Halloween is second only to Christmas in the kid pantheon of awesome holidays, and this year was no exception.  This was also the first year that Izzy could really trick or treat to any extent, and her brothers had a great time leading her around and helping her get candy.

Note Alex’s costume.  He dressed up as me.

I lost another five pounds!  I’m so happy, let me share my weight loss plan with you.  Today, I’ve eaten:

• One piece of apple pie that my mom made
• Two cupcakes that my wife made
• five pieces of bacon

Now, if that doesn’t spell “weight loss”, what does?  I really think that the thing that’s causing me to lose weight is that Jenny travels so much.  Usually, that means the kids get PB&J for dinner, and I hate pb&j, so I just skip the meal entirely.

They’ve always called me “clean living” Loytty.  I am now wearing the same size clothes I wore before I was married.  My next goal is to weigh as much as I did when I got out of the Army, but that’s a LONG way down.

After coming home from the mountains yesterday afternoon, we were all pretty tired, so we didn’t do all that much today.  Jake and I went for a walk to enjoy the weather, but other than that, we just kind of hung around the house.  I cleaned up the attic a little bit, but it was in pretty good shape. I tried to get up the energy to clean my car out, but I never got motivated enough (and if you’ve ever seen the inside of my car, you’d know that it would take a LOT of motivation to get me to clean it)

The leaves here are just starting to change, next weekend they’ll be at their peak, I think.  Fall’s my favorite season, except when it’s SNOWING in winter.  I hope everyone had a good weekend, and that next week will go smoothly for all of my internet friends!

Today my sister and my parents and I went to Tweetsie Railroad with my boys and my sister’s kids. (Jenny and Izzy stayed home to do whatever it is girls do when no men are around).  The trip was fun, everyone had a great time until it was time to leave, and then Alex got a little attitude problem. 

If you’ve never heard, Tweetsie Railroad is a sort of amusement park near Boone, North Carolina, which features a real coal-burning locomotive.  The kids had a ball, and it was great exercise walking up and down the mountain all day.

The only real problem is that it was cold and rainy.  Since I’m the one who always tells the kids to suck it up and stop whining when it rains, I had to act tough and try not to shiver.  It eventually warmed up to about 60, but that was right before we left.  Unfortunately, we didn't take my car, we drove in my mom’s, which doesn't have all of the extra clothes in it that my car does, so I had to be cold. (my car also has extra diet coke cans, books, tools, extension cords, flashlights, boots, coffee cups, mail, newspapers, cds, magazines, computer parts, and various other implements of destruction in it, so I’m usually set for any emergency).

I put some pictures up on flickr.

I went and voted today, so I don’t have to wait in line on the fourth.  At least now I’m done until 2010 or so, so I can stop even pretending to listen to the campaigns.

(they even gave me a sticker!)

When we went to the mountains, we stayed at McCrary Cabins, near Pisgah Forest.  The cabins were great, and the scenery was cool too.   What was even better was how the guy who owned the place acted:  I was supposed to be there by 3:00 to check in, but things were a little bit crazy here, so I didn't even leave Charlotte until after 5.  When I called the cabins to tell them I’d be late, he said “No problem, we’ll leave the key under the mat, and everything’s ready”.  The only thing I could have wished for was more blankets (because it was COLD), and the ability to set everything up by email, because then I wouldn't have had to actually TALK to anyone).

So if you ever want somewhere nice to stay in the mountains of North Carolina, McCrary Cabins is a good deal, and very reasonably priced.

I might have to make a return trip in the spring, when it warms up enough that falling into the river wont be a problem for the boys.

Eric and Alex and I went up to DuPont Forest this weekend to have some ‘man time’, it was great.  We went hiking, which was fun, except Eric and Alex kept falling into the river, and it was kind of cold.  The leaves were just at the perfect stage of yellow and gold.

We took peanut butter and jelly for lunch, and everyone had a great time.  Alex, of course, made sure that lunch was a happy event for everyone.

