Halloween weekend

Jen, Rebekah, and I had a fun weekend this past week. It all started on Friday with the Trunk or Treat at church. I had been to one before but I was part of the planning and had to make sure everything ran smoothly so I was never really able to enjoy it. Plus this year I had a 17 month old toddler to go with. Everything seems new when it's seen through her eyes. For those who aren't familiar with the concept of the trunk or treat, I will explain. This is an activity in which people decorate the trunks of their cars, set up in the church parking lot, and pass out candy to the children who come by. You know all the candy is safe because it is coming from people at church who also have children, and the environment is safe because you don't have to worry about you child being run down on the street by some drunk coming home from a party. Jen and I decorated our trunk like a haunted forest. It was really fun and I wish I had remembered to take some pictures to post here because we did a great job. As I said previously, Rebekah was little red riding hood and looked VERY cute. She even carried around a little straw basket to complete the look. Jen and I went as trees and we were disappointed that almost none of the adults dressed up. We didn't really care because for us we were having fun. Jen made the costumes by herself and they came out awesome. I didn't know my wife was so crafty. All in all, we had a great time and enjoyed ourselves immensely. I know Rebekah did too since she didn't get to sleep until 9 (bedtime is usually 7).

For work on Friday I went as a nudist on strike, which didn't turn out as funny as I would have liked, but again, I don't really care since I just did it for me. It was a busy day for sure.

On Saturday morning, we all went out for breakfast at my favorite place: Cracker Barrel. If I could afford to eat there every day, and I didn't have to worry about my health, I would. After breakfast, we went to Rebekah's gym class. It was bring a buddy day, so we had one of Jen's friends from work come with us with her 10 month old daughter. I think they both liked it, so hopefully next time they'll come with us again. It was nice to be there with Jen and Rebekah though since every other week it's just me and Rebekah. The festivities continued (after a nap) with going to the Greater Gulf State Fair. I capitalize only because that would be the only thing that was big about this fair. I don't know what people around here consider a large fair (as Jen was told it was), but this was far from that. There weren't very many exhibits, the petting zoo consisted of a few goats, a camel, and a yak. They didn't even have cows or horses on display for everyone to look at. Now, I didn't expect it to be as big as the New York State Fair (capitalized because it is that big) or even like the south Florida State Fair. But honestly, a few booths that sell funnel cakes, corn dogs, pizza, and cotton candy do not make a fair. After the disappointment of the fair, we hoped that trick or treating at our house would go well. While we didn't get an overabundance of children, we did have quite a few. It was about what we expected since we don't really live in a big neighborhood and the next neighborhood over is a retirement community. So now we have a whole lot of left over candy which we get to eat!

Then on Sunday, we had a very relaxing and spiritual day at church. What a great way to end a weekend.

So I promised a review of the new Creed CD, Full Circle. It is actually quite good. While you can definitely tell its Creed, their sound has evolved some since their last album almost 6 years ago. We saw them in concert and it was a great show. The album has some slower power ballads, as you would expect from Creed, but there are some heavier hitting songs as well. The drumming has gotten more complex as well. This is because Scott Phillips is growing as a drummer and he is still one of my favorites. The lyrics are empowering, and about starting new or overcoming adversity. This makes sense considering what Scott Stapp has been through the past few years. The guitar work is a technical mastery and Mark Tremonti is amazing. So my grade is A-. Overall very good and it will be a long time before it leaves my CD player.

Also, I am about 150 pages into the new WoT novel, The Gathering Storm. One word: Awesome. Can't wait to see what happens next!