Halloween 6 weeks later

Man, I've gotta get caught up on my posts. Waiting till December to recap Halloween is pretty pathetic. But the kids looked so cute and had so much fun that it would be a crime not to document the experience. This year they made really good use of their costumes and wore them multiple times throughout the month. And the kids were always excited to become a knight and dragon each time.

First we went to Zoo Boo with the Kalcich family. Keahi was so excited that his friend Zeke was also a knight. And little Hallie was adorable in her unicorn outfit--which went along, I suppose, with the mythical beast and knights and damsels thing. The zoo was beautifully decorated with tons of fun jack-o-lanterns and scary themed exhibits. But I think my favorite part was all the animals constructed out of gourds. Some were very creative. Of course, the kids' favorite part was the looooooong trick-or-treat trek. We also got to watch The Phantom of the Zoo which was lame in a fun way. The actors were properly enthusiastic and dramatic in their expressions and dance and the kids ate it up. It's always a little painful though when they try to get the audience involved and nobody joins in.

We were mean parents and only let the kids eat one piece of candy while we walked about, filling our bags with goodies. But at one point I thought Jarom was asking for another candy and denied his request only to discover between sobs that he really wanted his red apple. Then Keahi piped in too and asked for his. I love that they love fruit......though in Jarom's case I don't love it when it's diaper changing time.

Then Jarom got to get dressed up again for his Joy school Halloween parade and party. The kids were adorable as they sang their songs and marched about. And even cuter when they served all the adults popcorn and cookies before getting their own. I really gotta get that video from one of the prepared moms who actually brought their cameras. The next day he was a dragon at Toddler Reading time at the library and was joined with an assortment of princesses and superheroes. He booed and roared at everyone he met.

And while they didn't wear their costumes we also hit Blake's Apple Orchard for their Haunted Village and something advertised as THE AMAZING BLACK HOLE. Well....it was amazing. It was this dark room with a suspended bridge crossing it surrounded by a dark cylinder with bright points of light that rotated around you. Difficult to explain, but the effect was that as you walked across the bridge you felt like you were starting to go up the wall and tilting over so you try to compensate and your equilibrium goes to pieces. The boys loved it so much we went through it 6 times in a row. They also enjoyed feeding the animals, the corn mazes, haystacks, playground, haunted scenes, tricycle races, jack-o-lantern bouncy castle, and the hot cider with donuts. We really, really liked those too. Donuts dipped in cider, yum.

Next was Keahi's Halloween party at school--at which I was in charge of the food. I spent way way too much time and effort on things the kids just wolfed down but I enjoyed the resulting spread and was comforted by all the admiration from the adults who actually appreciated the effort behind the meal. There were pb&honey jack-o-lantern sandwiches (I used a tiny bat cookie cutter for the mouth since the one I did with a knife was horrific), tuna ghost sandwiches, veggie platter with monster hand dip, apple monster bites, pretzel witches' brooms, and bat cookies. Of course, the kids ate up the cookies first and I ended up with loads of extra apples. Ah well. The school was very specific about offering healthy snacks and limiting sugary things.....which, I discovered was more of a suggestion than a rule in all the other class parties with their bags of donut holes and Kroger cupcakes with massive amounts of frosting (that was specifically banned at the parent meeting). Anyhow, the party was a success with games, crafts, food, and each kid made a picture frame for their Halloween portraits to take home. And before the party there was a parade around the block and a magician show in the cafe.

Right after that there was trick-of-treating in the Village adjacent to the school. All the boutiques gave out candy and/or coupons and one gave out toothbrushes. We waited in line for almost half an hour for one booth because it was the library one and they give out free books. The lady actually gave us an extra one on the side. Sweet! Sidenote: Keahi's Roald Dahl book, Witches, was not a hit. I'd never read it before and Iz only vaguely remembered it. But Keahi is all about what's real and what's not and the first chapter of this books talks about how witches are real but they look like everyone else so you can't tell who's a witch and who's not. Keahi ended up having a nightmare about it that night and we've put the book back on the shelf for a few years.

And then it was finally Halloween. We had a church party in the morning with yummy themed food and cookie decorating and games for the kids. And I found a friend there who offered me a princess costume so I could match my boys for later. However, Keahi insisted that princesses only wear pink so I obviously wasn't one. Instead I was the evil sorceress. Fine. More true to life anyway.

Then we had a party at a classmate of Keahi's house. Iz and I aren't really minglers but I must say that all the parents there were awesome and friendly and even comfortable to chat with. We actually spent time with them instead of chickening out and hanging out with kids like we'd normally do. I was one of the only adults in costume which was awesome for my need to stick out. I had thought Adam's mom would be there and I'd seen her amazing homemade costume the day before--her son's a knight, the dog's a dragon, and she wore a big tower with a window at abdomen height through which her princess baby peeped through in her carrier. But, alas, I was the only princess at the Miller's party. After that hoopla we decided to trick-or-treat with Keahi's friend, Tristan, around that part of the neighborhood instead of heading back to our part of GP. And that ended up being a good call since when we got back our neighbors told us they only had 2 people stop by their house for candy. Apparently nobody on our street gives out candy except for our neighbors. So our huge bags of candy corn and lollipops didn't even get a dent in them unless you count the one t-o-ter we got before giving up and heading into the warmth of the house.

So we've got bags of candy for anyone who'd like to dress up for it. Or, you know, just ask.

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