Halloween 2011

We normally all get dressed up and go to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat event.  This year we had the opportunity to go to the NSA family night and it happened to be the same night.  Families are only allowed into this building on a special night and it's once a year.  We're hoping to get out of Maryland sometime soon so we didn't want to miss out on this event and chose to go to it rather than the ward party.  It was totally worth it, too.  They provided a dinner and had very talented face painters, balloon artists and hair artists (they would put those feathers or other stringy things that are very popular now into your hair... I'm not a fan of them).  They also had pumpkins for the kids to decorate.  They had all kinds of information booths set up, some more interesting than others.  We got to meet a couple of police dogs, see some cool weapons and other instruments, get inside a police car, see a robot that disabled bombs and they had lie detectors set up to demonstrate on people.  Mina had her face painted like a cat and she literally walked around with a mirror in hand and just looked at herself every few minutes and would say, "I'm a cat!"  She LOVED it!  So, we walked around from booth to booth and collected candy from each one.  Yes, each booth handed out candy.  So, the only things we missed out on by not going to the ward party were the chili and friends.  We had a lot of fun.
On Halloween night, we drove to the Milligan's house to go treat or treating in their neighborhood.  Teresa is Mina's best friend so they, of course, loved the fact that they got to spend time together.  It took Mina a few houses to feel comfortable enough to go to the door without Dru or me, but she was a pro before long.  Soon enough Teresa and Mina would each knock AND each ring the door bell and say "trick or treat!"  It was so much fun watching them.  Each time Mina was handed some candy, she would run back to us yelling, "I got the candies!"  She is so funny.  Dalia fell asleep midway through our trip, but she was pretty good the whole time.

  

The first picture was the face painting Mina had done at the family night.  The other two were me practicing on Mina.  Face painting is a lot of fun and Mina loves pretending.

Invasion of the Budges: Part 2 - The 6 pound milkshake challenge

Stephane deserves a post all his own.  Chick and Ruth's Diner was featured on the show 'Man vs. Food."  How he managed to eat, in an hour, a pound hamburger and then fit 6 pounds of creamy, peanut buttery milkshake into a stomach that is supposed to be the size of his fist is beyond me.  Yet, he did it.  He got a T-shirt and his picture on the wall.  Here is a picture story of the feat.

Doesn't look so bad.

Second thoughts?

Scarfing the hamburger down.

Tasting the milkshake for the first time.

Almost done with the hamburger.

Feeling full already?

Suddenly the milkshake seems 10 times bigger.

Gulpity-gulp-gulp-gulp.

He finished half pretty quickly.

Hazel was looking cute as always.

Two thirds done and he had to start standing to make more room.

Meanwhile, William was eating every pickle in the restaurant.

And, Meagan decided to attempt drinking a 6 pound milkshake herself.

Sipping slowly.

And, the rest of us decided to share a single 6 pounder.  We're smart.

It was so good and we enjoyed it more because we weren't trying to fit the whole thing into a single belly.

So close, yet so far.

Mina liked our milkshake.

The glass is almost as tall as she is.

Meagan is about ready to give up.  She got cold.

The empty cup.  

Our waitress poured the last little bit into a regular cup to make it seem more doable.

William is still going strong.

Still going.

Back to those pickles.

Back to the milkshake.  I really think this kid could have done it on his own.

The face of a champion.