Dec 2nd. 5 Months Tomorrow

On one hand I can't believe it was this long since we arrived to the tropical paradise here. On the other hand, with so many activities going on it feels even longer. Here is what happened last week.

Our guests did the usual rounds of seeing London sites. We got out on Tuesday night for a short bar stroll. Hit our old favorites.

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We joined Kostik, Alenka, and Sasha on Thursday to watch changing of the guard in front of the Buckingham palace. It was one of the most boring such activities ever. Guards dressed in slightly different fashions were coming in from different directions and going through some motions behind the gate in front of the palace.

There were so many things happening at once, and so many people that you found yourself running from the fence to the road and back, trying to squeeze in to be rewarded with a view of someone's hat. The official link above is pretty informative and fills the gaps on what we missed. Not as entertaining as the one in Greece though. Admire the lovely footwork.

Goddess of fertility. Note the

body of a pregnant hippo &

face of a lion. Ancient people

were not stupid.

I did enjoy looking at people from all around the world gathered there. So many different faces, expressions, clothing styles. Another entertaining moment was watching the crowd when soldiers were passing by: virtually everyone had their hand up holding up a recording device... like in some kind of strange salute.

Next we walked over to the British museum to take a look at some Sumerian artifacts, Rosetta stone and the mummies again. It is a great collection. While it is arguable as to whether it was all acquired by the rightful means, it is the safest here in the UK and has the greatest chances for being properly cared for at the moment. We will have to come back again and again to digest it all.

There is Christmas fair going on near the Waterloo station. Elena was taken by the hot mulled wine stall. We tried to reproduce the experience at home with some fairly good results.

On Friday we went to Cambridge. This time we had a bit more time. In addition to walking through amazing King's chapel we took a boat ride along the river. The guide told us fun stories about colleges we were passing. He mentioned everyone gets their own room as it is more conducive to studying. Maybe that's why we barely saw any students out. While we were on the river, a family of swans followed us sticking their heads into the boat and hoping to steal some food. Kids had a blast.

We walked around a bit. At one point we sneaked onto the territory of one of the colleges past the guards and took a more interesting stroll around. Once you are in, it is easier to get around to other colleges as well.

We went to Chop restaurant for dinner. It is supposed to be one of the nice ones. And it was. We even got a private room where kids could unwind from a long day of walking.

Saturday was the last day our guests were with us :( Kids and I went to Teddington lock to pick some apples. Georgia rode her bike. Isabella's still needs to be repaired.

We saw a bunch of large green parrots sitting on the apple trees and feasting on our apples. Now if anyone claims this is not a tropical island, I will spit them in the eye. Well, maybe not spit, just invite them to visit us here and see for themselves. It really is (and I know, I am probably jinxing it right now) fairly moderate here. Some of the trees are still covered in leaves and some bushes are starting to bloom with yellow flowers.

On Sunday we went to Hastings for a hike along the South's coast line. Hastings is a beautiful town perched up on several cliffs. The roofs covered in moss looked very scenic. We walked along the beach gathering pebbles and shells - no one was there to compete for our loot. Kids also enjoyed the beachside trampoline and a playground. And we had our fish and chips right on the beach. The hike was nice but not as scenic as the one we did along the white cliffs overlooking France. There was a highlight when we got off the track and climbed over the fence to follow a stream along the muddy dirt path to the edge of the cliff. A flock of seagulls flew up disturbed by our visit. Alas, there was no easy way  to get down to the private beach. There was a rope hanging but with our coats and hats and gloves, even if we  managed to get down the 30 foot drop, the chances are we would have to swim back. 

We finished the day at one of many local coffee shops. This one had bookshelves running ceiling to the floor filled with books on all the possible topics. Burrowed deep into the cushions of the comfy red coaches, we sipped had our drinks and ate our desserts while Georgia and Dan took turns asking trivia questions and telling us an English fairytales respectively.

I've been meaning to write this sometime in the last few days. We are really grateful that Kostik & Alenka & Sasha joined us and we were with the family this Thanksgiving. And we are grateful to our work for making it possible for us to be here. And to parents and friends choosing to come here to visit us and for taking care of our dog, and house and mail and lots of other things while we are away.

