So starts what appears to be a tradition - well, at least we are having fun doing it. For the last two years we have joined some friends camping over the halloween weekend. This year our "non-group" camping crews swept the pumpkin carving contest ... my talents left our family out of the winners circle - but we hang with those who won. Congrats everyone.

Joe takes his first crack at carving pumpkins ... well, before he got bored and decided to dance to the tunes we had going. We had several campsites gather together to carve ... so there was a lot going on. Plus, Joe doesn't like to get messy!

While Joe took to the streets as the 'RocketMan', Owen went as our little pee. We had a lot of fun hitting each site for sugar hit. Joe's favorite was the haunted house -- not because he like going through it, "No, Joe scared". However, he thought it was funny to watch other go through ... we ended up standing there a long time.

During the days they had a small festival going, and being a state park it was being run by the ranger crew. Joe had no problems getting he fingers into things here!

In other news: Owen is now rolling over back-to-front, front-to-back and he was spotted on separate occasions by both Melissa and I up on all fours. Lock the doors ... we're going to have two on the loose.

Also, post camping and I was setting up a gallery of the trip when our MacBook took a dump. Appears that the HD crashed. So we will be needing to replace that sometime soon and sending the old one for data recovery (suggestions/recommendations?).

WE WILL BE DOING MORE BACKUPS.

This is actually the first time I have had a harddrive crash on me to the point where it is not seen by the system. Ugly!

But ... we have lost many of our photos from the last year, which really sucks. I am just glad I have the blog for my record. Two things noted: Need to burn more CDs ... Need to print more pictures for the photo albums.

Update: note the discussion boards ... sounds like we are not alone.

Also Posted today: Retrodata warning

Guess we are calling Apple tomorrow then eh?

We have been trying to catch a shuttle launch since we moved here and either could not get the time or things were postponed due to weather. There were similar concerns today, but by 7:30am they were pretty confident so we jumped in the car and raced toward Kennedy.

The crew of STS-120 riding Discovery into orbit

After the show was over, Joe wanted to see more ... and well, since we were there!

Joe was really excited to have returned. This time we ran into a space man walking around in his EVA suit, that was fun. We also caught the space station movie and toured the rocket gardens ... Joe's favorite is the Gemini capsule.

Joe in his spacesuit was a hit. Here we thought it would just be fun for him to wear his suit today (we actually brought it to trade-in for one smaller, but decided this way he had room to grow) ... well turns out that many others enjoyed it as well. He posed for many a photo shoot as he scurried about the center.

The rocket men are here

A family adventure

Rocket ride please!

How do they go potty daddy?

... and this button ...

The Right Stuff

Dreams

Ahh, the skyline

The city streets

McCormick Place, the convention center

The colors of fall

A walk along the waterfront was very inviting

These past few days I have been hanging out in Chicago. I arrived as a single traveller, so I decided to take transit coming into town. Figured I would see more of the city than if I was on the highway ... turns out my $2 trip was a lot cheaper than a similar cab ride ($40).

There is a lot to this city. I love the brick buildings ... so much character. The old crumbling mills, the old smoke stacks, the homes ... it would be great to spend some time and take some good shots of the area - but nope, I am at the McCormick Place from dawn til dusk. This is the nations largest convention center ... and I can believe it ... HUGE doesn't do it justice.

That is not to say I did not get out at all ... thanks to #43 of the Blackhawks, James Wisniewski, who passed along some fantastic tickets to one of my coworkers - I got to catch a game. Little downtime never hurt anyone right?

Yesterday we took the boys out to get a couple pumpkin and start getting into the fall season ... even if the A/C is still on and the flowers are still blooming. Joe made some craft jack-o-lanterns the other day with paper and put them up on the window. Now we figured we could get some real ones ... and prep for our camping trip.

Joe immediately started picking out his favorites.

Owen was not going to be out done.

Finally, Joe decided just to take the whole barrel home ... would you like some help?

Family update: Owen is now four months old, 13 lbs 6 oz. and 24 3/4 in. tall. Wow ... the little guy is growing up so fast. He has a great sense of humor, his smile can really light up a room. He is starting to gain his balance sitting and he continues to show desire, strength and knowledge for walking ... though that is probably still a few months off. Doesn't stop him trying though ... we think he is just chasing after his brother.

In other news, we had a good weekend. We managed to finally put the sealer on our tent (and expecting to see a notice in our mail about camping on the front lawn). We enjoyed a family pizza night and a pleasant walk to our local pet store ... Joe really loves the fish and birds. He could sit in that store all day.

We also managed to finally get some more pictures up on the wall ... about time eh?

Owen had reason to be excited today. For this evening was a night out with Dad ... and tonight Dad had something special in mind. Tonight was Owens first hockey game, a tradition for the boys in our family.

Owen was great. He was not happy with the opening sounds as it was a tad on the loud side, but once the game started he settled right into things. He followed the puck and the players up and down the ice, talked and smiled to those around us, and cheered with Dad when Tampa scored. He did not start to get tired until about half way through the third period, but even then did not get fussy. Seems like we may have another hockey fan in our family.

Here is some snap shots of our evening... and good news, Tampa won.

Joe is ready too

Sights and sounds of the good 'old hockey game

Owen seemed to really get into things

Tampa scored first, Pathers tied it before Tampa again took the lead

Can they hold on to that 2-1 lead?

Our small party circle

Hi, wish you all were here.

Today we decided to get out of the house a bit ... Joe suggested the beach and that is just what we did. We chased the birds, dug some holes, and swam around. When we got home we had a little something to cool ourselves off.

What did you do this Saturday?

So, Joe had a rough day as he was hit with a stomach bug. I ended up spending the afternoon working from home with Owen hanging in the doorway, all to free up Mom to played nurse. In fact the whole office seems to have been hit pretty hard ... lot of stuffy noses and sore throats hanging about. 'Tis the season.

Funny how it effects kids though, they have some rough moments where they feel bad - but as soon as that passes it is like nothing is wrong. Then ... WHAM! ... back to being sick. Me ... well, I will curl up on the coach or in bed and stay there most of the day. Heck ... I feel like that sick or not!

So, after years, and years, ... and years of debating. The hill is going to open, sure now that I am living my life in the land that think winter days are spent sun tanning (outside), and believe that Frosty the sandman does exist.

Bob passed me the link, and while it is not "new" to me ... it did hit home that this was going to be another green winter season. Unless, of-course, there is a 1996 flashback this Christmas ... whats that? Crossing my fingers? .... never ;)