A Safety Brief For Halloween

Remember witches, flying VFR into IMC will get you every time.

Happy Halloween to all.

Halloween 2020 A Total Bust

Normally our street is full of kids for Halloween.  Tons of kids come by, going door-to-door for candy, cute as heck in their costumes and having a ball.

Our kids decided to convert Abby's car into a Trunk 'N' Treat special at the bottom of the driveway, complete with decorations, flashing lights and a ton of candy ready to be disbursed.

We setup a warming station for adults at the top of the Driveway of Doom™ with a fire-pit lit, hot dogs ready to go, and some bourbon to let parents keep their steam uop walking around the neighborhood.  We had a friend came by and she and Tash spent tiome catching up on things.

From 6pm-8pm all of 4 kids showed up.  Normally there's that many by 6:01 pm.

Helluva ruined Halloween from parents being made to be fearful of their own shadows and running scared of having their kids spaced out outdoors to have fun and get candy. 

Quite disappointing all around and rather sad.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween began with the kids carving pumpkins to their liking:

One went for scary, the other elementary.

In full-on dark they really popped:

Then our eldest having already decided that as she is almost 14 she was too old to go trick or treating so she went to hang out with a friend.

The rest of us went to a friend's place for a Halloween pre-treat gathering, and then did a blitz of their neighborhood searching for candy.

A quick group pose and they were off:

Much candy was retrieved from their neighborhood and much fun and friendship was had while doing so. The adults kept everyone safe, especially with the occasional car coming by, and while it was cold out it was happily neither windy nor raining and was a rather pleasant evening considering it had sprinkled snow here this morning.

The kids all had a great time as did the adults as adult beverages to fortify our expedition were generously passed around. Good times and good people.

On This Halloween, May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

Leah decided to go with The Hunger Games for a theme to carve the pumpkin this year. She currently is in a Hunger Games phase and is avidly reading the books and after the book is done she watched the movie.

She wanted to carve it herself and did.

Darn nice job for a 10-year-old.

The odds were good for them tonight. They each came back with a pillow case full of candy and had a great time. We had taken them trick or treating with a few of their friends who didn't live in neighborhoods with lots of trick or treating opportunities and along with their parents we had a good time for a couple hours then we circled back to the house.

The adults had some hot toddies that I made to fight off the chill and we all dined on some chicken chili.

Quite a nice all hallow's eve.

Are You Prepared For Tonight?

It's that time of year again. . . .

Happy Halloween!

All Hallow's Raining Eve

Ok, who dressed up as Noah last night?

It rained and did not stop raining in the area during the entire trick or treat operation.

We had a bunch of kids trick or treating together, ours, some neighbors and some friends from outside the sub that wanted to come with us. The rain did not dissuade the kids however, as the rain was but a tolerable discomfort that didn't slow them down in the least in their quest for candy.

It did lead, however, to a very, very, wet dog:

Jett had a grand time, chasing after the kids whenever they went ahead of him running towards the next house, leaping from puddle to puddle and otherwise keeping an eye on things.

After 2 hours of systematically cleaning the neighborhood out of its candy, they returned home to dry off and they then had quite a haul to go through.

This is only some of it:

Next they carefully sorted their candy: Some they kept for themselves, some they set aside for Operation Gratitude, and the rest went to the Halloween fairy.

The Halloween fairy is a seldom seen mythical sprite. When candy is left on the porch in its originally collected pillowcases, she comes and exchanges the candy for a small gift item that she puts in the same pillowcase. This both saves on dental bills and cuts down on kids eating way too much sugar.

While the kids dried off, the adults chatted and had some warm witches brew. Thence the kids went to bed and found their Halloween fairy gifts outside the next morning. She gave them each a necklace with a favorite animal pendant on it, which both kids thought was a great exchange for the candy they had given up.

Halloween 2013 was a success, regardless of the constant rain. None of the kids complained about the rain and toughed it out until their candy bags were full, and if anything they had plenty of fun running through the puddles from house to house. A great time indeed.

Halloween Preparations

With Halloween approaching, the kids' thoughts turned to Pumpkins:

So we bought some and they and a friend made some pumpkins.

With three pumpkins carved, we had a ton of pumpkin seeds that we're going to toast and have later.

Abby carved hers all by herself this year:

Here's the Pumpkin undergoing a full candle test once done:

Abby's friend, who is a couple years older made this one from a pattern and did a very impressive job:

While the kids did pumpkin preparations, we prepared libations:

Leelanau Cellars' Witches Brew - a nice spiced red wine, served warm is just the thing for Halloween. An excellent and very tasty Michigan product well worth a try.

It's gonna be a great Halloween.

Skull Island Halloween Fun

This weekend, we took the kids to Skull Island for a Haunted Halloween event.

Located on an island in Pontiac Lake, the Halloween festivities start early with kid-friendly fun.

The kids got to do a zip-line in the dark, get their faces painted, play lots of games and eat doughnuts.

There was a nice roaring bonfire for the parents to sit around as the kids ran around having fun as well.

The face painting was well done and scary when complete.

Then there was a haunted path that was activated by sound and movement, which had the kids squealing in excitement.

Here some pirates while way the time playing cards until moving by them lights the lamp and gets them to move:

Then we passed by a zombie that was just hanging around:

Around the corner, Death awaits the unwary:

After the haunted path, we ran into the island's dog. He was dressed up as a pumpkin, and didn't seem to mind too much:

The kids loved all the events, and the staff were friendly, well organized, and very kid focused.

Once we had done everything the island had to offer and it got close to the kid's bedtimes, we took the boat back to the shore and headed home, with a brief detour for some ice cream, once home, the kids promptly passed out from all the fun and excitement of the night.

That night even the dog got into the spooky spirit as he guarded a sleeping Abby once we returned home.

None Shall Pass While I Am On Guard!

A great time indeed, and we're seriously thinking of sending the kids to summer camp there, as they run a solid, well-run, and fun program.

Pre-Halloween Pumpkin Blogging

The kids have costumes selected.

Candy is stocked and ready to be handed out to the roving packs of trick-or-treaters that will infest our street Wednesday night.

Tonight was the night for pumpkin preparation.

Step 1. Perform a pumpkin lobotomy by slicing open the top of the skull and removing the brains (seeds and pumpkin guts):

The kids had fun with this stage, reaching in and pulling out the guts and separating the seeds for cleaning and later roasting.

Step 2. Carve the eyes and nose. This year the kids wanted scary but cute:

Step 3. Carve the mouth - all in one piece please:

Step 4. Proof of concept. Light 'er up, let 'er rip:

One Jack O' Lantern complete and ready for All Hallow's eve.