October - Week 4

Here Logan is riding the zoo train for the first time with daddy. They left mommy at home where she enjoyed some much needed quiet time.

On my birthday, we went to the park with my parents for the morning.

We followed the park with a nap, some shopping and an early dinner with Kyle at El Patron. I was pretty grumpy all day due to major lack of sleep over the previous 4 days, but the margarita really helped.

That night Kyle and I went out on a date -- only our second date in almost 2 years. It was the second one that month too. That must be some sort of record. Kyle had bought us tickets to see Alton Brown, who is a Food Network celebrity. He's primarily known for his shows and books about the science of cooking, but you could also say he is a musician and comedian. The show was awesome! He showed us his machine that makes carbonated ice cream in 10 seconds using a fire extinguisher.  He had his own Mega Bake Oven (an easy bake oven on steroids).  The heating elements consisted of a bunch of stage lights like you see at rock concerts. He cooked a pizza in 3 minutes with that. Throughout the show, he sang songs whose closest comparisons are those by Weird Al Yankovic. He used common music types like jazz, country, rock and roll, etc. to back up his lyrics about food. He had great stories too. One of them was about how his wife didn't cook for 6 months after he mentioned that her spaghetti sauce needed some oregano.  Another was about how his daughter wanted chicken fingers for a sleep over, and, since he is sure that chicken fingers are not real, he cooked up actual chicken feet and served them on a silver platter to the girls. Lots of screams ensued, but his daughter was simply sitting there with her arms crossed, glaring. He is also a believer that sports will not feed your kids, so he advocates teaching them to cook rather than (or in addition to) teaching them to hit a ball. I guess what I am trying to say is that Kyle hit a home run with this birthday gift.

Just a special moment between Logan and Frak.

 Obviously they are having the same thought.

Happy Halloween! I think the costume I made for Kyle turned out great ... if I do say so myself.

Thanks to Rebekah for loaning me her lab coat so I could be Professor Wiseman.

We had people stop their cars to talk to the Man in the Yellow Hat.

Once Logan realized what we were doing, he would scurry from house to house saying "candy, candy, let's get more candy."

At a few homes, Logan would get his candy and then go to that house's yard and sit and dump his candy for further inspection. I'm hoping that isn't a tradition that carries on throughout the years, but it was pretty cute this year.

We made it back home to hand out our own giant supply of candy. The Man in the Yellow Hat was recognized by almost everyone who came to our door. Logan loved seeing the kids in their costumes. You can see him waiting for more kids. You can also see the glow in the dark spider web I made this year.  It was a nice backdrop for Boris, our friendly spider.

Our decorations also included our life-size gauzy ghost, life-size witch with smoking caldron, lights, and a vulture out front to welcome our guests. We didn't have as many kids as we expected, so Kyle and I put on a few pounds finishing off the candy. It was our duty. In fact, we are still trying to finish off the candy.