The King and Queen of Halloween

We had so much fun last night at Alise (pictured with Heidi) and Brian's (pictured below Mark and MeLissa on the left) Halloween bash! You might remember that MeLissa met them while travelling to Las Vegas back in July. Their Halloween party is the highlight of Halloween for many - and for good reason!

Their house and backyard were decked out with spooky things to send shivers up your spine. They had tons of food and lots of libations that everyone enjoyed immensely! It was a great turn out with almost everyone in a well-thought out costume. We went as the Prom King and Queen which was really fun - any chance to wear a crown and carry around a dozen roses should be taken advantage of! :) For those of you wondering *where* MeLissa got that dress (she received a lot of inquiries on Saturday night), it was her Junior Prom dress and, incidentally, the evening gown she wore in the teen pageant she was in (yes, she subjected herself to such torture - once!)

With so many people in attendance, finding new friends was easy. Although we enjoyed many people's company, we really hit it off with Michelle and Jennifer pictured above (2nd photo from the top on right). Jennifer is a professional freelance photographer specializing in food, people and travel. Be sure to give her a call the next time you need a memory captured.

During the evening, there were two costume contests - one for the children and one for the adults. Everyone enjoyed seeing the children in their costumes and, of course, they all won a prize, but Willy Wonka (3rd photo from the top on the left) stole the show and took top honors.

In the adult contest which was judged by the children, Best costume went to these two lovely vampiresses pictured with Brian and the "guy with the pig nose (4th photo from top on the left)." "The Baby" (pictured below with his wife, the Bag Lady - left) and "The Universe" (4th photo from the top on the right) costume wearers took honors for the funniest and most original costumes, respectively. We heard that we were actually in the running for best costume, too...so we feel very honored about that.

After the costume contests, we all conversed and nibbled some more and then headed home with the knowledge that next year's party is only a year away!

Quilting, Church and Chiropractic

We've been a little busy these past couple of weeks. After returning from our adventure on the Ronald Reagan, Mark began his next quarter at school. It should be an interesting, but less challenging one than the last (according to Mark).

MeLissa has been occupied with her quilting class. She finished her very first block during class last week. It was a practice block and she is quite pleased with the results. She plans to make it into a pillow when the opportunity presents itself. Since then she has begun her first "real" block to be used in her sampler quilt project. We bought fabric for it a couple of weekends ago. MeLissa decided to take Mark's suggestion and picked out a bunch of cute Christmasy fabrics to make her first project extra special (because she adores Christmas as you all know!). This week she will finish her 9-patch identical to the "practice" quilt block (but Christmasy, of course!). She'll be moving onto making a Honey Bee block next...which, to be honest, looks a bit daunting, but she's sure she'll do just fine!

Mark's been keeping busy with school and weekend seminars. This coming weekend he will start his Diplomat program. This is an add-on certification (we know how much Mark likes to add those letters behind his name!) so that he can do chiropractic neurology. His decision to pursue this degree is a direct result of MeLissa's health issues last month where a blood vessel spasmed in her brain (she's fine now, but it was a bit scary in the beginning!). Her chiropractic neurologist has performed wonders and Mark wants to be able to help his patients just as much. We know he'll be awesome!

In other news, we're beginning the planning phase of a Christmas party we're throwing on December 3. It will be a fun night with food and good friends. Our biggest challenge right now is figuring out how many people we can invite before it become standing-room only! MeLissa has started making the invitations and the lucky attendees should be receiving them in early November. We'll provide updates as the plans progress....

Ahoy Mateys!

We weren't home from Canada long before we were again rushing out the door to catch a plane! This time, we were staying a little closer to home with a trip to San Diego, California, to participate in Family Day aboard the USS Ronald Reagan - the air craft carrier that MeLissa's brother Christopher currently serves on.

We arrived in San Diego Friday evening and were greeted by Uncle Max and Christopher who had come to pick us up. We all settled in to wait for our guest, Sterling, who would also be participating in the festivities. After waiting for quite some time, we decided to head back to the hotel since we knew that Sterling would be flying stand-by and might have missed the earlier flight. Once Sterling had joined us, we sat down for a lovely dinner and a lively conversation. And, then, it was off to bed!

On Saturday, we all woke up very early to ensure that we'd be on the base by 5:30 a.m. We made it on board and ventured to Chris's office so he could get some coffee to stay awake since he had just recently been switched from overnight security detail to his former missile systems position. While there, we checked out one of his RAM missile launchers and amused ourselves by conversing with the other sailors and their families.

Once everybody had checked in and Chris had reported that all personnel were present and accounted for, we ventured into other areas of the ship to see what we could see. We spent a good deal of the day wandering from one end of the ship to the other seeing all there was to see. We were amazed at the small amount of space the sailors had to sleep in...imagine a bookcase with a mattress on each shelf - that's pretty much how it looked! We also enjoyed seeing the Ronald Reagan room which had a history of his life laid out in pictures and video.

Our favorite moments of the day were seeing dolphins playing behind the ship, and then, thanks to Christopher being one of the few priviledged individuals who had access to the RAM missile launch area of the ship, being able to be outside when the ship was coming back into port. We were one of the few who were able to do this because the launch area had a spot that was concealed from arial views of the ship which was important because an effort to take a picture of the carrier with its crew manning the rails was in process so the rest of the family members on board had to go into the hangar bay.

When we returned to shore, with the help of some powerful tug boats, we all piled into cars and headed out. Uncle Max decided to call it a weekend and head home once we arrived. The rest of us took some time to rest (and pack in Sterling's case) and then went out for a quick dinner at Brian's Pub in downtown San Diego. It was a great dinner and we were able to eat and enjoy each other's company just in time to rush Sterling to the airport so he wouldn't miss his flight! Since we'd all been up since the crack of dawn, we all headed to bed after dropping him off!

Our last day in San Diego was primarily spent visiting MeLissa's friend Tammy from high school whose husband, Matt, is also assigned to the Ronald Reagan. We all enjoyed visiting with Tammy and Matt and watching the antics of their children Mason and Malea! Then, we rushed off to the airport and returned home so that poor Chris could get some much needed sleep!