Last Day of October:

What a cool day it has been! First off, the kids' three schools all had today off (to make up for parent-teacher conferences held through the evening hours earlier this week)...sooo, the kids and I got to SLEEP IN!!! (Well, Doug was up at 7:00am, but he was QUIET!)

Then, at 9:30 this morning, it suddenly grew very dark and the wind whipped up. As the kids, Rivendell, and Ransom and I looked out the patio door, leaves began streaming down as thick as the rain. It was a strange sight. It took a few moments for me to realize the leaves were showering down because they were being pummeled by pea sized hail stones!

By noon, when Darcy had plans to hang out on the Square with one of her friends and dine at Breaudeux Pizza together, the sun was back out and there was no trace left of our morning storm! The little kids and I went to eat at Jasmine's (Chinese Buffet) after dropping Darcy off at the Square. (I wanted to eat at El Rodeo's, our awesome Mexican restaurant, but the two little ones ganged up and outvoted me!)

Then, we meandered home. Before going in, I checked our mailbox...and there was a CHECK from Bluegrass Unlimited! I didn't know I would get PAID for the photo of the band that they used in their recent article. I mean, I was just pleased as punch to get the credit line beside the photo...never even dawned on me I might get MONEY as well as fame! (0: Too cool! I called Grant to tell him and he said, "Well, splurge with it on something you would like!" So, I am saving it back to put towards our next cabin rental down at Roaring River! And I'm dragging my reluctant-to-camp-husband with me this next time! (The only thing that kept our last Eagle Rock/Roaring River outing from being perfect was my better half was missing!)