We celebrated Oliver’s sixth birthday at the cabin. Oliver prepared by creating a schedule for the day with his siblings:
In reality, we didn’t really follow the schedule, but the key elements were all there: cupcakes, playing, presents, and games.
We pared down our feast a bit this year to make it work without plumbing at the cabin. Instead of a full turkey, we roasted a partial bird. We made the stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and pies in advance. At the cabin we added mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts.
We arrived at the cabin after dark. Clear sky with the Milky Way above. Wolves howling across the lake. Snow on the ground, but not much shoveling required. Temps dropped to 10° overnight. Warmed to 35 by noon which feels balmy. Ice on the lake is thick enough for walking near shore and hurling the tennis ball for Piper.
Griffin has had a great season with his volleyball team this fall. The team has been unfailingly positive even in the face of defeat. (Though they’ve done better this season than last year, with a few decisive victories and many close matches.) It’s been a joy to watch them duke it out on the court every week.
Here’s a short video at the tail end of one of their closest games. Alas, after getting 1 point from victory, they were ultimately defeated, 25-27.
I turned on the outside floods in the dark before dawn and was greeted by this lovely sight.
Awesome corn maze adventure.
In Oliver’s Kindergarten class, they’re using their Montessori “golden beads” to solve some epic math problems. In this instance, Oliver (seated on the floor) was one of two farmers trying to sell their pumpkin crop to three Trader Joe’s stores. They had 4,572 pumpkins to divide evenly. Each store got 1,524 pumpkins.
Kudos to my colleagues Neil and Diane for organizing a faculty gathering at Afton State Park earlier this month. Families were welcome at a large group site. Some folks brought tents and stayed overnight. Many others stopped by to enjoy the fire for a portion of the evening.
Sarah was out of town, so I brought our three kids plus two extras. They basically ran off into the woods and only emerged occasionally for hot dogs and s’mores. Social gatherings like this have been few and far between since COVID struck, so the time felt quite special. We didn’t stay overnight, but had a lovely time spending the evening with a stellar group of people.
Finally, the first day of school for these two big kids: 5th grade for Maggie and KINDERGARTEN for Oliver 
It’s a testament to their teachers, who they both know very well, and the school, that they were excited (and not at all nervous) to return!
