Fall in Minnesota is awesome as long as you don't waste time thinking about the brutal winter that lies ahead, or lament on not doing more to enjoy the wonderful summer. Just enjoying the vibrant colors is a joy.	During teacher's convention, we took Clara and Chase to an "historic working farm," set along the Mississippi River as if it were 1800s. Two horses are walking a treadmill, powering this thrashing machine separating the wheat from the chaff.
While Grandpa was intrigued with the work being done outside, Grandma Glorine was delighted to show the kids how to take discarded clothing and convert them into beautiful quilts.	With no LEGOs or Barbie dolls, kids growing up in this era were taught how to make dolls. Here we learned how to take soaked corn husks and create girl and boy dolls. And when they were done they got to take them home, where they were promptly discarded.
Glorine and Denise took Clara and Chase to the Landing, a replica village of 19th-century Minnesota. They got to trick or treat at historical buildings that are laid out from the pre-territorial era through the late 1800s. Nice goodies, but little candy.	We got to California in time to watch Sierra play soccer and Dakota take home the gold (actually it was two blue and one red ribbon) from a swim meet. She is definitely taking after her mommy.
For Sierra and Dakota's birthday, we took the family to Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament, a dinner theater featuring staged medieval-style games, sword fighting, and jousting performed by 75 actors and 20 horses.	This theater is one of nine Medieval Times locations throughout the USA, which mix medieval style banquet and thrilling competition between Knights all housed in a replica 11th-century castle. We were rooting for the Blue Knight.
While the meal left much to be desired, especially for a family of vegetarians, is was a unique experience and located less than ten miles from Fullerton. Our guy lost, but it was a wonderful way to celebrate their birthdays.	Sierra's birthday party was held at Sky Zone, the world’s first indoor trampoline park. Her guests included family, kids from her class, her girl scouts troop and her soccer team. What a way to celebrate her eighth birthday.
The birthday venue included trampolines as far as the eye could see. It was a wonderful place for kids to have fun and get a great workout from bouncing, flipping and landing in a pit filled with 10,000 foam cubes.	Craig's job took him on an overnight flight from Minnesota to Los Angeles, which gave him some free time to visit during Sierra's birthday. As a Delta pilot he has an amazing wing span (as seen here). It was a fun place to catch up.
Grandma and Grandpa got to help chaperon Hunter and his classmates on a field trip to a local farm/orchard. We all boarded a school bus, which was a new experience for Hunter, as they live less than a mile from school.	The tour include a hay ride, a walk through a corn maze, picking carrots, onions, green beans and radishes, a picnic lunch and a walk through a petting zoo including goats, sheep, etc. Both the domesticated animals and the children were well behaved.
Their final treat was a walk through a huge pumpkin patch where all the kids got to pick a pumpkin they could take home with them. The only thing was, they had to carry it back to the bus by themselves. That left the giant pumpkins back in the field.	One of the traditions in the family is breakfast served in bed. Sierra had crepes for her birthday breakfast. Dakota had poached eggs while opening presents and birthday cards from her friends and relatives. For her birthday, she had a couple of girls join her at a sleep over at a mountain cabin in mid November.
Grandma Glorine accompanied Dakota (now in the fifth grade) on a field trip to a neighboring school to join in on Red Ribbon Week, with the theme of “Respect Yourself. Be Drug Free.” Dakota dressed as a future scientist.	Sierra is our fashion conscious grandchild. She picked a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle character for this year's Halloween character. She is in the third grade and, along with Dakota, is in the Gifted and Talented program.
The elementary school had its annual "character parade." We found out that it is not politically correct to call it a Halloween event. So all the kids got to dress up in their Halloween costumes and parade from classroom to classroom. Here is Sierra class posing in their "character."	Professor Barnhardt got to lecture in Hunter's kindergarten class. Each child got a persimmon, which he said was a "pumpkin that forgot to grow up." He had them design different Jack-O-Lanterns on paper, pick the best and draw it on the "tiny pumpkin."

October's web page includes October 1 through October 31.