
organized team sport.  Did I say organized?

They practice sometimes while they're at our house.
They also get to practice counting by twos.

There's more to life than basketball.  How's this for cheap thrills?

Then there's always the 3:00 freight train.

Evan is back to building his dream castle and manning it
with bold knights of old.

Claire uses a few of Evan's left-over pieces, but she's more
interested in her characters than the building.

Note her army of deadly snakes!

Evan adds a pair of watchful guardian eagles.

Looks like both fortresses are secure.

Nice going, Claire!

Now that Evan has lost his first tooth, all four grandchildren
have had that experience.  Many more on the way.

We spent an afternoon back at the old property and Bri
brushed up on some gymnastics she hadn't done for a while.

We soon headed down to the stream and waterfalls,
where the kids hadn't been for months.

While we were at the stream, we heard approaching voices.
Suddenly, Claire and Evan appeared.  Oh, what fun!

We were all happy to see that our unusual fungus from last
year had reappeared and even multiplied.

Here we are at the new footbridge across our frog habitat.

I may not be putting miles on this '73 Mercury these days, but that's
not to say it's not getting any wear and tear.  Evan's the driver,
while the others climb-- at a safe speed, no doubt.

It seems this would make for some distracted driving,
but Evan is very focused.

Next we were off to our trapeze swing that crosses a ditch.
Everyone got in many, many turns.

Off to the treehouse, where everybody found something to do.

Besides cooking and climbing, there was our outdoor "Little Library."

The same week, we all headed up to Morrow Mountain State Park
for a picnic lunch and a nice, long hike.  The kids were enthralled
with their natural "finds."

It was nice to have Jennifer and Amanda along--
especially since my camera wasn't charged.

Back around home, we attended one of Evan's Saturday morning
 soccer sessions.  Here he's sneaking up on the ball for a back kick.

Evan's age group practices drills together, then divides up for
a short scrimmage game each week.  He is a prolific scorer
and has a real knack for both offense and defense.

You can see the killer instinct in his eyes.

Six Cubes is our new favorite game.  Of course it came from a
yard sale, and that was many years ago.  It may be for ages 10
and up, but that didn't prevent Bri and Hunter from trying it with us.

You roll six dice at a time, then remove any dice that score
winning combinations.  You can continue or quit.  But if you
roll and score no points, you lose all points from that turn.

Her very first time playing, Bri scored a "straight" on a single roll.
This is worth 1,500 points.  If you've played Yahtzee, you'll
appreciate what the odds against this are.  Even a straight with
five dice is a rarity.

Here's the unique game board, with a few special spaces leading
up to 10,000 points.  You could easily create your own board and
use six ordinary dice to play this game without buying it.

Not satisfied with her "straight," Bri soon rolled the elusive
SIX OF A KIND!  The 6,000 points put her WAY over the
top to win the game.  To put it in perspective, the six dice are
one degree past Yahtzee's "five of a kind," plus this has to be
achieved in ONE roll.  Amazing!

I'm happy to say that Judy and I can top that 

Six of a Kind.

We have Four of a Kind Grandchildren that are

totally unsurpassed.

What are the odds of that?!