Fall Festival

Yesterday was the fall festival at Alyce's school. It was a fund raising event and by the looks of it pretty successful. It was also the first time the kids got to wear their Halloween costumes.

This year Luke is Captain America and Alyce is a purple mermaid.




At the event there was a Trunk or Treat. People decorated their vans and the kids hit everyone for candy like they were houses. It was neat and fast.

Halloween

Today was our first Halloween in the new neighborhood. We weren't sure what to expect as the neighborhood is packed full of kids and we weren't disappointed. We were told by the neighbors that there was going to be a lot of kids. Since we are the biggest neighborhood for miles around we get a lot of transplants from the county. I like to hand out full sized candy bars so we bought a few boxes and an extra bag of small candy bars for an emergency supply. Luckily we didn't need to dig into that and we can return the bag of candy.

Alyce was dressed as Strawberry Shortcake and Luke was Thomas the Tank Engine. Alyce has been bouncing off the walls about her costume for weeks. Luke has been kind of cool to his. He likes Thomas for sure but I think he didn't like it going over his head. I had to wear it for a few minutes before he wanted it on. He didn't want the hat either but eventually that went on and stayed on all night.

Mom did most of the candy handing out while I took the kids around the neighborhood. I met up with a friend from the neighborhood Cris. Cris along with his kids Keegan and Kennedy made up our trick or treating party. We are trying to introduce Alyce to more kids in the neighborhood and Cris's daughter Keegan is around Alyce's age. Keegan is a lot more outgoing than Alyce so she can get a lot from the relationship. They were first introduced at the neighborhood Halloween party last Friday night. I wouldn't say they hit it off but tonight they ran around together like kids should. I think a few play dates will solidify a friendship.

While rolling through the neighborhood Alyce and Keegan were leading the way. Luke was picking up the 3rd position. The girls would start off saying "trick or treat", Luke running a few paces behind them would pipe in squealing "twik or tweet", and then run to catch up. At first Luke didn't get the whole candy thing but after a few houses he was able to fend for himself and started to pick out his own candy.

Towards the end of the block the kids were starting to run low on energy.  We had to skip the last few houses as Kennedy, Cris's other daughter, had to go pee. She probably told 20 people in a row the exact same thing. Upon finishing the loop I packed the kids up in the wagon and rolled the back to the house.

The thing I am most proud of was how well behaved my kids were. They didn't run too much and they said thank you to every person handing out candy. They even stopped when I said to as they were about to run into the street without looking both ways.

Halloween

Tonight was Halloween but the Halloween festivities weren't just limited to Sunday.  The entire weekend had sprinkles of Halloween fun.

Starting Saturday we went to the Boo at the Zoo at the St. Louis Zoo where we met up with our friends Josh, Tammy, and Gideon.  The Boo at the Zoo is an event at the zoo where everyone dresses up in costume and gets candy from so local radio stations etc.  Everyone in St. Louis must go to this event because by the time we arrived the parking lot was full and the traffic around the zoo was a mess.  Luckily we found a parking spot a few blocks away and after a short walk we were in.  Walking around the zoo most of the animal displays weren't that crowded as everyone was in line waiting for candy.  I'm sad to say they were wasting their time.  The lines for the candy were upwards of an hour long.  We decided early on to skip the candy but by luck we happened to walk past a candy station and got a handful.  Looking at the meager loot in Alyce's bag I was pleased that we didn't wait.  There were six pieces of taffy so hard they were inedible and a pack of sweet tarts.

Following lunch and the primate enclosure we walked past the bears and that is where Alyce fell apart.  I'm not sure what exactly happened but something set her off and she burst into tears.  We knew it was time to go at that point and Alyce didn't stop crying until we reached the car about 10 minutes later.  Pretty much everything she thought of was something to cry about; missing Gideon, not seeing the giraffes, and not wanting to leave the zoo were prime examples.  As we pulled away from the zoo area Alyce regained her composure and after a decent nap back at the apartment she was back to her old self.  I'm guessing she was just overtired.

To close, on Saturday I'd say that Boo at the Zoo was a bust and I doubt that we'll ever go back.  It just wasn't worth the hassle.

Tonight was a lot more fun.  After some naps from the kids they were ready to go trick or treating.  We went out to our old neighborhood as apartments are horrible places for getting candy.  Meeting up with old neighbors was great and Alyce seemed to enjoy seeing her friends again.  After a quick bite to eat it was time for some trick or treating.  Alyce was able to keep up with all of her friends this year.  As they were running from house to house Alyce was running with them.  At first she wasn't leading the charge but after a while she wanted to get up to the front because she wanted to "knock on someone's door."  It was awesome to see my little shy girl announce her opinion and make sure it happened.  She ended up moving to the head of the mob and sure enough she knocked on / run the doorbell of a few houses.  She picked up saying "trick or treat" at every door from the other girls and even started saying "thank you" without me having to say anything.  By the time we made a loop through the neighborhood Alyce had a significant pile of loot.  Enough candy for Alyce to say that her arms were getting tired holding it.  Later in the evening we finally got a look at how much she received and I will say this, kids nowadays get awesome candy.  She had 5 full sized candy bars plus a stack of other premium candy like fun size Snickers and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  There was not a single piece of cheap candy in the bag.

Halloween

Halloween last Saturday was Alyce's 4th.  The first one she was only 4 days old so she was a newborn, the second she wore a Tigger costume, the third she was a cowgirl, and this year she was a princess.  This year had a lot of firsts for Alyce.  The was the first year that she had an opinion on what her costume would be (a princess), she knew that she would get candy from houses and was excited about it, and she went trick or treating with friends.

Saturday was Alyce's second time wearing her costume.  Two days before at school the kids were encouraged to wear their costumes.  The night before Mom got to flex her domestic muscle by hemming Alyce's princess costume.  Mom did a really good job given that she only had a needle and thread to work with.  However, even the best sewing job won't hold up to the onslaught that is children and Alyce tore out the hem by the end of the day.  Before Alyce got back into her dress on Saturday Mom fixed it again and this time it held the entire evening.

Trick or treating began down the street at our neighbor's house Jess and Steve's.  They were throwing a party and almost the entire block was in attendance.  Our whole family loaded up the wagon, grabbed the candy and the kids, and joined the festivities.  After Mom got settled with Luke Alyce and I set about hitting the houses in the neighborhood.  This was a first for me too, this was the first time I did the "dad" thing by hanging out with the other dads, drinking beer, and supervising the kids going from house to house.  Alyce being one of the youngest kids in the group was usually bringing up the rear but she patiently waited her turn at each door and received more candy then she could ever eat.  I think she leveraged her cuteness to score more treats.  All of the other kids in the group would get a single handful of candy and so would Alyce, however, Alyce was a bit slow to turn and join group racing to the next house.  Before turning away Alyce would lock eyes with the people at the door and they would say "you can have another handful" and drop another handful of candy in her bag. She learns fast.

We went up and down the street and even up the hill a bit but I could tell that Alyce was slowing down and getting a bit cold.  With her bag full we turned around and headed to the party.  After some warm food and a few pieces of candy we left Alyce to her own devices.  She eventually focused on the pumpkin pounding station.  The pumpkin pounding station is a pretty neat setup.  You take the pumpkins from the night with the candles extinguished, grab some golf tees and a kids hammer, and smash the golf tees into the pumpkin.  You would think that something like that would be entertaining for 10 minutes tops.  Alyce was banging golf tees into a pumpkin for probably an hour.

As the evening drew on we started to get cold and the kids were getting tired.  We bid our neighbors goodnight and whisked our kids off to bed.  It was a good Halloween; good weather, low stress, and lots of fun.