Last week was fall break, and we did something different this time. We headed in a different direction than usual and headed to Cincinnati. I took Wednesday off and spent the morning getting some things done around the house, little things mostly, getting the grass cut and getting more birdseed and things like that. A bit later we took Alex downtown to get his passport application sent in for his trip to France next year. The kids all had dental appointments in FW so we drove there and took off for Cincy after they were done. Somehow we wound up taking a wrong turn somewhere along the way and lost an hour on back roads south of FW, but we made it and got to the hotel with plenty of time to do the hot tub. We spent most of the next day at the Creation Museum, but less than we actually thought we would, so we set out to find a place for dinner in the city, but not knowing where anything is or how to get around, we didn't. We wound up just finding some chicken tenders restaurant somewhere near the hotel. Friday we hit the ark. We spent most of the day there until dinnertime, then headed out to meet up with Brian and Deeann Myers. We met them at a burger restaurant on the riverfront by all the sports stadiums. We had a nice dinner with them and stayed a while to catch up. Next morning we headed back home.

Alex has really been racking up the hours at Culver’s this weekend. He worked Saturday from 11:30-7:00 and again today from 3:00-7:00. Things went generally pretty well, though it was a really long shift on Saturday and he wasn’t really feeling it at the start. But, he rallied after he had lunch and things were better for him after that. He did slip and fall at one point so we may have to look into better shoes. Still, he’s excited about making some money…..Saturday was the Donut Dash 5k at Heartline. I ran it, but chose not to eat donuts at each mile marker. I had one afterwards. Trey ran and had donuts, which he regretted almost immediately. Anyway, I ran as fast as I have in a long time. My official time was 24:18 or blazing fast, but the course was considerably shorter than 5 kilometers. I ran around the parking lot a couple times to get my distance up to 5k and my phone clocked my 5k time as 25:10, which is still really fast for me……Saturday while Alex was at work Beth and I did some yard work. I finally got the rose bush in the trellis dug out like Beth’s been wanting me to do for months, and finally got the lower branches on the spruce tree trimmed, got the lawn mowed and the back yard swept, got the bird feeder filled back up and most of the backyard furniture into the shed…..Sunday I went to FW to visit Mom again, since I won’t be able to next week and possibly the week after. She was sitting at a table when I got there and did not seem to notice me when I came in. Nor did she talk much at all, or respond to anything. She didn’t recognize anyone from the same photos I show her most visits, even the grandkids, and I think she soiled herself while I was sitting with her. I did get her to get up for a little walk downstairs, but she didn’t even seem to notice the birds as we walked by, even when I pointed them out to her. The whole visit was pretty much a bust…..

Alex has started his job in earnest now. He had an orientation Saturday at 2:00, which lasted maybe an hour or so. I took him to the restaurant and waited for him, and while I was waiting some other kid working there came to my table and offered me a free turtle sundae because they had accidentally made an extra one. So, yeah, I’ll take it. Anyway, we have to go shopping for some non-skid shoes and black slacks. He’s got his first real working hours next weekend….I took some old coins I found among Dad's things to a coin shop this week, and got about $22.50 for them. There were a bunch of wheat sheaf pennies, including one from 1918, a Kennedy half-dollar from 1965, and Eisenhower dollar from 1971, but the big prize was a Morgan silver dollar from 1893, worth 20 bucks. Funny that I gave them a handful of coins, and they gave me some bills and a handful of coins back..... Friday the girls had a painting event at church, for the youth group’s girls night. Missy and Nat both went. It was pallet painting, not really pallets but they had some wood nailed together into framed plaques or placards or sign boards or something for the girls to paint words, verses or inspirational quotes on. Both of them seemed to really enjoy it….. This weekend was Beth’s first soup show of the season. We’ve renewed her website and I got her signed up to accept Paypal at the shows, which I thought might help, and it got her a $20 sale that she wouldn’t have had otherwise. The show was at the Tippy Creek Winery; much earlier there than last year because they just weren’t bringing in enough revenue after paying for the tents and heaters. Too bad, the December show there was gangbusters last year. Anyway, this year it was a beautiful day for it, if a bit windy at times, and even though the crowd wasn’t what it was last year Beth still sold $435 worth of soup. They also had several BBQ food trucks and live blues music all day which was pretty cool. Beth’s been pretty stressed about things, but after the show started going she calmed down and was starting to really enjoy running the show. She’s been feeling overwhelmed but I thing a good show will get her ready for the season to get going in full now…..

Alex’s orientation at Culver’s was supposed to be this week, but they called to reschedule. I advised Alex to make calls back to them to make sure it gets scheduled, which I think worked out well for him. They’ve just been busy. Anyway, the orientation should now be this weekend….Alex had his final drivers’ ed driving course on Saturday; the one that had to be made up because of his fender-bender a few weeks ago. He drove for an hour with the instructor, then the parent ride-along followed, so he had a good 90 minutes of driving time. The teacher said he’s been doing very well and gave him good marks in everything, so now he just needs to finish up the 50 hours of driving time (he’s got something like 15 now, which seems impossibly little for as much as we’ve done with him) by next June when he can get his license…..I did not go to Alex’s ride-along because I went to FW to visit Mom. Today, she looked at me as I came in but didn’t really seem to register much. We sat on the couch and watched a movie, but she was not really present much at all. She spoke only a little the whole time I was there, mostly in gibberish, which is new to me. She also didn’t seem to understand when I told her I had to leave; she just sat there like she had been the whole time. She didn’t recognize anyone in pictures I showed her, not even her mother. She is still healthy and being taken care of and kept clean, and the clothes I bought for her last time fit her fine, but visiting her is getting to be so depressing..…Natalie started up with piano lessons again this week. She’s been wanting to get back to it but Susie was full up, and we had to wait until she had another opening. Which she now does…..Beth’s been gearing up for the soup season again, even though she’s not sure she’s really up to it. She’s been working hard on making the soups, but the hardest thing has been getting started. She has a show next weekend, I hope it goes well…..I finally got the pool put away early this week. While I was waiting for it to dry out it rained overnight, and by morning there was a lot of dirt (mud) in the pool as well. So I hosed it off a bit and drained all the muddy water with the shop-vac, which worked really well, then got all 3 kids to help me haul it into the garage and get it laid out on top of the camper. That’s going to have to do until I rent another storage unit for the winter, I guess, because I do want the truck in the garage this winter…..