Do the swim, do the monster swim.

This Saturday was the long-awaited trip to Halloweekends -- our first time back since 2004! As luck would have it, it was a beautiful day... kind of a curse when it comes to Cedar Point. The upside, we got to enjoy a lovely day outside. The downside, there were a milllllion people there. More people than I've ever seen there. We waited almost an hour for the Gemini, a half hour to get pizza, and still weren't able to ride the Top Thrill Dragster -- two hours is just not an option. But we had fun, everything was Halloweeny, and come dark, the spooky came out.

How can the nacho hut be out of cheese?

Waiting in line makes me crazeee.

The fright zone. Ooooeee!

CarnEVIL.

Takin' a tub.

Spooks.

It was so nice to get out of town for a day, ride some rides, do some good people watching. All in all, an excellent weekend trip.

Sunday I decided to make a big fall meal as a thank you and send off to the in-laws. I FINALLY busted out the real pumpkin. And it wasn't so bad. ;) I won't go into all the gory details -- I covered this in a blog last fall, but I reran this recipe, adding the sausage this time (I substituted Italian chicken sausage).

A gal's two best friends.

Goop.

I even made dessert -- an apple crisp with Michigan honey crisp apples (my new fave!). I wasn't thrilled with the results, so I'll skip the recipe. But with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt, it did the trick.

As for our own Halloweekends, I decided last year I was not to be outdone by the neighbors again regarding Halloween decorations. This was one battle I deserve to win. So Brad humored me and went shopping for supplies, and I've been slowly getting everything as I like it. I wish it were Halloween all year long.

Creepy spider pumpkin.

Frank-a-copia.

Yo. Check us out.

I stick my tongue out at your silly decorations.

And finally, since there is a creepy theme here.... An ode to the creepy mannequin in Aunt Sandy's dining room. Eek!