Halloween Pictures (Finally!)

Finally got around to transferring, editing, and uploading the photos from the different Halloween activities this year.

First up, we have the trunk or treat at our church. We joined up with a friend of ours and her family and came as the characters from Clue. Those of us that weren't characters from the game wore a weapon on the front and a room on the back. It was a lot of fun building the costumes. The payoff was a little more disappointing. The group costume competition at our church is generally pretty fierce, especially between the Waltons (our allies this year) and the Beatty's. However, for the double whammy this year, the Beatty's couldn't make it, and there was no group category. Ah well, the kids had fun anyway.

Next up, we have the 8th Annual Hawks Halloween Party. We had a really good turnout this year with four other families attending. The Waltons were coming, so we all donned our Clue outfits, only to find that there was a little miscommunication and they had decided to come in individual costumes. With less than half of the Clue board represented, our costumes needed quite a bit of explanation. We really slacked off on the pictures this year. I didn't even get a good one of the food spread. The funnest part was using dry ice on our blood and eyeball punch. What I didn't realize is that putting more dry ice in after the bubbles died down would eventually freeze the punch. We had punch-encased chunks of dry ice fused to the bottom of the bowl by the time I was done. Good times. Anyway, the bulk of the pictures were of the apple bobbing, a mainstay of our annual festivities.

Here we have Zoe's costume for her preschool's Bible-themed costume party.

And last we have the girls all dressed up before attacking the neighborhood in some good old fashioned candy extortion.

I was very disappointed in our neighborhood this year. About half of the houses with exterior lights on, the traditional "I'm-giving-out-candy" symbol, didn't answer the door or didn't have candy. Even those were few and far between. The only reason the girls filled their buckets was because everyone was handing out handfuls of candy. They seemed to pick up on the other disappointing trend, a marked decrease in the amount of trick-or-treaters. Last year we had almost 200 kids raid our candy. This year we didn't even get a fourth of that. I'm wondering if it's a cultural thing. One of the houses we stopped at had their lights on, but there was a nice hispanic lady leaving. She nodded to us and directed us to the door, so we figured candy awaited. After waiting for a few moments, a hispanic gentleman came around the corner of the townhouse complex bearing fast food. It looked like he just made a food run. He stuttered out, "Ah! Halloween! Uh, no, uh, candy! Wait, wait, wait!" as he started rooting around in his pockets. I was about to usher the girls away, wanting no part of whatever candy he had stashed there, when I saw what he retrieved. He had a wad of $1 bills, off of which he peeled three notes for my girls. I told him he didn't have to do it, but he insisted. Whether or not the candy was a cultural thing, I'll say this, that was a durn nice thing for him to do.

Anyway, I'm going to get these up on Facebook, too. You should be able to get to larger versions of the pictures by clicking somewhere in the slideshows if you want copies for yourself (I'm looking your way, Mom.) If any of you want originals, let me know in email.

I’m Baaaa-aaack

Before I get to your irregularly scheduled blog entry, I’d like to take a moment to express my condolences to Jon and his family. Jon’s father suffered from a stroke this week and passed away. On the off chance that any of my readers did not get here from his blog, please check it out here and lend him your support.

I know all of you missed me ever so much. Disney World was a blast. I’ll have to share some pics when I get a chance. We drove back last Monday and I have been catching up with schoolwork ever since. Note to self: don’t go on vacation while in the middle of a class.

We had enough time out there that we were able to go to each of the four parks twice except for Animal Kingdom. That one we only hit once. The girls had a great time for the most part. Zoe wanted nothing to do with the characters, as we expected. We got a surprise from her the first night we were there, though. We ate at a very nice restaurant in Epcot’s Norway where the Disney princesses greeted diners at each table. The first one to visit us was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Zoe got right down from her chair and sidled up to Belle to give her a great big hug. Stacy and I were amazed. She hugged each princess that visited and stood with them patiently to have her picture taken. We had also purchased Disney autograph books, which Zoe was insistent that each princess sign. When asked about her favorite, Zoe will invariably say Jasmine. I think Jasmine was my favorite there too. I’ll post pictures of the princesses later and I’ll let you be the judge.

Zoe gave us another surprise later, this one not so nice. The poor kid got some kind of virus and was sick in the hotel room, two restaurants, and a couple of other places. She took to walking around with a paper cup just in case. I think the cup became a security item of sorts after a while, because she would not go anywhere without it. Thankfully, she did not carry that habit home. She’s all better now, but nearly a week after we got home, Vicki is doing the same thing. Zoe recovered in three days or so, we’re hoping for the same with Vicki.

Speaking of Vicki, she had a fabulous time. She couldn’t wait to see all of the characters, talk to anyone that would listen about what she had done already, ride as many rides as possible, and go to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. We paid extra to get into the Halloween party, but it was worth it. The characters even dressed up! For instance, Minnie had on Mickey’s sorcerer outfit from Fantasia while Mickey was dressed in a farmer’s outfit. We waited in line for the princesses but gave up on them after an hour went by. All in all, our trip was a success.

Now for things that have happened since I’ve been back. Well, Scarlett has started to furniture crawl. She stands up and hangs onto the furniture as she takes baby steps sideways. She’s also balanced by herself with no support a couple of times. That’s not too shabby for a kid that just learned to crawl last month. Stacy and I are in fierce competition with the other houses that decorate for Halloween this year. We put up a new inflatable in the front yard to accompany our 8’ foot spider. This one is a globe with a grinning madman in the middle surrounded by a whirlwind of flying bats. It’s pretty dang cool. That, along with some more decorations we plan on adding should clinch us for the best-decorated house this year.

I’m on to page two of this post, so I’ll bring it to a close with a review the Venture Bros. Jon has done an admirable job of posting reviews of the two I missed, so I’ll jump right into the last one, Showdown at Cremation Creek Part II. Sadly, this is the season finale, though with the comments about great ratings in the bumps, I am hopeful for another season. Phantom Limb’s wedding crashing turned out to be part of a coup to take over the Guild of Calamitous Intent. However, with Brock leading a brigade of Monarch’s Minions (I like the way it sounds better than henchmen) and the wily stylings of the current Guild Sovereign, David Bowie (who else?) was foiled. Brock shines of course, but not in the usual manner. This time, he kicks ass as he musters the minions for a suicide charge at the Phantom Limb’s far superior forces. Armed with silly string and poison darts, it is truly a miracle that they win, a hilarious miracle. By the way, is Dr. Girlfriend or isn't she? I guess we won't know if/until next season. Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer cram so much visual and aural goodness into each episode, masterfully weaved jokes that deliver the punch line and tie together the plot pieces in genius strokes, tiny gags that you’ll miss if you blink, bits that poke fun at the most obscure pop references (thanks for watching out for us nerds, Jackson and Doc!) that no review I write, filled with spoilers as they are, can do them justice. Go check out the Ventury goodness at Adult Swim’s The Fix now. Right now. Go!

Oh, and before I forget, Murderflies would make a great name for a rock band.