Halliday Family Blog

Yesterday, we got to see the Pocock family who we got to be friends with in Naperville.  They decided to move out west and are looking to move to Castle Rock or somewhere close by!  🙂  Ben and their son Jake are really good buddies and Ben can’t be more excited!  They came over yesterday before going back to Illinois.  They will most likely be moving out here right after Christmas!

Today Zach and his Aspen View Academy school choir went to a nearby assisted living center named Bonaventure and caroled for the residents there.  They had a GREAT time and I got to go and help chaperone the group.

At first, they sang in the main atrium to a group gathered there.  Then they went to another wing and sang to those who were not quite so mobile.  Zach really enjoyed it and loves singing.  They then went back to Aspen View and had hot chocolate with marshmallows.  We weren’t quite sure which was their favorite part, singing or the hot chocolate.  Either way, they provided a great act of service to the community.

Today, Zach had his 4th grade “Medieval Fair” at school.  He and his group have been working on this for a LONG time, building things, creating costumes, flags, banners, etc.  He had a GREAT time!  Angela went over to help out in the classroom today with it and had fun as well.  We built swords for his group, and Zach and I made a cool helmet for him.  They got to have sword fights, jousting matches, and all kinds of other cool things.

Great work Zach!  Glad you had fun and all the hard work to pull this together was worth it!  🙂

Today, Zach had his thanksgiving feast in the lunchroom and Angela, Ben, and I went to accompany him.  It was super-crowded because there were tons of parents there.

We had a great time with him.  What is really cool about Aspen View Academy is how supportive the parents are.  Some of it is because there is a mandatory number of hours that each family has to give for their kids to attend, but most of it is because the parents are invested in making sure their kids get a great education.  We really like the new school so far!  🙂

Today Brittany went on a river trip for her Aquatic Biology class.  Angela went along with her as a chaperone since this kind of stuff is right up her alley!  🙂  They had a lot of fun, although it was a tad chilly.  Brittany got to put on big wader boots and go out in the river and do all kinds of interesting observations.  They had a fun time together!

Today, much of our free time was spent over at Aspen View Academy!  Early this morning, I took Zach and Ben over to the school for a “Donuts with Dad” event!  They had us enter the school through the library where the book fair was going on.  I had to chuckle because I swear there was also another reason behind having all the dads come for donuts with their kids.  I saw tons of kids begging their dads to buy them books, trinkets, and other things from the book fair.  Getting the “softer” dads in their probably boosted the book fair revenue by a good percent!  🙂

Once we got through the library and into the cafeteria, we had a fun time together eating donuts and I got to meet some of Zach’s and Ben’s friends.

I then left the boys at school and came back home, to get some work done before lunch.  Angela and I went over to the school for Ben’s Thanksgiving Program and Feast.  They had a really cute program put together and they sang for us.  All the parents brought Thanksgiving feast items and we ate pretty well!  The desserts were great too!

What a fun day we had today!  Zach was pretty jealous that he didn’t get to go to the feast!  🙂