Happy Halloween

I'm sooo looking forward to trick or treating at Nana and Papa's tonight. Daddy let me have two Starburst candies last night from my haul at the Zoo's Pumpkin Prowl that has definitely got me revved for MORE CANDY! Here are some shots from our Prowl:

The Peacock and Ballerina

A peacock and a ballerina walk into a bar. The bartender says we don't serve...

Between Campbell's mommy Tia and our family, we've got an annual shot of Campbell and I in our Halloween costumes. Not one to break from tradition, here is this years effort:

Happiness is...

Lounging around the house on a crisp fall Seattle day with Ray Lamontagne, Feist, Wilco and Vanessa Da Mata on the jukebox.

The Brown Tsunami

For the past week and a half or so I've been rocking panties and pull-ups at both school and home with no incidents. Things have been going so well in fact, that I even go to bed at night sans diaper. Well, this morning Daddy got a rather rude awakening when he came into my room at 7am to turn off my Dora the Explorer alarm clock (that is turned up full blast). I was just waking up and hadn't fully absorbed the gravity of the situation, but dude nearly got whiplash from the odiferous funkiness that was holding my room hostage.

His worst fears were realized when he pulled back my covers and saw that a brown tsunami had stormed through. Oh the devastation! I could see that his mind was reeling about how he was going to deal with this... Where to start? How to peel off my contaminated pajamas without getting brown everywhere. And to add insult to injury, the poor guy was flying solo as Mommy was already out of the house for an all day meeting.

After a long and nauseating hose down in the bath with lots of positive reinforcement and love from Daddy, we got through our morning rituals with no additional setbacks and had a nice long hug goodbye at school.

Sometimes Daddy has a really short temper and is hard on me, but it's times like today that prove how much he's there for me. If you can, have him in your thoughts today as his morning was a bit on the rocky side. Oh, and don't look too closely at what's underneath his fingernails.

Uncle Bob Herzog Turns 60!

Oh, sorry about that... That title has a typo in it. Bob actually turned 50 this weekend and chose to leave warm and sunny Miami to head to the opposite of that, which is our soggy neck of the woods for some birthday fun with our family.

Part of his birthday celebration with Daddy, Mommy, Nana and Papa involved me being jettisoned in North Bend at the posh digs of David and Mary Barrett so they could maximize their fun throughout Saturday evening.

It had been waaaaaay too long since seeing the Barrett's, so I was super excited. We had our familiar forms of fun watching shows, playing games, chasing the pets, and simply laughing a lot. Their grandson Gabriel even stopped by and I showered him with a remote control Transformer for his birthday that won me some serious points.

While I was yucking it up in North Bend, the folks and the birthday boy headed to Cascadia Restaurant where there was an custom designed 4 course meal with individually printed menus acknowledging Bob's 50th. Mommy had worked with Cascadia's Antonio Flores to put together the custom menu with wine pairings that apparently was the hit.

After dinner Daddy treated the gang to cocktails at the charming Il Bistro that consisted of Cuervo Reserva de la Familia, a big fave of the Dadmeister. After Il Bistro the gang headed to the Pan Pacific Hotel where they were hoping to have a night cap at Marazul, identifying itself as a "rhum bar". At 1:ooam it was not to be, so they opted for cocktails in the Pan Pacific's cozy lobby instead. This tuned out to be a serendipitous turn of events as they claim they were the best cocktails of the night.

Happy birthday Uncle Bob. No one, surely not even you, can believe that you are 50 years old. Thank you for making the long trek out here for the liver compromising power weekend and spending time with a family that loves you.

SNAFU

The SNAFU of the day was Mommy leaving early for an all day meeting with the only set of keys to the red car. The car that has the car seat in it. The car that Daddy was to load up all of his photo gear into for a photo shoot. The car that would cut like a knife through the brutally dismal fall weather of this morning.

