Halloween and Thanksgiving

In October, we moved to a new apartment, and as our first guest in our new place, we welcomed a good friend whom we had first met in Kyrgyzstan 10 years ago. Saule now she lives in L.A. so it worked out nicely to come visit us over Halloween weekend. We made sure she got the full American Halloween experience, from pumpkin carving to pumpkin pie to dressing up to trick-or-treating. Plus, Texas managed to blast her with dramatic weather - pouring rain, howling wind, and terrific thunder. (One morning, when I came downstairs, she told me her phone had been beeping with both flood and tornado warnings. "Is this normal??" she asked with big eyes. Luckily, she loves rain. As do I.)

Welcome!

We took walks in the sprinkles and ran along the pier at a nearby park in the raging wind. We decorated some skulls. We ate kasha. And we carved pumpkins!

Mmm, kasha.

They turned out beautifully! Look at that center pumpkin - Saule, you're a natural! 

Next up, costumes and face paint. Josh was a vampire-ish sort of creature, the boys were dragons (Sebby wore the dino/dragon costume I made him last year; I was flattered), and I was Elsa (it was too hard to pass up now that I can definitely pull off that side braid). Saule, in Halloween anticipation, brought her costume with her - a gypsy.

I experimented with some Johnny-Depp action on the eyes. Freaky.

Aww!

Off to trick or treat!

It was sprinkling when we left, so we grabbed our umbrellas and braved the rain anyway. We were determined to show Saule how it's really done (and mall trick-or-treating is definitely NOT how it's done), not to mention we were eager to take advantage of our new neighborhood with friendly residential homes and sidewalks. The rain picked up, smearing our face paint and moistening our clothes. Though not the most ideal trick-or-treating weather, it was somehow fitting. The dark and gloom, the wind-driven rain - it was all very Halloweeny. We even got to enjoy one family's rather scary haunted house they created inside a trailer on their front lawn. Plus, with the weather deterring a lot of trick-or-treaters, the neighbors were EXTREMELY generous with their candy!

All that running about in the rain made us hungry!

Before she left, we also had to make sure she saw our favorite nature park - the Armand Bayou. It was, of course, sprinkling, but only lightly. We saw turtles and even a calm deer who let us watch her for quite some time. 

On the way to the airport, we stopped at the Aquarium restaurant for a snack, and made sure she got to pet a sting ray before heading back to California. It was a short visit, but we managed to pack a lot in. It was great to have her!

Our Thanksgiving was cute and cozy. Like last year, we made a huge feast and ate it for several days - just like it should be. Mmm. Complete with two kinds of pies, apple and pumpkin.

And this year, we happen to have our own real fireplace (an odd feature in Texas apartments), which makes Christmas decorating just that much better.