Mom and Dad's Birthday and Pumpkin Carving with Liz, Maddy and Isla

September definitely got away from us. We were painstakingly trying to work on the rental house's roof before the bad weather arrived for the year. We cut it close, but we did get it done on time. I felt bad that we didn't celebrate Dad's birthday in September. I talked to him about it and he said that it was fine, we could do it at a later time when everyone wasn't as busy. 

Mom was at a quilting retreat during her birthday weekend. She also said that we could celebrate it later on in October. I found a weekend to have both, Mom and Dad's birthday party that worked for everyone. I asked the both of them if pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, brownies and ice cream were fine and they said it was. 

I contacted everyone to let them know that we were doing a birthday party for Mom and Dad and told them what we were having, when it was and what time. I had asked Liz if she and her girls would like to carve pumpkins and we set aside a day to do it but had to change it because the girl's grandmother, Susan created plans without telling Liz until the last minute. So, we had to reschedule it for the last Sunday around 4 before Halloween. I told her that would be fine, but my Sunday would be busy with birthdays. I had to juggle two different events.

I went shopping for the pork chops and the potatoes after work on Thursday since I was already out and about. I hit up the Costco and the Walmart and then went home. I got the house all cleaned up and made the brownies on Saturday and made sure everything was ready to go before I went to bed that night. I wanted Sunday to go as smoothly as possible.

That morning, Ben and I got up, did a few things to finish preparing for the birthday party and found out that Zac was sick and wasn't going to come and, of course, since Doug works the weekends away, he and Sonya weren't going to come either. So, we were going to have 10 of us instead of the usual 13. I hope someday Doug will get a different job, and he can join us with family gatherings again. Ben and I started peeling potatoes and getting the pork chops, green beans and gravy ready since everyone was supposed to be here around noon.

No one had arrived and it was pretty much noon. I texted everyone to let them know that the food was done. I had to wrap everything in tin foil to keep it warm because everyone was late! Everyone started to arrive and I gave them a bad time for being late. Their excuse was that it was so early for a party. I mostly did it so Erika could get Brian home at a decent time, and I had another event to go to that evening. September and October definitely got away from us this year.

Everyone grabbed plates and piled food on top. We all talked about random things - how the rental was going, work, retirement, projects, etc. It was quite the array of topics. Of course, Brian was a ham and wanted to touch and play with everything! I did collect a bunch of toys over the years just in case we had small children in our family to entertain. I was excited when I found an old school Fisher-Price cash register about a year ago. He thought that was the greatest thing in the world!

We cleaned up and I grabbed the brownies. Trish volunteered to bring vanilla ice cream. She helped me dish up to those who wanted dessert after we sang Happy Birthday to Mom and Dad. They opened gifts and cards and thanked everyone for thinking of them. Everyone helped clean up and headed home so they could get ready for the work week.

I got ready for my second event of the day. At 3, I texted Liz to let her know I was on my way. I brought the three little pumpkins with me, some carving tools and the Coke. Just before I got onto I-5, I ordered the pizza online. It told me that it would be ready in about a half hour. Perfect. Just enough time to get there, grab it and head to her house. She told me, "See ya in a bit."

I get to Pizza Hut in Centralia, and it was literally ready for me to grab the two pizzas and leave. Her house was just minutes away. I pull up, park and bring the food and drinks in first. I go back for the pumpkins and carving tools. I even remembered to bring a Halloween themed tablecloth. I think Liz appreciated what I was doing for her and the girls, but I can never tell. I believe the 4-year hiatus really did a number on the friendship. I didn't want to, but I really thought she didn't want me around anymore, so I left. It is what it is, I guess.

Anyway, we enjoyed the pizza and pop and conversation. One thing I didn't know about Liz was she didn't like to touch icky things, that included the inside of a pumpkin. She made an exception that day and turns out it wasn't really that bad. I also learned that the girls have never carved pumpkins before, but Liz had, when she was a kid. She showed them how to cut the top and scoop out the insides. They drew faces on their pumpkins instead of carving them. I carved the third pumpkin since Liz didn't want to do her own but help the girls with theirs.

Once we got all the guts out, Liz and I separated the seeds so she could clean them up and cook them in the air fryer for later. While we did that, we talked about a bunch of stuff. She told me that one of her aunt's in Mexico wasn't doing that well. Her mom has been going down there to help out and spend time with her. I told her about the progress with the rental, and we briefly touched on work. I let her bring it up because she had told me during the DJA that she didn't want to talk about work. I respected that request.

Her boys came in to give her a bad time and one of them wanted help on their homework. He wanted her to help him with his speech he had to give in a day or two - something about the argument on should college players get paid. That was up my alley. I had actually done a group project on that very subject while I was in college years ago. I shared my input. I didn't care if they used it or not. 

