If anyone has bothered to look at this website over the past week or so, you may have noticed the comments on the blogs being taken over by shady marketers trying to sell drugs or porn or what-not. Because I had allowed anonymous users to post comments to our blogs, these folks were taking advantage of that open access (and, quite frankly, our lack of oversight lately). Well, I've changed our website permissions so that only registered users can submit comments. To become a registered user, simply click on the register menu link on the left. You'll receive an email with your username and password and a link to login (http://www.elsonandlarissa.com/login).

On a brighter note, here we are, finally updating the blog! A lot has happened in the past couple of months - a weekend getaway in Kalamazoo (apple orchard and winery), a weekend getaway in St. Louis (visit my step-mom's family), and all the preparations for Christmas.

First - our trip to Kalamazoo. I know most people don't think of Kalamazoo as a romantic getaway destination, but Larissa and I actually had a lot of fun. We started Friday by going into Detroit to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts. It's a very nice museum, and you can wander most of the public galleries in an afternoon.

Saturday morning, we drove off to Kalamazoo and went to the Verhage Farm and Cider Mill. It's a really nice cider mill and apple orchard, and we were able to pick our own apples, go on a hayride, eat some yummy donuts, and drink some of their fresh-off-the-press cider.

Sunday, we stopped by the Peterson & Sons winery. It's a small winery - the tasting room is run out of the basement of the owner's home. He specializes in sweet fruit wines, and we really liked the Cranberry wine.

Then, on the way home, we stopped by Cereal City in Battle Creek to visit with Tony the Tiger and get a free mini-box of Fruit Loops.

Our second weekend getaway was to St. Louis, where we visited with the family of step-mom (Ying). My step-brothers Roger and John were there, as was Roger's wife Sharon (they were the ones who got married in San Francisco this summer), and my step-mom's god-daughter Grace and her husband Steve. Grace, by the way, is expecting!

Anyway, it was very nice to meet Ying's extended family, and spend a little bit of time with the parents and siblings. My parents have been travelling so much this year (mostly weddings), I haven't seen them as much as in previous years (except for our own wedding, of course!). It was also nice to show Larissa the arch. We didn't get to stop and explore, so we'll definitely have to come back some day.

Finally, we've been busy with Thanksgiving (we had dinner at the church with the Salvation Army REACH shelter program), and of course with all of the preparations for Christmas.

Yes, we did go shopping on Black Friday.
Yes, we did make a spreadsheet with all the specials.
No, we didn't stay up all night in line.
Yes, we did go to the outlet mall.
No, we didn't go at midnight - we woke up at 6.
Yes, we did shop for ourselves (Christmas lights @ Home Depot).
No, we did not buy any computers or hard drives or digital photo frames or GPS navigation systems.
Yes, we did go to the main mall in Novi (Twelve Oaks).
No, we will not ever do that again.

And that brings us to this past weekend, when Larissa and I got our Christmas tree. It was a recreation of our first (official) date last December 4. It's amazing to think of everything that has happened in just one short year...

Anyway, Merry Christmas to y'all, and to y'all a good night! :-)