Halloween for Days

True confessions.  I'm playing hooky from work right now.  I'm snuggled in a comfy chair with a big blankie and my laptop.  The Christmas tree is lit, Pentatonix is playing, and it feels cozy.  Full of the Christmas spirit, I do not feel like blogging about Halloween.  As much as there is to do during the holiday season, catching up on the blog might seem unimportant.  However, the blog makes it easier to assemble calendars, plus I'm hoping I'll run across a family photo we can use for a Christmas card. So here we go.

Much like Christmas, Halloween is no longer a single day, but an entire month of over-scheduled sugary madness.  Unlike Christmas, the craziness is not offset by peaceful moments in which we recollect the life of our Savior.  Still, Halloween encourages family memories, so we push on.

This year, the costumes first came out on October 8th when we went to Mabey's Pumpkin Patch.  I don't know why we got placed on City Creek Mortgage's customer appreciation list (we didn't use them to finance our home), but we like it.

Free pumpkins, donuts, and hot chocolate--it really is a sweet gig.

Plus, this year they had a petting zoo.  As you can imagine, Annika loved it.

For this event, Annika decided to be Rapunzel while Eli wanted to be an Avenues baseball player.  (Big stretch for him, I know.)

I can't remember why our big girls couldn't make the fun, but they were definitely missed.

The whole gang joined us for our next event.  Here they are outside our home, Ginny.  As you can see, Eli has morphed into Harry Potter while Annika is Rainbow Brite.  Talia is our Renaissance Queen and Brooklyn is Dorothy.

If you must know, I am in love with this vintage Rainbow Brite costume.  NomiAnn sewed it decades ago, and it is still in amazing condition.  Hard to believe I once wore it too!  Not knowing who Rainbow Brite is, Annika may not have fully appreciated it, but the women my age were swooning

 

Our destination?  Little Haunts at This is the Place with Papa Kay.  We had such a great time that we got a membership so we can come more often.

Annika particularly loved the Creature Encounter.

While the reptiles were for the special event, she can come visit the hogs and horses anytime.

Brooklyn was a little reticent about dressing up, but she totally made the day for a shy little girl who adores Dorothy.

Witchy storytime.

Annika gets her first shave at the barber shop.

Can't miss the parade and candy cannon!  I really think Papa Kay needs the dinosaur costume.

We had so much fun at Little Haunts that we headed back to This is the Place the following weekend.  A funny story about one of the snakes.  While I was standing by the table, one of them slithered up next to me so it could explore my purse.  It tried to slip through one of the metal rings holding the purse straps but couldn't fit.  We had to extricate it in a hurry before it got hopelessly stuck.

Fortunately, the pony ride was less eventful.

This zip line isn't as cool as Papa Kay's, but the best substitute we have in Salt Lake.

Panning for (fool's) gold.

Our view from the mini-train.

Back to Halloween, Annika went to Garden After Dark with her Daisy Girl Scout Troop.

Held at Red Butte Gardens, they had a fun Wizard of Oz theme this year.

Such a pretty place!

  

Even when Jason and I weren't around, the Halloween fun continued.  After Papa Kay's October visit, he brought the kids up to Hyde Park where they spent a couple days with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles.  They had so much fun painting pumpkins!

They also loved Logan's pumpkin walk.

Such fun displays!

Susie and Charles, thank you for watching our wild ones.

What else?  The Young Men and Young Women of our local congregation decided to host a Halloween party in the the "pit" (basement) of our 4th & P building.  We turned ourselves into mummies...

...ate donuts

...and were generally silly.

The cookie decorating station was tasty...

...but I wasn't brave enough to sample any of the potions.

 Overall, I think a pretty good time was had by all.

What else, what else?  We decorated Jason's bike for the ward Trunk or Treat.

We made slime and roasted marshmallows at the City Library's Halloween celebration.

Our pumpkins got cold...

...so we decided to adorn them rather than carve them.

Eli painted pumpkins at his class Halloween party.

Annika played games at the Wasatch carnival.

Talia went over to a friend's house to watch Harry Potter movies while Brooklyn and her friends went to an Escape Room.  I think her friends did a pretty awesome job of capturing Scooby Doo!  (Brooklyn was an Ultimate Frisbee player.)

In Brooklyn's defense, she did win an award for her costume at the Halloween Hat Ultimate Frisbee tournament.

At last, Halloween day.  My favorite part was some relaxed art time at the Marmalade library.  Plus, we got to trick-or-treat for books.

Afterward, we stopped by two Halloween parties hosted by neighbors.

In the end, we were so busy with everything else that there wasn't much time for traditional trick-or-treating.  I guess that's okay, but truth to be told, I kind of miss the days when Halloween was just one candy-filled evening.

Now time to make some Christmas magic.