Halloween for Paul Pan!

Paul Pan, the lesser known brother of Peter, set out for the mall tonight in search of candy! And so did every other kid in town with parents too lazy to walk the streets. Of course, around here, walking the streets after dark isn't always the best idea anyway. So we went to the indoor mall where we couldn't get rained on. Paul got the hang of it pretty quick and carried his plastic pumpkin bucket up to each store to be filled with candy (or the less exciting sticker or coupon for 15% off his next shoe purchase).

Earlier in the day he and his grandpa carved a jack-o-lantern for the front deck, and he even took his turn digging its guts out. We tried to get some good shots of the costume, but after he got it on he was off like a rocket and didn't hold still for long enough. I'm still disappointed it didn't come with the stupid pointed green hat. But don't worry this time grandmothers, I didn't try to teach him to fly like the real Peter Pan.

So now he has plenty of sugar to consume over the next few days. As if he needs any more energy.

Paul Pumpkin Head

Yeah it's been a few days, so while I've got a couple of free minutes, I'd better post some pictures. Unfortunately I've kind of been locked down at school and I haven't been home at all lately, so we haven't been anywhere to take pictures. But today, Becky, Paul, and Grandpa Bill went to pick out a pumpkin for Halloween.

Looks like there was quite a selection, but Paul was careful to pick the perfect one. Now we just have to repeatedly stab it, rip its guts out, and then set it out on the porch to rot away. Sounds slightly unpleasant. But if there's any luck, maybe it'll be creepy enough to scare that stupid cat away that's been living on our porch for sometime.

Since Paul's grandpa is visiting, hopefully they'll get plenty of photos this week and I'll have more to post about. In other news though, I actually had to get my coat out of the closet this week as we almost had a record low temperature the other day. It got down to 30 degrees!! For you northerners, that's very, very cold.

Another cousin??

Congrats to Paul's Aunt Laura and Uncle Shane for giving him - yet another - new cousin! Rowan Matthew Miller was born yesterday, and if I remember my numbers correctly, was 7lbs 11oz and 20in long! He of course joins the ever expanding Miller clan of Wyatt, Josie, and Morgan, along with the seven hundred family pets they carted to Missouri a few months ago. As you may notice, he was given a strong, intellectual, and courageous name, which will ensure he becomes an esteemed member of his community some day. Rowan is actually a species of decidous trees notable for their red berries... but it's also the first name of the current Archbishop of Canterbury... so it sounds very important. I'm not sure where they got the middle name from, but in Hebrew it means "Gift from God." Of course, Becky could have told you that. Ha... ha.

In other cousin news, Mason is in kindergarten probably making a macaroni necklace right now, Jasmine ate her first birthday cake the other day, which I'm sure was a delightful disaster, and Brooke is holding her head up high and chatting up a storm. Now let's hope Paul gets to meet some of these kids some day!

Double Feature!

Just a couple videos we thought you might enjoy! In the first, Paul shows the Montana blood in him by practicing his bull riding (or frog riding) skills. Does he stay on for the full 8 seconds? Tune in to find out:

Now in this second part of the feature, he goes through extensive testing regarding the functional capabilities of his vestibular system and his body's ability to withstand high levels of gravitational force. Basically, whether he can stand up after spinning in a chair a bunch of times. This training will guarantee that he can at least be an astronaut if the whole professional amphibian riding career doesn't pan out. Let's just hope that whatever space program he signs on for does not require pants.

Stay tuned for more of Paul's adventures in surviving life with his parents!

Hot Wing Weekend

This weekend was very much like an all-you-can-eat hot wings buffet: while it was great at the time, I know that later I will pay for it deeply. The last few weeks have been horribly busy with papers due, reading, reading, and more reading, work... and everything else. At times in the last month I have felt like riding my bicycle up to the seventh floor of the parking garage and pedaling right over the edge. Mostly just because that would be funnier for whoever found me and the people reading about it on the news websites. So having this weekend with nothing immediately due was a great opportunity for me to do just that – nothing. And now as I sit here trying to focus on “retained life estates,” “reciprocal transfers,” and “grantor’s retention of control,” I find it very hard to care what those all mean. Monday is officially five weeks until the end of the semester. Five. I’ll say it again, because I love how small that number has gotten. Five.

Anyway, what we did do with the weekend was spend it outside, enjoying the last warmth of 2008. You won’t believe this, but I actually had to sleep under the covers last night… I know, it was that cold. So it’s good to feel the sun a few last times before winter.

Well it was a relaxing weekend while it lasted. And now... taxes... equally as fun. Or maybe not.

Quantity over Quality

Even though there's not much interesting to say in this post, I thought I would update it anyway, because at least it gives me a break from school and you something to waste your time reading. And who doesn't love pictures of small children:

Anyway, we went out to the playground by the apartments and Paul found this old, dirty, beat up tennis ball, probably left behind by a slobbery dog. I never actually saw him put it in his own mouth, but I don't doubt that it happened. He did carry it the rest of the way home though, until I sneakily chucked it into the bushes. Once he gets his mind on something, he doesn't like giving it up, so you have to get rid of things when he's not looking.

Also, Paul got a hair cut this week, as you may have noticed. I had the joy of holding him while the lady viciously attacked him with her scissors (or so he thought). Actually he did quite well at first, but he wasn't down with the whole buzzer thing. He did, however, like holding the water bottle and spraying himself. Go figure.

Finally, a day off...

Last weekend was not much fun, thanks to school, so we decided just to take Saturday completely off this weekend. We ventured out into the Florida back country again (I know, that's unusual for us). Today we hit O'Leno State Park near Gainesville. A river comes up from underground in the park and makes it's way through the woods, even generating some "powerful" rapids along the way. There was the typical stuff: docks, bridges, canoes, tons of kids running around, people with dogs, gators lurking in the water waiting for people with small kids. There were even tons of minature frogs jumping around, and Paul and I tried to catch them! But we failed. Not because they were hard to catch, but because we were afraid they might be deadly toxic flesh-eating frogs, and we value our digits. But we did take tons of photos though, check it out:

Don't worry, Paul gets his fair share of ice cream, and he got over it. Also, they weren't kidding with the sign, the score at the end of the day was: Gators 3, Annoying Park Kids 0.