Super Fun Pre-Halloween Weekend!

Sure, it's Wednesday, and I'm only now getting around to writing about our weekend, but at the rate I've been going, I'm just glad I'm posting!

Last weekend, the Mister & I drove down to our old stomping grounds, Norfolk and Virginia Beach, to have a super fun pre-Halloween weekend.  The first purpose of our trip was running the Anthem Wicked 10K, which is a super fun costume race.  This is my third year in a row doing a Halloween-themed race for my birthday and I have declared it a tradition!

Ahh, he's got me!

Drac makes sure the Mister gets a good night's sleep!

Matchy McMatchersons over here!

The Mister was able to leave work relatively early Friday afternoon and we hit the road.  Remarkably, we didn't hit ANY traffic and made amazing time.  Our first stop was the Expo at the Convention Center in Virginia Beach to pick up our packets.  I've been trying to take more photos when we do fun things and the Mister was willing to indulge us.  I think the shirts this year are way nicer than last year's!

After we got our packets and did a bit of browsing at the Expo, we headed over toward Norfolk to go to one of our favorite restaurants, Luna Maya, that we dearly miss.  We nommed on so much delicious food it was kind of ridiculous.  Then we headed back to our hotel to  get in a good night's rest before the race.  I forgot to get any photos before the race, but I am impressed at how great my costume looks after a 6.2 mile run!

Post-race selfie! We were the TARDIS and the 10th Doctor from Doctor Who, fyi!

Blurry shot of me & Richard Simmons!  This guy rarely broke character, it was awesome!

Ms. Frizzle & her Magic School Bus!  I was bummed that they didn't place in the costume contest!

Full shot of the TARDIS costume!

Extra special touch!

I love doing costume races because it makes the running part that much more bearable if you have something amusing to look at.  This was the longest distance the Mister has run since high school and I was running a bit injured, so checking out people's costumes was a big help!  Unfortunately, not too many people got our costumes.  Mostly just the cool nerdy high schoolers volunteering.  There was one girl who was handing out PowerBars who pretty much lost her shit, especially when I turned around to show off my Bad Wolf grafitti.

We stayed for most of the after-party and enjoyed our three free beers and then stumbled down the beach back toward our hotel lunch and showers.  We had lunch (in our costumes!) at our favorite fancy sandwich shop, Taste.  I joked with the Mister that it was no wonder I gained 10 pounds after moving in with him...there were so many awesome places to eat in Norfolk!

We spent the rest of the day bumming around and had dinner with some friends.  The next day we slept in and had a super yummy (but surprisingly spendy) breakfast at a place called Pocahontas Pancakes and then hit the road for the finale of our Super Fun Pre-Halloween Weekend.  Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream!

I totally intended to take way more photos while we were at the park, but then I forgot.  But I made sure to get a photobooth photo because last time we came, we didn't get one.  It's my favorite souvenir!  We had so much fun at Howl-O-Scream, but we wish the scary stuff started a bit earlier.  We did all our favorite non-scary attractions early in the afternoon and then we were left sort of just wandering around for two hours before the haunted houses opened up.  But man.  Once they did?

Have I ever mentioned that I am a TOTAL baby about scary things?  Like, I don't watch scary movies or scary TV shows.  Even some episodes of Doctor Who are too scary for me.  But I was like, Yeah!  Let's go through these crazy haunted houses!  We got through four of the six they offered before we needed to hit the road (it was a school night, after all!) and they were insane.  I screamed.  A lot.  To the point where I finally just warned the people behind us in line.  Everyone, especially the Mister, had a good laugh at me.  I was totally an easy mark for the ghoulies because they'd see me clutching the Mister's arm and cowering behind him so they all came at me.  I felt bad for the ones who I screamed at right in their faces.  Oops.  I wonder if they are provided with earplugs.  I certainly hope so!

Even more fun was that, after dark, there were ghoulies just wandering around the park, creeping up on people to scare them.  It was super fun to watch other people's reactions.  And of course, the Mister laughed at me every time I jumped or screamed.  What can I say?  I startle easily!

That's all I've got for now.  Tomorrow is my birthday!  The big 3-0.  I'm planning to write up a recap of my 30-by-30 list (short version: didn't accomplish much of it) tomorrow.  Until then, Happy Halloween!