Halloween 2019 ... cold

Halloween 2019 was cold. Let me say that louder ... IT WAS COLD. With the temperature hovering around 32 degrees, only the intrepid ventured out ... approximately 1,600 of them.

 

Fortunately, we had lots of volunteer helpers, who were possibly enticed by the promise of mega pizzas and craft beers. Volunteers and visitors included Dad, Nancy, Lynn, Paul, Toni, Keegan, Blake, Myriah, Sheena, Harry, Haley, Jason, Hadley, and Eleanor. Baili of the Washburn International Program brought 6 Japanese exchange students to experience their first American Halloween. We also loved seeing Samantha's childhood friend, Hannah, who stopped by with her husband and toddler Georgia from London.

We also got a welcome visit from Cal and Heather with their children allowing us to help celebrate their first wedding anniversary. Our dear friends Mark and Kris also visited. We reminisced about their marriage in our living room 31 years ago on November 1st. 

So, even if the temperature was COLD, we felt lots of warmth.

Samantha's Birthday

We traveled to Redwood City to celebrate Samantha's Birthday. The day after we arrived, their ancient sewer line backed-up. Yuck! So, here is George the Plumber performing precision sewer surgery under the watchful eye of Aria's Halloween pumpkin.

Ta-da ... new sewer line.

As it ends up, he was able to save their beautiful aggregate sidewalk. Kudos to George the Plumber.

OK ... back to the birthday. Samantha turned 39. Yep, it was 39 years ago that we brought this cute baby home. We had no idea what we were doing. Still don't. Even so, we soooooo enjoy spending time with her, Jake and the kids. Fun photos to be posted as time allows.

In addition to the birthday celebration, we spent several days doing tons of handyman projects around the house. Nothing big, but lots of little things. Helen has a list.

Most importantly, we got to spend time with our wonderful grandchildren including visits to their schools. Bing School for Aria and Synapse School for George.

And Rosie grows more fun every day.

It was a most excellent Birthday trip.

Mega love to the 5 Qs.

P.S. Luckily, the Qs missed - by a mere 10  blocks - the forced power outages due to the numerous forest fires in the area.  Millions of people were impacted by these outages.

Except for a brief whiff of smoke, and an amazing view from the airplane of massive amounts of smoke on our way home, we escaped unscathed.  Lucky us.