I didn't want to overstay my welcome, since it was a work night and all, so I thanked her for having me over and she thanked me for the pumpkins, pizza and pop. I told her it would be fun to do this again next year and she said it would. We would have to find a good time to do it next year if they had the time. She walked me out and I told her I would talk to her tomorrow. She said the same. I headed home.

I let her know I got home and she told me, thanks for letting her know. I got cleaned up, did a few things and got ready for another work week. It was a busy day, but I sure had a lot of fun!

Next Adventure: Halloween - Brian's First Time Trick or Treating

The Pumpkin Patch with Mom, Erika and Brian

Mom wanted to take Brian to the pumpkin patch now that he was a little older and walking around. Last year when we took him, he was literally a potato actively wondering what we were all doing. It was fun but we knew the next year it would be more fun.

I took the Friday off, so I had a three-day weekend to do whatever I wanted. I slept in, because I really needed a good sleep, and then I got ready and met up with Erika and Mom in Tumwater at Meconis for lunch. I had my usual. Like always, my sandwich hit the spot.

We drove over to Rutledge Family Farm off of 93rd in Tumwater. We were hoping since it was a weekday, there wouldn't be that many people there. Last year we went on a Sunday and boy, was that a mistake. We pulled in and it was a little less busy than last year which was great to see. We found a close parking spot, grabbed what we needed because it was a little chilly and wandered over towards the pumpkins with a wheelbarrow and Brian's wagon. I was kinda excited to see if he would put pumpkins in the wagon.

We started walking around the pumpkin patch looking at the pumpkins we'd like to bring home. I called Ben to ask what shape of pumpkin he would like to have, and he told me to send him some photos and he would choose one. I sent him some pumpkins that fit his profile and he did end up picking one he liked. I put that in the wheelbarrow. We got into some of the little pumpkins and watched Brian pick them up, set them down and he did put one in the wagon. Mom and I tried putting some in his wagon and he would grab them and toss them out. We laughed hysterically.

At one point, there was a little boy, his mom and his dad picking pumpkins and he was interested in Biran's wagon. We told his parents he could push it for a few minutes. The little boy didn't want to stop, and you could tell Brian didn't want this little boy touching his wagon anymore. His parents told him to give the wagon back to Brian and they thanked us for entertaining them by sharing.

Once we found the pumpkins we wanted, including Brian, we wheelbarrowed them over to the cashier's station to be weighed. I had four smaller pumpkins and three larger pumpkins to carve at some point later on in the month. We took them to the cars and Brian got to ride in the wheelbarrow. We took the wheelbarrow back and Mom and Erika decided that we should take Brian into the kids' area to play with the available activities. We each paid an entrance fee and went in.

I bought an apple cider slushy because it looked good. We wandered around with Brian for a few minutes until he found something that interested him. Erika, Brian and I took our shoes off and bounced on the bouncy mat. It was funny watching him jump on it. Then he fell on his face. He was okay. 

Erika and Brian waited their turn on the tractor ride and went around the pumpkin patch two times. Brian was having a good time unlike the other small children; they cried and wanted off. We walked over to the bubble making station and spent a good while making bubbles for Brian to poke. He and Erika swung on the swings and then he saw the talking tractor, and we watched the tractor for a bit. It made Brian smile.

It was getting late and Erika needed to take Brian home so he could get in a nap. Erika thanked us for coming out and getting pumpkins with them. I got back into the Escape and Mom followed me in her Expedition, we hit up the Walmart in Tumwater, drove out to Lacey to check out Hobby Lobby and Michael's for a couple of things. I headed home so I could make dinner and Mom drove back out to Rainier.

Next year, I am excited to see how Brian is at the pumpkin patch. We will be weeks away from meeting the new baby at that point.

Next Adventure: Mom and Dad's Birthday and Pumpkin Carving with Liz, Maddy and Isla

Seattle Seahawks vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I had planned on going to the Pullman/Moscow cache machine and taking Friday off but then Mom asked me what I was doing on October 5th. I told her we were thinking about driving over to Pullman for the cache machine. Why? She said that Randy gave her tickets to the Seahawks game. I immediately checked to see what team we were playing that day. The Buccaneers. I wrote it on the calendar and told Mom to send me the link so I could download the tickets when it gets closer. I guess we were not doing the cache machine, which was fine, the Seahawks game would be cheaper than staying in a hotel for a couple nights and driving all the way across the state.

I looked up the stats of the game, it was going to be a 1 o'clock game, both teams were going to be wearing their "throwback" uniforms, we were going to be on the party bus, which was nice, I didn't have to worry about driving to the game or finding parking and a Mariner playoff game started at 5, Sodo was going to be insane.

