Halloweekend

We had a very nice weekend doing some fall/Halloween activities as a family. Fall is my favorite time of year and it was so nice to share some of my favorite things with the boys. We don't celebrate Halloween (what is there to celebrate anyway, besides my birthday??? I never understood that...) but we do go out and trick-or-treat on our nice, historic, very safe street.



On Saturday, we went to Ebert's Greenhouse for their Fall Festival. It's one of our favorite places out here and we were eager to see what they did for fall. It was very family friendly, without a stictch of typical scary Halloweenish stuff. I don't mind the Halloween stuff so much, but it was nice to see a really neat alternative for fall. They had storybook characters all over the place, some as cutouts and some as scarecrows. There was a hayride (which we did not take b/c it was very cold and windy) and all kinds of kids activities. Many of them cost a dollar or two, but the ones the boys were most interested in were free. They have three little houses to play in, a sandpit, and a bunch of farm animals to see. Matthew was thrilled to pieces when the cow and the goats licked him. Ben liked watching the cow (actually a calf) romp around in her cage.



We walked around the grounds and enjoyed their beautiful landscaping, complete with a fish pond full of koi fish. The boys each picked out a mini pumpkin, Rob and I got hot drinks, and we picked up some squash for later. As we were leaving, a man handed us two tickets for some of the attractions. We decided to let Matthew do the fish pond game. He got a big coloring book and crayons, with which he was thrilled to pieces.



We had a wonderful rest of the day as a family. I was going to go to a Stampin Up! party that night, but we were having too much fun as a family for me to leave. Today, however, held my all-time favorite sport: Trick or Treating.



Here in Watertown, Trick or Treating is held on the Saturday or Sunday afternoon before Halloween. It's kind of weird, but it's safer. This year was Ben's first outing with us, and he did great. He was dressed as a puppy (Matthew's first costume) and Matthew was Eeyore again. I wasn't going to spend the crazy prices they were asking for costumes, so we tried on last year's costume and it still fit. Barely, but it saved me lots of money. I wore my princess robe (which Rob says makes me look like a witch b/c I can't find my crown.)



We headed out at one o'clock exactly and covered about ten or eleven blocks. Our street is great for this wonderful sport, b/c everyone gives out the good stuff and lots of it. The boys did great and had tons of fun. They really got into the spirit of it and enjoyed seeing the other children in their costumes. It's a neat time to get out and greet the neighbors as well. Rob stayed home and handed out candy and tracts with a trick-or-treat theme (a must for us...after all, what better time to hand out tracts than when people are coming to you!) Matthew helped Daddy pass out candy when we got home. Oh, we had to make a last minute run to Papa Murphy's, as they were handing out cookie dough! That was neat.

We were a rather tired bunch by the time it was over, but there was no time for napping before church that night. The boys were in bed by 7:30pm and Rob and I hit the hay shortly after nine. (Literally....we have a bale in the backyard that was making us mad.....get it, we HIT the HAY.....) It was a very fun weekend and well worth the lack of sleep.



We're tired now, but it was a good weekend. I've got lots of pictures, but I once again saved them in a weird place, so I'll post them later tonight.