Well, actually my daughter visited a few places on her trip to the east. It started with a visit to my sister, Jina, in Wash DC. Celeste LOVED the zoo. Then we were (literally) whisked to my uncle's place in Virginia (out west) before finishing up with Elana's sister, Laura, back in Virginia, but down south. You'll have to check out the photo album for pictures of the trip.

And, as luck would have it, we didn't have to call 911 for Celeste (on our trip last year to Florida, she has an allergic reaction on a stop over at O'Hare...scary), BUT, she did a faceplant in her stroller that warranted a visit to a local hospital.

All is well that end's well!

So, a good friend of mine, Peter Schmidt, celebrated his 40th birthday (I don't know why it was such a big deal. I hear 40 is the new 28) by chartering the USS Potomac. Apparently it was Franklin Roosevelt's private boat back when he was President. Since then, it's moved around, being owned by Elvis Presley, even doing a stint as some drug runner's boat. In the end, it sunk and was purchased for $12,000 (I think) and restored for $5 Million (I'm pretty sure that's right). It was a great way to enjoy an afternoon with friends, cruising under the Golden Gate Bridge, picking up some escaping inmates from Alcatraz...

It's amazing today that there are so many peoples to blog and to read blogs. I'm in shock that I still get 500 visitors a month. I'm guessing most of them are looking for a different "Mike Bang" and stumbled on my site. Gotcha! (Just kidding). Folks, that's really my name, and back when things were just getting started on the internet, there weren't too many Mike Bangs trying to registered domain names. I bet it sucks to be "John Smith" today and trying to register his domain name...

Well, it was Celeste's first real Halloween. At least this time, she could walk, and we took her to a cool neighborhood on the Peninsula. Still dressed in the pumpkin outfit from last year (except this year it fit better), she got alot of nice comments and raked in the candy (which, of course, she's allergic to, so daddy got it all!). Mom and dad even got in the action, snagging a couple of drinks from a house (didn't I tell you it was a cool neighborhood?). Well, I hope to have the photos posted some day...

Does it ever end? Once a baby can walk, the baby proofing never ends. Just when you think you've blocked all the hazards and moved things high enough, Celeste manages to jimmy a lock or climb a little higher. This is gonna get interesting day by day...