Furlough blues

As a result of the failure of the separation of the federal government's powers, the government shut down on October 1st.  Patrick went into work just long enough to turn on his out of office messages and he hasn't been back since.  A bill was passed last week ensuring he will be paid (eventually) but the damage has been done as far as the world stage goes.

Patrick loves working for the Peace Corps and he enjoys his coworkers so being away from work wasn't exactly a vacation.  That said, he got to have breakfast with the kids each day, take them to/from school, go on a field trip with Will, co-op at Will's school, and do tons of housework and yard work.

Will is back in school!

Will went back to school last week, and probably not a moment too soon for anyone.  He was getting pretty pent up and he needed to be around other kids his age.  Patrick dropped him off at school and  he hit the ground running (for the sandbox).

When we ask him what he did at school, Will always tells us about his trucks, the sandbox, blocks, etc. but we've found some real gems in the pictures his teacher sends out to all the parents.  These are things he did NOT tell us about but are supercool.

Other discoveries

Saturday afternoon was the 17th annual Carson Street block party - our first as guests.  It was bittersweet hanging out in front of our first home, surrounded by good friends who were our neighbors.  But it was a lot of fun watching the kids run all over the street again.

Shocker - Will was in a car.

Sofia, Maggie and Stella were looking into the old fairy house in front of our old front door.

Sunday morning, Patrick was surprised to see a painted turtle walking through our back yard.  So everyone ran out into the yard in their jammies to discover a neat turtle.  Will and Patrick rescued him and brought him down to the creek a few blocks from the house, where Will let him go.