This battle station is fully operational

Voting machine fun: "He touched the screen for gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis, a Democrat, but the review screen repeatedly registered the Republican, Charlie Crist."

Motivation
Not just for winners, anymore.

Pumpkins: some old some new.

Anniversification

Their headstone
Originally uploaded by Essentialsaltes.

Friday night, Dad & Lois took us out to dinner at the Dal Rae. It's a neat place, built in the 1950's and essentially unchanged since -- just how their patrons like it. They'll even prepare steak Diane at the table for you.

Then Saturday morning, Becca and I flew up to the Bay Area, mainly for my cousin Kathy's ten year anniversary, which more-or-less coincides with our own one year anniversary. But first, we went to relive my childhood by going to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and rode the Giant Dipper. It may be 82 years old, but it's still a great ride. We poked around the rest of the boardwalk and a little of Santa Cruz, and then checked out nearby Capitola, which is too cute for words, albeit heavily trading on its cuteness with boutiquiness.

The evening was Kathy and Greg's party at their gorgeous house in Aptos. It was hard to believe how much decorating effort went into that party; it was fantastic. It was good to see them again, even if they had plenty of host-y stuff to keep them occupied. I was happy to get a chance to interact a little bit with their kids there, too.

In the morning, we visited with some other relatives in San Jose. My cousin Tom brought his cutesy-pie three-year-old Aidan along, but his wife had to stay home with their new baby girl Cordelia.

Then to the airport and home. I would have thought I could spend an hour on a plane with just about anyone sitting in the row behind me. But it's a good thing those two obnoxious motormouth punks finally gave it a rest halfway through the flight, or I might have been forced to throttle them.

To see more pics from the trip, click the image and poke around.