Matt Fall, Family, Holidays, Japanese, Thanksgiving

THANKSGIVING

One great thing about living in a multi-cultural home is that Ellie gets to celebrate both American and Japanese holidays.  Thanksgiving wasn’t so much about pilgrims and native Americans in our house this year. It was more about east meets west. Aya’s parents were in town from Japan to visit, and we were able to include her family with our regular Thanksgiving dinner this year. The typical crowd is us, my folks, my brother Patrick, his wife Kristen, grandma, my good friend Rob, and his fiance Jesse. And also this year, Aya’s parents.

Continue reading “THANKSGIVING” →

Matt Adventures, Dad Stuff, Fall, Family, Food, Outings

THE CIDER MILL RULES

One of the best parts about fall is going to the cider mill. One of my fondest childhood memories was going to the cider mill every year. The cider mill we always went to was Apple Charlie’s. I don’t remember details of what we did there. I just remember we HAD to get donuts and cider. I’m assuming we ate them there and looked around, but I don’t remember the little petting zoo, I don’t remember looking at pumpkins, and I definitely don’t remember the Barn of Blood. But what I do remember is the feeling I had.  The trip to the cider mill was a summary of what the fall season was. Everything fall was compiled into one spot with cider and donuts as the stars. The cool crisp fall air, the dry colorful fall leaves, fall jackets, everything imaginable made from apples and pumpkins, fall decorations, fall produce, and polka bands. And now that I have my own family, I’m very excited that I get to show Ellie why the cider mill rules! Continue reading “THE CIDER MILL RULES” →

Matt Fall, Family, Halloween, Holidays

BOO HOO

Halloween is a big deal in my family.And by big deal I don’t just mean we just dress up and listen to creepy music during trick-or-treating.It is a BIG deal.My family puts on an interactive Halloween display. It’s not a haunted house.No one jumps out at you, nothing is really meant to scare you.Some things are meant to be creepy, but for the most part it’s meant to make you smile and laugh.Everything is mechanical and electrical so Halloween usually lasts a good month while we prepare for this.I start watching my scary movies to put me in the mood and we all start brainstorming for new ideas. Continue reading “BOO HOO” →

Matt Fall, Halloween, Holidays, Making Stuff, My Adventures

CREEPY CRAFTY

Halloween was quickly approaching and we needed to decide if we were going to dress Ellie up or not. We originally agreed to do a Hello Kitty costume, but the only costumes we liked were online and we never made an effort to purchase them. And with a few days to Halloween, it just wasn’t going to work. Then I thought of doing a mummy costume. How cool would a baby mummy be!? The caption of the photo would read “I love my mummy,” even though her daddy put the costume together. Whatever, I’d still love it. But Aya didn’t want our child dressed up as a dead person.

I needed to come up with something else. Something easier. Something better. And I did! But it was an idea so secret I didn’t even tell Aya. Only my mom and I knew. And that’s what brought me to JoAnn Fabrics a few days before Halloween. Continue reading “CREEPY CRAFTY” →

Matt Fall, Halloween, Holidays

BOO

With it being October, or Shocktober as they call it, I’ve been watching tons and tons of scary movies.  From the old Universal Monster classics to the slasher movies to the all-around just really creepy movies, I enjoy them all.  Some are movies I’ve never seen before, but most of them I’ve seen year after year.  Even though I’m familiar with most of them, they still get inside my head and mess with my mind at times. Continue reading “BOO” →