mousecapades

During the middle of October (last month), I went to Orlando to attend a conference, it was all about trends in records management. It was about as exciting as it sounds. In any case, one doesn't go to Orlando, or rather, the near vicinity of the Mouse's house and not bring one's family especially if said family includes wee ones. So the whole family went. It was a great inaugural trip for our new luggage.

We crammed a lot of fun in the few days we were in Orlando.

Papa's mom (aka, Grammy) flew out to have fun with us, which was pretty nice (it was also really handy when I attended conference sessions).

We found a Benihana steak house, which has just become this ridiculous tradition when we travel.

And we got a chance to see my oldest sister and her family. Thanks work, I had a great time!

More pictures in flickr. There aren't any pictures of my records conference though, because, well, records...get excited!

ar! here's wishin' ye a happy halloween, matey.

A commercial costume isn't how I planned to outfit Seal Pup 1.o this year; but, that's just how the cards landed, and sometimes, I like to play. Besided, it was pretty much what I would have made for him (albeit in lower quality fabric, but one can not argue with the construction). And he was such a fierce pirate captain, really.

And he got a lot of treats both at the school Halloween parade on the CGA grounds and in our neighborhood (we go to five houses belonging to people I work with, get excited!).

People were pretty impressed by the pirate gear, which, I have to say, pleased me because we got it at Disney World, so you know, the compliments made the costume worth every penny, I won't lie.

On the evening of Halloween Eve, Papa and the Pups (mostly 1.0, 2.0 ate dinner and watched)carved a jack-o-lantern. I can't get involved in that carving and de-gutting business, so that is, decidedly, their thing.

My thing is more, "hey, leaves are on the ground, let's go sit in them and take pictures."

We spent this morning at the park, no one else was there (which was odd, as it was the perfect fall day), thus lending itself to be the perfect stage for leaf-throwing shenanigans, which we are fans of. Clearly.

I spent a few minutes as a zombie (Papa has no problem admitting that Halloween just isn't his thing, I am willing to fake it--rather convincingly, if I do say so myself, and I do). SP 1.0 kept asking me about my costume, so I felt compelled to come up with something. Zombie Mommy. The prep process for this was hilarious. It really was.

I hope your Halloween's were ghoulishly giddy too. There are more pictures in flickr, because, you know, that's our thing. I will update our mousecapades and northern New England wanderings next week, it seemed like the Halloween post should actually happen on Halloween. Happy Halloween, y'all!

of reunions and homecomings

I know I am a bit behind, bear with me, it's the story of my life right now. We have been busy with weekend and weekday wanderings; it seemed like a good idea to take a breather and catch things up a bit here or Papa may never remember the fun things we did in the month of October 2009.

During the Columbus Day weekend, the Wandering Seals headed to the USCGA (did you see the rankings?) for my ten year reunion. It was fun seeing all my classmates (that were able to come, almost 50% of the class, actually).

Papa Seal and the pups did a fun run on Saturday morning, we don't have any pictures of that, you will have use your imagination, I am pretty sure it was cute. SP 1.0 is all about running now. It's cute.

My class marched on the football field in true slacker style. We showed up 2 minutes before march on and were stunning in our neat and orderly formation.

I think, maybe, you start caring about neat and orderly formations again when you hit 20 years out, because '89 seemed to have their act together, kind of.

But the other classes were actually quite impressive with their march on bits, most of them anyways. There was one class doing rifle drills with umbrellas, which I am sure had them all rolling on the floor when they were planning it; but, the excecution could have been better.

We stayed for a little bit of the football game, long enough to get a family portrait at least.

And then later in the evening I had dinner with the "girls" of '99 who could make the "Girls Night Out."

Between all of us, we were able to piece together what all of the women of 1999 were up to (those that graduated with us and those that left early). I think it's pretty neat how people have kept in touch. And, quite frankly, my "girls" are doing some pretty awesome things with their lives, whether they stayed in the service or got out. It was a great reunion.

There are some fun shots in flickr, of course. Stay tuned for mad-capped mouse adventures.

like a whirlwind into october

Things have been a little crazy around here. Since we have more craziness coming up, I figured I should do an update now before things get too ridiculous.

First thing: at the end of September, I ran a 5K (I know some of you are more shocked than I am about this; but, it's true). It was my first 5K in 17 years. I did okay, I won't be winning any prizes anytime soon; but, I ran the whole thing, so that's something.

It was cold.

After my 5K race, we went to CGA for a football game (yes, it's that time of the year).

It was SP2.0's first football game. We arent' sure what his feelings are about the sport as of yet, we will let you know.

After that, we spent a ridiculous amount of time prepping our house for new windows.

They are supposed to be energy efficient.

Quite frankly, we will settle for anything that stops those charming New England drafts that have graced us for our last 5 winters here.

I guess you could say that we are really ready for the winter now.

There is a great mash-up of pictures in flickr.

no sleep till...brooklyn

Last weekend we wandered south to Brooklyn, New York with a pit stop in Flushing on the way in and out.

My mom wanted to treat Kelly to a birthday dinner at a Korean restuarant called Kum Gang San since January, so we we finally got around to going. It was a fun meal!

We decided to make a weekend trip of it since we have been wanting to take the pups to the Brooklyn Children Museum for a while.

SP 1.0 had a great time, it's fun for kids of all ages; but, they really do a good job of catering to the sense of wonder and fun that the wee ones have.

Even SP 2.0 got in on the fun.

Before we took off for our trip, I did some research on family-friendly restuarants that could be classified as "fine dining" because, quite frankly, you don't go to New York and eat at McDonald's. I was able to find a great Meditteranean French Bistro called Pit Stop (it had an auto racing theme) for lunch that served THE BEST hamburgers; and SP 1.o was impressed with the kids' chicken fingers too (so were we).

It was a great "pit stop".

After lunch we headed to a fiber shop called Brooklyn General, because, you know, I am into that sort of thing--even if the boys are not.

Then we hit Prospect Park. We did a lot of walking. And there was swinging.

Lots of swinging. SP 2.0 has recently graduated to swinging in the cradle swings on the playground, it's a big deal!

And then for dinner, we went to Applewood.

Where we, quite possibly, had one of the best meals of our lives. SP 2.0 enjoyed the culinary experience vicariously!

The chef(s) was very accomodating to my non-dairy lifestyle; and, they made SP 1.0 something that wasn't even on the menu (and gave him extra bread). Papa discovered that he liked pate and I learned that I love apertifs that involve blackberries and gin.

Before leaving Brooklyn, we walked the path to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked a quarter of the bridge.

We stopped in Flushing on the way out of town to eat at Kum Gang San again for lunch; and, we also stopped at Han Ah Reum for some groceries.

It was a great trip! There are tons of pictures in flickr of all our Brooklyn fun.

last bits of summer fun

Earlier this month we went to Lake Compounce (for a second time after going in August in celebration of Coast Guard Day). SP1.0 is very fond of rides.

The only things we have been doing on the weekends with any sort of consistency is going to Harkness Memorial Park. We went there on Labor Day for a small picnic and some fun, in general.

Other than that, we have just been finding creative things to do at home. SP1.0 wanted to learn to add. No, seriously.

And SP2.0 is contemplating a career in the WWF.

More pictures in flickr. We are heading out of town for the weekend (it must be fall!), so I am thinking we will have tons of fun pictures to share next week!