Taking the Scenic Route

This year Zora wanted to go as a ladybug

So, here is the ladybug:

Zane wanted to go as “Toad”.  Not like a frog, but the character on Mario Bros.

This guy

So, here is Toad:

“OK kids, let’s take some pictures before we go…”

We headed out to the College Hill area, an area in town they block off the streets and the residents go to a lot of extra effort to decorate all out.  It is AWESOME.  It is like the most ideal, idyllic Halloween trick or treating scene ever.  We love it and are so thankful for the residents who go to the effort.  Our neighborhood is not conducive to ToTing, so this is fun.

We met up with Robert’s family and ran into several other families we know there.

The kids even made the news. Zora is at 1:43 (near the end), and you can see the rest of us in the background as she runs down the walk, shouting her “thank you” over her shoulder. When the newscaster comes back at the end she says “Love that little ladybug girl”, which puts a big grin on Zora’s face every time she sees it.

Hope your Halloween was as sweet as ours was.

Zora’s preschool had all the kids dress as “something from a farm”.   I assumed she was going to want either cat or dog, but I listed off all of the possibilities:  cow, duck (even had an online friend with a great costume for this), horse, cat, dog, goat, chicken….”  Jokingly, when she was oscillating between several, I said “skunk” under my breath.  She heard me and was convinced that it was perfect.  Couldn’t really argue with her with a straight face.  So, here is my “Little Stinker”

The face is because she wants to go, not stand still for pictures.  She was very enthused about the make-up.

Happily wiggling her tail.  She and Zach picked out the fun fur and the white feathers that I sewed to the back of the black coveralls (which were from Zane’s old pumpkin costume).  The ears were a pipe cleaner strung through a little jaw clip, then felt put over it and sewn together around the pipe cleaners.  It worked a lot better than attaching them to a hairband for her because they were easier to position, stayed put, and didn’t pull or dig into her head.

The project was to make your own pumpkin pudding.

She had a lot of fun with her costume, swinging her tail around, and chasing her friends around “spraying” them with her tail.  I don’t think she understood the mechanics of how a skunk sprays exactly though; she would pick up her tail and say “spray” while aiming her tail like a hose.  The other kids giggled and made a lot of “eww, stinky” declarations, so it was all good.

I missed the “in costume” part of the instructions, but since Zane’s costume wasn’t complete anyway (bad mommy!), he wouldn’t have been able to wear it.  They really enjoyed the party though.  They had a bunch of different, creative activities that both of the kids enjoyed.

Among the activities were apple bobbing…

(I ended up holding Zane’s hair out of his face, but it was still something he could not get.  I am debating whether or not this is a skill I need to teach. )

and pumpkin painting…

A perfect Halloween for Mario and Princess Peach. He kept saying he wanted to be a Jedi, AGAIN. However, about a week ago when I was looking at some costumes online, he saw a Mario costume and wanted that. As soon as he said he was going to be Mario, Zora wanted to be Princess Peach. I checked to make sure she wouldn’t rather be Luigi, showing her the costume, but she wanted to be the Princess. So, we went looking for a “Princess” costume that would work. Then we spent the next week being asked every 5 minutes if the mail was here yet and if the costumes would be there today. lol.

In the afternoon the kids went to ROCKO and had a ball doing crafts, playing, and enjoying themselves. (and had somebody else have to hear “is it time to trick or treat yet?” all afternoon) While they were entertained, we went out to “Il Vicino” and then to a toy store and bookstore. When we picked them up, they had put on their costumes and there was a “trunk or treat” right outside in the parking lot, so we were able to make good use of those costumes immediately.

We ran home for some costume adjustments, the mustache and inflatable tummy for Zane, body & hair glitter for Zora (which didn’t really show up on the pictures, but she was all sparkly in person), and the Umbrella that Zora insisted on because Princess Peach carried one, and a few pictures before we were surrounded with distractions. Zach made Zane’s Question Mark Block candy carrier. (It is from the game for the non-Mario players around)

Zane kept saying “It’s ME, Mario!” (like he says it in the game), but the problem is that he flattened out his mustache, effectively taping over his mouth, so it sounded more like “mmm MMM MmmMmmm”

And off to College Hill for the festivities. Our neighborhood has no real trick or treating and we have gone to this area before, but never to the heart of the celebration where they have the streets blocked off and police directing traffic. We went early, so it wasn’t crowded, it was parents with younger kids, nobody was drunk, and everybody was in a great mood.

