McAlister Matters

  Fall is here and we've been enjoying the great weather. We took the kids to Cross-E Ranch this week. It's a big farm where you can see animals and do fun activities like swim in corn kernels. The kids loved watching pig races, rock wall climbing and a corn maze. Of course we all enjoyed the amazing apple cider donuts! We took the kids on a bike ride on the legacy trail yesterday. It was a bit warm but we went almost 6 miles. It was the first time we've all been able to ride our own bikes. Penny road the whole time wearing this fake mustache. It was pretty awesome! She was able to keep up most of the time which is pretty good considering the small bike. Also she still needs help getting on the bike. It was pear season again. We spent a few days canning pears and this delicious pear tart. I made quite a few batches of tomato sauce from roasted vegies. Sarah finished the Pacific Coast Trail virtual race. It was over 2K miles! Now she's working on the Harry Potter medals....

The start of the school year is here. The kids have been loving it. The parents like it too except for the part when we all get colds. Kahlan has been involved with student council and started the youth orchestra doing violin. She's been pretty awesome getting up early to practice piano and violin. Juniper was excited to be put into the DEEP program for gifted learners (like Kahlan). Paul is still a rockstar reader. The kids saved the wearing of their new shoes for the first day. Penny started her online pre-school program last month. She's been doing really well. She loves the number songs. She's also been working really hard on color-by number pictures. She's also getting better riding her skateboard. We said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Musser who are in Spain now serving a service mission . We had all the cousins over last weekend for fast Sunday since we won't be doing it in Farmington anymore. We did our annual back-to-school campfire last Friday. We did it ...