um, the recap, as it were.

i had planned to do a witty, charming, extended recap but time is running out and i just need to get the thing out there so you folks will be happy and i can have a clear concious. it won't be super detailed, but here it is in reverse chronological order:

bonfire night: this weekend we went over to a neighbor's house to celebrate guy fawkes day (the neighbors are british). they made a big bonfire, we all contributed to the meal and basically hung around together. best part of the evening for me: the dads hanging out by the swing set keeping an eye on the kids so the moms could sit around the bonfire drinking beer and having girl talk. i know, hard to believe that that would be a treat, but it doesn't happen too often any more.

halloween: rory, like last year, really took to the scam of free candy. we went trick or treating with our friends/neighbors, the jones, and after every house, rory and elizabeth (the jones' 5 year old daughter) would run up to me and command that i turn on the flashlight so i could see how much candy they had. we went to the norwich in before trick or treating for the usual community hallowenn party. it's total gas to see a bunch of kids (and adults) running around in costume acting crazy BEFORE they got hyped up on candy.

zoe's school play: drove up to GMVS to see zoe in her school play. zoe scored big on the cousin bonus point scale when she took rory up on stage after the play was finished and rory (ohmigod) GOT A HUG FROM BELLE!

visitors: barbara was here for a week and we ate, drank, decorated, and were merry as usual. a couple of days, rory came home from school at lunch time so she could have 'tea' with nonna at the norwich inn. PLUS, nonna got a hot pink rolling suitcase that doesn't sparkle for rory. it's barely left her personal space since it's arrival in our house.
we also had stacey, our former neighbor from palo alto, come out. it was a surprise for brian's 50th birthday and boy was he surprised. we had a great time. reverted, somewhat easily, to our usual give-each-other-shit roles with stace and her boyfriend, plus they brought some really great wine to share with us. we miss her so...

Brians' birthday party: the guest list was pretty much a reprise from my 40th birthday party and the weather was amazing-not too hot, not too cold, no rain. we had a great time, although, i think i might have made a little more food (on the plus side, we had very few left overs). michael and dan did the usual roast that happens at our groups' 50th birthdays and kept it relatively clean for the benefit of little ears. we scored a bunch of leftover beer which should last us through the winter as we hardly ever drink it anymore.