First of all, I am so excited to find a coven with “witch” to properly celebrate Halloween. With weather in the 60s, blue skies, and an algae-green cauldron lake to paddle about it, this was a lovely Sunday afternoon. Can’t wait until New Years when the witches transform into polar bears!

(I’m on the pink SUP, demonstrating proper use of a witch’s oar!)

The evening was even better. Wes and Piper both invited a few friends over, and Kyla and her BFF took the boys trick-or-treating in the ‘hood, neighbors forewarned. Dwayne and I set up a fire and outdoor furniture on our street, and prepped the roasting station for guests and neighbors. Piper’s group played video games and ate candy, and Dwayne and I relaxed around the fire, chatting with new and old neighbors. I started liking Halloween when I had kids, but I only loved Halloween when it became a community celebration!

And the best part? Right before the evening began, Piper and I realized that Ernie didn’t have a costume. She quickly made a hat so he could be a grumpy strawberry. He clearly loves his costume!

The last time we packed up the motorhome for camping, we made about a mile before we realized that we couldn’t make it out of zipcode, let alone out of state, like we were planning. But several weeks and dollars later, we have a working motorhome, and we finally had a weekend we could get away.

So we set off for our one of our favorite spots over the mountain, Leavenworth. It was the last weekend that Icicle River RV Resort was open, and we snagged one of the few open spots. The weather forecast was good, so I have no excuses for why I was surprised when Leavenworth was warm and *packed* with tourists…like us. In fact, the only moderately-convenient RV parking lot was so filled with cars that we barely found a spot to squeeze our 31-footer into. But we did, which meant we got to walk through my favorite park at its autumn best, and eat lunch (and gelato) outside.

These are some of the views from the campground. I reveled in the autumn colors!

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Our campsite didn’t have a fire pit, but there was a community one by the river. Dwayne and I had it to ourselves (because even our kids preferred to stay mostly in the camper), and it was a perfect, moonlit evening. I love romantic evenings with my husband of 19 years. We had had a tough parenting week, and I have been subbing too many days a week, so this really felt like a true getaway. Thanks, Yeti the Motorhome, for being on your feet again!

The kids all wanted to hang out with friends, so we ended up with four extra friends, a bonfire, and cookies on a perfect Friday night.

Dwayne seriously made these out of giant carrots. The talents this man has….

Piper made this, and there’s a tiny bit of hot apple cider somewhere in that cup.

All the kids roasted sausages outside, and the girls each decorated cookies kits. Wes and his friend had a very complicated game involving nerf guns, snowballs, and hoverboards, and even dessert was an imposition.

Wes has such a strong, wiry, athletic body that jumping bar to bar and doing flips is something he’d do anywhere, but I prefer him at the gym. 😉