Pumpkins!

DS and I carved pumpkins!  He did a scary face, and I did Totoro.  Sitting on the floor and bending over a pumpkin is a lot harder this year, but I managed it.  And we have a ton of seeds for roasting!  I'm really proud of DS's pumpkin, he did a great job.  I sketched it out for him because we didn't have any templates or anything this year (not my design, found it online), and he wasn't sure he could actually carve it. But it looks great!

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6th Anniversary

Wow, I can't believe we've been married for six whole years.  Seems like no time at all.  But it also sort of seems like a lifetime.  It's hard to remember life without him, and honestly, I don't want to.  He is my anchor, and as long as he's with me I feel like I will never be lost.  Life is an adventure that we will face together and always come out okay.  Or even better than okay.  It is more than I ever expected for myself, and I am so thankful.

We spent the day doing fun things.  We went to Linvilla Orchards for the first time.  That place is so insane!  I can't remember the last time I've been among that many people at once.  It was a little overwhelming.  But then, it's the last weekend before Halloween is celebrated for most places.  We thought about apple picking since we didn't get to do that the weekend before, but I think the chaos of the place made us decide against it.  Don't worry, we did get the most important thing, which was apple cider!  They even sell it in these tiny jugs that were perfect for the ride home.

Portable cider!

Tonight we had reservations at City Tavern, which is probably the oldest restaurant in Philly.  You might remember it from when I got to try my first shrub.  This was the first time I've actually eaten there though, and it was DS's first time period.  All the tables are candlelit, which is a nice touch.  The water is served in metal cups.  I had an amazing pot pie.  It was a perfect way to end the day.  Love you babe.

6th Anniversary, at Linvilla Orchards

Babymoon

I had been hearing talk of this babymoon thing early on through my baby app forums.  I'd never heard of such a thing, but the general idea is that you take a romantic vacation, just the two of you, before the baby comes and shakes up everything.  I thought that sounded lovely, especially considering we have two on the way at once.  Some people were talking about big fancy vacations.  One lady even went to Fiji for hers.  I knew we wouldn't be able to do anything like that for several reasons, but that's just fine.  What we decided on instead was our very first bed and breakfast experience, and it was just perfect.

I did some research for B&Bs in the Poconos area.  Neither of us had been there, and we were hoping to go sometime in October in the hopes of catching some lovely foliage.  We chose the Gatehouse Country Inn, which was so amazing.  They have little add on packages you can get, so we did the babymoon package.  It was basically snacks in the room when we got there, but the apple pomegranate sparkling cider was seriously delicious.  It was a really nice way to start the weekend.*

I had been worried about the trip in general because some people are on bedrest by this point.  Thankfully, not only am I still fully mobile, but we were even able to go hiking on Saturday!  We did the Tumbling Waters Trail, which is about 3 miles round trip with a 400ft elevation gain.  I was a bit worried about that last part, but I really wanted to see the waterfall!  The majority of the hike was super easy with lots of big lovely trees and some lakes.  But you had to hike down a big hill to get to the waterfall and then back up up up to leave.  That part took some time.  I had to rest a lot, because it's so hard getting oxygen into my system with all the extra blood.  Plus, the babies steal most of what I do get.  But I managed the whole thing without incident, and DS was super awesome about being patient and waiting for me to inch my way up.  So worth it.

Of course, afterwards I ate a feast and then took a 2 hour nap...

Sunday we found a close farm and pick pumpkins out of a patch.  It feels like it's been forever since I've done that!  We were going to go apple picking too, but it would seem the area had a horrible harvest because of a late frost killing off all the blossoms in the spring :(  That was kind of sad, but I made up for it by getting the world's biggest pumpkin.  Okay, not really, but it is 30lbs!

Oh, and the breakfasts!  Man, so delicious.  I need to learn how to make a sun-dried tomato quiche.  Really a perfect weekend.  So happy we had this time together.

