Halloween 2010

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love being scared. I always have. So Chris indulges me with midnight scary movie premieres, lets me watch endless Sy-Fy channel movies (no matter how corny they may be), and even volunteers to take me to at least one haunted house. Is it his thing... not really, but I know that he is slowly starting to get into it.

No Halloween would be complete with out a pumpkin carving party.

I made a big pot of chili, had a warm pan of peach cobbler ready with a side of cool vanilla ice cream, and away we went bringing our pumpkins to life.

Chris is coming up with something good.

Even little Mya got in on the action. Although she was more interested in coloring the back of her pumpkin then she was in Dora.

Our completed pumpkins. So spooky.

Chris did a bunch of stuff on his pumpkin. Ghosts, a spooky tree, a moon, but the big show stopper was the Saints, Fleur-de-lis. GO SAINTS!!

I, on the other hand, kept it a little bit more traditional. Don't get scared.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Camping in Pensacola

Last weekend Chris took me on our annual camping trip. It's a strange thing going camping in the middle of October, but the weather couldn't have been more perfect. The site we camped on was actually where a house once stood on the banks of this river, but then when Hurricane Ivan came through it destroyed the house. All that's left is a foundation and the docks out on the water. The land belongs to a friend of a guy that works with Chris. They said its a great place to camp so we took them up on their offer to let us use the land.

When we got there the first thing we did was go take a look at the water to see if it was swimable. It was swimable... if you didn't mind getting your feet snapped off by an alligator. Well... I'm sure it wasn't that bad, but the water was jet black, and there was no way I could muster the courage to just jump in. So that was a little disappointing, but we still made the most out of our camping trip.

Chris and I set up camp and while he got the fire going, I prepared our tin foil dinners of baby red potatoes and salmon. It was delicious. We stayed up late that night, talked, made s'mores, and listened to the sounds of the wildlife around us. It was so loud. Raccoons getting into fights, something getting in the water and making splashing noises (an Alligator?), ducks quacking, and fishes jumping out of the water. Somehow, we slept good that night, huddled up in our sleeping bags, and managed to even sleep in till about 9:30. That's amazing, because when I camp I am usually up at the crack of dawn.

The next day my brother and his family came up to spend the day with us. It was hot that day so we tried to stay as far away from the fire as possible and just stared at the water that we couldn't get into. It was torture to be so close to water and not be able to get in. But we made our own fun. We played a couple rounds of this dice game called Toss Up, and then even brought our inner kids out and played a few games of hide and seek. So much fun! I must say that I am an amazing hider.

Then as night slowly started to fall we prepared another delicious tin foil dinner (Chris and I seriously have a talent for tin foil dinners) and sat around the campfire talking about ghosts. The scenery was fitting, the Spanish moss hung from the nearby oak trees creating a good backdrop for such a discussion.

Twinkee, our little camper, she hated all but about 10 minutes of the whole trip. She does not enjoy roughing it.

A lot of the animal noise we were hearing was coming from this area. This is all that's left of the dock the hurricane took.

It was a fun time, but I always look forward to getting back home and taking an actual shower and sleeping in my bed.

*** Something I forgot to mention... Chris and I got attacked by bugs. When I say attacked, I mean even bug repellent couldn't keep them at bay. We didn't realize how severe the damage was until we got back home. I fortunately wore pants the majority of the time, but Chris wore shorts and got the worst. He counted over 100 bites on his legs alone. I felt so bad for him. The itch was so irritating. I never want to experience that again and I couldn't even imagine how he was feeling.

A Little of This and A Little of That

I can't believe that it is fall already. It doesn't feel like fall here at all. While other parts of this country get to experience the leaves changing colors and significantly cooler temperatures and in some places even snow, us here in Southern Alabama get to experience nothing of the sort. The only indication that we have reached the fall season is the temperatures have decided to go down to a beautiful mid 80 degrees and that all the stores have decided to bring out their holiday decor. The weather has been perfect, but I have to admit that I do miss the transition from sweaters to jackets to coats.

Life has been so good for Chris and I. The last couple months we have really pushed ourselves to work harder than we have ever worked and we are finally starting to see the fruits of our labors. Its been exhausting but so rewarding and we have finally started to reach that point to where we feel like we can start breathing a little easier. I love my husband so much. I admire his hard work and perseverance. No matter how difficult things may have gotten, he has always remained optimistic in achieving his goals and has never wavered from them. He is such an example to me to never give up on hopes and dreams no matter how hard things may get. He has taught me so much and I fall more in love with him everyday. He is truly an amazing man and I am thankful that he is all mine. (Just thought I'd share :))

But with all the mushy stuff aside now... I mean, don't get me wrong... Yeah, Chris and I have been working hard, but we have also embraced those opportunities to go out and have a little fun too.

The beaches finally reopened after the oil got cleaned up and was deemed clean enough to swim in. We didn't waste anytime going back. We missed it so much. The day was going perfect... Perfect weather, perfect water, perfect company, but as we were playing in the waves and splashing around I suddenly had a little voice in my head tell me to look down. At first I couldn't tell what my eyes were trying to focus in on. Then all of a sudden the slimy, clear, bluish, purplish blob sharpened and I screamed out loud, JELLYFISH!!!! It was terrifying. It wasn't even a foot away from me! I have never ran out of water so fast in my life and the feeling of sand beneath my feet has never been more welcomed. So... Yeah... I may have overreacted, because it wasn't like a swarm of jellyfish, it was just one about the size of a basketball. But I partially blame my reaction to the fact that maybe a week before I watched the documentary on the Discovery Channel about "Killer Jellyfish" and it may have had a bigger impact on me than I originally thought. So anyway, as I'm on land yelling at Chris to get out of the water he's in there TOUCHING the slimy thing! I couldn't believe it! He was actually disappointed that I didn't let it sting me! He said it would have made an awesome story, and then I said, "No thanks, but please, help yourself." I eventually did get back in the water, but I was a little more cautious of my surroundings. Ugh, I just gave myself chills again.

Next up... The "GULF SHORES ANNUAL SHRIMP FESTIVAL!!!!" I was so excited for this. I talked about it for weeks, and didn't leave it up for discussion, we were going. It was so much fun. We ate:

Alligator on a Stick

Shark-Ka-Bobs

Crawfish Pies

Jumbo Grilled Shrimp

Fried Shrimp

Hushpuppies

and Cajun Pistols

Weirdly, the Shrimp dishes were a little disappointing, but the Cajun Pistols made up for all that. This delicious little concoction was a mixture of shrimp, crawfish, and crab in a sort of cheese sauce all baked into these little rolls. They were absolutely scrumptious. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. Totally worth the trip alone.

Well, that's it. Our last couple months in a nutshell. We have just been living life and loving every minute of it.