Autumn decorations by Mom & Fuzz.
Yes, this post contains PICTURES!  Don't pass out or anything.

It was a record-breaking week.  Never before has our area seen four consecutive 70+ degree days in November.  October, yes.  But a November day that comes even close to 70 degrees is rare indeed, let alone four that surpass it.  We'd already had some typically cold October weather in the high 40's, so this warm spell was as surprising as it was welcome.  All in all,  we had over a week of unseasonably warm and sunny weather.

So of course, we took advantage of it and spent a lot of time outside.

We worked in the yard-- Hubz mowed and trimmed; I cut down plants and, with help from Spaz, extended our garden retaining walls. 

(Here's the upper wall before I extended it.)

(And here it is a couple hours later.)

We also enjoyed some old-fashioned outdoor play during a back-to-the-1800's field trip.  When I organized this field trip back in September, I had been so disappointed to find that our group could not get in to this place until November, because of course in November it would be oh-so-cold.

Or not.

 
During "recess" outside the one-room schoolhouse, the boys played hoops while the girls took to the swings.

And back at home, we blew off some schoolwork in favor of Physical Education.  Some of the schoolwork that wasn't cancelled was postponed til evening in order to make more time to play outside in the afternoon.

 
I was really proud of Fuzz for venturing out on the rollerblades.  Her last attempt, well over a year ago, had not been successful, but she decided to give it another go

That's a football Spaz is about to kick into the soccer net.  You can see it a little better in the picture below.

Mr. T watches over all the front-yard goings-on.

 We have all winter to sit inside and do schoolwork.  For now, we have to do what we can do when we can do it, right?  When God hands us some unexpected lovely days, He doesn't intend for us to sit at the table doing inventor reports.  (That's got to be in the Bible somewhere.)

 
Fuzz had lots of fun taking pics like this one.

Although Thursday was our fourth and final 70-degree day, the predicted return to the mid-50's held off for one more day.  Friday was still nice enough to don a jacket and work & play outside.  It was our ninth straight day of warm weather.

But all good things must come to an end.  Especially when one is talking about weather in Michigan.  Saturday, as predicted, was rainy and cold.  And today...

...well, here's the view from our deck this afternoon. 

(You'd think that with all the yard clean-up going on, we'd have remembered to put away the hammock & deck chairs for the winter.  You'd think.)

There's a reason this state's unofficial motto is, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute."

But it sure was nice while it lasted.