Halloween 2019!

Halloween has turned into such an event. I have probably written about this in years past, but it is longer a one night activity. Now there are seemingly pre-activities for the pre-activites. Being new to the area, we tried a couple out. We did trick-or-treating at Sea World and went to the YMCA Spooktacular. We planned on going to the big library one Saturday morning and when I was looking up the hours, I saw they were having a Halloween event the same day we were already planning to go. So, we did that too. All of it was fun and the kids enjoyed the massive amounts of candy they they received.

Here are a few pictures from the library. The kids did a scavenger hunt and there were several themed rooms with games and crafts:

The Addams Family room

In this room, they had to find the name of the Pirate (One-Eyed Willy). I appreciated the nostalgia factor.

Like their former elementary school in Maryland, they gave kids the option to go in costume as their favorite book character. Unfortunately, this only extended to K-3rd graders. Kara's classroom did nothing, in fact, she had a difficult Science test that day, so she was not at all excited to go to school. But, Luke was. And, he wanted to be Pete the Cat. He also said he wanted to be Pete the Cat for actual Halloween, so I started looking for a costume. The only one I could find was $60 for his size! The other sizes were $40, which is still ridiculous, but more palatable. I imagine his size is the target age range for Pete fans, so it made me mad and I vowed to never give the company making it a $1 of my money! I get supply and demand, but I also get greedy and to me, that definitely seemed more like that latter. In revenge, I opted to make his costume. I found a simple hat pattern, dusted off the old sewing machine and went to work making his hat and tail. Grandpa Frank made his shirt and we bought some blue long johns for his fur. He was very happy and I think it turned out cute. Plus, it was fun for me to have a project to work on. Especially one that was very simple.

Frank and Marta drove up to deliver the shirt and have dinner with us. Luke is introducing her to Pete the Cat.

The actual day was Thursday. I teleworked so that I could go into Luke's classroom and volunteer for a couple of hours. It was exhausting! Kindergarten teachers are a special, amazing breed! But, it was nice to meet some of his classmates and spend time in his classroom. I also had lunch with him and then with Kara.

We had a Halloween themed dinner of bats and cobwebs (baked bowtie pasta and mozzarella) and then started trick-or-treating. The neighborhood page said it was from 6-8:20, so we were out at 6. But, no one else was. It didn't really ramp up until probably 6:30. Maybe because it was 100 degrees out. Well, not quite, but almost. It was 90, with a "feels like" temperature of 95. At 6pm. Ugh! It was another record-breaking day (the high was 91, the previous was 90 in 1922). In fact, it was a record breaking May, June and October. I am so very tired of the hot, hot, weather. This weekend has been a little nicer, but there are a few more days forecasted in the high 80s next week. I am starting to think we will never see a high below 78 (the lowest high we've experienced since we got here at the end of May).

But, I digress. Jack and Kara went off with their new friends for the first hour. Anna was invited, but wanted to stay with me and Luke. Thomas stayed home and handed out candy. The neighborhood was really decked out with lots of well-decorated houses. My favorite was themed to "The Purge" and had music playing, spotlights, a crashed motorcycle and other decorations. It was very impressive. Lots of adults were dressed up and it felt festive and fun. Plus, since the yards are smaller, we could go to a lot of houses. The only drawback was it was so stinking hot! Even after the sun went down were pouring in sweat.

In other news, Kara has strep throat. Again!!!! Since late-August this will be her second case. Luke has had it twice and Jack once. It is crazy! I think this will be the most antibiotics they have ever taken in a single year (in fact, if we took out the year Anna had the recurrent strep, we could probably combine the last 6 years and this would still win). I try to avoid the doctor, and maybe it would go away on its own, but they keep having bad cases where they can't eat or do anything. Kara was dizzy and didn't even want to stand up. It is hard to let something like that continue. We gave it one day to improve, but I took a look on Saturday and brought her in when they opened. And, in a case of terrible timing, on Halloween night (the night before she got sick) 4 of us drank from the same water bottle. Anna was smart enough to bring some nice ice water in a large thermos. We just couldn't help ourselves! How could I have guessed someone was infectious. It is so frustrating! Now, I am just biding my time, confident that Luke and Anna (and maybe me) will be coming down with it again in near future (fortunately, Jack and Thomas are safe, at least from exposure by water bottle). I asked the doctor why everyone keeps getting sick here, if there are different germs for which we need to build our immunity. She said that it wasn't an immunity issue, but that allergies are generally worse in Florida, leading to more mucus in the throat and more places for the bacteria to stick and fester. So, umm, yay for that?

I took a picture to show Kara and thought I would share the grossness here. At least you can't see how disgusting the tonsils looked. The doctor said she wished she had a student with her, because it was a textbook look for strep.

Friday, I took Jack to the pediatric orthopedist. They did another set of x-rays and said he should be free of the cast in two weeks. And, they gave him a waterproof cast. No more excuses to avoid the shower! They took off the old cast to do the x-rays and there was a lot of bruising on his wrist. There was no visible bruising when they put it on, and now it has been more than 2 weeks since the break, so I was surprised. Fortunately, he said it doesn't hurt.

The office was in the downtown Orlando area, right near a Super Target. Of course, we had to go in. I miss Target! The closest one is about 25 minutes away, so we generally find ourselves at Walmart. And, I usually just do grocery pick-up, so it was so nice to browse in a bright, clean store. I will say the Walmart here is much better than in Maryland, they actually have multiple cashiers working! But, I still miss my Target shopping trips. This Target had something we had never seen before--a cart escalator for the parking garage. Jack and I were so intrigued, we had to take a picture.