Happy Halloween 2010

Our friends, The McCallisters, joined us for tricking-or-treating in the neighborhood. For the second year in a row, Ben arrived in the exact same costume that Mason had chosen, too funny! Mackenzie dressed as a Justin Bieber Fan and decided to spend Halloween with some of her middle school friends in a different neighborhood. At the end of the evening I decided to reward myself with a piece of Mason's candy. Not such a good idea, a crown on a tooth came off. Looks like I will be heading to the dentist the week :(

Go Rangers, Go Rangers!

My sister (who lives in Lubbock) and my sister-in-law (who lives in Dallas) are all over Facebook with posts about the Texas Rangers making the World Series. Truthfully, Darin and I aren't really baseball fans and don't follow the Rangers. However, since we are from Texas, we decided we should step up to the plate and root for the team. The Rangers are only one of three teams that have never made it to the World Series. So between homework and football practice the kids and I decided to bake some cookies for tonight's first game.

The cookie cutters looked so cute at the store.

Not sure what happened with the actual cookies :(

3rd Annual Road Trip

A good friend and I jumped into our minivans this morning and drove to Bradenton, Florida for our third visit to the Hunsader Farms Pumpkin Festival and Corn Maze. With two moms and five kids it is always an adventure. We are afraid our little fall secret is out, this was the most crowded it has ever been and for the first time we recognized some fellow Neapolitans. Still, a great time was had by all!

Shooting ears of corn

The newest attraction, the Amazing Wallendas

Cooling off in the 85 degree weather with shaved ice

While on a road trip someone always feels the need to use the restroom in what I call "the middle of nowhere." Yes, we had to stop at one of those gas stations! You know what I am talking about, the kind where the bathroom is still located outside. The kind that post all of the town's local information on its windows. The kids and I found great humor in reading some of the signs.

International Travelers, not!

We made a quick stop at the St. Agnes International Festival. It featured food, decorations and dancing from many countries. Our visit was made short due to the huge crowd of people. I think there were more visitors than St. Agnes had ever expected. Darin and I tease that our kids are not ready to leave the country due to their picky eating. There were so many choices of international foods to try. Mason ended up with fried chicken and corn from the USA and Mackenzie ended up with nothing. At least now they both agree that they are not ready to travel abroad with us.

HLHS Update

As many of you already know, Keaton Andrew Morgan was born on October 17, 1996. Since today would have been his 14th birthday I thought it would be an opportune time to update you on some new Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome facts. One in every 5,000 babies in the United States will be born with HLHS. The first generation of HLHS survivors are now in their early to mid 20's. A study released in September of 2009 revealed that for seven years, doctors at several hospitals in Boston and Harvard Medical School have been detecting HLHS in fetuses. 70 future HLHS patients underwent surgery while still in the womb and 30% were born with two functional ventricles, that is 17 children who will not have HLHS.

Mackenzie took the time to bake and decorate a cookie cake to celebrate the day. Mason said we should leave one piece uneaten in honor of Keaton, pretty thoughtful for a 9 year old.

Casamento

Years ago, while Darin was working in Miami, we attended many Cuban weddings and even one Greek wedding. Tonight, we experienced our first Brazilian wedding. Like the Cuban weddings, a Brazilian wedding never starts on time. As a matter of fact, this is one started 1 1/2 hours late. The entire ceremony was spoken in Portuguese and translated into English by one of the groomsmen. It also included three solos by the wedding party. One in English, two in Portuguese including one sung by the bride to her groom.

The reception started with berry smoothies that were delivered to each table. The buffet line included rice, potatoes, chicken casserole and shredded pork. We weren't sure what ingredients were in each of the dishes but they tasted delicious! Brazilians must have sweet tooth because there was a tremendous amount of desserts and handmade chocolates in addition to the cake.

Congrats to Isabel and Robert! Thanks so much for inviting the Morgans, we sure had a good time.

Pumpkin Picking

After Mass we stopped at our first pumpkin patch of the season. Three weeks from today we will be making our 3rd annual road trip to the Hunsader Pumpkin Festival and Corn Maze in Bradenton, we can't wait!

A Taste of Rome

Darin decided to make a quick dash over to Palm Beach to attend the Rush concert. While he was gone, Mason and I decided to join friends for dinner in Rome, Italy (well, not exactly, but pretty darn close).

Like Rome, the restaurant was located in a piazza with a fountain.

Like Rome, the main seating was outdoors.

Like Rome, delicious pizza!