Getting our leaf on...finally

So we got enough leaves to get our big pile raked up before moving it to the road. What we found was even more fun (and was discovered after putting up the camera) was that as we raked the leaves down the hill to the road that it made a super awesome leaf slide. At least we know for next time.

More videos

While I'm dumping youtube videos here on the blog, I noticed that that 2012 movie came out this weekend. I have yet to ever see a real trailer or commercial for it but I remembered seeing this mash-up earlier this year that was mocking it and I liked the music so much I figured that alone would justify the post (although it is pretty funny).



Flying Bentley? Anything's possible!!!

So many questions

I stumbled upon this yesterday and I can't help but be completely in awe. I would kill to have a chance to sit down with these girls and just fire away with questions. Oh, and Ian and Cali were definitely a little confused as to why this girl had two heads. Well, Ian was confused...Cali didn't seem to think it was too out of the ordinary.

Rant on a broken system

While Wayne was in school we faced a dilemma with our health insurance. Premiums increased tremendously each year and the fact that the full year's premium was due at the beginning of the school year combined with the fact that student loans were dispersed in equal amounts each quarter created a difficult situation. We opted out of what was a pretty good insurance plan to go to a high deductable plan offered through Blue Cross (the Individual Blue plan if any of you are familiar with it). We are a generally healthy family and we typically only make a few doctors visits each year (usually for the kid's check-ups and general stuff like that) so crunching the numbers we found that even if we had to meet the individual full deductible of $2500 in a year, we would still have spent less money overall based on the lower monthly premiums. It only got better when we moved here because our premiums went down a pretty good bit (the county is fairly poor so rates are lower). Well, so we got a letter today informing us that our deductible is getting a 320% increase to $8000 per person. Holy cow! Our plan didn't go up as much as some of the other deductible plans...others went up 400%. I don't get why it went up so high in the first place. Healthcare costs haven't gone up THAT much. There is a high deductible plan (which can be reasonable) and then there is a ridiculously high deductible that makes this insurance plan unreasonable. Why don't the insurers just tell me that they only want my money and don't want to pay for a single thing? It might be easier to swallow. The system is so broken...UGG!

Darth Vader on a Razor

Ian had a day off from school and had to celebrate by donning his Darth Vader costume (which is the costume he picked out for next year). I can only imagine what the neighbors were thinking when they saw both of my kids wearing star wars costumes running around outside and Ian riding on his scooter with flip-flops on. I know that Wayne mentioned earlier that since we forced the Princess Leia costume on Cali she loves dressing up in it.

Fish snacks...Taiwan style

My brother and sister-in-law recently traveled to Taiwan. Among the souvenirs they brought back was this little snack mix. Most everything in it was unremarkable with the exception of the little dried fish. Fauna and I both agreed that it didn't really make for a pleasant addition to the snack. I believe Cali felt the same way based on the face she made after crunching one down.

Leaves

I've heard that for those who live in snowy climates the first snow of the year is kind of exciting and anticipated. After that, it outlives its welcome and is loathed for the rest of winter. I kind of feel that way about leaves and Autumn. I love seeing a nice layer of leaves covering the yard and the crackling noise it makes when you shuffle through them. Even more fun is making a huge pile of leaves for the kids to play in. Alas, the never-ending barrage of leaves soon becomes too much and I believe it was January the last of them fell and were begrudgingly swept to the road for pickup. Anyhow, we haven't hardly had any leaves fall in our yard so far. I have been waiting to get a big pile raked up and based on our pictures from last year, there should be plenty there. This picture is from our neighbors yard and I am tempted to go rake her leaves just so we can play in them. If I had a wheel barrel or something reasonable to transport them to the curb in then I would totally do it (it would be a nice service project and would provide some fun for the kids and some good Fall pictures). I'm guessing it must have been much windier last year and we just got most of those leaves blown over into our yard. We may end up having to rake them up anyways.