Pumpkin Carving Get Together

This year’s annual pumpkin carving get together was held on Friday night at our house. Everyone brought a pumpkin and design to carve. The kids even had a table where they could decorate their own pumpkin.
After eating some food, the pumpkin carving began.

Since it was mostly the guys carving the pumpkins, the girls eventually got cold and bored so they hung out inside.

When all were finished carving, we presented the pumpkins. Instead of taking many photos in the low light, Jay took this video showing off the pumpkins.

Nate's pumpkin did not show up in the video. He spent the next 15 minutes scraping away more of the inside of the pumpkin to allow it to glow. Finally we got a photo of all 6 completed pumpkins.

After everyone went home, Jay stayed up late working on a video that properly presented his carved pumpkin. Enjoy!!

Boo At The Philadelphia Zoo

Today we went to BOO AT THE ZOO at the Philadelphia Zoo with the Davis family.
We walked around the zoo with Shann, Sarah, Caden and Alyssa looking at all of the animals. However, today was a special day because since it was so close to Halloween, there were a lot of places to get candy from the workers.

B101 Radio was at the zoo and they were raffling a night’s stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. We all got tickets and Alyssa got to pick the winner.

We did not win the first drawing, but Shann and Jay went back for the later drawing. Wouldn’t you know it, Shann had that winning ticket. The lady wanted to get a photo of the winning family but Jay was the only one with Shann. Since they did not want to have it look like Jay and Shann were a gay couple (NOT THAT THERE’S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT), they grabbed 2 strangers and a teenage boy and had their photo taken with them.

We watched a presentation about birds and then Caden and Alyssa played at the treehouse while the adults rested.

After we left the zoo, we stopped to eat at Cracker Barrel and then headed for home.
Everything was going great until about 4 miles from the Quakertown turnpike interchange when the car started making a crazy noise. Shann pulled the car off to the side of the road and it was discovered that the brake caliper had come loose and we would need to be towed. Shann was not happy about this.

After waiting for about 45 minutes, the tow truck arrived and we got a ride home.

Even though we had the car trouble, the day was a blast. We cannot think of another way we would like to spend our day.

Our friends are the best!

Michelle's 30th Birthday Party

John Schreier wanted to have a surprise birthday party for Michelle. To do this, it was decided that we would all meet at the Davis’ house on a Clothes Line night. Amy and Michelle volunteer at The Clothes Line in east Greenville which is a building that gives out clothes to the needy the first and second Tuesday of each month. It is not uncommon for Amy and Michelle to come back to the Davis house when they are done volunteering. Before Amy and Michelle arrived, all the friends and family hid upstairs waiting to surprise her.

SURPRISE!!!!!!!

John’s sister made a cake for the birthday girl.

After cake, we played a card game.

John also put together a Michelle Schreier Fact or Crap game that gave us a lot of laughs.

On the following Friday evening, the girls met at The Olive Garden to continue the celebration.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE SCHREIER!

Taughannock Falls Impromptu Visit

Jay had to go to a prebid in New York for his work on Thursday. While driving to the prebid, he passed a sign that said Taughannock Falls overlook. When he came back from the prebid, he stopped to check it out. It turns out that Taughannock Falls is one of the highest waterfalls east of the Rocky Mountains with an impressive 215 feet drop. The falls is located in the Taughannock State Park between the Village of Trumansburg and the city of Ithaca.

Video Games Live

Sunday night, we went to the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia to see Video Games Live. Jay has been patiently waiting for the show to return because the last time it was in Philadelphia was 4 years ago and we were on vacation.

Before the show, there was a Guitar Hero contest and the winner got to play on stage during the show to try and win a prize. Also right before the show started, there was a costume contest. Master Chief won.

Video Games Live is "an immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time. Top orchestras and choirs perform along with exclusive video footage and music arrangements, synchronized lighting, solo performers, electronic percussionists, live action and unique interactive segments to create an explosive entertainment experience!"
Before intermission, Amy spotted sitting right in front of us what appeared to be an actor from the television show 30 Rock. We also thought that the girl that was with him looked like a familiar actress. During Intermission, Amy confronted the man. She asked him if he was on 30 Rock and when he said yes, Amy was so excited, jumped up and down and said, “You’re Liz Lemon’s boyfriend?” He said yes and told us that his name was Jason Sudeikis. Amy than asked the lady with him, “You’re not Amanda Peat are you? She said no and we let them be to enjoy the rest of the show. What made this encounter funny was that when we were driving home, Jay remembered that the girl was in “What Happens in Vegas.” When we got home and Googled her, we found out her name was Lake Bell and she had been in a ton of other movies and television shows and was probably more famous than Jason Sudeikis. We are no paparazzi, but we did snap a photo of them as prove of our encounter.