Halloween Fun

Being a mad scientist
Our decorations

Xander's pumpkins

Cute little monkey

It has been a fun month for our family. Halloween is only one day, but it is one of those holidays that seems to be celebrated all throughout the month just like Christmas. I think this holiday is becoming more popular because you don't have to run out and buy presents for everyone you know. You just celebrate by decorating your house with ghosts, witches and monsters. You have to decide if you want to dress up and what you want to be. Buy a large bowl full of candy and you are ready. I love being scared so I try to go to spook alleys every year, and Jerry got me in to going to corn mazes. We have been going to corn mazes every year since 2003. My favorite was one in Farmington that has since been replaced by houses. It was fun because you get a small map and you go through the maze not only trying to find your way out, but looking for checkpoints. When you found a checkpoint you stamped it off on your card. I miss that one, but I still find it fun to go wandering around a maze aimlessly until we find our way out. This year Jerry and I went to a maze in Syracuse. Jerry decided if we just kept making left hand turns we would eventually get out and he was right. We also went to a spook alley in Salt Lake and Frightmares at Lagoon earlier this month.

On Halloween day we went out to a pumpkin patch in Farmington and picked out two large pumpkins. Xander had fun walking around and playing with the pumpkins. He is becoming quite a pro at walking and now trying to start running. He has hardly any sense of separation anxiety or stranger danger, so he tries to wander far away from us whenever we go out. We carved pumpkins as a family, which is a tradition I'm sure we will carry on throughout the years to come. We just let Xander watch this year. There is no way I am handing a curious toddler a little carving knife!

After our pumpkins were carve we dressed Xander up as a monkey and took him down our street for a little trick or treating. He is too young for candy, but I will let him eat a little chocolate or a sucker once in a while. We love decorating our house and have a talking skeleton. Jerry would talk through him and try to scare the kids who came to our door. Unfortunately we get very few trick or treaters on our street. I think it is a combination of things, that more and more people are opting to do trunk or treats, go to the mall and other alternatives. We also live at the very end of a dead end road and perhaps people don't want to walk all the way down. I think we ended up getting at least a dozen. When we bought our house in 2007 I was looking forward to finally getting some trick or treaters. We lived in a condo before then and didn't get any kids at our door. We had a good time and it was Xander's first year trick or treating.