Boo Bash at Bridgeport School

There were 4 themed rooms for our Haunted Stage.  The first was a tarot card room, second was the haunted forest/graveyard, third was the strobe light room with hanging spiders and bats and the fourth was the cafe with "finger" sandwiches, bloody wedding cake and amputated arms with rats eating them.  In this room we had a standing mannequin as the waiter.  We had some dummys sitting in the chairs and a couple of real people dressed up in costume so when the people came through they didn't know who was real.  Erick did a great job with this, he scared LOTS of people by being still until they came right up to him.  He was great!!!

When Alexia began school here in August I wanted to get as involved as I could.  They are huge on parent participation and because of it they are an accredited, distinguished and blue ribbor school here in California...which isn't easy to do.  I joined the PTA and have enjoyed all the new friends I've met as well as how the school runs, their beliefs, how the fundraisers work & where the money is going.  I'm so happy that I have done that.

Here was the tarot card room, with a spooky talking witch inside a glass ball.  Battery operated candles, old books and skulls were all part of this room.

I volunteered to help out with the annual Boo Bash.  It's a Halloween festival that has games, prizes, contests and the main attraction...the Haunted Stage.  I was fortunate enough to work with 2 other women on this enormous project (little did I know what I was getting myself into)  We spent several hours a week planning, shopping, decorating and working together to make this better than last year.  Luckily one of the women, Sabrina, had a great vision and the accessibility to many "real props".  Here husband, Al, is the master prop person for the TV show "Criminal Minds".  I have to say, we had some very real looking limbs, teeth along with professional fog machines and whatnot.  The other woman, Dianne is a graphic design artist and created all the signs and menus for the Bistro. It turned out to be bigger & better than any of us could have imagined.  We spent a whole weekend setting it up, lucky Erick was recruited to help and believe it or not had fun and met some great people.  All the hard work paid off and even 6th graders were impressed (they are always the most critical since they are the oldest in the school).  We heard so much positive feedback

The haunted graveyard/forest with spooky music and live branches hanging from the celing and taped to the walls.  We had real leaves, bark mulch and moss on the ground so it made it crunchy and smelled just like a forest when you walked through.  Erick had fun hanging the branches from the ceiling :)  Thanks babe!  Alexia was so proud that Erick & I worked on this project and I got a chance to see her during school hours now & then since I was there.  I love that part, knowing that she sees our participation and how important it is to volunteer.  

We hope you all have a safe and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Fall season in Cali

So here they are, Erick and Lexi atop a hay pile at Lombardi's Ranch.  This is a popular place here that everyone goes.  It has the horse drawn carriage rides, train ride around the corn fields, pumpkin patch, sunflower maze, music and food.  It's really pretty, on this day it was in the low 70's which was a pleasant change from the 100's we've been experiencing since we arrived in August.  I guess our blood is beginning to thin because it actually felt cool to us.   

Alexia and I are chowing down on the caramel apples we made as we soak our feet in a warm bath and watch Extreme Home Makeover.  This was a Sunday night ritual we did together in NH and we've tried to continue all the fun things we used to do with her, out here.  I was really looking forward to these caramel apples.  They were so yummy, although we don't have Macintosh apples out here...bummer.  Fall is definitely different out here.  We miss the beautiful tree colors of New England.  In this picture you can get a glimpse of our apartment. But we don't miss the cold and front of October either :)

Alexia picked this pumpkin out of the thousands on display.  When we carved it that night, it came out so awesome, of course I didn't take a picture:(  We used the stencil and carving utensils from that little kit.  Unfortunately it didn't even last a week before it started rotting and becoming moldy inside.  We wanted to preserve it until Halloween so we went online and they mentioned coating it with vegetable oil, so we did but within a day it was looking & starting to smell nasty.  Make a note: no vegetable oil on pumpkins. Guess we learned for next year!
 

Alexia is enjoying a dish of shaved ice as we took a break from the train ride and pumpkin picking.  Look at us in our pants, isn't that funny.  Every day other than this we've been in tank tops and shorts and still are.  It's been in the 90's this month, average.  I thought they said it was going to cool down in October...oh yeah, it has from the 100's.  Although the heat is different, we are loving it.  Sure is better than the 30's and 40's you guys are experiencing back East, and the snow you're already getting in upstate NY and NJ, what's up with that?  Better put snowsuits on the kids and winter boots to go trick-or-treating tomorrow.

We went to a park in Castaic, just minutes from us here in Valencia.  Alexia is in a play area climbing a tree.  It was an interesting visit there, pretty park but not a lot to do.  The lake was beautiful, we had a picnic lunch and watched the model gas engine airplane competitions.  These little planes sure looked like the real thing just smaller and they were performing some cool stunts in the air.  

  Here she is, Alexia in high heels in a store on the famous Promenade in Santa Monica. Doesn't she just look fancy. She just seems to enjoy wearing them.  She is already a size 6 in ladies.  Look how happy she is!
     Here's Alexia with one of the ghouls from Hollywood Blvd.  There were so many characters out.  What a beautiful day it was.  We went on a Beverly Hills/Bel Air tour of the stars homes.  We saw Jennifer Garner & Ben Affleck, DR. Phil, Angelina Jolie, Victoria & David Beckham, Katie Holmes & Tom Cruise...well, we saw their homes not them.  Just a gorgeous area.  Alexia got a big kick out of it.  And for all of you Borat fans...we went to the sandwich place owned by Azamat. We just missed meeting him. He is so funny.
    Alexia's costume for Halloween tomorrow.  She's a Navy girl.  Can you belive she's actually wearing a dress?  She's usually Darth Vader, Grim Reaper or Spider Man.  She actually wanted to be this, my dad is proud (since he was a Navy man himself).  It's going to be nice to trick or treat without jackets and coats this year.  She can actually wear her costume just as it is.  
Here's the big stud!  He's playing volleyball now on Monday nights.  Alexia and I look forward to watching him now.  He plays with friends we met through Diann and my Dad.  Although Erick is about 15 years older than the other players he keeps up and then some.  Although he's in amazing shape, his body was pretty sore the first few weeks of playing.  He's improved his game quite a bit and the team is excited to have him because he brings some competitiveness to the game.  They play 3 games a night and they have won every one of their games except for one night they lost all 3.  They are really good and hope to continue through the rest of the season undefeated.  We're keep you posted.