September Shenanigans

Mid-September

One Friday of no school, I checked out the Denver Museum of Nature and Science pass from the library and we spent the day at the museum together. I LOVE that the library offers the pass; we try to make it there a time or two a year. Why not? The pass is free to check out and parking is free, so we're just paying for gas. We brought our own lunch as well. It makes an otherwise pretty expensive outing VERY affordable!

Also noteworthy was a going away party we hosted for Matt's coworker Emily Latta. She has worked with Matt for a few years and took a permanent job in Montrose. Matt has enjoyed working with Emily as a seasonal and then as a term biologist. He is really great at teaching/leading and really went to great lengths to expose Emily to a lot of different things while she was at RGFO. He takes more of an apprenticeship approach and it really helped Emily secure the Montrose biologist position. One of the downfalls of Matt's approach is that his coworkers inevitable take other jobs and leave! I guess that's the point, but it's still tough to see them go. I have enjoyed getting to know Emily as well, which makes her leaving even harder. We hosted a going away party for Emily, a bbq with a handful of coworkers that meant the most to her. (In attendance: my family, Emily and her husband Todd, Jordan, Mercedes, Kristin, Glenda, Damon, Linda and Linda's dad, Dave and Mary.) I can't find any pictures at the moment but I'll try to dig some up! We had a fun evening grilling and celebrating Emily's new position. 

Charlie's math teacher, Ms. Milam, sent me this picture of him and Brielle Gifford during "Talk Like a Pirate" day. Brielle is all smiles while Charlie is maintaining his pirate face. HAHA!

 Charlie and one of his classmates, Keaton Miller, both like to fish quite a bit. Keaton has invited Charlie to go fishing with him a few times down at the fishing pond at Pathfinder Park in Florence. I took a turn inviting Keaton one Friday and the boys had a blast catching frogs (with fishing poles) and talking all things fishing together. 

 Matt, Shawn Dieckman, and Kenny Blair headed out for a quick backpacking trip late in September. I believe they hiked a fourteener, but I can't say which one. Matt will have to fill in the gaps here! 

As a part of fourth grade social studies, Charlie's teacher Mrs. Zamarippa has the kids make castles. It has somewhat of a reputation around school as being 'the big project' of a kid's elementary years. Aaaaannnnd now I know why. Holy cats, this was the biggest project we have ever done. Charlie and I spent a lot of time planning, gathering materials, crafting, cutting, gluing, creating this masterpiece. Charlie helped every step of the way; I was NOT about to have this turn into a 'parent' project. Huh-uh. I already did fourth grade, thankyouverymuch! There was a lengthy list of things that had to be included in the castle. Charlie had to know what they all were and he also had to know how the things were created (therefore eliminating the 'my mom did it for me' factor). We spent a lot of hours working on the castle and actually had quite a bit of fun. We could have also had fun playing catch or cribbage, but oh well. ;) Now I can tell you all about parapets and castle structures. 

Also worth noting: you will be seeing this castle every other year until Hattie is done with fourth grade. We made ONE castle to be reused by Alanna, Molly, and Hattie. Maybe we'll add some updates or new details, but the bulk of the castle will stay the same. 

The columns are stone wrapping paper around cut PVC tubes. We used flower foam for the walls and etched into it to look like stone. We used posterboard for parapets and some fabric, moss, and rocks for the moat. The drawbridge was popsicle sticks. Charlie found the little knight on a horse at a garage sale for a quarter! Big win! It was such a relief when the project was completed. He got an A on it!