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*Unfortunately, right before we arrived we saw a baby deer cross the road, which was followed by its mother.  I was so excited, and then absolutely crushed when the mom hobbled across the street on 3 legs.  She had recently been hit and her fourth leg was managed.  I bawled like a baby.  I'm tearing up now just thinking about it.  *sigh*

Beautiful Fall Day

The weather today is kind of amazing.  Perhaps a little hotter than I would want in October (the high is 81°F), but slightly breezy with just a few clouds.  I spent the day at the local park with my friend Sarah and her toddler friend, who we've been calling "Mark" here.  The whole place has been decorated for fall.  There are hay bales and cornstalks around the lampposts surrounding the fountain, which are ornamented with various kinds of pumpkins and mums.  The buildings and miniature golf course have fake spiderwebs all over them.  The carousel is playing spooky music.  Perfect.

This may very well have been my last chance to go to the park with this little guy, which is sad.  He's starting school, and Sarah will be moving on to a new family that isn't close enough for us to have this kind of park time.  I will really miss it.  It gets me out of the house, which I'm sure will be something I'm really craving soon.  Plus Mark is tons of fun and adorable.  He's taught me a lot about caring for toddlers that I hope I'll remember by the time my kids are his age.  I'm not even sure when I'll see Sarah once she's working somewhere else.  This was the bulk of our hanging out, and now we'll have to actually try to schedule in time around work :/

But enough sad stuff.  Today was just great.  And it was also completely filled with pumpkin.  I had a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks with their pumpkin scone for breakfast, and then the pumpkin pie milkshake from Square Burger this afternoon.  Seriously, fall is just the absolute best.

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PA Shower

Man, I'm tired.  Who would have thought that running around in a field while 24 weeks pregnant with twins wear you out?  Ha!

This weekend was my local PA shower.  It was so lovely, truly.  A lot smaller than the KY, mostly because the majority of our friends are now spread far and wide and are hard to gather.  I am so thankful for the three that came in for the weekend; two from Albany and one from Syracuse.  Not the worst drive in the world, but a decent distance for a party.  I love that we have places to put people when they come to town, even if it's limited.

This particular party was hosted by my friend Bri at her dad's house.  He has a huge yard, big deck, and a pool.  Unfortunately, it ended up be too chilly for a pool, though he did invite us back to teach the kids how to swim once they're here!  There was badminton and bocce ball, an adorable cat named Gray, lots of craft beer for DS, and food!

Seriously, the food.  Bri made almost everything.  We had burgers and hot dogs from the grill, baked mac and cheese, fruit, hummus, chips, some soda.  Then came the desserts!!  Apple pie, strawberry shortcake cupcakes, both vanilla bean and pumpkin ice cream.  I tell you what, homemade desserts are where it's at!

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23 Week Growth Scan

The babies are officially 23 weeks and 1 day!  We had a growth scan today, which is just a follow up to the anatomy scan.  Much shorter though!

Both babies weigh 1lb 2oz each.  They're breech and sitting on my bladder, turds.  The docs say they look perfect, and we don't have to go back for four weeks.  We're really happy :)

Baby A

Baby B had his back to us the whole time.

Bliss

Today has been a good day.  No, a great day.

The high was 72.  DS stayed home with me this morning since we had an OB appt at 8:45am.  I wore some of my new clothes from Mom.  The OB appt went great, which was really nice considering I left the last one crying because that doctor kept telling me I had gained way too much weight.  This guy didn't even mention it.  I got a prescription for my heartburn, and haven't had a problem all day.  This is amazing.

This afternoon I met Sarah and her little friend at the park.  I enjoyed my free Pumpkin Spiced Latte from Starbucks for my birthday.  I talked to another mom.  Everyone had good times.

When I got home, the giant box from my mom had arrived, along with my new knitting needles (sizes 1-14!) that I got with my birthday money.  The windows were still open and the house feels great.  I mapped out the day and discovered I walked 3.79 miles today.  I'm having homemade soup for dinner.

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The Rest of KY

The rest of my visit to KY was kind of busy but fun.  It went as follows:

Monday: Spent the day on the internet, then the evening with the parents watching tv and playing Sudoku.

Tuesday: Met a girl from my pregnancy forum to go shopping in Lexington.  Had sushi (not the raw stuff, *sigh*) and ice cream.  Went back to town and hung out with my stepdad for a while.  Drove out to Anna and Jason's house, where I played with their cat and bunny and talked baseball.  Then had dinner with Anna (delicious).

