Vivian and I have been able to enjoy a couple lovely, quiet weeks as we kick off November and begin the downward slide into winter temperatures. On Saturday last week, our friend Roxanne was kind enough to volunteer babysitting Hannah so we could have a “day date” downtown. First we went to see Ender’s Game at the Twin Creek cinema. I first read the book back in high school at the insistence of my librarian, which was terrific. (I was an avid reader back then, plowing through a novel or two every week.) Then Vivian and I listened to the audio version of Ender’s Game on our long, 1400-mile anniversary road trip back in 2009. I’d been excited to see the cinematic version of the story for years, and I think it lived up to my (usually high) expectations.

After the movie, we had dinner at the Zin Room and then had some ice cream while enjoying the last few hours of daylight saving time by the river in Bellevue before calling it a night.

We had some more nice weather over this past weekend, so I made sure that Hannah had the chance to “park it up” with me before a cold spell drops on us next week. We went by our friendly neighborhood park for some sliding and some tree-hugging before an afternoon of cleaning house with mom.

On Sunday, the Rietjens family sang in front of the church in a moment of unbearable adorableness. Teresa’s family was visiting from Uruguay, so that was especially special. Hannah got to play on the slides and throw some leaves around with her friends after church. Then Vivian and I took a trip up to Waubonsie State Park in Iowa to walk about, check out the view from the bluffs, and see some of the leaves changing color before the trees get undressed for winter.

Next week’s going to be especially eventful, because my parents are going to be coming up to visit from North Carolina! They haven’t been here to visit (or see their only granddaughter) since the summer of 2012, so we’ll have a lot of catching up to do over the next couple of weeks.