Happy Samhain!!!!!

Aaaahhhhhhh My favourite day of the year. I love this holiday, the fresh start of a new year, reflecting on what has gone on during the past 12 months. I had the day off and spent most of it writing on an article for work and the rest getting the girls ready for tonight.

Speaking of the costumed girls in my life....Meet Ryleigh dressed up as 'someone you can count on'. Abby ( a friend of the girls) is a vet and Teaghan is one of the singing heads from Disney's Haunted Mansion








You can see a bit more of the details of Ryleigh's costume. She is wearing a blue and black pageboy wig and is covered with numbers, flash cards and has a calculator around her neck. i wrote numbers on her face and if you look closely you will see a number 43 on her nose. (Troy Polomolu's #)





Teaghan has her face fainted gray is wearing a plastic wig that we spray painted gray as well as the painted box. She is on her knees in the picture with all 3 girls because she didn't want her legs to show. LOL

I know you can buy really amazing costumes these days but I still think that home made ones are the best. It adds fun to the event instead of just getting dressed the day of, there aer weeks of planning and deciding. Although I will admit on a number of occasions I was tempted to just go buy one and be done with it. Then after they are all dressed up, it was worth every moment.

I need a vacation again......

Well I have survived my first week back from vacation. It was touch and go there for a while, and I'll admit to more then once thinking of chucking it all and running back the Florida beaches. Two weeks away is glorious but it is inevitable that you must return and deal with two weeks worth of crap that must be dealt with. This picture was taken on our last morning. Isn't that rainbow gorgeous....of course if the little people are real and there is a pot of gold....how the hell are you supposed to find it in the middle of the Gulf I wonder? LOL

The main focus of this trip was to relax on the beach but we did do Busch Gardens and Adventure Island. Both were totally worth it. For us Southern Ontario Canucks, Busch Gardens is like a cross between African Lion's Safari and Canada's Wonderland....but better. LOL Teaghan and Chris went on all the psychotic roller coasters and trust me they were psychotic. The one called SheiKra drops 90deg straight down! Gwazi, Chris swears is by far the fastest coaster he has ever been on. Teaghan just loved them all and even went on one by herself. I was so proud of her. Cheetah Chase is much more Ryleigh and My's speed. Fast, twisty but not terrifying. I used to love coasters as a teenager, the scarier the better. AS an adult I think I am much more aware of my own mortality and that of my children so scaring the shit out of myself just doesn't do it for me any more.

Taking this picture was a highlight of the trip for me. We were on the pier in Clearwater and I spotted a manatee in the water. So I might have made o dork of myself but I was so excited LOL According to the signs there were only 1200 manatees left in 1990. I asked Mary Stella about updated numbers. Mary is a wonderful author of 2 books who happens to work at a dolphin research center in the Keys and is part of manatee rescue team. She said that there are approx. 3000 now, give or take 100. They can only be counted by ariel photos. She assured me that my acting like a total dork on the pier over this was acceptable since seeing one is rare and awesome experience. LOL

I'll be sure to pepper this blog with more vignettes from my trip over the next few weeks. *G* I'm up to my eyeballs with writing stuff, the proverbial creative well is filled to overflowing. Bring on Nanowrimo. This year I'm totally gonna kick ass!

Catching up

Just got back from Florida, had a wonderful time. i'm in the process of catching up so I will have soemthing of substance written a bit later. Right now I am setting up for one of my favourite times of the year....