Wednesday: Woke up to balloons and a card for my birthday, and one card from "the babies".  Hung out with my old neighbor Raiden and her youngest.  Watched The Corpse Bride twice (kids...).  Went shopping with Mom for my birthday (hello new clothes!  hello Kohl's 50% off sale!).  Had dinner with the parents for my birthday.  Had a friend stop by after dinner that I hadn't seen since high school for cupcakes and ice cream.

Thursday: By this point I was exhausted.  No naps all week!  Lots of running around.  So I was slow moving, but managed to shower and eat before the parents took me to the airport.  We had lunch there before I went through security, because they are awesome like that.  Got back to Philly and found a cab, which drove like an absolute maniac.  I was honestly a little scared, not to mention uncomfortable hitting the bumps in the crap roads at those speeds and feeling my whole uterus bounce.  I don't recommend it.  Got home, collapsed for a while, waited for DS to get home.  The rest of that day is a blur.. I assume I ate, but I don't remember what.

On the way there I had packed my largest suitcase with my carryon inside it.  All of my stuff fit inside the carryon, which meant the entire large suitcase was free for taking home shower gifts.  I ended up filling that, filling the diaper bag I got and having that be my carryon instead, and still Mom had to ship me two boxes of stuff.  And for reference, one was books, and one was clothes and boppy pillows that weighed 35lbs.  THIRTY-FIVE POUNDS.  To say we were given a lot of stuff would be an understatement.  We are very lucky.

Ky Baby Shower!

I'd say my first baby shower was a huge success!  So exciting :D  We had a great turn out, and my mom really went all out organizing everything.  The theme was "Two Peas in a Pod", and there were yellow and green streamers and balloons decorating the house.  We even had themed M&M's.  Mom made almost all of the food herself, including pulled pork bbq, which I even liked.  SURPRISE!  We also had three different flavors of cupcakes from my friend Lisa that were so delicious I had two.

Here are a few of the photos from the day.  You can see the rest here if you're so inclined!

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Friendly Visits

Whew!  We just finished having two sets of house guests here.  Fun times!  Though sleeping arrangements Friday night when they overlapped was a bit tricky.  Good thing we bought that extra air mattress recently.

Sam and Brett had a wedding to attend in NJ about 45 min from our place, and took this opportunity to visit us for the first time since moving here.  First time visits are always fun, because there's so much to see and do in the city.  And they had some firsts with me.  Ever since kimberlina mentioned shrubs, I've been wanting to try one.  We have a restaurant here called City Tavern that has been around in the 1700's that still serves shrub beverages.  So I had a raspberry shrub with soda water, and Sam had hers with rum.  We were both super happy with them.  Vinegar for the win!

Sam and I enjoy our first shrubs in City Tavern.

 We did many other fun things.  We even had ice cream for lunch one day.  And I finally got to go back to Alma de Cuba for dinner, which hasn't happened since DS and I came to Philadelphia to be decide whether or not we wanted to live here.  I seriously love that place.

Sam and I share a "Ladies Choice" at Franklin Fountain: raspberry soda, peach ice cream, whip cream.

While they were here I also hit the 20 week milestone of my pregnancy.  That's officially half way!  Though the doctors won't let me go past 39w, so more than halfway for me.

Sam and I, 20w.  Nell is hanging out on the couch!

 Sam and Brett left Saturday for wedding things, and then we had Nell and Brian until Sunday.  They were on their way to their new home in New York.  We're so happy to have more of our friends within driving distance of us!  And DS was happy they were in town especially, because they all went climbing together Saturday afternoon.  Saturday night there were board games and pizza.  Though by this point all the running around was catching up to me and I spent the evening half asleep in the chair before retiring early.  Having them close means more board game time though, which we've really missed!  And they're close enough to come back down for the PA shower at the end of the month.  Now if we could just get Brett and Sam closer...

Summer Endings

This weekend marked our last full weekend together and alone for the foreseeable future.  We have house guests coming this week, and then between my trip to KY and school starting and conferences, we'll have something going on until mid fall.  Not that we won't see each other, but things will be busy!  So we decided to make sure we made the most of this weekend.

Yesterday we went hiking at Nockamixon State Park (there's a lake, but I didn't see it).  It's a place that DS goes bouldering (rock climbing) by himself, and I decided to tag along for the exercise.  Regular ol' hiking is more than enough exercise now.  I took a book so I wouldn't get bored while he climbed.  It was a really nice day, and there wasn't anyone else there.  So lovely and quiet.