Nov 25th. Monday catch-up

Last time I left off @ the Wimbleton temple festival. Without our guests the days seemed to stretch longer… in a figurative sense of course, the dusk start at 3:30pm. We worked, did homework with kids, went to London to have a few interesting lunches with. Doug S. I caught myself “instinctively” walking in the right direction without looking at the street signs because we have become so familiar with the city. As for Dan, he may have swallowed a compass at birth, for him instinctive goes without quotation marks. 

Our landlord had made another attempt to get the boiler fixed. As soon as kids got in for their evening shower, the whole thing short circuited. So we are back to where we started. On the positive side, I got my dry cleaning back. I went back a few times this week and was told that “it is not lost but one of our other shops got it”. Rhetorical question “Don’t you go there every day, why can’t you get it?” is just what it is. However I got lucky when a customer brought back my lost stuff. Hurray!! And never again.
Isabella’s school celebrated Diwali. One of her teachers is Nepalese so they covered the subject really well. They had a party with Indian treats and had some dress-up items that kids enjoyed trying on. The teachers even a tent set up in a classroom for the kids to enter with a flashlight to create light.
We cannot say enough how lucky we are with girls’ babysitter Tatiana V. We have a hard time speaking Russian at home after work but thanks to her kids developed excellent Russian vocabulary. Isabella is putting together words from letters and is inches from being able to read. Georgia is doing very well as well.

Of the English weather... it's complicated.. On one hand, thermometer shows 6-7-8 degrees Centigrade, way above the freezing temperature. Yet, because of the wind and high humidity it feels much colder. It is this kind of dreary cold feeling that gets into every uncovered part of skin. We asked some kids at Georgia's school whether they wear boots to school in winter. We got back some blank stares. Finally one suggested, "Maybe when it is raining really really hard you can wear rain boots to walk to school and then change back into shoes." In the light of some kids still wearing socks and not wearing jackets to school it is an understandable comment. Furthermore, as I wrote before, occasional rains seems to wreak chaos on the roads, roofs, and sewage. One of the days this week our train was delayed by an hour because "the rails were slippery." Mind you it was a light rain that did not even warrant an umbrella. My theory is that given the abundance of the palm trees everywhere, English may have decided that theirs is a tropical island, or at least, with the global warming will be one very soon, and are operating under that assumption.

On Friday night we went to the so-so Asian fusion place next to Mexican. It is always empty and for reason. In addition to being strangely un-flexible - it took extra effort to secure a plastic cup for Isabella’s apple juice because an item she was not eating was not from kids’ menu like Georgia’s was - all the food seems pre-packaged, and heated up and it is impossible to ask for any variance.  
At last, on Saturday Kostik, Alenka and Sasha came!! It was great! We went to London to do our usual round. Near the Waterloo station, Christmas market is setup. Lots of beautiful stalls but it one had to squeeze through the crowds. We had late lunch at the awesome dim sum place overlooking the tower bridge. It is right next to Strada. Highly recommended – dim sun was handmade and one could taste all the fresh stuffing ingredients inside.
After the tower bridge we caught a train to Trafalgar square and continued our walk towards the Parliament and Big Ben. We are impressed with Sasha and her parents. It was not an easy day after night flight and they never complained.
On Sunday morning Kostik and I went to a short run to Teddington lock. It is very enjoyable to run in a company. There are a few more apples trees there in dire need of picking so we will have to come back armed with some bags.
We saw Stonehenge for the fifth time. Forgot to take pictures there though. Will have to ask Kostik for his – soon we will have coverage for every season.
After that we went to Windsor. We parked and saw an apple tree with apples handing over the road. Dan only had to shake a little bit. Apples torpedoed down exploding on the way. They were very ready.
Our guests and Georgia went to see the queen’s castle while Dan, Isabella and I strolled to Eton enjoying Christmas décor and Eton boys showing their parents around. For dinner, we gathered at the Nepalese place Hungry Eyes. It is among the little medieval streets next to the castle. Highly recommend it. Especially minty chicken. Georgia got it for herself but four hungry adults converged upon her steaming plate and took everything away in minutes. Not to worry, she did not go to bed hungry.

Will have to upload a few pictures from our camera too.
 

Nov 17th. Wimbleton

Today we took a leisurely stroll to Starbucks for breakfast. Concierges in our building must think that we exist solely on coffee - we almost always carry a cup when we pass by.

