HALLoween 2009

This year was our 7th annual "Haunted Garage". We were a little considered with the weather. The Wednesday and Thursday it snowed but it was BEAUTIFUL Friday and Saturday for the festivities.

Every year we try to add something new. This year I found a 6'5" Jason (from Friday the 13th) on Sale. He was Awesome. He had the mask on, fully clothed with blazer and held a bloody machete. He moved very realistic and his eyes were amazing and real looking. The day I got him, we put him inside by the front door so when Jordan came home that night he was there to 'greet' him. He thought it was Eric at first until he hit it and it moved! We got him! It was a great laugh.
For those of you who don't know, we remove everything from the garage and Eric constructs a maze with heavy duty black tarp walls. We then fill it with black lights, strobe lights, glow-in-the-dark items, spider webs, things that drop down, Jason, hanging bones and secret sensory items! After 7 years we have it down and it goes up pretty quick. Eric reuses all the walls so most of the work is pre-done. We have anywhere from three to eight goblins that are in there doing the scaring (Jack, Jenna and their friends) and some of our friends (adults) also.

Every year I keep a tally by the day (we do it the night before and night of Halloween) and hour of how many people we have go through. This year we had a little over 400. I know you're wondering if we charge and the answer is NO. We love doing it and somebody's got to keep it going. We do put out a 'donation' pumpkin and receive some money that way. That money pretty much just pays for the batteries to all the motion activated items which is about 60 AA's.

It is a blast every year and a lot of laughs. Enjoy the pictures but they don't give it justice!

Visiting my Dad (almost 80)

Hi all,

I know it's been a while since I blogged. I finally have time since we are snowed in. Yes, it is October... But I think we will be in for a lot of "global warming" snow this winter.

My sister Jennie and I went to visit our Dad. We haven't seen him in about 7 years. He has always told us not to come a see him and we listened. He is the Dad right? Okay I know you are thinking "since when does Jerrie ever do what she's told or follow the rules?" Precisely! So we planned to go up to Oregon to see how he is without telling him. I just love surprises! So I flew from Denver to LA where my sister picked me up. I spent the day and night there, then we left for Oregon at 4:00 am the next morning. Our Plane left at 6:00 but we had to switch planes in San Francisco. We arrive in Medford (40 miles just across the California border into Oregon) about 12:30 and then got our rental car. It was sunny and clear with not a cloud in the sky. According to mapquest the airport was only about 40 miles west. Jennie called our Dad in the car on the way there and just chit chatted and asked how the weather was and how he was doing but NEVER telling him we were coming! He said it was RAINING! We tried hard not to just bust a gut laughing. But then we thought "Oh My God he is losing it"! Thank God we decided to go check on him. Well, come to find out when we were driving we went around a mountain range and sure enough there were clouds and it was "misting" barely! We went to the door (we were very nervous cause we weren't sure if he'd be pissed at us) Rang the bell, he answer and just stared at us. Then we finally said "Yes dad it is your daughters". He was shocked to say the least. We told about the weather at the airport and the standing joke all weekend was "it's raining". Jennie and I had a GREAT time with our Dad, probably one of the best I can remember. He is the cutest thing ever. He is a total crack up! We laughed and cried together. Jennie and I realized where we got our personalities, quick wit and people person persona's. For almost 80 he looks Fantastic and does great on his own. He just moves alittle slower but he is doing great! Enjoy the pictures.

Puerto Vallarta July 2009

Here is a slide show of our trip to Mexico with our Friends Amy and Dave. Our first without kids!

Jenna's Chicken Pox

Well we get over swine with one kid then we get Chicken Pox with Jenna! She had one dose of the vaccine but who knew you needed TWO! My Dr.s sure didn't let me know! So if you only had one you better go get the other. As you can see she only has a lot of tiny bumps, so I think that one dose did lessen the severity. She feels fine except for the itch. But that hasn't been that bad. She's been really tough and great about not itching. I guess the Benadryl, Calamine, and oatmeal baths have been a big help.