Tim Burton’s “Vincent” – Happy Halloween

First, thanks to the blog Broadcasting Sunny for bringing this to my attention. I loved it.

Secondly, my great friend Sam Carter and Popzilla Gallery have put together a Tim Burton collection based on the director’s films, and opening night is tomorrow! The Tearz family will be there in full force. Check it out if you can!

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Finally, here’s the Tim Burton clip. It’s short, and totally worth watching today. Happy Halloween everyone!

Legoland’s Brick-or-Treat – How Was Your Weekend?

Work is kicking my butt again this week, so a condensed version of How Was Your Weekend.

Friday

The twins and I delivered some Alberto’s to my brother-in-law and nephew, Liam, as my sister and niece, Claire, were out. We watched the Royals take a 2-1 lead over the Giants in the World Series. And I ate these colon-clogging carne asada fries.

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Saturday

We considered a night at the Legoland Hotel, but didn’t want to sell our minivan to afford it, so instead, we spent the day in Carlsbad at the theme park. Splash Battle, which Gray would’ve LOVED, was closed for seasonal maintenance. And there were three to four other rides which required the kid to be at least 4-years-old.

Splash_Battle_000With the price of our ticket we had access to Legoland’s Halloween event, Brick-or-Treat. The kids loved it. But it could’ve been better. My two biggest issues:

1. Half of the park was closed off. Instead, all of us were jammed in to the east part of the park, with 20-25 minute lines just to go trick-or-treating. If they opened up the park and had more stations, it’d give much-needed relief of congestion in the paths and lines, and offer a much more pleasant experience for the customer. As it is now, I don’t want to take my kids back.

Which stinks, because I think the potential for a great event is there.

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2. They didn’t have Halloween Legos in their stores for sale. I would have purchased pretty much any Halloween Lego I could find, but they weren’t selling any. Why not use this event to sell the seasonal, hard-to-find Halloween sets or pieces in the park, driving sales in the stores in addition to ticket sales for the Lego collectors.

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They did have a dance floor, and Ellie took full advantage. And you can see her and Gray have a little power struggle.

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We went back to Saddleback Church for the first time in a while. Rick Warren, the pastor, started a series on awesome relationships, entitled, obviously, “Awesome”. If you’re married and struggling at all with your relationship, this could offer some hope. Even if you’re not struggling, I think it’s worth checking out. At the very least, watch the last 40 minutes, where Rick and his wife, Kay, discuss the seasons of marriage and their very different views and personalities. It’s highly relatable, genuine and refreshing.

View video here.

That night I was at a bar watching the World Series when I received an alert on my phone that baseball prospect Oscar Taveras died in a car accident. His girlfriend also died. My stomach sank. My heart stopped for a few seconds and I forgot to breath. I knew him as a highly touted prospect with the St. Louis Cardinals who hit a big pinch-hit home run in the playoffs and who was going to be considered for a starting outfield spot in the majors next season. Instead, the families of this 22-year-old man and is girlfriend are preparing funeral arrangements in the Dominican Republic. Hold your loved ones a little longer today, people.

Pumpkin Patch (Photos)

Work is beyond hectic this week. In lieu of a How Was Your Weekend, enjoy these photos from our excursion to Tanaka Farms last week to pick some pumpkins. We’ve made it a tradition to pick a pumpkin for each of us in the family. While picking their own, I believe it was Grayson (I’m probably wrong) thought picking a white pumpkin for our family in heaven was a good idea. And he was right. They picked one for Presley, Jax, Addison and Harrison. I bit my lip at the patch to fight off tears. No 3-year-old should know any of this.

Click on a photo to enlarge the image

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(T)GIF – I Hate Rabbits

Rabbits freak me out. They always have. Their beady little eyes. Their beady little poop. Their propensity to procreate. Bunnicula. This GIF doesn’t help my hatred.

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(T)GIF is a regular Friday feature at Smiling Through Tearz. Know of an animated gif that makes you tinkle with laughter, cry or cringe that you think should be featured at STT? Let me know at seth@smilingthroughtearz.com.