Life has been pretty static lately. Not in a bad way. Life is good. Work is fine. Church is great. There's just not much to blog about.
Although, we did dress up for Halloween:
Troy was Tyrone Biggums.
Laura the Flapper, with Yesenia the Awesome Neighbor Friend.
Laura also dressed up as an Elf for the Ward Halloween party (thanks, Jenn, for such an awesome picture!)
And our kitchen ceiling started bulging:
Good thing the food storage kit was there to keep it in place! We live in an old building, and I guess some pipes upstairs were leaking.
They tore it out and let it dry for about a week. It's all better and back to normal now.
Chloe's still adorable.
She continues to be fascinated with the tub.
During the day, she sleeps on our pillows. Usually Troy's pillow, although on this particular day she felt like sharing her fur to both pillows.
At night, she sleeps on Laura's legs.
We also got a fish! Our neighbor friends upstairs couldn't find a peaceful spot for Li'l Blue to relax with their 2 cats, hamster, and other fish in the other tank, so... downstairs he came to live with us!
Li'l Blue
I (Laura) had to move his bowl to clean the kitchen counter, and Chloe jumped on the table to investigate this new creature and its suspicious smelling food bottle. I had to move his bowl back because she wouldn't stop messing with him.
And, Happy Veteran's Day! Thinking of all Vets and current military personnel today, including Laura's grandfather, uncle and cousins on both sides of the Team Raptor duo. Thank you all, brave men and women!
Then we went parasailing! One guy drove the boat, the other took pictures of us up in the air.
Afterwards, we went rock climbing. Well, Laura went rock climbing. It was empty when we got there - just us and the guy with the equipment. And since only I (Laura) was climbing, all attention was on me as I ascended the wall... It was weird. The guy offered another climb when I reached the top, but it was too weird for me to go up again with nothing for them to do except watch me. Plus, my weak twig arms were about to give out.
Next we headed to the beach for some kayaking (no pictures as we kept the camera safe and dry on land). Troy discovered he enjoys kayaking. Win! Then we grabbed some lunch, and caught the boat back to Long Beach. We had to cut the day short as Laura had a Continuing Music Therapy Education (CMTE) workshop to attend in Orange County that evening.
Laura does love her veggie sandwiches.
And Troy loves his bacon burgers.
Still, we were able to pack in a fantastic day full of birthday discounts for the birthday girl. Laura went around exclaiming, "It's my birthday!" at every business we gave our money to, whether or not a discount was available for her birthday. Yay birthdays!
After playing in Georgia for a day and a half, we headed down to Florida to see some of Laura's family.
Atlanta, GA to Sunrise, FL was the longest drive of our trip. About 10 hours.
Thanks, Aunt Andrea for letting us stay with you!
Thanks, Uncle Mike, for letting us stay with you!
Laura's cousins enjoyed playing with Troy's hair. He wore bows and braids in his hair more than once.
We watched Bryce wrestle with Athena.
Bryce also brought out the snake to play with, and Grandma was delighted to wear it around her neck.
We saw Aunt Colleen briefly.
And met Aunt Colleen's granddaughter briefly (Keira [spelling?] is the smallest one). Aryana and Grandma were hanging out, too. (Sorry I cut your head off in this pic, Gram!)
The kids (Aryana, Allisyn and Brayden in this picture) played with the dog. You can almost hear Athena sighing in this picture.
But Athena is such a good sport, she'll go along with just about anything the kids do to her. Here she is wearing a wig.
We also explored Miami area... It wasn't too far, about an hour away from the family's house.
Laura's biggest regret of the trip was not wearing or bringing her swim suit when we explored Miami. The beach was so inviting.. and we were wearing too many clothes! It was 100 degree (F) out, and probably 100% humidity... hence the gallon of water Laura lugged around. The smile in this picture was before Laura realized she couldn't go swimming (nudity is frowned upon in public).
For some reason, Troy looks like he's standing in front of a backdrop. Nope. The beach really was behind him.
Not really sure what this is about, but Laura thought it was funny, so she took a picture as we drove past.
We found some lizards.
We had some Cuban cafe food. (Troy's)
(Laura's)
Their restroom spelled "toilet" wrong.
Troy took this video while we were driving Miami Beach. And, of course, Troy being the baseball aficionado that he is, we went to the Marlins stadium.
This is where you get to eat if you spend $300 on a ticket.
They had a fish tank behind home plate, because they're the Marlins.
The bullpen was a dump...
but there was a pool just beyond the left field wall.
This has to be one of the largest collections of bobbleheads out there.
They even had some of Troy's favorite Astros.
Laura setting up in the press box.
The view from the press box.
Till next time, the South! Maybe next time we'll go in the winter.... when it's not so hot and sticky-icky-icky, ooo-wee.
