Once break was over -- we went right back to the normal schedule of work, school, and extracurricular activities.
The first weekend back, we went to a football game at the local high school. They were having "spirit night" for our elementary school (which is just a couple of blocks away) and the kids got to go down on the field.
The next morning, I had a "sustainability" event at church that I helped to organize - called Creation Fest. Since the beginning of the year, I have been working with people at our church to get an energy audit done... we had a lecture series on Creation Care (taking care of God's earth)... and we formed a Green Team. We had an internal event where we educated church members about recycling, about energy efficiency and about getting rid of the styrofoam cups / containers that the church uses. There is a little bit of momentum going and generally it is well-received. The event in early October was our first (annual) outward / community event. It was not heavily attended by the public - but we did get some foot traffic from people going to the Marietta farmer's market and from a foot-race that was going by our church. The vendors seemed to be happy overall... and each made connections with other vendors / were glad to be there. Hopefully they will return next year when this event is bigger and better!! We have a little bit of a hook on getting good vendors: someone on our Green Team who asked that they be there. A woman who is on our church committee is the daughter of a trail-blazer / game-changer in the sustainability community nationally. It certainly helps that she can ask vendors to be there and they will help us out at our little event!
Actually, the following weekend was the "big" sustainability event that our family goes to each year down at Serenbe that is hosted by this woman and her well-known family. Unfortunately, Todd and Mercer were not able to go because they had a baseball game in a tournament that Mercer was in that same day.... but Isabella and I still ventured down for the afternoon. I love going to this event because I see people I used to work with and volunteer with from my old sustainability community. Plus there are free activities, beverages and food trucks. This year, they did not do the tethered balloon rides (which we were never able to partake in anyways because our kids were too little)... but they did carnival rides instead. They were a little rickety and scary, but, Isabella didn't mind -- except a little bit for the height of the ferris wheel. Isabella was smitten with one of the daughters of a former co-worker. We kept running into her and her friends at various spots around the festival. She rode a ride with Isabella which made our little girl's day!
Isabella only got to pet horses instead of ride this year. We waited in line twice, but there was something that happened to the usual family that brought horses, so the substitute horse vendor was late and had fewer horses to ride. Despite her disappointment in not being able to ride this year she did really well and listened. (whew!) I do hope that next year, we can all go as a family - for it is wonderful event on a beautiful farm. 
He had grown as a baseball player, but was playing with some other kids who were newer to the sport and there were just a lot of errors, missed plays and losses. Lots of losses. It was hard for him to keep up a positive attitude throughout the seasons. He ended up playing (a little bit) during the summer All-Stars for the league competing against other local leagues including some of my previous students. Mercer didn't get a lot of play-time, honestly, and still wasn't that stoked to be playing ball -- except they did have a win or two and it fueled his spirit a bit.
Overall, there was a good rapport with the team so the coach thought about continuing and also trying something out new for our league -- a tournament team or a travel team. He arranged for there to be one day out on the field that there were no conflicts so the boys who were playing fall-league baseball could meet up and practice. 
The league was behind it - as they are interested in expanding their brand. So, the "East Marietta Spikes" were formed. There were some tournament games that the boys held their own... and they even won a handful of games throughout the fall. One of the things that I liked that the coach said "we belong in these tournaments." The rules were different... even different equipment was used by the other teams (we learned about big-barrel bats). The Spikes never did win a tournament, but GOOD baseball was being played and the boys were having fun. By default, this team will start back up in the spring, so he will be rejoining the camaraderie of the Spikes... until next year's All-Stars.... (Assuming he makes it + if he is picked up for the travel /tournament team again.)Mercer enjoyed soccer. Several of the parents came up to us to tell us how impressed they were that this was Mercer's 1st year playing... that he developed so much over one season.... to talk about how much his foot-work had improved. It was nice to hear, of course, but mostly - it was GREAT to see him happy and smiling as he would play!!
They won some games, lost some games and went to the championship - but did not win any of those. That's OK.... after the season ended, he told us that he wanted to play again next fall. He wants to do baseball in the spring... soccer in the fall and basketball in the winter. (oy - the shoes alone for the 3 different sports are going to set us back a bit!) :) Basketball is about to start, actually. He already had tryouts. He says he knows the coach already too -- that the coach talked to him at this after-school thing he goes too called "Rise-Up" at school. It's a church-based activity that takes place once a month. We asked him - as a 5th grader - if he wanted to do this on his own or with his sister. He said alone! ha. (It's the 1st year that this club is taking place at his school... Isabella can join next year when Mercer has moved on to the 6th grade.)
Speaking of 6th grade. I have been worried sick about M moving up... seeing how out-of-control some of the kids are at my school where I'm teaching. He still has a sweetness and innocence about him that I don't see much of at my middle school. But - Todd and I went to a parent night at his new school - just for 6th graders... and I feel SO MUCH better. It still seems a little bit more elementary-school like than my middle school. And - the principal talked about how few discipline referrals there are... whereas at my school there are a lot. So.... fingers crossed he will have a great experience there. in the mean-time... just need to soak in a little more of the quaint little elementary school where he is going for the next 6 months!!
Pretty scenic, none-the-less.
We stopped by a Halloween store on our way back. Isabella had some fun trying on different masks. We opted for store-bought costumes this year... just no time to make them or shop at various consignment stores to piece something together.
Isabella wanted to be a ghost and scare people. She has no idea that she's a character from the Scream movie. Mercer went as Chewbacca from Star Wars and wore an inflatable animal called a Porg on his shoulder.
Here is the newest member of our neighborhood. Isn't this precious?!
This takes us through the end of October... more fall activities will show up in the next post for November.
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