Happy Halloween!!!

Hello, all, and Happy Halloween!

Things have been B-U-S-Y! Bray is, as we speak, on his way back from Houston....where he was auditioning for the San Francisco Merola program. He made finals, and then, according to Bray, sang the best he's ever sung at an audition! We won't find out if we made it in for a few weeks, as they have to send us a letter. We shall be sure to keep everyone updated!

In the meantime, Hobbes and I have been hanging out in Monroe, keeping busy with Halloween activities, parks, and a little shopping. We are going to Alabama/Florida this weekend to see Bray's grandparents and go to a friend's wedding- we shall be driving with Wendy and Charity, so it shall be a full house, but a fun trip. Pray for our travels!

So, I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful, if not somewhat too warm here, fall weather, and enjoy the pics!

Here is Hobbes taking a break from the sun in the tube in the park structure. Down below, he is grinning as wide as he can in the swing!

Now here's Jaiken in the tube at the park...looking through the peephole! Below, Hobbes is fascinated by the pumpkin we carved.

To the left is Charity's pumpkin, below is my pumpkin...sooo cute!

Hobbes really wanted to come out and help us light the pumpkins...he kept his hand on the glass next to the door the whole time! Below, it was actually pseudo-cold a few nights ago, so I took the opportunity to put him in one of his very cute hat-sweater combos. He was waving hi to me while atop Gigi's counter.

And here are the pics from this evening...I have a better one I shall put up later of Hobbes, but for now, here's my Charlie Brown! He played the go fish game...but couldn't quite figure out that you put the fish back in the water when you were done.

Hobbes ran around chasing the ball, while Jaiken was a crawfish who ate candy the WHOLE evening! We had lots of fun!

Pics of Hobbes...finally!

Here is a pic of Bray and I for my birthday...but I did say this would be pics of Hobbes, so here we go!

















Here are some outside pics...it's actually been a little cooler here lately, so I've had a chance to put him in some coats and hats. The one of him in the raincoat was yesterday...when it was POURING rain, and Hobbes just wanted to stand outside in it forever! He kept putting his hand out to feel the rain hitting it. So fun!!!


















The one of Hobbes by the curtain is another of his favorite pasttimes...he hides behind the curtain and then 'jumps' out to roar and scare me. We hope you all are doing well...miss and love you!

Washington DC!!!!

Well.... to quickly fill you all in on why we went to DC, Marissa and Nick, our friends in this first pic, have relatives in DC who own an apartment. A few months ago, Marissa asked us if we would like to go on a trip with them to DC when we had our fall break. Our break happened to fall on the week of my birthday, so we combined the trip as a late anniversary/birthday celebration. We left the morning of Oct.7, after depositing Hobbes with Charity, Bethany and Wendy. Our trip was full of seeing everything possible in DC- the monuments, memorials, museums, shopping...you name it! So, to summarize, here are the pics:
First, the 4 of us on top of the Kennedy Center, trying not to get blown away/ Bray and I in Annnapolis, after our tour of the Naval Academy. Bray looking picturesque over the water in Annapolis.

The National Observatory(beautiful!)/ Me next to the statue of President Garfield during our tour of the Capitol building/
Near the African Art museum, taking a crazy pic with Marissa and Lydia/ Bray and I in front of the original Smithsonian building/





























Bray and I in front of the huge pillars of the Library of Congress/Part of the engraving of the walls of the WWII memorial, showing the Beach at Normandy/


The World War II memorial...amazing! One of my new favorites/
A dinosaur at the Museum of Natural history, Bray lovved the dinosaurs!:)/ Bray enjoying the hugeness of the Washington Monument/
In front of the apartment building we stayed in, which was a block from the National Cathedral/

In other words....we had a FABULOUS time! It was nice to be kid free for a week- although we missed Hobbes horribly....but the same cannot be said for him. He loved playing with the cousins, getting war wounds from stick battles, and hanging with G. G. and his 2 aunts. We are all back home now, and I shall put up some more pics of my birthday(23!) and Hobbes enjoying freedom from parents. Love to you all, and miss you terribly! Happy Halloween by the way!