Halloween 07

I can not resist I admit I am that person. I have to dress up the dog she hates it and that might take like 10% of the fun out of it. We got this costume at Target, love that place. The head piece has slits for her ears to pull through and then Velcro's by her neck so there was no way she could get it off, this is a genius move by someone and people should really note that. I could get her in way more things if this was done. Anyways we are not endorsing Bee Movie and I called her bee girl and tried to get her to dance like the blind melon video, and she wore this thing almost all day. As a kid I remember wanting to sleep in your costume and Mike spared her that and she slept in her regular cute outfit. Oh and notice how her stump of a tail is the stinger. We did not have to pay extra for that it just was there. I dressed up as an unemployed person which meant I wore sweats and my hair in a pony all day. Mike had some special things going on at work so he wore his dress uniform, turns out that is not a costume to him.

Disneyland day 2

Second day we hit the park again, starting at California Adventure. Got some GIANT corn dogs and did the park. Going on a Monday meant that there was no one there. Mike and I rode the rides saw the Muppet 3-d movie and even got on soar'n a second time in the few hours we were there. We joined the fam over at the Happiest place on earth and had some fun with the Streets that were there hiding from any news that something might have happened to their house that was evacuated from the fires. I cannot think of a better place to try and escape from that. Turns out their house made it so that is good.

Disneyland day 1

We went to LA for my grandma's 80th birthday. Managing to swing the trip into Disneyland as well was not hard to wrangle the Lennox clan into doing. Sunday night mom, dad, Mike, Sara and I hit the park in the middle of the Santa Ana windstorm that was blowing dust and sadly lots of smoke from the wild fires that were burning down there. We got to see the Haunted Mansion Holiday that is a personal favorite and did our best to do the whole park in 5 hours. The place is done up for Halloween because why do anything small.

Chinese food

I know every family has traditions and you can not really explain them to others. Ours involves this random Chinese Restaraunt in Whittier CA where we have gone for years. We get the big tables in the back with the lazy susans and everyone orders 1 dish for that will be shared with the family. Sara always orders the hot and sour soup because it is her favorite and a large bowl comes to the table and gets put in smaller bowls so everyone can have some. I had not clearly explained these traditions to Mike so we sat down at the table and he decided he wanted to have some Egg Flower soup. That did not go over well and from now on he will be known for that action. He quickly caught on and even supported wearing a napkin on his head as is tradition at the Chinese restaurant. Again do not ask it has gone on so long I do not even know anymore. Assume it all has something to do with my dad, if you know him, you will understand this.

Solar Decathalon

Fun things happen in DC this is one of the more interesting. Solar Decathlon was getting set up on the mall for weeks and finally we got to go check it out. With everyone else, this mall was like the other mall at Christmas. We did not get to go into a house because the wait was an hour to go in one and I do not have that kind of patience. Very cool event and my favorite house, of the 20 that were there, from the aesthetics of exterior was the one from the University of Colorado at Boulder they had won the last two decathlons, but not this year.
http://www.solardecathlon.org/scores_standings.html#first
We did see the houses on the Navy's Birthday so I made the Mikes walk to the Navy Memorial and they let me take their picture. We then went to this cute place called Teaism that serves, tea. Rachel Ray went there on her $40 a day excursion and now I have too. They have some kind of chocolate cookies that will haunt me if I ever eat them. They only come in a pack of 6 so I have not bought them because that would very quickly lead to me eating 6 cookies, well 5 if I share with Mike. If they sold a single cookie I would be in business, but something tells me this is for the best.

For the record this is the first day I have worn Jeans or more global long pants since we moved here. Fall you are welcome bring it.

Inside the neighbors house

Today Christine and I got to go IN the capitol building. It is the peoples building but they are very super strict on the entering and checking your bags so know when you go visit you can not bring food or water. We lost the end of the very delicious brownies with york pattys in them at the check point, it was sad. Very beautiful and they have a bazillion statues after sending out a thing that each state could send 2. I thought the best is the one from Hawaii of King Kamehameha that weighs something like 5000 lbs so they have to keep it in this corner. The state of Florida sent one of the guy that invented AC love that guy. Dome of the capitol on the outside is different than the dome you see inside because of some crazy construction, I took a pix of the diagram for you. Later we hit the Library of Congress that is very beautiful inside and then got us some passes to go see Congress doing its thing. We sat in the room for a good 30 minutes got to do the pledge of allegiance and I can tell you that when you watch the state of the union the balcony is only like 3-4 rows deep. I was surprised by this I always thought it appeared larger. I am now wondering what David Letterman's balcony is like in person, might have to get up there to see.

Air and Space Museum

Right now the American History museum is under a major renovation due to open late spring 08, till then they have a small display at the Air and Space museum. This museum is the most interest to me because it contains things like THE PUFFY SHIRT, and some friends that were in Star Wars. 250 objects is not a lot, stay tuned for the update after American History re-opens.
A&S is full of artifacts and exhibits it takes a while to get through, but you get to touch a moon rock that has been touched by everyone else so what are you touching them or the rock? I of course spent time reading about how you go to the bathroom in space and have a picture for you of the urinal like device. Christine and I had fun spotting which displays had not gotten the "no longer a planet" treatment and found only a few. Poor Pluto to me it will always be a planet.

Its Blocktoberfest out here

So we were pumped that there was some kind of fest out here, but it was not quite the same as the Fremont variety. Christine, Sara and Mike Mulle came out to RFK stadium parking lot with us to see how it worked. Bands on the bill we were interested in Violent Femmes and Gin Blossoms (I had that CD back in the day so I was interested). This thing was 5 stages, 50 something bands and a huge midway of scary carnival rides and the karneys that run them. VF's played early like 2pm so we were out there in the heat enjoying them. GB were not on till 10pm so we entertained ourselves by drinking some beer, listening to some really not good polka music with a southern twist, and riding some midway rides. Note to readers beer drinking and then riding the scrambler not always a good idea. I did not lose it but you know it was not a good feeling for a few minutes. GB were not very good so we left to go home and make some brownies with York Peppermint Pattys cooked in them, yum, good idea by Christine. Another highlight was we stopped at the party store and bought a thing of 25 glow bracelets and were sporting those when the lights went down. Very fun and you can find your people. Lets hope we remember this for our next night event.