happy halloween!

i hope everyone had a happy, safe and fun halloween! last year, greta was a bit young to get what was going on. evan was traveling last year, so i dressed her up in a duck outfit (courtesy of her cousins austin & chase) and got a couple pictures with our garden pumpkin.

this year, a light bulb went off when we put her hat on as we were walking up to our neighbor's house last saturday to celebrate with all the neighborhood kids. she got it, grabbed her hat and put it on with a big smile. this is the year of greta the cowgirl.

today was a tour of festivities. we were delayed getting down the mountain (our usual 20 minute drive took 1.5 hours thanks to some well timed road work). we got to camp (aka daycare) just in time for the "parade" they have down the street. it took a minute for greta to recognize her friends in costume, but then she jumped right in. all the kids were really excited and very cute.

in the afternoon, i brought her to work, where they have trick-or-treating, a party with snack and crafts, pictures and other fun activities. she was a hit with everyone there and said thank you to everyone she got treats from along the way. we made a quick swing back by camp to visit the tail end of the party there and then headed home.

greta is a fan of halloween. fortunately, not into/aware of the candy aspect yet (we'll wait another year for that). she got a pumpkin balloon from kathy, who sits next to me at work, and that, so far, has been the king amongst goodies.

escape to catalina

the weekend before last, we had our fall getaway. much needed after the summer of crutches and physical therapy. perhaps a little odd to some, but we decided that we needed to get at least one weekend of camping in this summer/fall season.

we had originally planned to go camping in colorado in the summer with our friends jamie and crissy, who live in the denver area. when we had to postpone and change the venue to be a bit less rugged for hiking, evan came up with the idea of catalina island, off the coast of southern california. we had heard great things about it from friends of ours, but hadn't been there ourselves.

we drove down to l.a. on thursday night, listening to the red sox come back game on the radio in bits and pieces as the stations would fade in and out (that was a great game and we won't mention how the series ended). we stayed in the potentially questionable, but actually decent, la quinta by the airport, met jamie & crissy there in the morning and left for the ferry.

after almost missing the ferry and literally running to catch it with greta in the back pack, a rolling cooler in one hand and a rolling duffel bag in the other, we settled in and enjoyed the ride over. we dropped off all the well to do in avalon and headed for two harbors, the slightly smaller town on the island. we did see some dolphins as we left the mainland via marina del rey, and the captain did a couple circles between avalon and two harbors to chase a whale (or, as he put it to "spot" the whale). greta and i saw it blow out its blow hole (not sure of the technical term here) from the distance, but we were glad when we got back on course.

two harbors is made up of 5 public buildings (the one and only restaurant and bar, the bathrooms, the general store, the dive shop and the visitors information office). as it was friday and "off season", it was not at all crowded. we had to wait to go into the campsite until later, so we settled in the main square area and took in the scene. the beach is nice, the water is beautiful and the people are more than laid back.

we opted for tent cabins for our camping adventure so we wouldn't have to haul as much on the ferry. it worked out very nicely, as long as the mattresses on the cots were well covered by the sheets we brought. the cabins sat up on the hill and had a great view of the harbor off the front decks.

we enjoyed the short hike from the campground to "town" several times each day. friends of ours told us we had to try the famous "buffalo milk" drink from the bar, inspired by the buffalo that live on the island. we did not see the buffalo, but saluted them many times with these tasty cocktails.

jamie's friend lawrence joined us on saturday, and it was great to see him again. we took the easy hike to the other side of the island (all of 200 yards of land separate the harbors at this section of the island). greta got a little dirty playing in the sand and helping us throw around the football. we even caught the ut football game and the red sox game on saturday night.


we got back late sunday night/monday morning to start the long week at work, but it was well worth the get-away. while not really roughing it, it was also good to get out camping this year.

for more of a photo montage of the weekend, we depend on jamie & crissy's shots: http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p275/jamisonrdavis/Catalina%20Camping/?albumview=slideshow

more catching up... bridge school

this past weekend we squeezed one more fun thing into our october calendar. we went to the bridge school benefit concert with our good friends avis and andy, who live outside of sacramento.

neil young puts on this weekend festival concert every year to benefit the kids with special needs that go to the bridge school. we were lucky in that our neighbors were home in the afternoon and we were able to drop greta off there and go sans kiddo. the great news there is that after 5 or so minutes being upset that we left her, she settled down and by the time it was bedtime (they were kind enough to also put her to bed), i don't know if she remembered that we had left. she had a great time with her friends nikhil & vivaan (and smita and brian too).

avis & andy had also left their kids with the neighbors, so for the first time in probably a couple of years, we had no kids in tow. evan and i got there in the middle of the third act. we missed cat power and wilco (again), but as we have seen wilco more than once, it wasn't heartbreaking. death cab for cutie was playing as we walked in and it was a great way to start.

we also heard josh grobin, norah jones, smashing pumpkins and jack johnson, and although we didn't make it to the finale with neil young's set, he did come out and play one of his songs with each of the other groups. it was a perfect day for an outdoor benefit concert and great to catch up with avis and andy. there were a ton of people there and that was good to see too, as it is a great event for a great cause.

when mom goes away...

so, i have a bit of catching up to do. a couple weeks ago, i had the chance to go to arizona for a few days for work. it was a change of pace for the entire household. although i missed everyone here, it was a great few days for work, as i got to connect with many colleagues that i don't see on a regular basis and we heard from many high level executives in the technology, media and telecommunications industry. interesting timing as it was just as the market really started tanking in early october.

evan, carson and greta did well "on their own". as evan told me after, greta is much more amiable when i'm not around. they even came up with a new game/form of entertainment. we've finally found a use for all those return address labels that come in the mail that aren't what you would choose yourself. hello cheapo stickers for kiddo.

october is in the air

tonight i am reminded of what makes the fall, and in particular, october, so great. while the giants had a bye week this past weekend, there was still plenty of good football action in the college ranks (i love upsets as long as texas isn't on the losing side), and tonight, the red sox start their post season. to top it off, we typically have beautiful weather out here during much of october, although the first - and much needed - rain is forecast to come on friday.

as we look forward to the month, we hope to be cheering for the red sox for awhile. we hope to win at least one week in the football pool that our friend aaron is running for the third year. we are excited about a weekend camping trip we have planned for mid-month with our friends jamie and crissy on catalina island. we hope that we'll be able to swing camping on an island we can't take a car to with a toddler and not throwing out our backs carrying all the things we'll surely have in tow. we are also excited about halloween, harvesting our small, but cute pumpkin growing in the garden and taking way too many pictures of greta in costume (which i hope i have it together enough to have by then).