Today we got some grocery shopping done, put a giant stew teeming with vegetables in the crock pot, and put together the crib.  We are so excited!  Having the crib up makes things feel more real for sure.

That's my giant care bear that I've had for nearly 10 years in there, and the whale tub sitting next to it.  The bedding set isn't here yet, so right now there's just the mattress and a couple of my old baby blankets in there.  I also ended up sticking the two quilts DS's grandmother gave us in there.  There are some built in shelves in this room that used to have a bunch of my craft books and whatnot.  I cleaned that out this week so it can hold baby things.  It's not a huge difference, but it makes it feel more nursery-like while the babies are sharing space with the office.

We have a tentative plan for insulating that brick by the crib.  It gets super cold in the winter, and this room is over our landlord's bedroom, and you can hear everything through that brick.  (yes, I do mean everything, it's a little embarrassing to be in there at times; I'm glad it's not where we sleep.)  Hopefully some insulation will help them sleep better until we're able to buy a house.

Making progress!  Now we're looking forward to some of our Santa Barbara friends coming to stay.  Exciting times ahead!

Anatomy Scan!

Today we got to look at the babies for almost an hour and a half.  They're so much bigger than they were before!  About 6 inches, CRAZY.  Baby A weighs about 9 ounces, and Baby B about 8 ounces.  Pretty much every inch of their bodies were measured.  Their skulls, parts of their brains, their kidneys, their stomachs.  Their bones have started calcifying, so we could actually make out every single vertebrae and rib.  The tech had to make sure their hearts were functioning properly, so she watched those in slow mo.  It was really cool to see all 4 chambers working together.

Their nervous systems have started functioning, so they have some controlled movements now.  We watched both of them sucking their thumbs at various points.  They also both got the hiccups.  They had liquid in their stomachs and bladders, which meant they're properly swallowing amniotic fluid and their kidneys are working.  Good job babies!

Baby B, thumb sucking

Baby A, relaxing

Baby A was wiggling all over the place as usual, so finding out the sex took a while with that one.  The tech moved to Baby B hoping we could come back to the other one at the end.  Baby B was not shy.

The tech says, "So now I have to give you my spiel about us not being 100% sure on the sex, but if that's not a boy you'll have to bring him back here for me to see!"  She finished up with the measurements she could get (Baby B was in the wrong spot to get a back of the brain measurement), and then decided to do some of her computer work that she would normally have done at the end when she didn't need us anymore.  Otherwise we would have been back in 2 weeks or so, and we're already going every 4 weeks because we're high risk.  There was about a half hour between that shot of B's legs and when she finished entering our measurements.  I just knew that A would end up being a boy too, because in 19 weeks we've only thought of one name, and it was for a girl.

And sure enough:

Jerks!  I keep calling them my jerk babies, and little things like this are why.  I laughed when we saw him like this, and I said, "he must have heard you saying how good Baby B was being and got jealous!"  The "BOY" type is in his umbilical cord, but the more defined part is his penis.  This shot isn't as easy to read as B's, because you can't really see his legs, so I labeled his butt for you.

So we have all their measurements!  And the doctor came in and did a quick check for herself and told us how happy she was everyone is doing fine.  They both also commented on how easy the scan was to do because I'm so skinny.  :)

Other than the fact that I started getting super hot at one point from the pressure the babies were putting on my blood vessels while lying on my back, this was a great visit.  We'll go back every 4 weeks, but they'll be shorter check ups called growth scans.  Those will be to make sure each baby is growing as they should, and that they're not having issues with things like intrauterine growth restriction or large discrepancies between the two which would be possible reasons to induce early.

Here's one last pic of them both.  It's still super hard to fit them both in one photo.

Baby B on the left, thumb sucking, Baby A's head on the right

Stargazing

This weekend DS and I drove down to WV to visit his grandparents.  We know we won't be able to travel for Christmas or Thanksgiving this year since I'm not supposed to get out of easy range of the hospital after 24 weeks.  His mom and aunt also came up, so it a nice little family gathering.

The weather was fantastic, especially coming from all the upper 90's we've been having here.  I actually wore pants and got chilly at night.  We slept with the windows open.  It was also the peak weekend of the Perseid Meteor Shower, and WV is probably the most perfect place to watch stars on the east side of the US.