While I was trying to take the after-breakfast nap, kids decided do bake short bread cookie. Dan convinced me to join them. He had a point: too much independence while cooking will only result in longer clean up time for me. The cookies came out awesome!

We grabbed the cookies while they were still hot and headed out to Thai Temple in Wimbleton. That's the one that Isabella visited earlier in the week. There was a festival going on today. The temple complex was very busy with lots of food stalls, concert on the stage setup on the large lawn, stalls selling floating flowers for the offerings.

The temple is much nicer than it appears on the pictures. They have some of the prettiest frescos I have ever seen. Everywhere around there were monks in bright orange robes and knitted hats.

One of the food stalls had a fascinating decorative element: animated torso of a man with blue eyes, Thai jewelry and a bit of leather jacket. The face was amazingly well animated with apparently lots of areas capable of motion under its skin. It moved its eyes, raised eyebrows, it detected that we were standing close to it and started to talk and even winked. It was pretty disturbing looking even for adults. The stall owner saw our faces and laughed. I was thinking that if there was a home robot that move like that it may take some getting used to it not being human.

After the temple we took a walk down to Wimbleton train station to see it during the day. The last time we were here, it was after dark. We were with Irina and Ricardo. This part of the town was not that memorable. Wimbleton is very hilly. We kept going up and down.

On the way back to the car parked near the temple we passed by the High Street. This part of town was more interesting. We stopped at the Lawn Bakery and picked up some excellent chocolate sticks and chocolate salami. Then we found a great grocery shop selling some unusual items. We got a few cheeses. Should come back here with our guests. There are also several interesting looking restaurants around.
We came back home and finished the afternoon off at the movie theater. We saw Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2. It now holds a firm place in at the top of my list of the most moronic cartoons ever made. I even went to sleep not to watch it.

A funny thing about Isabella today. She put her little stuffed dog Cookie and one glove inside her beret and was swinging it in her hand as we were walking. At some point she lost both the glove and the dog. When we came back to the car her beret was empty. Dan and I felt bad for her but were a bit upset with her carelessness. So she said not to worry because she left the other glove at home so it is safe. And she has scores of stuffed dogs at home in Kingston and in US.

 

Nov 16th. Empty nest again!

First, there is a bit of catching up. Romik, Polinka & Maechka left on Monday. We were very sad to see them go. It is a lot more fun to be together when there is electricity and hot water and England around. The last time we did a sleepover was during Sandy. We missed Anechka.

On Tuesday we walked to Teddington Lock during lunch and picked up the last slim pickings of the apples. Just last week our favorite tree near the boat inhabited by the local alcoholics were covered in them, the apples that is. Dan climbed up and shook off the last remnants. What happened?


In the evening we saw the Enders Game. Highly recommended. Interestingly the only movie theater that was playing it past 6pm was Vue in Kensington. We visited this beautiful area in London just a few weekends ago. It is only about 8 miles away but when you are driving, the amount of anguish makes it feel like the whole of 80. The amount and diversity of the roadside contraptions to slow one down is bewildering in its creativity. And lastly, and this will probably be the most memorable moment of the day, I had a moment of weakness and dropped off my best pair of trousers (aka pants) at dry cleaners at Kingston train station. More about that later.

On Wednesday we went to the office. It was just like all the other prior trips. The promotional video of the tired lady with HR issues that is playing in the HR portion of the office. I wonder if the staff actually turns it on every day or it really is on an endless loop. It feels surreal.
 

Shouldn't someone tell

the elves that turkey is for

Thanksgiving? 

Isabella went on a school trip to visit a beautiful Hindi Buddhapadipa temple in Wimbleton. When she came back, she showed us how to fold hands for the prayer and told us that it makes her feel really good. With Georgia sharing something new about JC almost weekly, we are going to be all set in the religious department when we are done.

Thursday was a crazy day at work. At night we all went to Ram pub for drinks, peanuts, & iPad. Perfect way to end the day.

Our entire town is under construction. The most affected area is the market square. The walkways in the center of old town are blocked everywhere, and central market building is covered in scaffolding. Fortunately, the stalls were moved closer to our home and opened up after a few days of downtime! In addition, several Christmas markets opened up around the town. The lights are on and there are a few Christmas trees around. Very nice to see. Our boardwalk that was blocked a few building below ours is finally open - so one could ride a bike all the way to London.

