Be sure to view our October family photos as well.
Hello Family & Friends,
October brought us to Nova Scotia for another visit, our fifth wedding anniversary,
the Bears on a
winning streak, Hallowe'en back home in Indiana and oh, yeah - the White Sox
won the World Series! It is worth noting that Natasha went on record early in
the playoffs predicting Houston and Chicago in the final, and a White Sox win.
Keith even got to watch the victory parade downtown, as it ended near his work.
Our major accomplishment this month was remembering to turn back the clocks,
thus ending our tradition of arriving one hour early for church the next day.
While back in Nova Scotia, we had early birthday celebrations for both Luke (November 19th) and Noah (November 23rd), since we would not be with family on the actual days. We also were there just in time for Canadian Thanksgiving, so we got a head start on the turkey! We have also been watching way too much baseball on television, staying up late to cheer on our beloved White Sox.
Before our big trip to Nova Scotia, Keith loaned his road bike to his triathlon
training partner Mathew, to use while we were away. Mathew is looking to buy
a better bike (he currently uses a single-speed with a safety brake) and if
he buys Keith's then Keith can upgrade to the Cervelo One he has been eyeing
for a few years. Keith also held a
meeting of the local American Society
for Quality (ASQ) section, of which he is now Chair.
We started our visit in Halifax-Dartmouth with the Pooles, including Noah's favourite relative Emily the cat who turned 18 this year. Emily quickly became Luke's favourite relative as well, so poor Emily spent most of the visit avoiding the two boys. We did manage to teach Noah how to pet her gently, but for Luke it will take some time. Not having many days there, we visited almost exclusively with relatives and stayed close to the house to enjoy Thanksgiving. We did venture out to visit Cheryl and Scott and their many horses. Noah and Keith also went out with Grampie Poole to his farm and check on Noah's Pond. With the trout growing nicely, it was time to try some fishing. Noah and Keith each caught one, but Noah preferred returning them to the water over eating them. Noah also preferred tossing in fish food pellets and watching the fish gobble them up from the water surface.
Just before our anniversary on the 14th, we flew to Cape Breton to visit
the Kings and Cooks. Late night baseball watching continued (made even later
by the Atlantic time zone!) as the White Sox dominated their playoff games and
earned their place in the 
World
Series. Now if we can just get tickets...
While in Cape Breton we also made a return visit to the Normaway Inn. This
is where we stayed on leg one of our honeymoon
five years ago. Wow, five years went by fast! In addition to the normal great
dinner at the Normaway, we lucked into some live entertainment at "The
Barn" down in the lower field on the Inn property. We joined a packed barn
for Buddy MacMaster and other local (and not-so-local) talented fiddlers, piano
players and singers. The host kept pulling people out of the audience who were
in attendance but not on the 
schedule,
so it became clear we were in for a long night. We stayed for a few hours, but
then we were ready to call it a night with several performers still to come
I am sure. The Cabot Trail scenery was beautiful, with the leaves just coming
into full colour.
Keith returned to Halifax early to finish studying. One of the main reasons for the timing of our visit in October was to allow Keith to write his APENS Professional Practice Exam. Passing this exam will allow him to apply for full membership and receive a P.Eng designation! When we visited earlier this year in July, we found out that Laura's husband Denis had also applied to write at the October session. Denis was very helpful with training materials and provided Keith with some guidance on what subject areas to focus on. Denis was very well prepared and was the first person in the room to finish the exam. Keith did not study nearly as much as he had wanted to, but still finished the exam early and is fairly confident he will pass.
Immediately upon our return home to Indiana, 
Keith
travelled again to the Atlanta NAVTEQ
office, to meet with field managers and follow up on some of the findings from
his whirlwind U.S. tour in September. It was a quick trip, but he managed to
bring home some souvenirs for everyone this time. The next group Keith will
be working with is World Markets - they build maps for new coverage in countries
such as Kuwait, UAE, and Australia. Hopefully Keith will not need to travel
with them, although Australia would be OK if we could all go together as a family!
Natasha and Keith also went to yet another country concert - this time Trisha Yearwood. Actually she was quite good (and funny) and we had a nice night out in scenic Joliet, IL. On the way to dinner we passed by the famous prison, the front gate of which is featured at the start of The Blues Brothers film, and currently it serves as the main location for the television series Prison Break.
This was Luke's first Hallowe'en and Noah's third. Noah is getting right into the holiday now, choosing his costume months in advance. Luckily for us he didn't change it as the day approached, but we did need to determine the exact type of astronaut he wanted to be. He insisted on the orange jumpsuit since that is what the space shuttle crew wears. White space suits are for going out in space, as he will clearly tell you.
Keep in Touch,
Love, Keith & Natasha