A hunting we will go

Joshua went on his very first hunting trip today. Of course,
he wasn't hunting, he was just walking along, but we had a great time. Scott had to work so me and Joshua tagged along with Papa and Buddy in the woods behind our house looking for woodcock. We go for lots of walks in the woods but typically stick to the 4-wheeler paths. I won't get out of sight of the paths because I'm afraid I won't find my way home again. Scott and Papa are good at navigation and directions while in the woods so we were treated to an off trail adventure.


We started out on the path, Buddy headed straight into the woods and we followed. He went on point almost immediately. The woodcock flew, Papa shot but missed, Buddy was disappointed, Joshua was disappointed, I'm sure the woodcock was happy though. Unfortunately, that was the only bird found that day.

We did have a terrific time tromping through the woods as it was beautiful weather. We are all looking forward to more hunting trips with Buddy.

School

Things have been a bit slow at the Johnson household. I guess we must be into the swing of things...

School is going great. Joshua seems to like it. He gets excited on Mondays when he gets to go, but he gets excited on Fridays knowing it's the last day for two days. A full day of Kindergarten can be tiring. I still don't know a lot about what goes on during his day. Questions I ask are mostly answered with "I don't know" or "I can't remember." I do get to hear some details, in his own time...Once he starts talking about something, I can usually ask questions and get good answers.

The doors to the school open 30 minutes before school starts but kids can not go into their classroom until about 10 minutes before school starts, they have to wait in the gym. Joshua likes going early so he can wait in the gym and talk to his friends. I often wonder what he and his friends talk about or if they talk or just sit. He says they don't play in the mornings, they just have to sit with Kindergarteners until it's time to go to class.

Each day, his class has a "special", art, music, PE, library, art again. Joshua has really taken a lking to art. Every day, he comes home and draws things or makes an art project. He can be quite creative at times. I recently bought him new markers and a sketch pad so I can keep all his drawings in one place and as he says "forever, even when I am an adult!" Plus, it keeps him from using all my printer paper and having papers strewn about the house. I am thinking about signing him up for an art class, he said he would really like to take one.

He is still buying his lunch every day at school. I like it because it is so much easier than trying to pack a lunch. And, he sits with the same boys (I can't get info out of him to know if they can sit beside anyone they want to or if they have assigned seats at lunch). He plays a lot of super hero stuff when they go outside and when it rains, they get to go into the big gym. He is also still riding the bus home and LOVES it. I never thought riding the bus was exciting or fun. But, I didn't have to ride a bus until 9th grade, I always walked to school.

Joshua has homework Mondays through Thursdays. It's simple and takes very little time. I think my favorite homework assignments are when I read a book and then ask him questions about the book, who are the characters, what was the story about, what happened, what did you learn from the story, etc.

Now that the time has changed, we don't do much after school and homework because it's dark outside.

So, we are really into the swing of school....just in time for the Holidays to begin so we can get out of the swing of things and then have to start all over.

What's up with all the chainsaw people?

Saturday morning, Joshua told me that trick or treating last year was the best day of his life. Well, I think now, it is the second best day of his life...I think this years trick or treating is now on top.

Like last year, we went to our friends neighborhood. The neighborhood is rather large, hilly, and can be a bit of a hike from one group of houses to another. Yes, I said hilly and houses far apart...even in this part of North Carolina!. Last year, we had 9 people crammed into a little SUV. This year, our friend's neighbor had a trailer filled with hay for us to ride on. At the height of the trick or treating, I counted 15 kids and about as many parents.

And the neighborhood we went to really knows how to do Halloween right. They decorate for Halloween like many decorate for Christmas. Yard decorations, house decorations, spooky sounds, so much more than the typical jack-o-lantern.

We did a little riding and a little walking and a lot of trick or treating. One house we went to had a Haunted Trail to walk through behind their house, complete with fog machine, dead prom queens, bride with a shotgun, mad scientist and lastly, a man with a chain saw.

After more riding, more walking and more trick or treating, we came to a house with a Haunted Tunnel. These people put a lot of time and effort into the tunnel, it was much like the Haunted Houses that you pay to go through. There were zombies, arms grabbing at my feet, someone reaching down from the top of the tunnel trying to grab Joshua, strobe lights, fog machines, squirting water, people jumping out trying to grab you and lastly, a man with a chain saw.

Finally, the last house we went to, Joshua walked up and guess what! Yep, a man with a chain saw jumped out and started chasing everyone! When he got back to the wagon, he said "What's up with all the chainsaw people?" I had to explain he wasn't old enough to watch those movies yet.

Joshua dressed up as The Wolf Man. He loves the old The Wolf Man movie with Lon Chaney, Jr. It was hot so he had on shorts and wouldn't wear his mask (Scott wore it for a little while). I'm sure no one knew what he was supposed to be but no one seemed to care...his candy bag weighed 4.6 lbs on Sunday morning. I think we have enough candy to get us by until next year. For now, he wants to be FreddY Kruger...he doesn't know who Freddy Kruger is but thinks he looks cool. Gonna try to hit Party City this week to see if they have any left overs on sale.

I love Halloween!