Friday, November 4, 2011

Halloween Festivities

I know not everyone is a fan of Halloween, but we dig it! While the candy and super spooky stuff is not our thing, the fun of the season is and so we really love getting into it. This year seemed like somehow the whole season flew by in a flash and we didn't have many chances to enjoy it. We never even got in a spooky movie or watched Young Frankenstein, a family favorite. But we did have some Halloween fun.

The Joy school Halloween parade is always awesome. It's so fun to see the cute kids all dressed up.
The family theme continues! I love how much fun we have doing this. The kids always love planning out the costumes, almost two years in advance, and it's so fun to see it all come together. This year....the crew of Peter Pan! We had our first trick-or-treating gig on Friday at Ben's work. Ben was excited when we got there because then everyone finally understood who he was dressed up as. All day long he had been asked if he was Waldo, Papa Smurf, or Santa Clause. Really?! I think he was spot-on for Mr. Smee....especially with his nice gut, which we decided was a good investment because almost every costume that Ben wears needs a little more gut than he ever has. The rest of us? I was Wendy, Skylar was Tigerlily (she got Pocahontas & Sacagawea most of the time), Nick was Captain Hook, Kade was Peter Pan (but he got Robin Hood repeatedly), & Alexis was our little Tinkerbell. We were definitely missing our little Michael, what we had planned Gabriel to be for his first Halloween.
As for taking the character personality on to a tee, Alexis wins this year. She pouted every time Tinkerbell had to get her hair done, insisting every time that I was doing it wrong. What would Tinkerbell be with out a little stubbornness?Since we hadn't gone to Cornbelly's for Fall Break, Skylar had decided she really wanted to check out Gardner Village's Witch Fest so we planned to go on Saturday. Poor Skylar wasn't feeling well so I don't think she was as excited as she thought she would be.But Kade absolutely loved it! He insisted on a picture with every single witch!








We had never been to the Witch Fest before. I was pretty impressed with all of the cool displays they had. It was super crowded though & since Skylar was sickly we didn't stay long.








We had a fun time....minus poor Skylar!
Then we headed over to Living Planet for a few minutes to check out the Haunted Rainforest we had heard they were having!
There were all sorts of spooky displays
The boys loved that that they got to watch a snake dining on a mouse. Pretty creepy!
But of course, the spookiest thing there was the pirhanas, which my kids always insist I see!
Freakiest.Animal.Ever.Have I mentioned I love having aquarium passes? We were able to go for less than an hour and have fun without having to pay a penny....the best kind of fun!








That night we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat. The kids loved being able to see their friends and going through the spook alley that the YM put on. It was a fun night!















On Halloween, the boys had their Halloween parade at school. These were the best shots I got of them....awesome.








I got to help out with Skylar's class party. Skylar insisted that we do the donut on a string thing for her class. They had a blast! They also did mummy wrapping with toilet paper....Sky's team won!
The weather was absolutely perfect for trick-or-treating. I even went the entire time wearing my very thin nightgown and not freezing! It was the perfect night!
My favorite part of trick-or-treating is seeing all the cool Halloween displays. I love the houses that go all out!
There's a family in our ward that absolutely loves Halloween and our kids absolutely love going to their house. They take the cake when it comes to Halloween fun! They always have a few games for the kids to play along with tons of loot....little toys, cupcakes, candy, and a soda. It's always the favorite stop!








Arrrr....Captain Jack & Captain Hook!
We had such a blast this year! Poor Nick was starting to feel sick...and you know a kid doesn't feel well if he wants to go home early from trick-or-treating...so we didn't stay out too late. He ended up being sick for three days after. Sad.
We had plenty of candy though! After we got home we loaded up all the candy that we got from our three candy gathering sessions. There was so much candy!! Skylar was stoked that her loot amounted to the jackpot line on her bag....that's been a goal of hers for years. Luckily, all that candy, with the exception of a handful, has been cashed in to the dentist we give it to every year who donates it to local charities. I guess all that trick-or-treat fun pays off when we can give back!















We love Halloween!! Happy Halloween!!

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