Trick-or-Treat!

"Tick-o-teet".  We had been practicing all day.  I should say, I tried to have her practice all day but she didn't want to say it.  But once she rang that door bell she said it immediately - didn't even wait for the person to open the door.  

We had a last minute costume change with both kids as well.  Nora was originally going to dress up as popcorn...

We got dressed up to go to the church
class Halloween party but she told me she
felt like she was going to throw up on the
way there.  So, we turned around.

but as you can see I made the costume for a non-jacketed Nora.  I tried to make some modifications and wasn't happy with how it was turning out so...

I had Nora wear the lion costume
that Myles was originally going to wear
(which he wasn't crazy about because
of the head gear)

                                                   

And I had Myles wear the duck costume that Nora
wore the first Halloween she could walk.  It will
now be a family tradition!

Roar!

All dressed up and ready to go (Nora already stole
a sucker from our candy stash) but I wanted to try to
get a picture of the two of them together first. 

Papa!!

A bit blurry but priceless.  Nora was ready to keep walking
but I made her take a picture.
Papa is so sweet to our kids.  He had a special bag with
about 8 pieces of candy and a five dollar bill in each bag.
What an amazing neighbor to have. 

Duck had to stop and check his
stash thus far.

Duck feet.

I thought Myles would still be a little young to
get into trick-or-treating but he was all about it.
He walked up to every door and waited, held out his
bag, and said "te te" (thank you) and "BYE!" to everyone.

Home and ready to start eating some of that candy.
The suckers were her favorite this year.  

Twix.
He didn't have a favorite.  Loved it all.

More?!

Look at all that candy!

Carving

Pumpkin carving night.  I always look forward to carving once we have the pumpkins.  I take waaaay too long to decide what I want my pumpkin to look like, looking through ideas online while Dan starts - and finishes - his pumpkin before I even start.  Here's how the escapade went down this year.

He was iffy about the whole thing.

What's in there?

We gave Myles a spoon to dig
around with...

which, of course, lead to flicking the seeds off the table...

and inevitably trying to eat the pulp and seeds.  

After the pumpkins were cleaned out, we gave the kids a bath and then carved after they went to bed.  Maybe next year I'll feel comfortable with letting Nora use the carving knife that comes in the kit but still not this year.

Here are the final products all lit up on the stoop.

Mine is in the forefront with Dan's
behind mine.

Nora's is the giant smile face
and Myles' is the mustache with
sunglasses! 

Indian Summer

We got back from Vegas late last night and got our kids back today.  My heart sings.  

How can you not be thrilled to see this face again after
so many days of being away?!

Or this face?

Or even this one, for goodness sake!

Anyway, we got the kids back and it was an amazing day.  Late October in almost 70.  No need for jackets today, but a definite need to pull out the camera and capture memories like these....

Happy Fall, Y'all.  Can't it stay like this until spring?

Vegas, Baby!

Me, myself, and I.  That's how I spent much of my time in Vegas.  And I loved every minute of it.  Of course, I missed my munchkins but I also enjoyed my time relaxing.  

This wasn't just a quick vacation for me and Dan.  One of us had to work... and it wasn't me!  He was heading west to attend the IBM conference so we thought I would just tag along.  We got out there on Sunday before the conference started so that was our day to be together and explore the strip.  

The view from our 22nd floor room in THE hotel
(part of Mandalay Bay)

Since I'm becoming more of a foodie, one
thing I wanted to do while in Vegas was eat
at celebrity chef's restaurants.  So we stopped
at Todd English's Olives for lunch.
This was the BEST bread I've ever had.
Holy cow... great.  Apparently just olive
oil and onion on top. 

We walked all the way down the the Wynn
and stopped to have a drink.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere!
That was the motto of our trip.

The Bellagio

Caesars Palace

Paris...

and New York - all within a mile.

This is how I spent most of my days.  Woke up around 7 and got dressed and somewhat ready.  Went to breakfast by myself (which was odd the first day but it turns out I liked it - just brought the iPad and read magazines) Went back to the room and took a soak in the tub the first day and showered...

Then headed out to the pool for a while
(and yes, that is Rev Run and his son Diggy on the left
side of the picture!)

Sipped a Bloody Mary, poolside.

I'd go in for lunch.  This day was Hubert Keller's Fleur.
On today's menu was a croque monsieur with dipping
sauce and waffle cut chips that melted in your mouth.
Delish! 

While eating lunch, I looked up and got to see the
man himself, Chef Hubert, in the chef's coat toward
the middle of the picture. 

On the last day, I made the trek to the
Mirage (about a 50 minute walk from our
hotel) to eat lunch at BLT burger that was
recommended by someone.

I had this burger with sweet potato fries
for lunch and let me tell you... it was
worth the walk.  

Speaking of the walk - I needed something
to keep me hydrated on the way back.
What better than a mocha oreo milkshake!

To make the trip easier on me the kids we Skyped
right before they went to bed two of the nights.  

but there's nothing like seeing their faces
in person once we got back home. 

And they were happy to see us too!

(Note: about three minutes after this picture
was taken just Dan and Nora were sitting in
the swing when it went falling to the ground!
One of the strings broke and that was the
end of the swing.)