We transferred from Bend, Oregon to Minnesota on October 3rd. I knew it was risky coming back to MN in the fall but I was hoping for mild weather since we have no winter clothes along (who knew we’d stay out of India for so long!?!). Of course, I should have known that MN would throw us a curveball.
We woke up to these thick flakes on Friday, October 16th. They were beautiful and didn’t last long, so we just enjoyed them and hoped that was the end of it…
But then, just 4 days later, the temps plummeted and we got 8 inches of fresh snow dumped on us. Snow in October is super rare. Below-freezing temps are also uncommon in October but we’ve had about 10 days straight of highs in the 20s and 30s (lucky us!). Ugh. SO COLD. The first few nights I slept in pants, socks, a shirt, a sweater and had 3 blankets on top of me. It was a rough transition.
We have since borrowed some clothes and are making the best of this rare October snow. It’s almost all melted now, but I think there’s a good chance we’ll get at least one more decent snowfall before we leave in mid-November. I should mention that while I was not overly enthusiastic about the early snow, Nia, on the other hand, was absolutely delighted! Can you tell??
As if that wasn’t enough excitement, we celebrated Nia’s 9th birthday 2 days after the big snowfall. She’s obsessed with Star Wars at the moment (especially Kylo Ren and Rey) so we planned a themed extravaganza for her birthday celebration with the family.
We attempted a Darth Vader cake made out of cupcakes (thanks Pinterest!) and while it looked really cute…
the black coloring made the frosting taste weird and it stained lots of faces and tongues! We learned the hard way on that one. Oops.
I also found a wide variety of free Star Wars game printables on the web, so we played Star Wars-themed Memory and BINGO. We also made up our own Scavenger Hunt. The highlight of the night was definitely the Darth Vader pinata though. Nia had never done one before. All the cousins and adults got in on the fun. Here’s Auntie Emily giving it her best hit!
We were grateful to be able to spend Nia’s special day with so many family members! Living overseas means that we miss out on most holidays with family, so the ones we do get are extra special! Nia will definitely remember this party for a long time. Her first words when waking up the day after the party? “I wish I could just rewind time and do it all again.” Awwww. Happy 9th Nia!
