Happy Halloween!

Halloween was special for us this year, for obvious reasons. Even though Jericho is too young to trick-or-treat, we wanted him to be able to enjoy this holiday as much as we do. So we carved a pumpkin and bought his first Halloween costume - a penguin. He actually didn't try to rip the headpiece off, which surprised us, and he did really well with it. We made plans to go to Villaggio - an American housing community - to see the decorated houses and yards and kids dressed in costume. Jericho seemed to have fun in the Big Giant Stroller, but once we got to the car to head home he seemed to be a pooped lil' penguin. We got home, he went to bed and I put Jack Skellington (my work of art, if I do say so myself) out on the balcony and lit him up for the world to see.

Saturday Michael surprised me with a trip to Aviano Air Base. We'd heard good things about their huge PX and base, so we decided to check it out. They put Vicenza to shame! We spent quite a bit of money on things we wouldn't have been able to get here, and we left wishing we were stationed in Aviano. We made a promise that Aviano would be a recurring trip, and next time we're taking the camera.

Also this weekend was Tom's dinner to celebrate his separation from the Army. We'd known about the dinner for a week, and we RSVP'd and showed up promptly at 8:00, only to stay all of 20 minutes after feeling more out-of-place by the minute. Apparently we missed the "formal attire" memo. We were told jeans were ok, but once we got upstairs and saw more people dressed for a formal occasion, it got a little awkward. Jericho was exhausted from the Aviano trip, so he was overactive and a tad fussy. So we politely (kind of) informed Tom we were leaving and apologized, then bolted, feeling somewhat insulted and embarrassed. Next time we'll just send a card.

And I also learned that the most surefire way to be constantly left out of the loop is to have a child. At least my babygroup still knows I exist.