Halloween 2011

so... let's start with an apology. Apparently I haven't posted since November. Around Christmas, a couple people asked me why they weren't receiving the blogs in their email anymore. I thought maybe something had changed in the systems I use, but everything looked fine. It hadn't occurred to me that I just hadn't posted in a month! Then, January 2nd rolled around and I started to write a post, since that's the anniversary of the first time we moved to California. I didn't publish it because I didn't finish it. Next thing I knew it was the middle of February and I was again asked if something was wrong with the email system. I admitted that I just hadn't posted in a while. I promised to get back to it. Now it's another six weeks later, and exactly five months since the last update. yikes! I apologize very deeply - I didn't really think about how long it had been.

Jonathan and I have both been very busy with work and side projects, plus we've been to three weddings already this year (and had to turn down one more). We just got done with taxes, which took longer than our usual as this is the first time we filed the business as well. I've also taken on the task of being one of the coordinators for our high school reunion, so that's been swallowing a lot of my time. But, I think the main reason I haven't posted is that I get tired of writing. Today, I published the 1,000th post over at TheTalkingBox. This post is #350 for Jonathan&Amy, and TheTalkingBox is only three months older, so you can see how much more attention that site gets. But, it needs the attention - it's what I do. So, I spend a lot of time writing, and I rarely want to do it in my spare time (you should see the last time I worked on most of the books I'm writing...). But, I have resolved to do better, so hopefully you can look forward to getting regular updates again.

Things to look forward to reading in the near future include our overnight visit to the USS Hornet, our Thanksgiving trip to Florida (complete with football), our Christmas trip to Florida, going to Vegas for CES, going to Florida twice to go to three weddings (including two on the same day), our birthdays, my taking another set of cake decorating classes, and anything else I can remember. On the bright side, no more filler with random restaurants we've been to - I know those weren't the most entertaining for the majority of you guys. ;)

I'll also give you something to read about - our Halloween. As I did mention, we went to play Halloween Mini-Golf when Kyla was here, which was pretty fun and a great way to kick-off the holiday. We also went up to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (less than two hours away) with our friends Eilbroun and Carmen. If we were much closer to October, I'd remember more about the haunted houses and the rides, but at this point I can sum it up to mention that the animal exhibits were disappointing, there were a few good rides, and I was able to try out the new Sonic Generations video game while the other three rode a wooden coaster. Eilbroun wasn't thrilled with our choice to go there (don't forget, we can see the fireworks from Great America from our front yard), but the rest of us agreed that it was worth the drive and time to see a new park and experience different haunted houses. Definitely spring for the VIP wristband on the haunted houses - it easily saved us two hours in lines, if not more. I, of course, carved a pumpkin this year, as always. I chose a scene from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and I think it came out pretty well.

 this is the template I used

 this is after I scored the pumpkin

 all carved out!

 the end result

I was dorky enough to dress up on Halloween to give out the candy. Nothing special, just a default witch costume with some black lipstick and eyeliner. The kids were impressed. I didn't see any ground-breaking costumes, but it was still a good time.

 

That night, we went to Arby's for dinner, partly because we wanted to be together to watch the car roll over to 200,000 miles. It was kinda exciting, not gonna lie!

And that brings us to the end of Halloween (or, at least, what I can remember of it). Stay tuned for more!