Costume Party and a Hayrack Ride

The fall fun continues for Vivian and me. Last Saturday we partook in another autumnal tradition — Jenny's birthday costume party, which we've attended for the last four years in a row. This year I came as Number Two from the 1960s TV series The Prisoner. Pretty much nobody in our group knew who I was supposed to be, but that didn't matter. I loved the show, and I needed to buy a gray turtleneck anyway. Vivian came as a cat-who-swallowed-an-entire fishbowl, making use of her eight-month-old pregnant tummy. We had several other hilarious costumers in our ranks this year — the Straussers as the Super Family, Heather as a Major Award, Jon Paper as a headless person, Keith as... Captain Keith, the Kams as a pumpkin patch, and Jenny as Lady Gaga (singing Bad Romance via karaoke just as we walked in the door). Dean West was our host this evening dressed as Bamm-Bamm, and his parents just happened to show up to join us.

We drifted between karaoke and pumpkin-style food upstairs and a dance floor downstairs. Jenny got to have another birthday jam (after getting one at JNO on Friday). Vivian and Venche served up pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin pie (respectively) to contribute to our sugar rush throughout the evening. We continued on with the Hokey Pokey for some reason and wound down the evening setting up a Christmas tree with random objects gathered from Dean's basement (which included boots, a beachball, and Scotch tape among other things).

On Sunday, Vivian and I partook in another fall tradition — going on a hayrack ride. This year, we went with several of our fellow members at Twin Valley Church to the Hall's ranch down near rural Plattsmouth. We loaded up in two hayracks and got toted about for a couple miles, enjoying the gorgeous weather and countryside along the bumpy country roads.

Everyone brought plenty of food to stuff ourselves with afterward, and we had a roaring firepit going as well, which was just perfect for toasting s'mores with some of the ginormous marshmallows Jeff West was able to smuggle in. The weather was absolutely gorgeous the whole time we were there — warm enough for a T-shirt — but as the sun fell we were reminded that it is, in fact, October now, so the fire was a welcome addition to the evening. (Little Rachel just stared in awe as if she'd never seen an open fire before.)