But alas. Today instead was the day that Daddy and I had to walk 23 miles uphill through the snow to school before he could hop a stinky, breath-steamed public bus all the depressing way to work. OK, so maybe it wasn't exactly snow. But we were both soaked to the bone due to the relentless torrent of precip.

Don't get me wrong... We did have some highlights today. I'd say the first and most important being that I wore P A N T I E S from bedtime last night aaaaaall the way through to returning home from school this evening. No small feat for a burgeoning wearer of panties. Things weren't without a subscript of drama... The stain stick saw heavy duty to try and erase more skids than the Brickyard 400. Baby steps folks.

The other highlight was feasting on waffle fries and beers at the Barking Dog in the fine company of Mr. Don Light, blog-famous father of Henry Light, Audrey Light and hubz extraordinaire to the radiant mommy Amy Light. Don played it cool with his chips and salsa, but we rocked his shiz with a greasy order of the good stuff. It was great to catch up with Daddy Don and get down to business in one of my favorite haunts. Daddy even got me to use the can there for a post-12 ounce rootboor tinkle before the journey home.

Henry's Birthday

Today we headed up to Craven Farm in Snohomish to join an intimate group celebrating Henry Light's 3rd birthday. This was our first time to Craven and it was off the hook with people running wild in the patch, stuffing their own scarecrows, posing for pictures, doing the corn maze and bumping along on hay rides.

Henry's party was in a nice little section of the main barn and was fantastically decorated with a great Halloween motif. My favorite were the spider cupcakes employing skinny red licorice as legs and M&M's for eyes.

We wound up with one small pumpkin for me as our time was quite limited between long naps and needing to be back home for a play date with Maddie Ando and dinner date for the folks, complete with Silver at the babysitting helm.

Abulhosn Photoshoot

This morning Daddy had the honor of meeting up with Mak, Lynn, Marques and Brandon Abulhosn for a photo shoot at Green Lake while Mommy and I were busy at Spanish class. He could not begin to believe how big Brandon had gotten so quickly. But then again, it should come as no surprise considering how fast Marques grew.

Barfing

On Tuesday night, almost immediately as Mommy and Daddy were getting home from their Feast at the Market fete, I began throwing up with great vigor. We're talking the entire lunch and dinner contents of a 3 year old all over my bed, pillows and kitties.

It turned out to be a loooong night of repeated vomiting and lotsa laundry. Mommy bit the bullet and stayed home with me on Wednesday while Daddy did his duty yesterday. I had one or two more little barfs on Wednesday, but was in the clear with Daddy. He and I even made it out to Green Lake for some fresh air and a walk around.

Feast at the Market

Tonight Mommy and Daddy headed down to Pike Place Market to participate in the 24th Annual Feast at the Market with proceeds benefiting the Pike Market Medical Clinic. After getting Silver and I set-up for the evening, they had fun tearing through the market and having bite after delectable bite. A round up of the places they hit in the mad dash of trying to get to as many places in 3 hours as one can (in order):

• Chez Shea - Wild mushroom tartlet with shaved Pecorino-Romano
  
• Matt's in the Market - Smoked catfish salad sandwiches on Columbia City brioche
  
• Pike Place Bar & Grill - Northwest crab cakes served with garlic aioli
  
• Il Bistro - Rosemary roasted sirloin with rustic potatoes & red onion marmalade
  
• Place Pigalle - Ancho roasted venison medallions, mole demi glace and salsa fresca
  
• Typhoon - Curried pumpkin soup
  
• The Islander - Springroll with Monsoon noodles, grilled pineapple salsa and chili-lime dressing
  
• Cafe Campagne - Goat Cheese backed on croustade with frisée and arugula in scallion vinaigrette
  
• Steelhead Diner - Chicken & Andouille sausage gumbo
  
• 94 Stewart - Leg of Duck Confit with radicchio salad and balsamic reduction
  
• Seattle Athletic Club/Starbucks - Coffee & dessert