October 2021

 

Hello and Happy October!  Here's what the Rakoz Family has been up to this October.

On October 2nd, Teague and I celebrated our 17-year Anniversary by completely indulging ourselves at Dosales, a latin restaurant located at the Vancouver Waterfront.  I won't tell you how much our night out cost (yikes!), but we had a fun time trying some great food and cocktails, like the Party Bowl shown below.

Here's a sweet pic of Coco

The PTO at Shahala Middle School spoils the staff so much. I love getting fun surprises like this on a Friday.

Here's a cute pic of Coco and Dylan.  I'm not sure how much tolerance these kitties will have for Dylan smothering them so much, but they are good sports about it.

This was Maddox's first attempt at a 10th grade school pic. He actually told me he wanted retakes before I saw the photos.  While I agreed to the retake, I still made a point to keep the original image for a good laugh now and then.

Dylan is taking a high school credit ASB Leadership class this year.  This means he has all the details on dress-up days and school events.  In this pic, we are supporting the cause to stop bullying by wearing blue.

After 2 years of COVID closure, the Vancouver Parks and Rec was offering indoor basketball for the late Fall season. Dylan was set to play his last season before aging out to help prepare him for basketball tryouts in December.  I was thrilled to be back in this gym and watch my kid excel.  I had my phone out to take this pic, which would end up being the last shot he would take.  He jacked up his knee again and sat out for the rest of this practice. After a week of limping and crutches, I had to pull him from the team.  At the time of this entry, he is just now starting to walk more normally and has an appointment with the orthopedic doctor later this week. He has been participating in his basketball class at school for a couple of weeks and I saw him running a lap on the track easily last week, but he still cannot straighten his leg yet.

October brought the last baseball and softball games.  Presley kept improving during her season and would end up catching and pitching on a more regular basis.  One particular game she struck out 2 batters and made a double play getting all the outs that inning. Not bad for her very first season ever.

Due to such a busy couple of months, I was a little more flexible when the kids talked me into grabbing take-out on the way home from sports.  I had to take a pic of Maddox's first experience at the drive thru as the actual driver.  Chick - Fil - A for the win 

Presley's school was able to hold their annual Fun Run this year which happened on a pretty nice day.  If you look closely, you can spot her in a pinkish/red tank top and shorts close to the back.  She ran almost the entire 30 minutes.

October brings scary movies which is something I absolutely love to celebrate with my friend, Michelle.  She splurged on these Michael Myers t-shirts and we drank blackberry margaritas with our quesadillas before enjoying "Halloween Kills."  A perfect evening!

While we were enjoying ourselves at the movies, her daughter, Mia, hung out with Presley for the evening with some kid-approved charcuterie boards

Here are the Spirit Week dress-up days leading up to Halloween.  Dylan dressed up for every theme, but I neglected to take photos of him each day....sad! Do not fret, I made sure his photos were captured for the yearbook

Pink Out with my co-workers

Sports Day.  I got a lot of comments on my jersey; more than if I had borrowed one of Dylan's NBA jerseys

This shirt amused me so much!  So fitting for this day and age

My work Halloween costume was Michael Scott from my absolute favorite "The Office" episode entitled, "The Injury."  This costume was actually inspired by Dylan because he has been hobbling around on these crutches all month.  The entire outfit is his as well.  I know only some people would get this reference.  My favorite part of the day was when I crutched past Dylan's Algebra teacher who asked, "Are you your son for Halloween?"  This made me laugh out loud and admit that is an even better idea.

  

Then it was Dylan's birthday.  He claims it was his best ever, but he says that every year.  He chose a birthday brunch at The Cheesecake Family the day before his big day, then went to a friend's party at Big Al's.

For his birthday dessert (as if Halloween candy isn't enough), he chose a Cheesecake Bar.  It starts out with a slice of plain cheesecake with crushed up bits of Halloween candy sprinkled over top.  So good! It was also fun to see what candy options we all chose.

  

Then it was time for Trick-or-Treating.  Presley dressed up as a sloth and we hit the neighborhood where she came home with a fantastic stash.  The weather was perfect.  

Maddox joined up with some friends to head out for candy as well.

Maybe due to his leg injury or maybe due to the fact that he feels older and has a moustache, Dylan opted out of trick-or-treating and chose to pass out candy instead.  I was able to take this pick of him getting swarmed in the height of the candy crowds.  We passed out every piece of candy and we had purchased A LOT OF CANDY!

Those are the highlights for the month.  With sports winding down we are finding more downtime and getting some rest.  I have a feeling we will all need the respite before prepping for the upcoming holidays.  Happy Fall people!