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This year Halloween was really fun. Keegan is at the perfect age for it, so he was looking forward to “trick or treating” for a while. I guess this is also probably the last year I get to choose his costume, since he did not expressed any preference. So, he got to be a dragon, a really cute one, if I can say so myself. I bought the costume a few weeks ago, so he go to play in it multiple times. He especially liked the wings and the long nails, and pretending to be fierce. Little hard to believe with that smile.

This year, we also went to a Pumpkin Patch (twice): it is funny how nowadays, the pumpkins on display are kind of a side show to all the rides that are there. In fact, one night, while we were reading a Halloween story and the book showed a real Pumpkin Patch, Keegan asked me:” Where are the bouncies?”.

The weather has been horrible, so we took advantage of the first nice day and headed over to Mission Valley to Pumpkin Station. Ok, so it was not the most spectacular view (the I-8 freeway on one side and the Bed Bath and Beyond parking lot on the other) but it had bouncies, and that was all that mattered. Of course he rushed to the giant slide, his favorite. But he found time to sample all the other rides as well: the train ride, the smaller bouncies, the petting zoo, the rotating chairs, the boats.

what a panoramic view of the parking lot

WOW, there are actual pumpkins here

Matt reached us after work, so we all chose a nice pumpkin together and had a fun dinner at Bennigan’s. Keegan was in a great mood and we actually had a whole day without any whining. Incredible!

The weekend’s weather was again not the best, so we spent some time decorating and carving our pumpkin. We totally chose an easy way out, and got a pre-made template, but it turned out great. By we of course I mean I chose the template and Matt actually carved it. Keegan was excited at the idea, but got bored pretty soon.

Unfortunately, our pumpkin did not quite made it to the big day, due to one super hot day, but it did not matter. We got to enjoy it for a few days.

The following week we made another trip to the Pumpkin Patch: I have bought a lot of rides tickets and, since they were not cheap by any stretch of imagination, I did not want to waste them. Again, we spent most of our time on the giant slide. Keegan was the entertainment for all the spectators, since he was the littlest one and he was literally flying off that thing. We even got a free ticket from a family that was leaving and noticed how much he was having fun. Despite his generally cautious ways, he is NOT afraid of the giant slides.

Look at him, flying down

On Friday, we had all the school festivities. We started off with a Halloween parade in the morning: it was of course very hot, and the poor kids were melting in their heavy costumes but they had a blast  parading around and going to the nearby establishments to get some candies.

Look how good I am at holding on to the ring

After it was all over, a good 5 minutes later, it was time to enjoy some of the loot.

In the afternoon it was time for the carnival: parents came in and kids played and participated in many different games, culminating with the pinata bashing.

On the actual Halloween day, we got ready as soon as the sky got dark. Keegan was so excited! We met with Jada first, and headed out together.

I am ready…let’s go! Enough pictures!

with Jada and Sharon

We then caught up with other neighborhood kids, so we were a nice big group.

Keegan, this year, loved knocking on doors and ringing doorbells, and knew exactly what to say.We hit many more houses than last year, and I have to say that our neighbors are very generous and had lots of really good candy. We did not have any cheap goodies!

trick or treat!

After a full hour, the kids were tired and Keegan could not wait anymore to sample his loot. We went back home and survey all the candies.

Keegan got to pick his favorite 5 plus a bag of Cheetos, and despite the sugar high, he actually went to bed pretty easily.

dancing around on a sugar high!

He even saved a few for the next day. We had a talk about how too much candies gets you sick, but I think what resonated the most with him is a book we saw that shows kids getting all green and sick after eating too much junk food. Well, whatever works, right? Hopefully it will stick, since we made all the rest of the candies disappear.

So, I have to say it was a very successful Halloween, and probably the one I enjoyed the most so far. It was really wonderful to see all these little guys scurrying around, playing and collecting goodies. And I obviously did not mind making all the good candies disappear…in my own private stash.

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