On Friday we worked from London. I met with Nadia C. at Wallace Collection for lunch. It is a beautiful museum/home put together by a family of private collectors. It features incredible selections from the old masters and its medieval Armor collection would make MET green with envy. We are totally coming back for the second and third look.

Georgia's school had a science sleepover for the third grade. She went back to school at night, while we had dinner in a Mexican restaurant overlooking our building. The food is not to die for but they have a really great ambience: we were sitting alone in a little room up the winding staircase. The restaurant has "Mexican" décor, which really is a mish-mash of styles remotely resembling that country. The menu (Ohh, I should have taken a picture of it!!) told a story of the restaurant.

The story itself could have been put together by a person utilizing the "Spirits" referenced in the menu for inspiration. It started with a narrative about some Frenchman who wanted to buy a winery in Mexico but got shot twice by a drunk gringo and died... and then it continues to someone's wife, and then a famous Mexican general. We read it a few times trying to make sense but then realized that it is the point. And if we were to try the Spirits they would act like 3-d glasses, bringing the ultimate clarity to the story. The biggest treat was that the waiter looked like a son of Garland Greene played by Steve Buscemi in Con Air. Total likeness down to the mannerisms.

Finally caught up to today. Dima left and it was very sad. Saturday was a kind of a non-productive day. Caught up on our cleaning and laundry. Tried to take kids out on bikes, but Isabella's broke. We are upset about it. It would be the second time I am going to have to take it to repair shop. Don't know if they sell Cherry Lane brand in US, but it is of very poor quality. We also went to Sainsbury to do our shopping for a week. It felt like the entire population of our town was there. Kids movies stop at 2pm.. Need to plan our weekends better :)

So back to the dry cleaning.. I dropped off my pants on Tuesday morning. The attendant told me to come back on Wednesday afternoon. I came back on Thursday morning and pants were still not ready. The attendant advised to come back on Thursday afternoon. In the afternoon the pants were still missing. I was told the driver is at the funeral. The attendant expressed deep regret and reduced the fee by 2 pounds.. On Friday evening, the driver was sick. The attendant expressed sorrow and reduced the fee by another 2 pounds. I was not ready for more sorrow or regret and so I've skipped today. Though in retrospect, 2 more visits and I could NOT have my pants for free.

Service sector is dismal. I should write a separate post just about that. In general we deal with "logistical" issues every place we go. Partly because we are here longer than usual, and partly because of the local specifics, there are a lot more of them here. It is frustrating and unproductive. On the positive side I think, we are learning to restrain our buying habits to food alone because one really cannot be sure if the company would stand for the product they are selling. Be it batteries, bikes, inflatable mattresses, socket adopters, cable boxes, or gloves. Services are harder to control but we will work on it :)

Tomorrow we are going back to the temple in Wimbleton - they are having a festival!  

Nov 10th. Stonehedge v4.0 and Bath

Determined to make the most of the short day we set out at 8am to see the Stonehenge. We will soon have a collection of views for every season. Still it is a marvelous site and we never get tired of visiting it. There was a funny moment. Romik and Polinka took Georgia with them and one of the employees asked "how old is your little one?" Georgia is a bit older than Maya but almost a head shorter. Polinka at first could not figure out what to make of the little one.

Next we drove along pleasant winging roads to Bath, the site of the only hot spring on the island. Bath is situated on the slopes of the hills. It is a World Heritage Site due to its fine Georgian architecture and finely preserved ruins of Roman baths.

The key Georgian sites were the Crescent - some 30 adjacent buildings appropriately shaped and overlooking a mountain and Circus - large buildings shaped like four quarters of the circle. We were not too impressed. They seemed to house apartments and did not seem too extraordinary.

We enjoyed walking around the winding streets, across the bridge with shops on it, and by the Avon river. The views are spectacular. 

Roman bath ruins were very cool. The historians who put the ancient site back together did an amazing job using multiple medias to tell the story of how the place looked several thousands of years ago. Audio guides developed for adult and child audiences also helped. We all had a great time. We finished the day at a local bar/restaurant, perched up on the second floor in a tiny room with a fireplace. It probably served as a master bedroom in the past.

It was a very nice weekend!