Saturday afternoon we hiked up Bickle Knob.  There's a fire tower at the top, and it's a lovely place to enjoy the landscape.  Honestly, it's not much of a hike.  You drive most of the way up.  But you can't beat the view, especially in the fall.  I was impressed with my ability to climb up all the stairs of the tower.  Anything remotely cardio is a lot harder these days, it's kind of depressing.

DS and I at the top of the fire tower on Bickle Knob.

That night we went back up to view the meteor shower.  Some of them were really bright and amazing.  We didn't stay out late enough for them to really get going, but I'm still really excited with the amount we did see.  I've never lived anywhere before where I could see a meteor shower, so that was awesome.

It's pretty difficult to photograph actual meteors.  There's not a lot of light, and they're not in the sky for very long.  But DS was able to take some cool photos of the sky with a long exposure.  The lines you're seeing are the paths of the stars across the sky as the earth rotates during the exposure.  The lines get smaller in the upper left corner because it was center of the rotation.  Pretty cool huh?

Long exposure of the sky over WV on Aug 11, 2012.

So we had a pretty great weekend.  The food was good, the company was good.  One of his grandmothers even gave us two handmade quilts her friend made for the babies.  She also gave us a wrapped gift "for the shower" that we're not allowed to open yet :)  Now if his other grandmother could just feel better, things would be perfect.

Color Me Rad 5k

This spring I decided to sign up for my first 5k.  My friend Sarah agreed to do it with me, and we both started training.  I was actually making some pretty good headway and was running probably the best I ever have.  Of course, then I got pregnant.  It was really hard to do much of anything for a while, much less run.  So exhausted :P

Anywho, I realized I'd never even gotten these photos off my camera.  This particular race involves getting hit with colored cornstarch, or "color bombs".  It's not timed, anyone can do it, even babies.  They don't care if you walk it or run it.  In fact, the rules say you should finish by sunset so you can see where you're going.  So we jogged just a bit, but mostly walked.  I'm sad I wasn't able to run it, I feel like I was so close before things got nuts!  But it was seriously a LOT of fun, and if you ever get a chance to do this or something like it, I highly recommend it.

Photos are all taken by DS on June 17, 2012.

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Eastern State Penitentiary

I've been showing my mom and her husband around Philadelphia for the past few days.  Today they wanted to tour the penitentiary.  I've always wanted to tour it myself, so I gladly agreed.  This place was famous for its "Pennsylvania System" of inmate care, which was basically severe solitary confinement.  Now it's mostly remembered for house Al Capone, possibly being haunted, and hosting one of the scariest haunted houses in the US.  As someone who studied Historic Preservation, I am intrigued by the architecture, and the decision to leave it as a "preserved ruin."  It's a really cool place, and I can't believe I hadn't been there sooner.  DS was working, so the two of us will definitely have to go back some time, and next time I'll take a better camera.

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Twins!

So you're probably wondering where I've been for the last forever.  The truth is, I'm pregnant!  DS and I are expecting twins "January 18th".  Or 13th, as Friday's ultrasound tech mentioned to me for the first time after 6 appointments.  I have no idea.  I haven't been overly worried about their due date since twins pretty much always come by 38 weeks, on average around 36, and a decent percentage as early as 32.  We we're saying roughly this holiday season.

Two babies!  Horribly blurry photos!

Hooray!  We're so excited.  We're finally in the second trimester and feel like we can tell people.  There's always a chance something will happen before the 20th week, but the chances are much smaller now.  And we live less than 3 miles from the best neonatal hospital in the nation, so while preemies are a concern, I feel that we're in great hands.

Not being able to talk about something that has been basically occupying all my thoughts hasn't left much to write about.  I do think I left out a post or two because I got distracted, which I'll try to fill in later.  I've been sleeping and resting a lot.  Eating more than I thought possible.  Doing pretty well with the nausea thing once I figured out that I wasn't eating enough.

