I really enjoy blogging, I need to make time to blog more often. It’s difficult though, with work and home and family. When schedules start to get crunched, blogging is the first thing to go.

The weekend of September 24th was the Eat Real Festival in Oakland, which my sister Marcy ran. We met my parents there on Sunday and had an awesome time. The festival was in Jack London Square, entrance was free, and the food was all under $5 (mostly). Corinne loved seeing the people and baby piggies and bock bock chickens. Raelene was finally able to try out the vegan falafel truck she’d heard so much about. I got to drink beer out of a commemorative mason jar, what a hipster!

Sunday night I went to a concert, the first concert I’ve attended in over a decade. I got there early, grabbed a spot on the front barricade, and throughly enjoyed the show. It’ll probably be another 10 years or so before I go to another concert, but that’s fine. Music has always been and will continue to be an important part of my life, but I’m getting too old to attend shows regularly.

Last Friday I ran a Trail of Cthulhu game for my normal gaming group. We try to get together once a month to play, usually on a Friday evening. I ran a cold war horror adventure set aboard an aircraft carrier. The players managed to save the world, or at least they thought they did. I managed to work in a cliffhanger ending that I think everyone liked. Everyone seemed to have fun, which is always a good sign.

Okay, I have a post written. Let’s see if we can turn that into momentum…

It’s hard to believe that the summer is almost over. Not only has it been forever since I last blogged, but it never really got that warm in the bay area. Another summer of bundling up to go outside and running the furnace at night.

Things have been reasonably slow in our lives, which is good. Corinne took a 3 week swim class at the newly restored Point Richmond Natatorium. She loved it, and hopefully we can get her signed up for another class here soon.

Raelene and I are both trying to get healthier, and so we’re both walking for exercise and measuring our steps using a Fitbit. It’s really amazing how many steps you get (or don’t get) during a day, and I’m convinced that measuring and monitoring yourself is the key to getting healthy. I’m also finding that sharing your progress socially is important, too. It’s like having a buddy to go to the gym with; you’re much more motivated to go if you know someone is there waiting for you. If you’re interested in following my progress, create a Fitbit account and I will give you access to all my numbers.

On Saturday we went to a birthday party for one of Corinne’s friends. It was a lot of fun, even if it was a little bit claustrophobic inside the house.

On Sunday we visited Raelene’s brother and sister-in-law and met their new two week old baby. I’d forgotten what it was like to hold a baby, and I don’t think I’ve ever held a baby that light. Baby Athena was absolutely adorable, and we’re both really happy for Raelene’s brother and his family.

Today we had a lot of fun at Corinne’s summer pageant. The show was in three acts. First was a Smokey the Bear play, extolling the virtues of being safe and not playing with matches. Then was a Cirque du Soleil style act on a trampoline. The kids didn’t do any acrobatics, they just bounced while singing Five Little Monkies. The third act was a series of songs with plenty of jumping up and down and arm waiving. It was adorable, completely adorable.

After the pageant we went to a park and had a pot luck while the kids played. Corinne played very hard, and by the time we got home she was over tired starting to melt down. I gave her a quick bath, and then we did bedtime. She tried to pretend she wasn’t tired, but she was asleep almost immediately. It was a lot of fun.