Halloween

Halloween was very nice here in Pcola. The weather was in the low 70s all day. I took the day off of work to go to Mikey and Sam's open house at the school with Ras, Grammie and Grampy. Then the kids got home and got in their costumes. Sam was a witch, like her Grammie, and Mikey was Anakin Skywalker. Grampy went as a wise 'ol wizard. Ras put on her hot 70s outfit and I threw on a tight blond curl and some platform shoes for a lack of a better costume. Not many folks in our sub yet so we walked around the sub in front of ours with our friends. It was a good time.

Looking in on Sam's class. The kids don't dress up for Halloween at school. Some sort of political correctness or religious junk. They were allowed to dress up as cowboys though. I wore my cowboy hat. Sam's teacher is on the far right. Ras is pictured in the middle, not dressed like a cowboy at all.

Barley got stuck wearing the same costume he wore last year. You can see his disappointment in his expression.

Sammy getting ready to soar.

Mikey using the force of the dork side.

Lacey, Sammy, Caleb, Wyatt, and Mikey

I got next...

Grammy making the doughnuts. Terrifying.

We ate at the Fish House yesterday. Mikey ate Mahi Mahi. Sam had a salad.

Grammy and Grampie take over guest room

My parents drove down from Michigan for a stay that will take them through the Halloween weekend. We are doing a lot of stuff as I have taken a couple of days off. I am sick though, which has put a damper on my efforts to whack and stack some Florida deer. Here are some photos from the visit thus far...

Ras and and my dad ran a 5K. It was a P.R. for Ras. Dad's P.R. days are long gone.

Dad came in 1st in his age division, Ras came in 3rd. Here they are with their hardware.

Mom, Sam, and Mikey under the Florida fall foliage.

We went to a Fall festival where Mikey took aim at a vicious bear. Moments later, the bear attacked and mauled Grampie.

Mikey demonstrates one of the feats of strength at the Fall Fest.

In front of a huge Agave plant.

A Persian Shield plant. Big.

Ras is the leader of the local Girl Scout group. Last night was the initiation ceremony. Thank you 'mam may I have another!!

Grammy and Sam made Halloween witches finger pretzels. They were scary!!

It is 88 and sunny here in Florida. How is it where you live??

I went deep sea fishing with some folks from work this past weekend. An 8-hr tour for snapper, mackerel, and other salt water species. It was a blast, with the first Coor's light being opened at about 8AM. It was a great day out. I got sun burned because my wife once again neglected to give me any suntan lotion.

The previous weekend we went with the Mendozas to the Pensacola Seafood Festival. Fun was had by all.

Dolphins ran in front of the boat on our way out to the fishing grounds.

Here we are on board the Chulamar

Paul holding one of his many red snapper that were brought aboard

Me, John P., and Paul, thinking about the fish fry that we were going to gorge on

Some of the red snapper harvest that we caught

John I. with his mackerel that was bigger than mine. I caught mine in the first 30 minutes. He caught his in the last 30 to take home the cash in our pool for the biggest fish. I lodged a protest but it fell on deaf ears.

Sam and Caleb rush up the obstacle course at the Seafood Fest

Mikey opted for the Shark-ka-bob. Sammy ate a corn dog.

Fun wit da youngins'

Mikey and Sammy are getting active in scouts again. Mikey had a scout picnic this past weekend that was fun. They played a lot of games that made for some good photos. Ras got coerced into being the girl scout leader for Sam. Everything else here is going swell. I was in NY last week. Long days out there with no fun. If I ever won millions in the lottery and someone asked me if I was going to keep working even though I was a multi-millionaire, I would punch them in the throat.

Mikey is in Wolf Den Pack 419. Sammy is a Jr. Girl Scout, Troop 240.

In one of the relay races, two kids had to team up and hold a plastic cup between there heads as they raced down to the finish line, a cruel mockery of conjoined twins.

This relay had kids passing a soaked sponge back over their heads to the end of the line where they squeezed it into an empty bucket. High-larious.

Classic

The photo above Ras took. We are going through a love bug invasion. They call them love bugs because they are always flying around in pairs, attached at the mommy/daddy parts. The swarm around doors and are a pain. They don't bite, but they make a mess around the doors and windows. Love bug season usually is in Sept/Oct.

We are having the entire house painted on the inside this week. Should be great since I am paying professionals to do it.

OBAMA!!

Day at the water park

We went to a water park this past weekend for a company picnic. The place was packed because it was the last weekend the place was open. The kids had fun. Paul and his family went. So did my buddy John and his kids. I do not have any pictures of John's kids, but there is a video of John getting owned by the Big Kahuna half pipe. I think there was a 8-year old who went before John that lasted longer on the board.

Mikey and Sammy having fun, unaware that an innocent child is being eaten by the beast.

Caleb power slides

Sam in front of one of the water slides.

Catching up with more photos

Just like Hurricane Faye, Gustav was nothing more than a strong breeze and some showers now and then. Not that I want a category 4 knocking on the door, but I wouldn't mind slapping up some of this wood Paul and I cut in 98 degree heat. Anyway, here is a movie clip of about as bad as Gustav got around here, as well as some bonus photos from this summer.

Had to bring our pineapple plant inside in case Gustav got strong

Frogger

Giant Root Borer - 3 inches long - Caught in pool filter

We had a bunch of tiny brown praying mantis hanging around the back porch

During the summer, we went up to see the Rayls. Here are all the kids (Mikey, Tyler, Caitlyn, Sam, and Conner)

Mikey and his best Michigan buddy - Tyler

We went to a shark fising tournament a few weeks ago. This 500 lb Tiger shark was caught somewhere off of Pensacola beach. I miss swimming in the AuSable River.

Great White Nerd

Calm before the Storm...

I got back from Puerto Rico Friday night after being there for a week. The highlight was the Bacardi Plant tour. I brought back some vital hurricane supplies from the tour in the form of duty free liquor.

The bottle in the middle is the 12-year aged, hand-bottled, numbered rum. You can only buy it at Bacardi. It is $80 per bottle, but we knew someone on the inside so I did not pay that much. I will save it for a special occasion. Like maybe a Tuesday.

View from my room at the El Conquistador Resort

The Bacardi Bat is the logo because when they first opened the distillery in 1863 in Cuba, fruit bats liked to make the home in the rafters, so they decided it was a fitting logo for the rum.

With Bacardi's lead Mixologist. I had the Mojito. They drinks were free. The barrels they age the rum in are imported from the U.S. - from the Jack Daniels Distillery.

Here are some before shots of our yard as we prepare for Tropical Storm Fay. They are calling for about 15 inches of rain. My neighbor Paul and I went to the Pace Fire Department where they were giving out sandbags. They had 2600 bags yesterday, and were down to their last 200 we we arrived. Paul and I are the only ones with sandbags in our neighborhood. Suckers.