Even though the title of this entry is we did more than watch football this month, we barely did much more than that, but I am getting ahead of myself. Ben's team is currently undefeated! So every week we are anxiously sitting in the stands wondering if this is the week we will be faced with a loss. Seriously though, the team is firing on all cylinders at the moment.
The first weekend of October was Homecoming. The game was against cross-town rivals La Jolla. We were expecting a really close game, but our Falcons were able to decisively beat them despite the close score. The 4th quarter had a few crazy plays and La Jolla was able to close the gap but in the end, the Falcons held on to the lead. The following night Ben went to the dance with his teammates while Jim and I headed up to Los Angeles to visit with Lilly. Ben did send us this photo before the guys headed to the dance.
So while Ben was hanging out at the Homecoming Dance, Jim and I drove up to Los Angeles to hang out with Lilly. First up we headed over to Pacific Palisades to check out the beach and the surrounding area. Lilly says this is one of her favorite places to go to the beach and to hike up in the hills. Even though the day was overcast, we enjoyed seeing the sights through her eyes and it was nice to finally see where she is spending her time outside of the classroom with her friends.
We made it back to Westwood and grabbed some dinner and then walked her back to her sorority house and checked out some of the places on campus that we hadn't seen before. This campus just keeps getting better and better every time we visit.
The next morning we were up early to pick up Lilly for a hike up to the Hollywood sign. The kids and I have done something similar to this back when we spent a spring break in the area, but Jim wasn't with us and therefore he was particularly excited to do this. Afterwards we headed to one of Lilly's favorites (Layla Bagels) for breakfast. It did not disappoint! Our visit with Lilly was short but sweet. I will get to see her again early next month for her birthday so - YAY!
Meanwhile, a bit further up the coast, Lucy found out which sorority she got and she was kind enough to share this with us! She seemed pretty happy with the selection and is now an Alpha Chi Omega! Still don't really know what that means, but as long as she is happy then we are happy!
Now let's get back to the Ben Show. Another Friday night, another win. This time he got a few more carries and even caught a pass and managed to get some yardage after the pass. He was even selected to be in the top Junior Outside Linebackers in San Diego. Not too shabby!
Like I said in this edition's title, we do a bit more than just sit on the bleachers, however not much more - hahah. Jim had to go back to VA for work so I recruited some friends to go to the next week's away game with me against another unbeaten team. My friend Kelly flew into town to keep me laughing and was super excited to join me at the game as were the Landherr's who drove down from the LA area to catch the game as well as Keith Kitagawa from USNA. It was awesome to have some many people in the stands cheering the Falcons on to yet another victory!
The next morning, Kelly and I went for a hike. She said she wanted to do an ocean view hike so I took her over to La Jolla and we hiked a few different trails and ended up over by Blacks Beach. I told her it was a nude beach but I don't think she really believed me until we noticed someone walking towards us that was obviously not wearing any pants. 😬 We did a quick turnaround and decided it was time for lunch. Lucky for us the Torrey Pines Glideport was right there! We grabbed a sandwich and a spot on the deck - perfect! We then met up with her nephew down at La Jolla Cove to have dessert and a drink. Not a bad way to spend the day! I sure hope we can plan another trip soon!
Just because Jim was in VA doesn't mean he is missing out on fun times! He drove down to Williamsburg to catch up with the Wellons clan at the William and Mary Homecoming game and to celebrate Lindley's birthday! All the usual suspects were there and if the pictures are any indication, they had a ball!
After all the festivities on Saturday, he drove up to DC to have dinner with MC, David and the kids to celebrate MC's birthday! We sure do miss being so close to everyone.
Jim has been staying on Quantico and in his daily driving around the base has really gotten into all the Halloween decorations in the neighborhood. He was particularly tickled to see this one. He swears that he would be on board if I were to do something similar, something tells me that is not true. But I now have some ideas for next year.
Going to leave the world of football for just a second and provide a tower garden update. The basil and cherry tomato plants are still going strong. We are chasing the afternoon sun around the patio and I have started trimming the branches that don't have tomatoes already formed in hopes to get them to ripen. Who knew our growing season would still be going?
We got invited to a Halloween Party - a first for us in quite a while - and couldn't agree on a theme. Once we found out our neighbors were also invited we decided to go with something easy and picked the Scooby Doo characters. Jim was concerned no one would know who we were, but we found that even the youngest of the people we encountered KNEW EXACTLY who we were! All we needed was the Mystery Machine!
I had told Jim about our hike down to the beach and so he said he needed to see this for himself. Who am I to say no? We hiked a couple of the same hikes I did with Kelly and again saw a nudist in the distance - I wonder if it was the same guy? But instead of going back to the glider port we headed to the Cheese Shop in La Jolla Shores - WOW! The sandwich was perfection! We spoke with the owner at length and he even gave us a sample of his gingerbread cake. Delicious!
This will be the last mention of Ben's football team for this month. The last game of their league play was against their cross town rivals Mira Mesa. It is usually a pretty heated game, but Mira Mesa has struggled this year and are winless up to this point. The Falcons were prepared for them and ultimately we won the game and the Battle of the 15 (which is what this rivalry is called) is back in the possession of the Falcons after a two year absence. Way to go boys!
Finally, Halloween is upon us. Our Cul-de-sac apparently is known for giving out full size candy bars and lots of them. The neighbors decided to make a little party out of it. We set up a candy table and a food table, started a fire pit and sat back and watched the kids coming down the street! It was so nice to have trick or treaters after our several years of striking out AND to share it with our friends and neighbors.
Lucy and one of her roommates Aubrey made their way to a pumpkin patch in Isla Vista to pick up a pumpkin each. The very thought that they wanted to carve a pumpkin made me smile but to actually receive a text of the carvings really warms my heart! Lilly on the other hand apparently wasn't so moved. I didn't get any pictures of costumes so I will share the photo that was shared with me. Thank you Lucy!!
I thought I would close out the month with a throwback to our very first Halloween with all three kids. Time/memory is a crazy thing. Some days it feels like just last week they were all little and other days we feel like they have been teenagers for a millennium. But it is a wonderful feeling to think we have created these lives and hopefully set them on the right path for success and happiness.
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