Tales From My House: Happy Halloween!

The week leading up to Halloween was fun. On Sunday, we made treat bags to hand out (candy and a slap bracelet). I took Monday off from work and Luke, Kara and I played hooky and used our free Universal passes to bring Marta, Elizabeth and Elizabeth's boyfriend, Travis to Universal Studios. We had a great time and stayed from opening to (almost) close, but they closed at 6, so that isn't as impressive as it sounds.

Many hands make light work.

Marta recently had knee surgery, so she rented a scooter.

The kids were off from school on Friday, and we planned on going to Kennedy Space Center, but then I got two protests in two days, which is a bit of a nightmare. In short, it means I am going to be REALLY busy at work for the next three weeks (and then a short reprieve and then really busy again). But, we didn't want to completely give up on doing something fun, so I got up early and worked from 5am-1pm and then we went back to Universal with everyone. We had a fun day and got to ride Hagrid's in the dark. It was pretty cool and I hope we get to do it again soon.

Halloween was finally on a Saturday and with a blue moon to boot. We were very excited! I got halloween donuts from Dunkin and then Thomas, Anna, and I went to Ace Hardware (they have an amazing Christmas shop set up already!) and Sam's Club. When we got home, we carved pumpkins. They came out great! Luke drew several faces on his pumpkin and then decided to go with a classic "scary" design. Thomas hung more decorations and everything came out amazing. The older kids and I watched Beetlejuice, which I hadn't seen in years. They liked it. We had turkey burgers from dinner and then promptly at 6, we headed outside.

Luke and Anna picked out costumes weeks ago. Luke wanted to be Link from Zelda and Anna wanted a 50s costume with a poodle skirt. Jack and Kara weren't sure they wanted to trick-or-treat. For Jack, at the last minute we found a giant baby head mask in the garage and grabbed some onesie pajamas at Walmart. His costume ended up being a big hit, he got tons of compliments, and a few people even took his picture. Kara put on Jack's skeleton costume from last year and it fit really well. She hesitated right until the last minute and then finally decided to go out.

One of Luke's friends, Beya, came over and we started walking around together. Then, we ran into one of her friends and her two little sisters. At that point, it was Luke, 5 little girls and my middle-schoolers. The middle-schoolers were done. They quickly outpaced us and set off on their own path. We walked the loops of the neighborhood. We didn't ring any doorbells, but most people had candy shoots, tongs to pass out candy, or had just left bowls out. And, most people wore masks. There were a lot of dark houses, but most did something. And, I think some people over-compensated by giving out large amounts of candy. At some point, the other kids fell off and it was just Luke and I. Eventually, we ran into the big kids and Anna decided to walk with us as we made our way home. The night was beautiful. It was a little hot, but not sweltering like last year. And, the full moon and sky were awesome. There were a lot of amazingly decorated houses. Several had music. Some houses had treats for parents. It was a really, really fun night.

Luke and a candy shoot

The full moon was amazing, obviously my picture couldn't do it justice. Venus, Saturn and Mars were also visible.

This house went all out. They had flashing lights and music. It was so fun!

We got got home and I took over candy duty, which was supervising our candy table, and Thomas took Luke on the last street. Once everyone was home, the kids dumped out all of their candy and commenced their favorite part of the day--The Great Candy Trade (I call it candy wars, but they call it trade). They all proclaimed that it was an amazing Halloween.