Halloween Night
We had speakers blaring scary music and strobe lights to entice kids to visit our house. We probably had at least 100 kids come looking for candy. I had to make a quick visit to Safeway to refill. I didn’t want to shut our house down for the night just yet. Mom and Dad came over to help out too and we took the kids around the neighborhood. Haley was so cute. After each house gave her candy, she would run back to us and say “I got candy !!” like it was such a surprise each time.

Halloween Party
We had the place all decked out in decorations and had a bunch of friends over. We had 18 Adults, 7 kids, 5 newborns. Things sure have changed over the years. We had a great time though – lots of food and everyone dressed up. Linda made some games for people to play and gave out some prizes.

I was an Alice Cooper wannabe

Fright Night
We went to Fright Night with some friends last night and had a great time. We got there early and did all the Haunted Houses and Roller Coaster right away to beat the lines. It was a blast and a lot of laughs. A lot of the rides had actors inside which made it a lot of fun and freaked us out. This was not a kid event – way too scary for them.

Capilano Suspension Bridge
I’ve never been to the bridge and lived here for 18 years so we thought it was about time. The weather was once again awesome and we had a 2 for 1 coupon. Way too expensive I thought though - $26 each adult. Good thing we had a coupon and being a resident we get a one year membership with our admission. Food was also a rip off - $9.63 for a burger. I guess they love to gouge the tourists. Food was 50% off our day so it was all reasonable.

Kids loved exploring around and walking across the bridge. There were a bunch of us who made it sway quite a bit to the point I got a bit nervous having the kids on it and then a guy came on the speakers and told everyone to stop. They have this treetops adventure there which allows you to walk across connected bridges up in the trees. They also have a several educational points which are interesting. The beauty of the forest is spectacular and they made the whole area beautiful and a great place for bringing your camera.

We’re glad we did it since we’ve never done it before but to pay to walk around the forest in BC is kind of odd to me since we could just go over to Lynn Valley where we used to live and experience the same thing. I can see why tourists like it though.

Halloween Decorations
Linda has our house decked out in all the Halloween decorations both inside and out. Our neighbor came over to talk to her about it. He was subtle about mentioning the tombstones and skeletons. He called it the Coquitlam Cemetery. Linda said it was “festive” and he barked back – it’s “morbid!”. Oh well, we’ve added more stuff and he will have to get over us celebrating this pagan holiday. He is a retired Minister and must be cringing looking at our place. We better not let him in the house as we have way more creepy morbid stuff inside. He might see my Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Rob Zombie, Judas Priest paraphernalia – I don’t think he would get it and assume we’re some sort of devil worshippers.

Movie Night
Got a bunch of friends together and went over to a buddys place who has an 8x8 movie screen in his basement to watch my cruise DVD. I had spent 4 months working on that DVD and now was forcing others to watch it. 80 Minutes of video and pictures all put to music. I think they enjoyed themselves – beer can make it more entertaining. We then watched Jackass 2 afterwards – that was funny !!! I love them.

Mid Term Exam
About a week and a half of my life disappeared studying for my mid term at SFU. I think it all worked out (I hope) – Essay questions are tough – I was still writing on my 6th page when the time had run out.

Thanksgiving and Cruise Movie
We had the whole family over for Thanksgiving. Linda made a fabulous dinner. I then subjected them all to my Cruise DVD. It was well received and I was proud of what I created. I think my dad really enjoyed it reliving the cruise once again. It was fun showing the family and letting them experience everything we did.

Stanley Park Ghost Train
We checked out the ghost train on opening night and had a good time. The theme was B movies so there were Killer Bees, Swamp Men and Mad Scientists. Weather was great train ride was fun. Kids enjoyed it. We also went to the petting zoo area where there were more spooky decorations. Haley was a bit spooked there.

The train is not cheap though – you need to go through Ticketmaster and they add $10 service charge to the tickets (total). We buy the tickets online and don’t ay human – how do they get away with this ?? Concert tickets are even worse with them getting $10 each ticket !! Such a monopoly scam. I digress though.

We went to Red Robin first – Great place to go with the family – good food and they treat the family and kids right. I filled out a comment card expressing my satisfaction with the service and they mailed me a coupon for a free dessert. Sweet.

Burnaby Train
Didn’t know there was a train ride in Burnaby for the kids. We checked it out and had fun.

Camping at Johns
I took Friday off work and went camping down in the US with my bros. Left Linda and the kids at home for a couple of nights. Weather was sunny Friday and we went into the shopping area and bought groceries and checked out Halloween stuff. I didn’t have back seats in the van so John sat in a lawn chair. I drove slow and took it easy around corners but the 2 of them nagged me about my geriatric driving so I turned a corner a bit faster and John went flying. He landed all over our groceries but luckily didn’t break the eggs. I was killing myself laughing.

We played some outdoor games – target golf which I totally dominated and bocci ball which I was completely useless at that day. Scotty showed up and the game was on. We played Texas Hold’em until 2:00AM. I was drinking MGD but Scotty and John were doing Pineapple Rum and got wrecked. It was cold and windy at that time. I had my van all setup and watched a bit of the movie Phone Booth with Colin Farrel until I crashed at 2:30. The wind howled through the night and I woke up at 10AM and finished watching my movie in the van. So nice to sleep like that and relax in the morning. Good movie – I recommend it. John made everyone a great breakfast as he always does.

We checked out some stores like Lowes (same as home depot) and looked at RVs and then went go carting. That was a blast. The cars flew and slid around the corners – ‘drifitng’ John had the best car and kicked our butts. I was a respectable second passing Scotty on the last lap. We then checked out the Skagit Casino. John won right away on Roulette - I didn't and Doug won on slots - I didn't. sigh. Dumb casino.

Saturday night was awesome – not windy or cold and we hung out and played more cards until 1AM. Scotty was hilarious, he had wine and rum and spilled wine all over himself. We watched the movie ‘Ice harvest’ with John Cusack until 2:30AM inside Johns trailer. It was OK – 6.5/10.

I had to be home for Linda to go out so I was up and out at 8:00AM and it was only an 80 minute drive home – not one car at the border.