As it got closer to game day, I made sure I got our tickets into my Google wallet, so they were easy to access when we were entering the facilities. Mom met me at my house, and we drove the Escape to O'Blarney's, parked and when the party busses arrived, we found out which one we were supposed to be on. That was bus #2. We climbed aboard, found the seats we were assigned to and got comfortable.

We got up I-5 and the emcee started in on the raffle, the 100 square and the checklist game while we drove north. Mom and I got a few raffle tickets and participated in the 100 square and the checklist game. We were hoping we win. I even had a blue Jell-O shot that were being handed out for free. Why not, right?

Just before we got into Seattle, we did the raffle. Mom and I didn't win. Oh well, however, we did get into Seattle in less than an hour and a half. That was pretty good for a busy game day on the freeway.

Mom and I got off the bus and walked towards the field house on the west side of the stadium. We went in, got through security and had our tickets scanned. We received a deck of playing cards and we got some free pretzel bites from King's Hawaiian.

We walked around the fieldhouse, got our picture taken, watched a presentation of the 50 best players in the past 50 years (this season, the Seahawks were celebrating their 50th Anniversary) and then moseyed over towards the stage to watch a miniature Sir Mix Alot concert. Yes, he sang Baby Got Back for us.

Mom and I went into the stadium and made our way up to the third level. I asked if she wanted food and she said yes.  I knew where the Ivar's was and thank goodness the line was short.  We got our food in minutes. We made our way to our seats in Section 316. We sat down and ate while we watched the pregame activities including a nod to all the cheerleaders who have cheered for the Seahawks since 1976.  Today was throwback night so both teams were wearing their throwback uniforms. The field was even painted like it was in the Kingdome.

I asked Mom if she had ever been to a Seahawk game in the Kingdom and she said she had with her dad, but never went again until the early 2000's. My first Seahawk game was in 2016 because we could never afford the tickets.

The first quarter was awful. Our defense struggled this game after allowing the third fewest points in the NFL going into game 5 of the season. We did have some key defensive starters who were injured - DeMarcus Lawrence, Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon. We allowed them to keep the momentum running wearing out our players. Luckily, only a field goal was scored on the Buccaneers behalf.

Tampa Bay was able to capitalize on our mistakes and ended up taking the lead 13-0 late in the second quarter, however, Jaxon Smith-Njigba was able to score a touchdown for us just before the end of the half. We went into halftime down by 6.

We started out with a touchdown at the beginning of the third quarter. From there, it went back and forth, each team matching with a touchdown and a made field goal. The defense on each side was nonexistent. The Buccaneers had an advantage at the end of the quarter, leading 28-21.

We took the lead after two touchdowns (AJ Barner and Tory Horton) and two field goals in the fourth. We led 35-28 with 3:15 left in the fourth quarter. Then we let Tampa Bay march down the field to tie it up with 2:10 left to go in the game. I was so disappointed in our defense. They were letting Baker Mayfield do whatever he wanted. We got the ball with just a couple minutes left of the game. If we did this right, we could march down the field and kick a field goal leaving the opponents with no time to spare. That, unfortunately, did not happen. Sam Darnold, in Darnold fashion, threw an interception. All the Buccaneers needed to do was waste enough time and kick it in for the win. That is exactly what happened. We lost 38-35. I was so angry because it was a winnable game and we had the advantage at the end.

We waited until the clock hit 0:00 before we grabbed our stuff and shuffled out. It took a while to get to the bus because there were sooo many people everywhere because of the Seahawks and the upcoming Mariners playoff game. The streets were filled with tons of fans! We got to the bus, and it took a while to leave but we eventually made our way out of town. We had to stop in Fife and JBLM for traffic problems.

We got back around 6ish and I asked Mom if she had to go to Fred Meyers she said yes. I tried stopping at Office Depot first to get a calendar, but they were closed already. We got our things from Fred Meyer and went back to my house. I talked to Trish about the game, took a shower, talked to Mom and Dad and made Spam rice dish for dinner.

Ben had met up with Jericho for the rental kitchen cupboard, went to Rochester to look at flooring and did a couple things at the rental until about 7. We watched the end of the SNF Bills and Patriots, Bills lost - there are no more undefeated teams this season. The 1972 Dolphins record is still intact until next season, when it is threatened again.

We did some chores and got ready for the work week. Mine was short since I had a 4-day weekend coming up.

Some Game Notes: Darnold went 28/34 for 341 yards and four TDs. Smith-Njigba had 132 yards with eight receptions and a touchdown. Jason Meyers went 5/5 on extra points but had no field goal attempts. We possessed the ball seven minutes less than Tampa Bay, but we had more total yards than they did 463 to their 426.

Next Adventure: The Pumpkin Patch with Mom, Erika and Brian