Halloween Warm-Up Weekend, Pt. IV

And now for the thrilling final installment from this, Papa and Nana's Pre-Halloween October Visit.

Behold:

Kris and I were able to pass the kids off to Dad and Cindy for a second night at their hotel.  One of the kids' favorite next-morning activities when staying over at the grandparents' resort is feeding the ducks in the resort ponds. . .

If the ducks knew any better, they wouldn't get so close to these two.

Again - really, really cooperative girls for pictures. . .

Nana brought down some stamping supplies so the kids could have a fun activity to do in the hotel room.

Snuggles the Gender-Confused Bear and Abby engage in some serious stampin'.

Lions and Gadgets and Bears, oh my!

After watching the Detroit Lions seize victory (barely) from the jaws of defeat, we loaded up the kids and drove out to some random church down the road - that we've never once set foot in - to score some free pumpkin patch pictures (we learned last year that these churches gouge consumers over pumpkin prices, so we get our pictures for free and our pumpkins from Publix.  Take THAT, organized religion!)

With four people taking pictures of one, simple, 20-minute outing, you can see how we Houghs could be labeled a bit of an obsessive sort. . .

We got a new telephoto lens for our SLR - Kris put the sum'bitch to good use.

"Please do not sit on the pumpkins."  Whatever, church.

Snuggles as a dairy farmer, apparently sticking his 'hands' in a bowl of cow guts. . .?

Abby claims her prize.

See previous picture - my kids love following the rules.

Portrait time with Dad, Cindy and the grandkids. . .

. . . aaaaand here's the Houghs.  Or as good as you're going to get, with these kids.

Leaving the 'patch after having to argue with a crotchety old lady over paying for pumpkins we weren't buying.  I guess she thought the family of Mexicans we never once spoke with - or even stood remotely close to - were part of our entourage, and we were supposed to pay for the pumpkins.

Back to the van for a last-minute Publix run for pumpkins, supplies, and booze.

Getting to work on the back patio. . .

The Cannonball

Here's a gratuitous shot of my wife's armpit.

Dad tries out a new design for this year's pum-  oh wait, nevermind.

We're not stupid enough to give Abby a knife.  That chick has a hard enough time walking without running into doorknobs.

Alayna offers some friendly criticism.

Nana and Alayna work on one of the random small pumpkins we had lying around the house. . .

Here's Dad offering some really helpful advice.

Some people go ape-shit over pumpkin carving, and I guess if I lived somewhere where they didn't rot 24 hours after carving them, I might, too.  We don't use special tools or templates, either - just steak knives and a vis-a-vis markers.  Oh, and beer.

Watson ate his weight in dropped pumpkin guts this afternoon.  Hopefully that doesn't end up on my carpet later.

Taking another important call.

Against all notions of common sense, Alayna decided to give Papa a pedicure. 

Abby picks out the right color for Papa's gorgeous nails. . .

Each kid got to decorate a foot. . . 

. . . and the results are as could be expected.

Posing with the finished products.

Snuggles and friends.

Abby and her cat pumpkin.

Alayna and her whatever-the-hell-this-is.

Happy Pre-Halloween, America!!!

- Brian

Halloween Warm-Up Weekend, Pt. III

Hey gang.

I'm just going to pick up where we last left off, if you don't mind. . .

Generally when the girls stay the night with Papa and Nana at their hotel room, Kris and I take our sweet ass time getting around in the morning (we get to sleep in past 7am, so that's a pretty big deal for us - it only happens about a half-dozen times per year.)

This gives the grandparents the opportunity to get up at the ass-crack of dawn and do all the mundane crap (i.e. coloring, etc.) that we usually have to do.

Following breakfast (and I'm sure a healthy bout of TV), Dad and Cindy walked the girls around the resort so they could check out some of the pond wildlife. . .

Not sure what's happening here.

(This is the more natural of the two poses.)

Cindy wanted to take the girls out for pedicures (manicures?  I don't know - whichever one's the foot one), which was far more difficult than it needed to be - evidently finding a place that offered services to little girls was extremely difficult.  Of course, finding people who spoke intelligible English was also a trying affair.

The kids love this sort of thing.  Hopefully they don't pick their nails clean in a matter of days (as they're known to do that.)

Meanwhile, Dad and I - whose feet are perfect as is - decided to take Snuggles out shopping for vinyl records. . .

Retro Records of Orlando - a decent spot, but they've gone way up in price since I was there last (2009?)  I typically buy vinyl off Amazon these days, as there aren't that many great shops around Orlando anymore.  I ended up spending $32 on six records, which is more than I'd like.  For used records, unless it's an awesome find, I like to spend under $5 apiece, so this was hard to swallow.

I guess the girls went to Jimmy Hula's for lunch after their nails (a decent seafood/taco joint Kris and I frequent from time to time.)

While Dad and I were knee-deep in dusty vinyl, Cindy also took the girls dress-shopping at the Loop.   As you can see from the fashion poses, the girls were pretty cool with this.

Snack time.

Back at the hotel, doing some homework. . .

Watching the U of M/Michigan State game, trying to keep the Cannonball on task, etc.

Snuggles loves college football (and apparently the Detroit Lions.)

Aaaaand Alayna gets ahold of the camera. . .

Taking Snuggles out to the playground for some afternoon shenanigans. . .

This picture would be even creepier if I was sitting at a kids playground with a stuffed animal in a dress. . . with no children of my own.

Hitting up hammocks on a stroll around the resort. . .

Throwin' some Snuggles on the ol' grill. . .

. . . Abby had a meltdown over this, so here's Yours Truly doing some damage control.

Hitting up another playground. . .

Nana playing hide-and-seek with Abby.  Unfortunately, Abby totally sucks at this game, and Nana stood behind that sign for quite some time.

I want to build one of these circle-bench thingies for my next house. . .

Heading back to the hotel room. . .

Is that a heron?  I'm not a birdologist.

For dinner, Dad and Cindy took us out to Dick's Last Resort. . . which may or may not be the most appropriate place for little kids to eat, but the food's awesome.

Of course Snuggles joined us.  Snuggles loves Dicks.

Besides the 'rude' service, one can expect a dunce-hat-ish insult at some point throughout the meal (though they take it easy on the kids.)

RESTAURANT!!!

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion, America. . .

- Brian