Halloween

We finally got trick or treaters!!!! For the last two years, Nikki and I have dressed up, carved pumpkins, bought candy..... and nobody showed up. This year there were tons of kids and we felt justified in buying three big bags of candy (1 for the kids and 2 for us of course). On Sat we went out to our friend Jeff's party and one put on by Nikki's classmates. We were lucky enough to have my sister Darcy staying with us and we had a blast cruising around - Darcy was Zelda, Nikki was Amelia Earhart, and I was Hermes. The best costumes of the night were by far our friends Marta and Alex, who were Castro and Che. Jeff was a close second with "Amish Prom Date" though...

Hanging around Boston

Man, watching the Red Sox is tough work! The last couple weeks have been great and it seems we picked a good time to move here. I went down to Fenway to have dinner and hang around before one of the World Series games; what a scene! Now that the Sox are world champs we can rest for a little while. We took Flat Stanley (from Nikki's Aunt Geri) around Boston a few weeks back - out to Boston Public Garden and even out for a drink. Been enjoying the leaves changing - I never though that it would be so cool! Road my bike out to Walden Pond and felt like I was in a movie or something. Went with Annie to the head of the charles a week or two ago. The races were ok, but the real attraction was sitting by the river with a tasty beverage. Now, we gotta get ready for the cold....

New York, New York

A couple weekends ago Nikki and I headed to New York hang out with my cousin Christian. It was Nikki's first time in NYC, so we had a good time showing her the various touristy sites - broadway play, ground zero, Empire State, Statue of Liberty, and of course, Canal Street! (note that all bags and/or purses that you see Nikki with are 100% real). We had great fun cruising around the city and Chris was a great host! Even got to have dinner with my Aunt Bayla.

We have fish!

Nikki and I have entered the world of responsibility and decided to get a couple of fish. Unfortunately, we don't seem to be very good at keeping them alive! We currently have 7 fish (bought 3 yesterday) in our 20 gallon tank and have lost about 4. I think we're getting better though and have been getting some great advice from the guy that works at "Big fish, little fish" - our petstore down the street. The fish are named: Leonard, Ryu, Big Tuna, Neo, Merman, Omelette, and Hapa.

Renaissance Fair

Don't let anyone tell you that Renaissance Fairs are dorky and lame. We just went to one in Connecticut and it was dorky and super fun!! Jason scouted one out for us and Annie, Nikki, Jason and I piled in the car to check it out. They had all kinds of great weapon-related activities, including knife and ax throwing, archery, and sword fighting, as well as some pretty unique food - see the huge turkey legs below! (why is mine so much smaller?) There's also a shot of Nikki and Annie trying on some apparel - I personally would have gone with the studded leather sheath for my bo staff. After drinking a couple bucket-sized cups of lemonade and annoying small children with our acorn-playing abilities, Jason and I were ready to take on a local knight in a swordfighting area called "Smite the Knight." Jason got it started and quickly embarrassed the poor guy in a first to five contest. Then it was my turn. Though I did almost as well as Jason, I did manage to totally destroy my slipper (why do these things happen to me?) and render it unusable. So, I had to walk back though the fair with one shoe, carefully avoiding piles of horse droppings and spilled mead, until we could get back to the car and hit up a TJ max in the area, where I found a pair of women's slippers that would get me home (not too many options on a Sunday afternoon). On the way back, we stopped by a Red Lobster (possibly the only one in the northeast) for some tasty biscuits and all you can eat shrimp. Mmmmm, shrimp and turkey legs, what a day!

Red Sox

I should preface this with saying that I do not really follow professional sports. That said, Nikki and I went to a Red Sox game and it was awesome! The fans here are really into the game (understatement of the century) and the energy is infectious. Nikki's friend Annie got us some great tickets and we had a blast, even though the sox lost. Whatever, they're in the playoffs right? On the way home, we took a stroll though Boston to avoid the subway mob and guess who we saw on a huge poster in a sports store? Our friend Lauren Fleshman! Looks like Nike is treating her pretty well and we've actually seen her in some web commercials since then - good work Lauren!

Apple Picking

We have more apples than what we know what to do with - I'm gonna have to start looking up all kinds of crazy apple recipes to deal with the HUGE basket that is sitting in our kitchen. A couple weekend ago, Nikki and I headed to western mass to check out this apple picking thing that people seem to be so excited about. It was really fun and we spent the whole day tromping around the orchards. They even had a tree with 181 varieties grafted onto it - now that's GMO! We also got to sample apple cidar donuts, which if you haven't tried them, are possibly the mopst delicious thing ever created.

Old Yosemite pics

I don't think I ever posted these pictures - but I found them on my computer and thought they were worth putting up. Right before Nikki and I left for Boston, I was in Mammoth Lakes with my family mountain biking, kayaking, etc - super fun.

On the way home I drove though Yosemite and thought - well, I'm not going to get a chance to see this kind of thing for a while, so I might as well enjoy it! So I threw on my hiking boots and quickly found the highest peak around (Mt Dana) and ran up for a look around. It was a great view and I even saw Mono Lake where we had been kayaking earlier that day. I decided that I needed to do a big hike, so I drove down to Yosemite Valley and spent the night in the car (boxberry, our honda element, is actually pretty comfy!). The next day I got up at dawn and started what ended up being an 18 mile hike. I went up to Yosemite Falls, over to North Dome, out to Indian Hill, and back down in to the head of the Valley. It was great fun, even though I totally exhausted myself!!

Now it's on to smaller (yet still beautiful) peaks in the northeast!

Maine!

Before the weather gets to cold out here Nikki and I have been trying to explore places to the North. For labor day weekend we drove to Maine for beach time, blueberries, and or course LOBSTER! We stayed with Brendon Mahoney's parents in Kennebunkport for the first night and had a great time checking out the local beach scene. I took our skimboard up and even saw a few brave surfers in the water (not too many waves though...). Brendon's parents were really nice and exposed us to some fine Maine cuisine - including the lobster roll - which is awesome. We drove up to Boothbay Harbor the next night and got to see the rocky coast. Took a boat ride around the next morning to see some of the many lighthouses in the area.