A Slightly Belated Halloween

Nate and I flew to Cleveland last weekend for a short trip to celebrate our friend Jackie and Dave's baby shower.  Aaron had to head to Orlando for work so the Bug and I were on our own.  I'm happy to report he was an angel on the flight, no problems getting buckled in which was the sticking point for our Louisville trip melt downs.

The party was great, they hosted it at an orchard and had lots of fall activities like a fire to roast marshmallows and a hay ride.  Nate was in heaven with so many people to love on him.  He loved the hay ride, although he'll immediately tell you, "Papa didn't go on the hayride."  And what's a party without a guy who ends the night by changing into his PJs?


As I've mentioned before, three of my four best friends from college are expecting right now.  I'm due first, with Jackie due exactly a week behind me (12/24), Kate due on Valentine's Day and Mary-Ellen due the first week in April.  This allowed for a great picture of three of us with our babies-to-be and Moms all in attendance at the shower.


Also, although it's so fun to be due in such close proximity to Jackie, what is not fun is being 3 inches shorter and pregnant with my second.  Aaron looked at this picture and all he said is, "Well, you have a history of carrying big babies."  I like the think the horizontal stripes aren't helping either.

The plan was to leave Ohio on Monday afternoon but Hurricane Sandy got in the way by shutting down all DC airports.  So our two day trip turned out to be an 8 day extended visit.  This meant missing Trick-or-Treating in Maryland.  And we hadn't brought along Nate's costume because why would we?

Luckily the storms in Ohio pushed their ToTing back to the weekend so we went to Old Navy and, big surprise, Nate picked out a tiger costume.  Convenient since his costume at home was his absolute favorite thing right now - Daniel Tiger.  Although we didn't have his red cardigan, homemade tiger hat, or wrist watch, he was still a pretty convincing tiger.  And he told everyone he was indeed Daniel Tiger.  Lesson learned, authenticity doesn't score any points with a two-year-old.


Nate scored big in the candy department with a stop at Kate's parents' house.  Another lesson learned, if you want good candy - go to the Dailey's house.  They handed out full sized candy bars.  Of course I had to make sure they were safe for Nate to eat.

Aaron on the other hand, had a very different week.  He too got stranded because of DC airports closing.  But he was not able to stay where he was.  So he rented a car and drove from Orlando to DC.  Then he camped out in his office for a couple of days and then headed to New Jersey after the storm to do the work FEMA does.  Nate hasn't been away from his Dad for this long since 2010 when Aaron went to work on a campaign in Pennsylvania.  That trip ended with a lost election.  Here's hoping this week's results turn out more in our favor.  (And by "our favor" I just mean that we still have two employed adults in our house!)