Halloween

Audrey has two crafty grandmothers! Grammy made Audrey's pumpkin hat this year which we have been trying to get her to wear for the last few weeks. We've only been successful a handful of times. Other times we have to result to holding Audrey's hands to keep her from taking the hat off immediately.

Grandma Vicki toiled away on her fancy new sewing machine to make Audrey's Halloween costume at our request. It was our request that she make something, but we left the creativity (and the sweating, stressing, and cursing) up to her. She surprised us with an adorable panda costume on Audrey's birthday.

So, here is your Halloween question: Where do you go on Halloween with your one-year-old in a rural area when you don't know anybody? Well, the Monster Rockfish Festival, of course!

I don't know if it is just festival season down here right now or if these festivals are what people do to keep themselves entertained when there is nothing else to do, but there sure are a lot of these sorts of events: Blessing of the fleet, Riverfest, Taste of St. Mary's, Monster Rockfish Festival, Patuxent River Days, Oyster Festival (home of the national oyster shucking contest), etc. They all are pretty much the same thing: parking on a grass field, a few dollar admission, free tours of some old buildings, the same 6 restaurants selling various types of meat on various types of bread (hot dogs, brisket sandwiches, stuffed ham sandwiches - a local favorite), $3 beers (always the same choices), a few tables set up with information about the local environment, a live band, some arts and crafts, one or two things about the actual event (a few of the restaurants had rockfish as an option on the menu), and the fancy events have free boat rides. They are getting a little predictable now, but they are fun, Audrey enjoys herself, and it gets us out of the house.

The remainder of the day was spent playing in leaves, crying, digging into her pumpkin up to her elbow, crying, trying to eat pumpkin goop, crying, heaving her dinner onto the floor, crying, and going to bed early. She was in quite a state after having her schedule turned on its head yesterday, but that was our fault, not hers. She definitely had some fun throughout the day between her manic fits, so mission accomplished. What's the verdict for next year? Can a newly minted two year old go trick-or-treating? We might give it a shot and we'll try not to go to any political rallies the day before.

Now, if you've made it this far, we've saved the best for last. Audrey showed us quite the trick this morning and it was definitely a treat for us (I think 1:05 "counts" for the baby book):

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

Yesterday we took a trip to D.C. to attend Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. Ironically, it was one of the more insane days we have had since we moved here.

We left fairly early - departing our house slightly before 8am. It was just a warm-up run, however, as we decided to take a 20 minute detour to return home and get her shoes that we forgot. Officially on the road by 8:20am, we had very little trouble getting to the rally. There was a 10 or so minute line to get tickets on the metro station, a 10 minute wait for the train to depart, a 20-ish minute train ride, and a 20-ish minute walk. All told, we had our spot claimed about half way back in the crowd (we know because the MythBusters timed how long it took to do a wave from the stage to the back of the crowd) at around 10:30am.

Getting home? That was a different story. I don't really want to talk about it.

It was definitely the biggest crowd I have ever been in. The scientific estimates put the numbers at 215,000 people on the National Mall. However, there were so many people there that apparently a ton of people got frustrated and watched it in local bars instead (including the one other person I know that went). We were just behind the last TV/speaker setup (there were 3 others between us and the stage). Knowing that we were only in the middle of the group, there were a lot of people who didn't see or hear anything behind us.

A ton of people are making a big deal about how the attendance numbers trounced the 87,000 people who showed up to Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally, but D.C. being an incredibly young and liberal city, it doesn't surprise me that a few T.V. stars, some thinly veiled politics, and a healthy dose of rock stars could draw a large crowd to a free "anti-system" event.

I was thinking about spewing off a big analysis of the event, but to be honest, I'm an end-user of politics/politicians. I treat the political system like I treat car manufacturers. When it's time for me to buy a new car, I don't base my decision solely on advertisements or what friends tell me. I do enough research to make an informed decision but I can't quote you the exact oil capacity of the front differential. I don't try to convince the world that my car is better than theirs and I definitely don't pretend that I know how to build cars better than the car manufacturers. For the most part I pay my repair bills without complaining but on the very rare occasion that I feel my local service department is trying to screw me, I'll speak up - but not too loud.  I definitely don't ride around town with those dealer license plate holders or worse - those decals they put on before you drive off the lot. In fact, I pretty much hate all car dealerships and really don't think I'd ever find one I'd be willing to advertise I bought my car from. I don't really enjoy talking about cars with people--I know there are car people out there, but I'm not one of them so please, don't try to talk about cars with me. And unfortunately, until they come up with transporters to do away with cars (I hope they do), I know cars will be part of my daily life. I just accept that and move on - trying to pick the best one I can at the time.

I felt like there were a lot of people with similar viewpoints around me. Sure, there were a ton of vocal people doing their politicking but I couldn't help to think that a good chunk of these people also refuse to put campaign signs up in their yards and probably haven't protested anything in their lives.

But yes, I admit, I do in fact take comfort in that there were 2.5 times more people at the "Sanity" rally than at Glenn Beck's rally.

Last Day of Being Zero Years Old

Tomorrow is the big day. Our little baby girl will be 1! I know I've said it a million times and I know it sounds cliche but I truly can't believe how fast she is growing up. Just to drive home the point, I give you both day 1, day 365, and one from her "almost 1 year old" portrait session the other day: