Oh Wow, October
October was a fun month, with lots happening. It was also a record-setting month with the amount of rain we received - 15.66 inches! I got really tired of the wet, grey weather, but I did enjoy the cooler temps. But lest you think the month was entirely dreary, we were treated to several crisp sunny days, with spectacular sunrises and sunsets.
On our fall holiday from school, Grace, Ashley, and the Kelly kiddos made our way to the Texas State Fair. We rode a couple of rides, ate lots of cotton candy and a twister tater, played in the petting zoo, and visited Big Tex before the rain settled in and we decided to head home. We had lots of fun though.
The following Friday all the Cambridge students gathered in the student hall for some good old-fashioned fun, painting pumpkins. We had 100 pumpkins donated by a local grocery store! The kids had a great time and showed off their creativity, before their artwork was donated to local nursing homes to bring good cheer to the residents.
I was so inspired by their fun that I actually spent some time painting my own pumpkin that weekend. Meet Harry Pumpkin, who has been "goarding" my front door for the last few weeks.
Of course, Alabama football games continued every weekend in October, and so did my tradition of taking a game-day photo with my pup. He's my favorite Bama fanimal!
Toward the end of the month, I joined two of my colleagues and 28 Cambridge students on a college trip to North Carolina, where we toured 6 different college campuses. It was a lot of fun, and oh so exhausting! Our first stop was Elon University - the day was absolutely brilliant, and the campus was lovely. The school felt like a larger, secular version of Cambridge.
We made our way to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that afternoon, where we met up with a Cambridge alum for dinner and a short walk around campus. Our official tour was the next morning - it was so cold, but I really liked the UNC campus. It was your typical large state-school campus feel, and my favorite of the six schools we visited.
We drove about 15 minutes from UNC to tour Duke University that afternoon, and got to see another Cambridge alumna. My favorite part of Duke was their chapel - it is gorgeous! Thankfully Louie allowed us a few minutes to wander the chapel and explore.
That night we drove to Wake Forest University and met up with four Cambridge alumni for dinner. They walked us around the Wake campus that evening, even showing us their dorm rooms before chatting with us about college life and how Cambridge had prepared them for university. The next morning it was POURING! We toured Wake Forest anyway, in the driving rain - my feet were soaked within 10 minutes, and stayed that way for the rest of the day. It was miserable, but half of the students said Wake Forest was their favorite school that we visited.Go figure!
That afternoon we drove to Davidson College, where it was still pouring. We got 2.5 inches of rain that day, and spent a good bit of it walking around on college campuses in the middle of it. We ate dinner on the Davidson campus, then went to their girls' volleyball game that evening. Some of the students were more interested in the game than others.
Our final campus was Belmont Abbey College. Thankfully it was no longer raining, though it was overcast. But the campus was so green! It reminded me of Scotland in certain ways. I LOVED their adoration chapel - so beautiful!
One of my favorite parts of the college trip was seeing all the fall foliage on the campuses. The colors were super brilliant, both in the blazing sunlight and the dreary rain.
Of course, the month of October resulted in several adorable pictures of Brodie. He got a much-needed haircut, and he showed his approval of my new mattress. He had a blast staying with Debbie while I was on the college trip, and came home uber-snuggly!
Ben had a Special Olympics softball trip in Georgia, which Mom and Dad chaperoned. They had dinner outside the first night, which was puzzling to everyone. But the reason for it was revealed when they were treated to a great fireworks show. My family knows how much I love fireworks, so dad video-called me and let me watch the fireworks with them. I loved it!
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