October 6, 2013

All the leaves are brown. That means Winter is Coming.


All the leaves are brown.  That means Winter is Coming.
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for October 6, 2013


I ran into a bit of a Seasonal Affective Disroder Wall this week.  I don't know if it was because October rolled around which means that summer is definitely over.  Or the fact that all the leaves and plants are dying. Most likely it's because now when I get home from work at the end of the day, it's too dark to go outside and do anything!   So Thursday night we said "Screw It" and decided to go for a family walk in the dark.


That worked out OK until we made our regular stop at the lake to throw the ball so Sunny can jump off the dock to swim after it.  Turns out it's pretty hard to find the ball in the dark.


I woke up on Saturday morning still feeling the blahs and walked out on my back porch.  I then saw this tree and realized how beautiful it was even though it's leaves are dying and will fall off one day soon.  I thought that maybe this means it's time to Let Go of summer and just focus on all the great fun we'll have this fall.  The holidays are coming and winter can even be kind of fun some times.  Right?  All right, who am I kidding?  Winter Sucks!


I don't know what's different this year, but for some reason we are having a banner crop of acorns!  These things have been falling from our trees constantly day or night for the past few weeks.  It's a little distressing when lying in bed in a quiet house and suddenly having one of these slam down on the roof.  It sounds like a squadroon of paratroopers just dropped down on us and is getting ready for the Swank Family Assault.  We've always had acorns, but for some reason I don't remember ever getting this many before.  I keep thinking there's gotta be a way for me to sell these things.  Do squirrels buy products on Ebay?


We decided to beat the rush on boat winterization which officially means our boating days are done for the year.  Feels like we just put it in the water for the first time, but I guess that's what happens when we get blizzards through the begining of May.


One of the highlights of the week was taking the family to see the movie Gravity with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  My expectations weren't the greatest, but I was pleasantly surprised as it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the film.  Never before have I experienced the feeling of what the risks the brave men and women who go into space take with each trip.  It was intense and well worth seeing!


Luke and Avery were fortunate enough to make the Prior Lake High School Robotics Team and part of the responsibility they received was to help the younger generation with the Lego Robotics league.  We joined them at one of their meetings to see how excited they were to get their robots moving for the first time.  I think this program is such a positive experience for children and think it's great that there are opportunities for them to get involved at younger and younger ages each year.


We found the boys back in the Cave with the older students.  Avery was helping build a set of stairs for the high school musical "Legally Blonde".  Not sure what scene these will be used for, but I'm guessing it will involve some character trying to go higher or lower at some point in the story.

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