Acapulco

This weekend, Autumn and I drove out to Acapulco for a romantic weekend getaway. Autumn found an amazing deal on the hotel which turned out to be a private "casita" or bungalow on the top of what used to be an old Mexican fort complete with our own private swimming pool. Now this discount may have had something to do with the recent narco-violence in the area, but we stayed in the hotel the whole time, so we were safe and sound! We did take one trip out to see the world-famous cliff divers, and that was really fun.

La casita!

View from the pool...

What private pool isn't complete with fresh flowers?

Autumn enjoying the amenities...

Grrrr...I'm actually really excited!!

Marine Ball

Autumn and I got ourselves all gussied up for the Marine Ball, conveniently held right next door to the office! We had a great time and it was really fun to see everyone in their "goin' to town" getups as we say back home.

Just kidding! We don't really say that back home, but I bet a lot of you believed it!

Cupcakery

Well, as we all know, the US gov't prides itself on charitable giving, and what better way to flex the mighty capitalist muscle of the US economy? Duh, BAKE SALE!

Naturally, I had to try to out-do all the other spouses and once again prove my superiority (as I learned in Protocol class)! With a little inspiration from Martha and my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook in hand, I went to work on some high-altitude baking.

Eat THAT other spouses!
Halloween Monster Cupcakes!

A week later, I had a follow-up performance (albeit not as cute) for the office Halloween / Day of the Dead party:

Feliz Dia de Los Muertos!

Pink T-Shirts, Pink Balloons, Pink Ribbons!

Although we were both cursing ourselves for being so nice and charitable on the pitch-black, pre-dawn taxi ride over to Condesa at 6:00am last Saturday, we did have a good time at a Breast Cancer awareness event that we volunteered at. Autumn and I helped run the bag/coat-check which basically involved a lot of sitting around...our favorite volunteer activity!

Much more cheerful after coffee and daybreak!

Phoenix

After our surprise trip to Colville, we had with an 8 hour layover on the flight home, so we ended up visiting Phoenix after all.... And, for all you blog/Autumn fans out there, you know that means....

CACTUS!!!

Welcome to Arizona!

Our first stop with the Desert Botanical Garden.

Chihuly "Yuccas" at the main entrance.

Cact-gasm!

Much like us, the monarch butterflies had a long layover in Phoenix before their journey to south-central Mexico.

A bloomin' good time for all old chaps!

KEEP OUT!

Autumn almost couldn't leave this cactus paradise, but hunger prevailed!

Good ol' American micro-brews & pub grub!

Surprise Visit

Autumn's dad just finished building his house this weekend and was having a big housewarming party, so....we decided to fly up and surprise him. We had originally planned on meeting up with Autumn's mom in Phoenix to go dress shopping for the upcoming Marine Ball, but she convinced us to change our plans and go all the way up to our parents neck of the woods in almost Canada.

We also decided that we would surprise my mom which just about ended up with her in a state of shock when we walked in the door at the Gallea! But in the end it was a fun surprise for all. We got our shopping done in Spokane (thanks 1-day sale at Macy's!) and got to spend time with everyone. As it turned out, my mom was also in the middle of home improvements and was replacing her roof over the weekend. I of course volunteered for cleanup duty and we ended up hauling literally 1.5 TONS of roof crap to the dump. Afterward there was a big poker party, so I got to visit with a bunch of my aunts and uncles too. Jeannie even grabbed a last minute flight from the coast!

Meanwhile, Autumn caught up on TV and dungeoness crab with her mom, and spent Saturday with her dad, roasting a half-pig (that he raised!!) for the big party. The turnout at the party was great, and we got to visit with 1.5 tons of people that we hadn't seen in months! We tried to convince people that we really liked living in Mexico City, but the average reaction was pretty much, "Oh? Really? I've only heard BAD things...so anyway, blah blah blah" ;) Regardless of the fact that no one believed us that one could actualy ENJOY living in Mexico, the part was a smashing success, and I plan on changing my will to include a clause that I wish to buried in a vat of Autumn's uncle Al's BBQ sauce!

Not too many photos from the weekend...I guess we were having too much fun!

Good morning turkeys! Gobble-Gobble...
Just wait 'til Thanksgiving...muhuhuwahwahahahh

Al & Autumn's dad roasting the pig!

Ed & Lynn's new place

The real chef!

Lucha Libre

This evening we headed out with a big group from work to watch a Luche Libre match (Mexican wrestling). It was a pretty wild spectacle. Very choreographed and obviously fake, but it was pretty entertaining. We each got an extra-large-big-gulp sized beer for 100 pesos and enjoyed the show.

Lucha babes and Volador versus La Mascara!

Flipping for fun!