Pumpkin Carving

I carved my pumpkin today.

Search for Fall Colors

Saturday October 29, 2011

With Joe still in the Netherlands, Chance and I went for a car ride in search of fall colors that are beginning to appear. I drove east down Highway 2 toward the Cascades Mountain Range.

It was still a little early for that though. The brightest colors were actually reflected in the sky on the way home.

WWII battleground - Bastogne

October 29^th, 2011

I drove two hours to Bastogne, Belgium to tour one of the strategic battlegrounds of WWII (I hate to admit this, but the only reason I know about this place is because of the HBO miniseries – Band of Brothers).  I accidentally stumbled upon what used to be the 101^st Airborne Division barrack.   

My guide, a former Belgium paratrooper, gave me a 2.5 hours tour of the facility.  I held an original M1 gun used during the war - 8 rounds of ammunition.  There were fully restored American tanks left behind after war was over. 

Tom Hanks actually visited this facility during his study of WWII in preparation for the filming of Band of Brothers.   

3 km east of Bastogne, there is a memorial dedicated to the American troops for liberating Belgium from the Nazis control.  The memorial is shaped in a star with the names of the military division that took part in the Battle of the Bulge inscribed on the wall.

 

Since I was in Belgium, I couldn’t pass up another opportunity to drink Belgium beer. 

GGLO HALLOWEEN PARTY

Man now that Joe is home from the Netherlands, I’ve been doing a horrible job keeping up with the blog. Sorry about that! At least I’m only 2 months behind...

GGLO HALLOWEEN PARTY

Friday, October 28, 2011 

GGLO (the design firm Jackie works for) has a reputation for throwing the craziest Halloween parties. No matter how many warnings I received, the level of decorations and costumes far exceeded my expectations. These designers know how to take their creative ideas to the extreme.

The Halloween party was Tim Burton themed. Here’s a sampling of the decorations on Level A Friday morning pre-party:

Beetlejuice Bride & Groom Ressurrection

Beetlejuice Sheet Ghosts

Beetlejuice Sandworm, Sheet Ghosts

Bar

Beetlejuice Shrunken Head Dude

Beetlejuice Sandworm, Sleepy Hollow Scarecrow, Halloween Town Silhoutte

Halloween Town Silhouette

Sleepy Hollow Scarecrow

Nightmare Before Christmas inspired Hanging Tree Skeletons

Alice in Wonderland Checkerboard Floor

Alice in Wonderland Cards

Alice in Wonderland Tea Party

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Food Garden

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Lick Wall

At lunch there is a pumpkin carving competition. It is a team competition with each principal leading a team. The theme of the carving competition were Tim Burton movies. Each team was given a different movie. My team, led by Tom Sheldon had Batman.

Alice in Wonderland team.

Corpse Bride Team.

Mars Attacks Team.

Pee Wee Herman Team.

Sleepy Hollow Team.

Sweeney Todd Team.

Nightmare Before Christmas Team.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Team, winner of most literal interpretation.

Edward Scissorhands, winner of best use of the secret sauce announced Friday morning (Johnny Depp).

Beetlejuice team, the most abstract interpretation winner. Leave it to Bill to come up with the idea to use a real cow tongue.

The full pumpkin contest display after lunch.

Time to Party. Wonka Bar Pinata for the kids.

Chocolate Fountain!

Other Halloween treats

And now some of the costumes:
Me as Alice and Christie as a Sounder's Fan.

Christie W as Sounder's Fan and Kelley L as Miss Scarlet.

Chris D as Snooki.

Tina as Avon Lady from Edward Scissorhands & Kiwon as Pee Wee Herman.

Jerry as Pee Wee Herman.

Amanda as Corpse Bride & her husband Ben as Super Mario Brothers killer flower.

Bill G as Tim Burton’s Brain.

 

David B as a chuggar outside our office (charity mugger)

Courtney at the Royal Wedding.

Jeff F as Elvis.

Caught Elvis playing Rockband!

Robert M as early Elvis.

Derek R as Jack Skeleton from Nightmare Before Christmas.

Amy C as Mad Hatter

Heather & Amy C as Mad Hatters.

Daniel A as a Man Cave.

Wonsik as a nerd.

Sarah M as a California Roll.

Kelley L as Miss Scarlet with the Lead Pipe from Clue.

Todd as Sweeney Todd.

Tiina & son Madis as a spider and its web.

Jaime as Wendy.

Costume Prizes & Guest Judges (past employees). 

 

Costume contest winners:
Mark N, running man topiary from Edward Scissorhands winnner of Best Burton-themed costume

 

Amy H & husband Damon as crazy insects winner of Most Intricate/Labor Intensive (or just plain Best Overall)

Chris L as the Penguin in Batman winner of Most Morbid/Scariest Overall

Panoromic.

Good times

Kamikaze shots