Some Other Things We Did in October

Here are some other things we did in October.

Tried some new recipes using substitutions as needed. And did a little more shelf cooking.

Jr. Jr., Jet, and I dressed up and went to Jr.'s Halloween orchestra concert.

Jr. had another concert where he performed in a "rockestra" with other students from around the school district. They played rock music with their strings. It was conducted by Mark Wood. Jr. got a fun t shirt for participating.

 

Jet, Jeremy, and I went to the "Grand Lunch" at the elementary school with Lucky.

 

Lucky had white ribbon week (internet safety) at school so he got to dress up for Mustache Day and Pajama Day and Crazy Hair Day.

I took a bit more Me Time and went walking in Provo Canyon. There were still some Fall colors. I went to a place where I often see American dippers. I didn't bring binoculars or birding camera so didn't think I would get a good look if there was one. However, I looked down from the bridge I was on and right there up close was a dipper. Ha Ha. So I did get a good look. Nice.

Chocolate at the Zoo

October 28 was National Chocolate Day. What a great day for dressing up in costume and going trick or treating at Hogle Zoo. They had stations throughout the zoo where the kids could get candy.

 

The animals even had Halloween enrichment objects. It was fun to see.

 

Of course we had to get some pictures with the gorilla statue and the lion drinking fountain.

 

It was a nice trip to the zoo.

More October Holidays

October 15 was National Grouch Day. I couldn't get the words right to Oscar the Grouch's song, "I Love Trash." This is how I sang it. "Oh, I love trash. Anything dirty or dusty or dingy. Anything rotten or rusty or ringy." Those are not the words.

It was also P.G. Wodehouse's Birthday. We made stroganoff using Worcestershire sauce. Jr. commented that ingredient is Jeeves speaking with a lisp. "Wooster, sir." "Wooster, shir."

 

October 22 was National Color Day. We had an at-home potluck of different colors.

 

October 26 was National Pumpkin Day. I told author Joanna Barker that I would read her book, Miss Adeline's Match, when I got some pumpkin spice hot chocolate. The book takes place in the Fall. That's why it works. I used to get Stephen's pumpkin spice hot cocoa mix every Fall. We couldn't find any this year. We couldn't find any pumpkin spice hot cocoa mix in the stores. My husband got creative. He bought me a pumpkin spice frosty and I put some in my hot chocolate. It totally worked. So, I drank my pumpkin spice hot chocolate and read her book. Although, now that I've read the book, I would recommend drinking spiced apple cider while reading it because there is a whole apple harvesting section in the book. So if you're looking for a way to celebrate Fall (you know... next Fall because it's practically Winter here now, although there is also a scene in a snowstorm so I guess it fits both), I recommend reading Miss Adeline's Match and drinking apple cider. But then take a break and read later in the book with hot chocolate (it doesn't have to be pumpkin spice) during the part with the snowstorm. There. That's how to celebrate. Of course I also used my Provo City Library cocoa mug. Very appropriate.

October 27 was National Breadstick Day.

Annular Solar Eclipse

The morning after "Creatures of the Night," we got up really early and drove down to Fillmore. The reason? Another solar eclipse.

The last one we went to in 2017, we drove to Idaho (that was a long day) because it was a total solar eclipse and we wanted to be able to take off our eclipse glasses during the time of totality. That was an amazing experience.

This time, it was an annular eclipse, which meant in the path of totality there would be a "ring of fire." We weren't able to take our eclipse glasses off at all this time while looking at the sun but it sure looked cool through them. We got to experience a similar eclipse with friends back in 2012.

Because this eclipse was also a big deal, numerous places were planning on having eclipse viewing parties. We were able to get a couple eclipse glasses at events in September at the Orem Library then Jeremy bought us a few more for not too much.

Orem wouldn't have the "ring of fire" so that's why we headed down to Fillmore. Jeremy's done balloons at Fillmore Library a number of times so he got a hold of his contact down there to find out that they were having an eclipse event there for the public (and where it was because it wasn't in the main library building) and we were absolutely invited. Such nice people.

So as I said, we drove down to Fillmore early to miss traffic (not as early as when we went to Idaho) and to make sure we got parking, then napped until it was time for the fun to start.

The library had some great activities. We made beaded bracelets that glow in the dark and change color in the sun. 

We used stencils and a black light to create images on paper.

We made an annular eclipse simulator that showed the path of the moon over the sun to create the ring of fire.

Lucky popped a balloon using a magnifying glass.

There was an inflatable planetarium we went in to see constellations and planets.

Outside, there was a telescope set up with a special filter to look at the sun. Lucky was the 200th person to look through the telescope.

The eclipse was of course awesome and a great family activity. Outside we were again in a park with many people like the last big eclipse. There was music playing, people getting excited when it was getting darker (not as dark as a total eclipse obviously, but enough to be noticeable), and when the ring of fire part of the eclipse happened, whoever was in charge of the music put on "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. I loved that.

Lucky managed to get pictures with his little camera and eclipse glasses. Way to go, son.

We had fun looking at the shadow crescents made from the light shining through the tree branches when the sun had moved again.

We had lunch in the van before heading back toward home. The traffic wasn't too bad heading back. It got busy at some places but some places were pretty clear. It was definitely easier than our Idaho eclipse trip. 

On the way, we ate Oreos, and I made a "ring of fire" out of mine. Ha Ha Ha. I am so cute.

We got home in the afternoon, not the night. Yay.

For dinner that night we had breakfast burritos because October 14 is Breakfast Burrito Day in Denver. How random can we be finding reasons to celebrate?

It was a great day and well worth the effort.

Friday the 13th

On Friday the 13th of October, we did something spooky. We went to the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point for their "Creatures of the Night" event. And yes, we had to say, "Creatures of the Night," in a Dracula type voice every time we mentioned it.

Jeremy had built a photo backdrop for it with several creepy crawlies on it. He wanted to include creepy crawlies that either looked spooky or had spooky names.

Death's Head Hawkmoth, Silverfish, Black Widow, Assassin Bug, Death Stalker Scorpion, and Giant Red-headed Centipede.

There were several activities there but my favorite was looking at scorpions under black light. Sooooo cool.

Some October Holidays

Quick. What are some October holidays?

October 9 was Moldy Cheese Day. I lost some cheese in our fridge for a while. I will spare you all the pictures, a lot just like this one.

October 11 was National Sausage Pizza Day. Jet has a way of eating pizza. He eats half a piece then puts the rest back before moving on to another piece. He can eat several pieces like that before anyone realizes what's going on because they're taking longer to eat their whole piece.

 

October 12 was International Moment of Frustration Scream Day. I didn't scream but I cried a lot. 

Fablehaven Feast

Since October 8 was Fluffernutter Day, and since Fluffernutter sandwiches is something characters eat in Fablehaven books, we decided to have a whole Fablehaven dinner with recipes from The Fablehaven Cookbook.

Seth's PB&J Creations (we had fun with the fillings, but I made sure to have a Fluffernutter sandwich myself), Ogre Stew, Muriel's Pretzel Knots, Olloch the Glutton's Caramel Biscuit Bars, S'mores Pizza, and Dale's Fairy Milk.

The recipes in the cookbook are very doable. The whole family got involved in making this feast. 

Grandma Sorensen even made an appearance. Do you get it? 

We also only had to get one ingredient from the store when preparing for this meal. Everything else we had on hand. Like I said, very doable.

I am so glad we got this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes Fablehaven and food.