Halloween 2024

Jake from State Farm:

Stevie Nicks:

My and V's pumpkins:

Omri and R's pumpkins:

Halloween seemed a bit off this year. The kids' plans to trick-or-treat with friends didn't work out, and their costumes didn't translate so well to the cold weather. They did go out for a little while together, but they were back before too late. They watched the movie Hocus Pocus, while R and I entertained a few friends around the fire. Maybe this is what happens as kids get older? Omri did have the Halloween ball at school a week earlier, and Veronica went to a costume party at a friend's house on Saturday evening.

These photos are of the famous "Halloween House" on our street that always attracts a lot of attention!

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Pumpkin carving 2024

It was hard to find time to carve pumpkins this year! Some of this was put off until the last minute.

We will see the results in my next post.

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Halloween Ball 2024

I have attended the Upper Elementary Halloween Ball a few times in the past with Veronica. We had a year off, and now it was Omri's turn to attend! He went as Jake from State Farm :-).

I took about 150 photos of the event as the volunteer roaming photographer. We turned the lights up for this group shot.

And here is a sample of some of the more experimental photos I took with a slow shutter and a flash:

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Veronica turns 14

Yes, there was another big birthday around here, on Thursday of a busy week.

The morning of her birthday...

... she opened -- at long last -- her own iPhone:

She had to bake something for a school assignment, so she made her own birthday cake this year:

 

Somehow, she had the night off of all rehearsals and lessons, so we went out to dinner out at Churchill Street:

Love this girl so much!

I've got one of these photos from every year, and it's going to be pretty cool when you see them all together:

Not pictured is the sleepover she had with 8 friends from school the next night. That one is going to be off the record.

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Camp Du Nord 2024, part 2: Canon shots

We stayed in the Tote'm cabin again (our third time out of five visits to Du Nord).

It is positioned on a rocky cliff overlooking the lake.

This was our first time there in the fall and it definitely had a different feel to it.

Crowded s'more sesh (R is in the lower left):

So much fun to shoot at dusk:

Coffee on the rocking porch:

Omri may be regretting the decision to wear shorts:

Uno:

Checking out that moon:

Guess that's about all I have, other than a few film shots that I won't see for a while!

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Camp Du Nord 2024, part 1: iPhone shots

We had a lovely MEA weekend up at Camp Du Nord. (My Canon photos aren't quite edited yet, so these are iPhone only.)

The water was so cold, but going in the Finnish sauna first sure helped.

R and I took some hikes while the kids were in "age groups."

The colors were past their prime, but it was still such a nice fall setting.

We played a lot of card games... something that rarely seems to happen at home anymore.

I was a little nervous paddling in that cold water, but Omri and I did make it out for a quick trip to Blueberry Island and back.

The moon was full and bright.

More to come!

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The SpongeBob Musical at CPA

We've had a lot of SpongeBob in our lives lately. You might remember Veronica was in a high school production at Ashland near the end of summer. Immediately after that, she started a middle school production at Children's Performing Arts. This time she played Karen, the personification of a computer who is married to evil single-celled organism, and it was so much fun to watch what she did with the role!

Bio:

Friends from school (photo by Linda):

Selfie by Linda:

As usual we weren't allowed to use our phones during the show, but I'm worried they won't be selling a recording this time, so I captured this little clip with a hidden phone camera:

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Post-rehearsal bagel with sprinkles

Omri joined too because he doesn't want anybody eating bagels without him.

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