Flying monkey

Bella has a toy that is a flying monkey. The first one was a gift from Kari from back in the days when Bella lived in my car in the EB parking lot. Bri and Kari had bought it at a gas station and for whatever reason this toy became one of her favorites. Its days ended in Seattle when she almost got to the part that houses the electronics that make it scream when you throw it. Here in DC I found her a new one at Bed Bath and Beyond, that is really beyond if you ask me but she was very glad to have it. She has proceeded to chew the face off and now it smells bad so she is due for a new one. I picked one up on Friday while at the B B &B and carried it and the other things I had bought out to the car where Bella was waiting for me. Now that it is colder I take her along as my sidekick so she does not cry in her kennel at home. I left the bag in the car to go run other errands and came back to the car to find Bella and the new monkey laying in the drivers seat. BAD DOG. How did she know that was in there, what must it smell like to her that she can sniff it out like that, and what a weird obsession she has with the flying monkey. The rest of the drive I had to keep pushing her head away from the bag as she was trying to get it back out, she knows it is for her. Now you probably think I am mean and why not let her have it. Well I have my reasons. When we go to Hawaii at the end of the month our friend Isaac is staying with Bella for us so I bought it for HIM to give to her while we are gone so she thinks he is a cool guy and associates him with the arrival of the new monkey. So there.

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.