Pumpkin Picking!, originally uploaded by punquin.

We had a nice (busy) day today, and the weather couldn’t have been nicer!

Last night, Laura came over after work and we practiced Rock Band 2 for a bit so she could get used to it before the party. We stayed up pretty late. We celebrated China’s birthday with a mini cake I had baked for her. She approved!

Today I woke up at 9:30 but rested until 10. I took my time getting up to let Laura sleep in. Once we were all ready to venture out into the world, we packed ourselves and Benny into the car. First stop was Panera to eat bagels outside (kibble for Benny!) and get some oj and caffeine into ourselves. Then we headed to a shopping center to look for Halloween decorations at the dollar store. We stopped into an office store to get register ink for work, then took Benny (who was napping in the car) to the pet store when I went in to get crickets (for our geckos).

We drove on to work to drop off the register ink, then on the way back, stopped at my favorite plant nursery that has a huge selection of pumpkins and other stuff.

I wasn’t sure if dogs were allowed at the nursery, but I hooked Benny to my leash and brought him anyway. Turns out there was a Bloodhound puppy already there. Everyone was saying how cute Benny was and a lady even took his picture. The prices were great there – I had been looking at mums around Ashburn and they were all $10 a pot. Here they were $4! So, I picked out one 16 lb pumpkin, a little 2 pounder with character, three spooky gourds, a little hay bale, a little Indian corn bunch, and my two mums. Benny chatted with the checkout guy and did his best to be cute.

On the way home, we stopped for cheap, tasty Mexican food. Laura has headed off to Arlington to house-sit for the night, so myself and the puppies will be relaxing. I think I’ll start decorating the house for Halloween tomorrow. My neighbors have all already finished their decorating!