I put the whole set up on flickr.  I have about 700 more to go though later..I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I don’t think that it’s a secret that Eric HATES to get up early.  He got that from his Mom…he’d get up at 9:00 and go to bed at midnight if we let him.  Unfortunately for him, we don’t let him.  I took a picture of him yesterday that captures his mood at 6:00 AM every day when he has to get up.

Contrast this with Alex and Jake.  They don’t have nearly as much problem getting up.  Jake in particular will fall asleep on the floor, right where he was last playing, and wake up and start talking immediately, like he never quit.  I think he’s some form of alien.

OMAHA, Neb. - A second teenager from outside Nebraska has been left at an Omaha hospital under the state's unique safe-haven law, apparently after his parent flew to the city specifically to abandon him, state officials said Monday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27165057/

I wonder if I can get 5 plane tickets to Nebraska…..

(Note:  I’m not really serious about doing this (at this point in time), so don’t go getting all “call the Department of Social Services” on me).

Here’s a picture I took yesterday, I’m really having fun with my new camera.  I took it about a mile up the road from our new house, where the suburbs turn back into “country”.

I put the Halloween lights up today…my neighbors put up a bunch, so I couldn’t let them think that they had more Halloween spirit than me.

I made a ‘ghost’ picture with Eric and Alex’s help; I opened the shutter, counted to ten, and then had Alex run out of the frame, so he kind of looks like he’s a ghost attacking Eric.

My original blogfather, Jim, has quit blogging. He also took a new job in another part of the company, and isn’t even in the same building as me anymore.  I even owe him ten dollars, but has he come over here to complain about it?  NOoooooOOooOOOOoo.  You know what that means:

He’s dead to me.

OK, I can put up with the credit markets melting down, the stock market crashing, and even the train wreck of a presidential election that we’re having.  One thing though, makes me afraid that our country is soon to die.

They gave Paris Hilton another tv show. If you have the free Zune software, you can even get the first episode for free.  I may switch to iPods.  UGH.

I might actually watch a show where people go and laugh at her, but watching a bunch of people humiliate themselves to a television audience of dozens to get Paris Hilton to be their friend is too much.

We got to have Parent Teacher conferences today at the elementary school that Eric, Alex and Jake go to.  Today we learned that:

1. Eric is really smart, but he doesn’t do his homework.
2. Alex is really smart, but he is bossy and tries to tell the other kids what to do.
3. Jake is really smart, but he doesn’t like to follow instructions.

It’s amazing to me that they got all of their good qualities from me, but all of the bad qualities from Jenny.  She never comes here to read, so she’ll never know I said this <g>.

On a happier note, Izzy finally gave up her pacifiers, because she’s big now.  In return for giving the pacifiers away, the “Pacie Fairy” brought her a princess outfit.  As if she needed an OUTFIT for it.  She looks good in it though.

Today was nice and relaxing, for a change.  No one really did anything special, we just kind of hung around the house and put up some halloween decorations, etc.  Izzy was sort of cranky today, so I made a lolcat about it.

The kids are out of school tomorrow, but luckily my favorite mother in law is here!  Woohoo!

My Zombie got here from Design Toscano.  It’s cool…as you can see, one of the fingers fell off during shipping, but it’s still the perfect addition to our yard. 

Jake thinks it’s awesome.

Fall started a couple of weeks ago, and today was a perfect fall day:  it was about 75, blue skies and sunny.  I opened all the windows up and am letting the house air out.  It’s great.  Jenny’s in DC until tomorrow, and her mother is coming into town tomorrow too. The bad thing about it is that Jenny always gets freaked out about the house being a mess when her mom comes, so I’m trying to keep it nice.  When the kids leave tomorrow morning I’ll try to make it look good (but not TOO good, because I don't want her to think I don’t need her :-D).  Today, the ice cream truck came by, so we all sat outside and had popsicles.

Izzy got popsicle in her hair, on her face, on her legs, and all over, so I just went ahead and gave her a bath; she looked a lot better afterwards.  (This picture is also proof that I actually DO wash them when Jenny’s out of town)