Zane didn’t want the taped on mustache and we did one with make up. It was gradually wiped off with his white glove through the night though. We met one other Mario and a Luigi along the way. I suspect the Luigi was also Autistic because both were excited to see the other one, called out the other’s name, but mostly just stood there giggling about it. We also had a few comments on the candy box, and you could tell when people played the game or not as to whether they just called Zora a Princess, or “Look…Princess Peach too!”. lol.

At one point, a flock of birds flew overhead and Zane asked if they were birds or bats, and grinned when we said that we would pretend they were bats since it is halloween.

We ended up going the perfect amount for the kids. They were tired and dragging a bit, but not complaining (except that Zora wanted to be carried once in a while), and when I said there were four more houses until the car, they happily went to the houses, then to the car, with no complaints about being done at all. Zora zonked out in the car on the way home, but woke up to help consume the candy. It was a fun day.

We had fun. The kids have been excited to wear their costumes for weeks now, and all day Zora kept asking “cah-toom now? tick ow teet now?” It was adorable. And yes, it is a pink lightsaber. lol.

We had a pretty good haul too. Lots of real candy and very few dum-dums and tootsie rolls. lol. The last house we stopped at was giving out both candy and hot dogs. That was different, but good because both of the kids were saying they were hungry as we treked back to the car.

Very short video of a compliation of the stills we took. When I was uploading the pictures onto my computer I saw the sequence of pictures flip by quickly and laughed heartily.

Could be titled: When Yoda went crazy

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It was a wonderful day!  We ended up not getting Zora a costume, but despite our disappointment in not having a little Yoda trailing our little Jedi, we were very pleased that Zane said it was ok for her to wear his pumpkin costume.  (a much treasured costume for him). 

Yes, much to our surprise and delight, Zane chose a Star Wars costume.  It was the Anakin Skywalker costume, technically, but they were out of the Jedi costumes in his size and he was insistent that he wanted one of those.  (Honestly, I did try and steer him to a fireman the Nick, Jr. characters like Diego, he was adamant, despite the fact he has never actually SEEN any Star Wars movies)  Zach was positively giddy about the choice.  We seriously thought about getting him an Obi-Wan costume so he could dress up with him.  (if money wouldn’t have been an issue, we would have done it in a heartbeat).

Zane now has the words “Jedi” and “lightsaber” in his vocabulary, and says both with an uncharacteristic enthusiasm.  lol.  He loves the lightsaber (a flashlight where the “saber” part unfolds out and in) almost as much as Zach, who “tested it out” in the backyard for a while after he went to bed the night we got it.  I love my nerds.

The kids both went to the ST appointment today in costumes, then we went by Carrabbas to use a gift card that surprised us in yesterday’s mail (from Zach’s dad….we were so excited) and enjoyed a delightful and surprisingly relaxing meal (Zora made a mess with her vigorous bread dipping and general desire to share everything, but hey, she wasn’t screaming at any point, so that makes it a success).  Then we went to a “trunk or treat” put on by a church in the parking lot of Dillons (Krogers).  That turned out to be a really good thing to do.  There were games at every trunk, followed by a treat.  We were planning on doing the mall, but after the more “real” fun at the “trunk or treat”, we decided to try a real neighborhood and headed down to the College Hill area.  It is one of those neat older nice neighborhoods, lush with trees, Tudor and Craftsman architecture, and well landscaped, that tends to be populated by professors and established professionals (we have been there several times for college events…as the name suggests, it isn’t far from the college).  We found a street that looked right out of ET with all of the trick-or-treaters running from door to door, parked, and joined in the fun.  It was like a slice of America you only see in movies.  A very enchanting evening.

A young padawan studies how to manifest a spider (at the ST)

A few pictures of the costumes before it got too dark.

Mom underestimated her attachment to the Twix bar when I brought her over to try for some pictures.

Becoming “One with the Force”

Twix bar returned to her, she was a much happier Pumpkin

At the “Trunk or Treat”

Instead of tossing the bean bags like her brother, she took them and started putting them in her bucket.

Basketball.  Let’s just say this is clearly not his sport.  He somehow managed to put a spin on it that had it curving back to me, standing 3 feet behind him, with every throw. 

She also tried to put the ball into the bucket, but we stopped her this time.

They made “pumpkin faces” at one trunk stop

He loved the remote control car race

It was too dark to even take out the camera at the house to house trick or treating, but just imagine us walking down the sidewalk, with the lightsaber lighting our way in the dark, tree lined streets.