Now that I'm starting to feel a little more normal, it's strange to discover some new limitations.  The last two nights I've noticed an uncomfortable pressure if I lay too much on my stomach, which I knew was coming but is still a bummer since I sleep like that a lot.  Pregnancy pillow is on its way!  I have to be careful about my laptop too, because I lounge on the couch with it a lot, and the heat bothers me now.  Steps are like torture on my lungs and heart.  It's hard to believe that when I found out I was pregnant I was training for a 5k and running better than I ever have in my life.  (I walked that 5k...)  Now I'm tired if I walk too fast or too long.  *sigh*

Truthfully, pregnancy itself is totally lame.  I keep asking DS if they can be here already (he tells me he actually ordered that for me as a surprise, but it's on back order), or if I can borrow an 18 year old body for a while and that I promise to give it back afterwards.  But I'm still so excited for babies!!!  I can't wait :)  And I know there will be major adjustments, and lack of sleep, and all that stuff, but I am so ready to be blown away.

13w scan.  Baby A is the blob to the right; it wasn't feeling photogenic.

Lots of House Guests!

We've started a tradition, inspired by DS's grad school advisor, where we take his research students out for drinks every couple of months.  There are only 6 of them, so it's not that big of a deal, and it's good for morale I think.  It had been a while since we did it, so on Wednesday we mixed it up a little bit by having them over for dinner.  This of course required some mega cleaning, and it always feels good to have that done.

We grilled some burgers, corn on the cob, and pineapple chunks out on our balcony.  We also had those brined pork chops we love so much ready, but everyone brought food so it would have been way too much.  Those just went in the freezer, and they'll come in handy this weekend.  There was also the yummiest fruit salad, the best asian dumplings I've ever had, and some rice and duck.  So much food, and of course, beer.  The cats put on quite a show, especially Winston (as if you had any doubts).  They were all blown away by how talkative he is, and they were all slightly disappointed that neither of them wanted to curl up with anyone.  One guy tried so hard to get them to love him, and then learned the hard way that he's allergic after rubbing his face in their fur :/  That did not deter him though!

This weekend, our friends from Brooklyn are coming down.  It's a good time since it's a long weekend, though it's supposed to be almost 90 all weekend.  Also, these types of holidays are sort of tourist traps in historical cities like this one.  I'm not sure what they'll want to do, but I'm sure we'll find something entertaining.

Next weekend, Luke and his new wife, Adrienne, are coming for the first time.  I'm really excited to show them around, and I hope the weather doesn't make us too miserable.  It looks like it should cool down by the middle of the week, which is a relief.

Go Phils!

Last night I was unexpectedly invited to a girl's night at the Phillies game!  One of Bri's friends were in town and had two extra tickets.  They were amazing seats, just 11 rows back.  Also, it was free hat night, so I officially own real Phillies gear now.  Whoo!

The only downside was that it rained all night.  I'm so happy we got those free hats, because I didn't have to worry about wiping rain off my glasses all night.   However, I was still rather wet when I got home.  But we won!  And I had ice cream with sprinkles out of a little hat!  Good times, good times.

A Look Back at the Jungle Mobile

You may remember a while back that I posted about a jungle mobile I designed for a friend's baby.  Recently I got an update on how it's holding up, and I was so tickled with the results.

Ellie's crib, with mobile

This is Ellie's room.  The alphabet tree still needs leaves I'm told, but that's where the mobile hangs!

Ellie with her Tiger and Elephant

And this is Ellie holding two of the animals.  She's now 1!  I'm really happy to see that they get used for play time, since that's how I envisioned them working.  Also, I just can't believe how big they look in her hands.  Her mom tells me that Ellie cries whenever they have to be taken away for things like bath time.  !!  I'm not a fan of babies crying, but wow is that a compliment :D

Cinco de Matto - 2012

Holy wow!  My friend Matt, the one that married us and lives in Brooklyn, has a birthday on May 5th.  So it's always Cinco de Mayo, and quite often the Kentucky Derby, when he celebrates.  He calls it Cinco de Matto, as well he should.

This was the first year we were able to make it up there for his birthday.  It was kind of insane.  Nearly 50 people RSVP'd yes to coming.  You guys, I don't think I even know 50 people.  We spent most of Saturday setting up, and then the rest of the evening dancing, talking, and watching fire spinning on the roof.  I attempted to document the proceedings while learning the manual settings on my camera.

It was an epic night.  There were 5 gallons of red margarita.  Brownies, bruschetta, mints, balloons.  Everything and everyone was decked in red and black, even the lights!  I was really impressed with everyone's clothing.  Honestly, check it out!

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Be happy you weren't there for the cleanup the next morning!