Nov 9th. Cambridge

Dima rented a car from Kendall the knaves and we all went to Cambridge. Romik and Polinka went with him, while we got the girls in the back of our car.

Cambridge is beautiful. Definitely worth a second visit. Lovely gallery shops, quaint bazaars, interesting architecture. It seemed smaller and cozier than Oxford. We went to see the king's college chapel - one of the prettiest we saw. Fascinating organ set right in the middle of the church. Awesome glass windows - and we saw a lot of them. What really struck us what the quantity of pagan looking heraldic symbols around the church. Of course the short autumn day got us here as well and cut our explorations short. It was also a pretty cold and dreary day. We did get lucky - the rain had stopped as soon as we arrived.

Back home concierges had a whole night car moving operation going on helping to move guest cars into empty spots. They keep track of empty spots and vacationing owners and then can help with a good parking spot when need be.

We found a new use for our TV given that BT engineer did not show up for the third time and our radiators do not work - it comes quite handy as a drying rack.

Nov 8th. Keeping busy in Kingston

The week just flew by. Kids and I showed up to school on Monday but found Georgia's closed on the account of Inset Day. Apparently vacation by a different name is still a vacation. So another mom, a Chinese lady, shook our heads and took our excited kids back home to continue their break.

Romik, Polinka and Maechka came on Tuesday. We went out with them to Cocoanut, Thai restaurant located in an old pub. Scenery was great but food was not too memorable. The next night adults did some bar hopping in the surrounding bars: Bishop, The White Swan, & Druid's Head. Looked into a few others but they did not seem as cozy. Kids are having a blast catching up too - the apartment is filled with weaving projects, paintings, and other stuff. The weather was not super welcoming to our guests as it rained every day for at least time period. But there were some periods of sunshine too.

Kingston University is having their graduation ceremonies. We are trying to figure out the timing - as far as kids school's timing goes, they are in a middle of the first semester. Graduates were hanging out in the streets near Rose Theater dressed in full cap and down get up.. for the last 4 days. Parents and all, taking pictures. Maybe different departments do it on a different day, but in those outfits they looked more like a picket line. Maybe it is a custom to wear your cap and gown until you get your first job?

Our boiler and heater continues to not work. Landlord sends in a chubby boiler gnome that does something and it works for the next two weeks. Then we get to take a warm shower. This time around we tried to turn on the associated radiators, and found that they do not work. A higher ranking gnome came in and we overheard his discussion with the landlord on the phone. They were talking about contacting someone in China to order to manufacture some part that is no longer available now that the boiler line has been discontinued. Not terribly warm thought to contemplate.

Georgia's school in US had sent her a large pack of letters from teachers and students. It was amazing. It was like getting many many presents all at the same time. We sat on the bed and read each one of them. This is way better than the radiator. While on the same topic, the more people we have in the house the warmer it is... hint hint :)

Dima has some things that need to be taken care of. So he will probably leave sooner than expected. If he will, it will be very very very sad!

We went to Yami for dinner tonight. I found some items on the menu that we did not try yet and went through some irrational exuberance trying to cover them all. At first the quantity seemed overwhelming nothing is the limit if you are thorough and consistent. Need to brave finding another great Korean place.

Tomorrow we are going to drive to Cambridge. Should be pretty interesting. Falling asleep!! 

Nov 3rd. Relaxing at home in Kingston

Today was a slow and relaxing day as we worked through the mounds of laundry, did our weekly food shopping, napping (Rachel), sorting through millions of pictures (Dan) and prepared for next week. Romik, Polinka & Maya are coming on Tuesday!!!

Kids and I went to Teddington lock in the morning to check on the apples. They were very much there and continuing to ripen. And we probably have enough to last for the next few weeks. Dima and Georgia made Dima's famous family recipe Charlotte Torte from a portion of them.

In the afternoon we went to see a play at Rose Theater based on another book of Julia Donaldson What the Ladybird Heard. Compared to the other books and plays it is not as interesting. Kids liked it though.

Nov 2nd. Hadrian's Wall and York

Hadrian's Wall was built by Romans to mark the Northwest boundary of the empire. It used to stretch east to west, sea to see in an approximate boundary line between England and Scotland. These days good chunks of the wall and occasionally defensive or supply or residential infrastructures still survive. We did east to west route too, stopping at the interesting places like Corbridge and Housesteads. It is a pretty amazing set of sites to see.

