In the Shadow of the Horns

Would love to rock the corpse paint tomorrow in the line-up ala Surf & Destroy, but headed out of town today. Will miss another Halloween swell, but luckily got some earlier in the week. This year's costume:

Crawl to Your Cross

Blatant satanic message? You can imagine my surprise when I walked into a coworker's classroom to find this blackest of images hanging on the wall. She tried to tell me that they were only practicing their multiplication facts and the certificates hang in order with the a three-way tie for fifth place, but I'm not so sure. For the rest of the day, I kept checking to see if I could hear any Bathory or Darkthrone being played in the classroom. Who knew multiplication could be so evil?

Where Cold Winds Blow

We headed out with Maeve and my niece and nephew for first night in Ocean City. The wind was blowing at least 25 mph and it was unbelievably cold, but it was New Years so we had to do something.




The approach to Ocean City High School. The golden dome gives it a real Notre Dame feel.


The kids chowing down. There were at least three restaurants set up with a buffet just outside the cafeteria. Very fun. Maeve is still working on how to smile without looking like her entire face is cramping up.


Amy and Maeve making the walk up to the rides. At this point we were walking with the wind.


The Ferris Wheel at Wonderland. Although it looks awesome, they were not running it, which was probably a good idea. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be on top of that thing with the wind cranking like it was.


The view atop of Wonderland. If you factor out how warmly everyone is dressed, you would think it was the middle of summer. Where did all these people come from??


Amy and her niece, Meghan, getting ready to ride the train.


Sound advice:


The Smiths at the civic center. Moonbounces, slides, music and hotdogs with sauerkraut.


The cousins in the moonbounce. There was a wizard on the outside that Maeve thought was Santa Claus.

Roman crushing a soft pretzel.


The next day we hit the beach for about fifteen minutes before the extreme cold sent us running for the car. The view from the boardwalk:





All in all, a great start to 2009!