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Halloween time, once again. Halloween fever started early, since Keegan fell in love and got his costume in early September at Costco. It was great: no worries, no stressing out, and definitely the best deal in town. He wanted to be Iron Man. He promised me he would not change his mind…and sure enough he did not.

He got a lot of use out of that costume too. He played dress up quite a bit, with or without  friends, and he even got to wear it at a birthday party. One of his new friends from school, Aiden, had a party in Balboa park, and since it was so close to Halloween, costumes were requested. They had Halloween crafts, favors, food and music.

making a witch’s glove with candy

swinging on the rope is fun

The party was in the afternoon, so it soon got dark…but that only added to the fun. Glow sticks and bracelets were everywhere, skeleton cupcakes were served and they even told scary campsite stories.

Even if Keegan’s school took the kids to a Pumpkin Patch as a field trip, we also had our own adventure. Julia, his friend from preschool, joined us, with her brother Ivan. They were so happy to see each other, and they run towards him to hug him. They had fun going on all the rides, and selecting the best pumpkin. I think I bought the biggest one yet this year.

Even better, we all went to have pizza together, and Keegan got to ride in their minivan, watching Cars: what is better than that? Well maybe playing around in the restaurant and eating delicious pizza. The husbands joined us too, so we had a nice evening together.

Keegan holding baby Henry

The Friday before the big day, Keegan’s school held the long awaited Halloween Carnival. It is, apparently, a huge event, put up by the Parents Group, that obviously requires weekly or biweekly email updates. The day itself was brutal: I spent 5 hours there! It started with all the kids gathering in the playground for a concert and a parade.

getting ready for the parade

Once all the kids were settled on the playground, the concert started. These kids are really good. Even Gaia, my friend Daniele’s daughter, is part of the band. She plays violin (dressed in blue in the photo).

After the concert, all kids walked around in their costumes, starting from the smallest ones. Keegan is in Room 12, and was led by one of his teacher, dressed as Snowhite. The other teacher, dressed as a viking, was closing the line.

After the parade ended, the carnival begun. We bought a wristband, so he could participate to all the rides, and there were many rides indeed: bouncies, booths with various activities, petting zoo, pony rides…The older kids even made a scary house. There was even a fortune teller. Keegan wanted to see her and this is what she said: based on his birthday, he has many impulsive reactions, that he starts many things and does not finish them, and he is kind and sincere and will have many good relationships. The tarot card he picked was Freethinking. Well, I did not need a fortune teller to tell me this!  It was funny that the lady told me I looked familiar, and she thought she saw me before…I wonder if she was the same lady that read our card, just before I got pregnant.

Keegan was bouncing from one thing to the next, mainly looking for his friends or Gaia, whom he seems to be very fond of…you know, the older woman.

Keegan took also two pony rides, one with Gaia, of course.

Needless to say, he had a great time. Needless to say, I was exhausted.

The weekend was full of activities. We went to watch the annual Boo Parade, in College Area. It is right in front of my school, so we got to park there, even if the street was officially closed. Keegan posed under the big Pumpkin my colleague made for the classroom out of construction paper.

It was pretty cool. Keegan liked to watch all the people walking by, but he liked even more the fact that they were giving him candy as they pass by.

who are you going to call?

Ghostbusters!

not sure what the samba girls are doing here

My alma mater, SDSU float and mascot, Monty trailing behind with the cheerleaders

On Sunday we had Alyce’s birthday party:while it is not a Halloween event, per se, it has become one, since it is happens right before the big day.

That evening we carved our pumpkin: we were talking a big gamble, since Halloween is on a Thursday. Will the pumpkin survive till then? We tried everything this year: drying it with candles and hairdrier, keeping it in the cold sun room overnight, coating it with melted wax…well, it barely made it, but it had the tell tale signs of mold on Thursday.

The big day finally came. It was a little hectic, because Keegan was at Italian class till 5.30, and will all the traffic he did not make it home till 6.15. He had a quick snack, got dressed quickly and got ready for the big night.

We met with our neighbors Jada, Kelton, Lukas and Markus and families as always and we started our slow trek around the neighborhood. While not packed with kids like last year, it was still pretty crowded. It was especially nice to see more and more younger families with children opening the doors.

The kids did not seem to get tired, and their pails were very quickly full. I helped out, since it was getting very heavy. Some houses really had amazing decorations: I wished I took more photos.

Most of the candy was great: not a lot of cheap stuff. One house, though, topped them all: when the kids knocked at the door, a lady gave them raisin boxes, a rubber bracelet with the word PRAY on it, and a changeable card, with different scenes of Jesus’ life. She accompanied it all with the comment: “I want you to be friends with God”. Talk about inappropriate! They are 5 years old and it is Halloween!!! Is that really the right time to preach? I did not find out till a couple of days later, but seriously???? We found out who it was, because they invited us for two “neighborhood” BBQ, and on the second (which we avoided) they were showing some Evangelic Christian’s DVD…

As always, we had way too much candies.

As always, though, Keegan got to pick his favorites, and then we took the rest, along with my leftovers too, to the dentist for cold, hard cash. With my contribution we made $6 (=6lb of candy). Keegan was not too happy about it, especially when I told him that if he wanted my contribution, he needed to give some of the money to charity, but we came to an agreement.

The last event of the season, was a movie night, the following week with Hannah and her sister Natalie. It actually provided a perfect bridge to next holiday season, Christmas, since we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas. The kids enjoyed the movie, and Keegan especially loved snuggling in with his friends.

And with Halloween behind us, we are now officially starting the big holiday trifecta: Thanksgiving, Birthday, Christmas. I am not sure who ever said “it is the most wonderful time of the year”. It was not me for sure, as I will simply try to make it through the season…Let the craziness begin.

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