Coal Mine and Candy

We took our kids to the Lackawanna Coal Mine in Scranton two years ago. That coal mine lasted about an hour and took us 350 feet underground. This coal mine tour is very close to where Paul grew up and his parents still live. The last time he had been to the Pioneer Coal Mine was when he was in the second grade. The school was so close to the coal mine that they walked there. This tour lasted about 35 minutes and took us 400 feet underground. All five of us could have gotten in free at the Lackawanna Coal Mine, we wanted to visit this one once. The kids got in free. The kids are not huge fans of coal mine tours. In fact Ian has had a bit of fear in the past regarding going underground. Both mines contain anthracite coal. On the way there the kids and I stopped at a consignment shop and at my friend, Cheri's house. We spent about an hour with her and her three large black dogs. We struck out at the consignment shop so this evening I placed an order online at Children's Place instead. In doing so I surpassed my clothing budget for the year by $11, but considering we have

spent $511 over the course of the year for shoes, clothes, socks, etc. for five people, I think we've been frugal in that category! I discovered earlier this week that Ian didn't have any long sleeve polo shirts, and he (insert sad face) has gotten to the point where he's not at all crazy about wearing dressy shirts (the kind that button and can be worn with a tie). He'd much rather wear a sweater or long sleeve polo shirt to church, but I somehow hadn't gotten him any for this year. He also needed black dressy shoes.

Cheri, Leon, and Paul met us at the coal mine. After the tour we went our separate ways. Paul went to the plant, and the kids and I visited with Paul's parents for about one hour. While we were at their house, the kids changed into their costumes, and I curled Nadia's hair with a curling iron because the actress who played Hermione in the Harry Potter movies has curly hair. The kids had worn their costumes on Thursday night at a trunk or treat event, and they wore them again this afternoon at the Hall of Treats at First Baptist, which is where they

play basketball. It was raining this afternoon so it was excellent that they had already planned to hold their event indoors. Thankfully the weather was nice last night when our church had their event outdoors. I saw on Facebook that they had over 1,700 kids attended the Trunk or Treat at our church last night, which is exactly the reason I chose to stay home yesterday, ha ha! The kids will have two more opportunities to collect candy and wear their costumes this month. The event tomorrow afternoon is held indoors at the Methodist church that is about one mile rom our house.

Since we were out and about from about 9:10 to 4:45, it made me all the more grateful that we stayed at home all day yesterday. In addition to homeschooling, I got a lot of cleaning done yesterday. Paul is nearing the completion of the kids' bathroom so I was able to start cleaning that room and also tackled the basement which hadn't really been put back in order since the cousins were here.