Forgot to mention, for breakfast we stopped at a picturesque small town. Everything was still closed on an account of Sunday morning. But our plan was to hit one of the pub/hotel type of places for an English breakfast. We found such a place. It advertised being open from 7:30 and welcomed customers and offered parking where you can enter and exit with a code from the hotel. That sounded good.

We parked and in the blistering cold we ran around the place a few times trying to find a way in. At last a man had emerged from emergency exit door we decided to leave alone and allowed us in. We asked if we could sit down for breakfast. He shook his head and said there is no room and residents are having their breakfast and suggested to go for a walk for 15-30 minutes. That was not an option on the account of the weather. We asked to wait at the bar and he said it is full too. At 8am?? When we were about to ask for the code to get out, he said that a friendly waiter had found a place for us in the dining room and beckoned us in. There were 10 tables in the dining room. And 3 were taken. Maybe they have ghost residents??

Our final stop was York. What a wonderful city! Just as lovely as Edinburgh, in a different kind of way. As in Canterbury, we could not get to see their main cathedral, the Minster, they closed off the best sections for services. And the entry fee did not make it worthwhile to miss it. But the city itself is just awesome - street after street of scenic homes leaning in all directions. They had a fair going on as well so our string of celebrations had continued.

Kids and I went to see exhibition Horrible Middle Ages - it is a part of fun and educational series and all of us enjoyed it despite the grim subject area. Unfortunately we spent too little time in the city. It really calls for an overnight trip.

About the food again. We dropped into Ate O'clock 5 minutes prior to the end of their lunch. Waitress at the door said, sorry, too late, no can do. Just as we turned around to leave another one stepped in and welcomed us in. A local custom? Incidentally the food was delicious and served as fast as though they read our minds moment they handed down the menus.

After a long drive we reached home. It was a very enjoyable week!!

Nov 1st. Southwest through Scotland

On Friday we started heading back home. Our first stop was Rosslyn Chapel recommended by Alex I. It is one of the most beautiful churches we had ever seen.

The inside is covered almost entirely in intricate carvings covering the subjects related to the bible and good amount of pagan imagery. There are some controversial studies showing that the artwork in the chapel is just the work of fanciful imagination of the builders. I am not so sure after looking at.

The types of images and amount of detail of on them, and how they overlap seems to indicate tremendous amount of thought and planning faultlessly executed. Save to say that if you only see 2 places/things in Scotland, Rosslyn Chapel and Edinburgh should be it. The sad part is that the carvings look washed out. They were whitewashed with cement to try to preserve them in the sixties. The process killed the sharpness of imagery,  and made them soapy and molten. It also increased the rate of decay. Check out the link above. The chapel has been in the possession of the same family for about a number of centuries. 

Next we’ve visited Melrose Abbey ruins. They were beautiful. Red limestone made them appear almost glowing among the molting trees in the autumn sun. As we continued our trip south, we’ve stopped many times to take in the scenery on the way.  Pictures hardly do it justice.
The next two points were Smailholm and Dryburgh Abbey where Sir Walter Scott respectively grew up and was inspired by the stories of the troubled life in the border and almost completing the full loop his final resting place at. Sir Walter Scott features prominently in Scottish history. He was the one who unearthed Scottish royal jewels after they lay untouched locked in a chest for a long time when Scotland gave up its claim independence. 

A few more stops later, we reached our dinner destination. We had positioned ourselves to explore Hadrian's wall on Saturday. The penultimate stop was Tynemouth. Originally we had planned to see its castle as well. But the short autumn day cut our plans a wee bit. The town was very pretty - lots of interesting restaurants. One of the churches was changed into a mini new age shopping arcade. We strolled towards the castle and almost walked into it – it was not visible in the dark. We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant with very artistic décor. Can't remember the name. The food was very creative but tasted somewhat bland.

At last we arrived to South Shields to spend the night at William Fox house hotel. For the price we was expecting something half as good at Knock them Dead hotel in Belfast. We were pleasantly proved wrong. Our room was small but impeccably clean and freshly painted, there was en-suite bathroom, proper comforters, and free parking downstairs. And we even got the fireworks show going on right outside our windows. Kids were super thrilled!! Halloween parade yesterday and fireworks today - we are living it up :)