The next day we went to Buckelew Farms in honor of Gigima Arlette's birthday - Gigima, Grandma Glass, Grandma Allaire, Great-Auntie Em, Cousin Christopher, and even Grandpa Keith joined in!
Auntie Em was all smiles as she watched her grandson, Christopher, making his way through the patch.
The grandparents - from left, Grandma Glass, Grandpa Keith, Grandma Allaire, and Great Auntie Em.
Great Grandma Arlette, aka Gigima.
So proud to have his own pumpkin!
Two nights before Halloween, we carved the pumpkins. Tyler didn't make it to the light test, he'd long since fallen asleep.
We started off by getting lost in the Corn Maze, then rode the tractor out to the pumpkin patch. Tyler took Grandpa Keith on a pumpkin hunt.
Auntie Em was all smiles as she watched her grandson, Christopher, making his way through the patch.
The grandparents - from left, Grandma Glass, Grandpa Keith, Grandma Allaire, and Great Auntie Em.
Christopher, getting grandma-hugs from Auntie Em.
Great Grandma Arlette, aka Gigima.
As has become the Glass-Keith household custom, Tyson and I selected two orange pumpkins and one small albino one. This year, Tyler decided he needed a pumpkin of his own.
So proud to have his own pumpkin!
Two nights before Halloween, we carved the pumpkins. Tyler didn't make it to the light test, he'd long since fallen asleep.
Since Tyler's enchanted with dragons lately, thanks to the "How To Train Your Dragon" movie, I thought he'd want to wear his dragon bartender costume from the year before. But while he liked looking at it, he didn't like wearing it. Meanwhile, Grandma Allaire had found a fire fighter costume. So on the day of Halloween, Tyler went to school wearing his skeleton pjs, then decided to wear the fire fighter jacket and hat for the parade (with skeleton leggings).
Meanwhile, upon my staff's request, I brought my fog machine, fog juice, black light, spiders, and spiderwebs to work. We draped the spiderweb along the stairwell, with spiders attached, set the fog machine up in the zen rock garden, and set the blacklight in my office, angled to make Lucy, the Camp Wellness Skeleton, glow through my office window, to be seen by people in the lobby and hallways. Some volunteers got a little overzealous with the fogger - just as I came out of my office to say, "Hold off on the fog for a while!", the fire alarm sounded throughout our entire building. That's never happened before. I noticed, with a panicky feeling, that the fire alarm was hooked into our security system. As students evacuated the obviously not burning building, staff debated - "Do we call 911 to tell them not to come?" It occurred to me to try punching in my security code...Sure enough, the alarm company called to investigate. No lights or sirens necessary. Phew.
At 4:25pm, I announced, "I'm picking up my toys and going home!" and I felt like the Grinch, pulling down all the decorations, not organizing them, just stuffing them in a bag, and as soon as I got home, pulled them out of the bag and put them up again. I'd say I decorated our house for Halloween in about 7 minutes. But Tyler, seeing a rubber spider glowing under the blacklight, decided the spider was an essential component of his costume. Once we agreed to let him carry the spider, he agreed to wear the entire fire fighter costume.
Meanwhile, upon my staff's request, I brought my fog machine, fog juice, black light, spiders, and spiderwebs to work. We draped the spiderweb along the stairwell, with spiders attached, set the fog machine up in the zen rock garden, and set the blacklight in my office, angled to make Lucy, the Camp Wellness Skeleton, glow through my office window, to be seen by people in the lobby and hallways. Some volunteers got a little overzealous with the fogger - just as I came out of my office to say, "Hold off on the fog for a while!", the fire alarm sounded throughout our entire building. That's never happened before. I noticed, with a panicky feeling, that the fire alarm was hooked into our security system. As students evacuated the obviously not burning building, staff debated - "Do we call 911 to tell them not to come?" It occurred to me to try punching in my security code...Sure enough, the alarm company called to investigate. No lights or sirens necessary. Phew.
At 4:25pm, I announced, "I'm picking up my toys and going home!" and I felt like the Grinch, pulling down all the decorations, not organizing them, just stuffing them in a bag, and as soon as I got home, pulled them out of the bag and put them up again. I'd say I decorated our house for Halloween in about 7 minutes. But Tyler, seeing a rubber spider glowing under the blacklight, decided the spider was an essential component of his costume. Once we agreed to let him carry the spider, he agreed to wear the entire fire fighter costume.
What a difference, to trick or treat with a 2.5 year old instead of a 1.5 year old! Tyler ran from house to house, asking, "Gotta find the next one?" and while he may not say "Trick or Treat!" at each house, he at least said "Thank you!" and "Happy Halloween!" to everyone he saw. People were so good natured when Tyler blew out the candles of their jack-o-lanterns, saying "Oh, well, he IS a firefighter, after all."
Our neighborhood has come back to life - houses were decorated, people were out celebrating in the streets, we kept trick or treating to earn more candy to give away to more trick or treaters, and still ran out of candy before we could run out of neighborhood kids to treat.
Our neighborhood has come back to life - houses were decorated, people were out celebrating in the streets, we kept trick or treating to earn more candy to give away to more trick or treaters, and still ran out of candy before we could run out of neighborhood kids to treat.
Today I took the decorations down, and we closed out the Halloween season by attending the All Souls Procession/Dia de los Muertos celebration. This year, Tyler was much more comfortable with the sights of skulls and skeletons.
A little girl voluntarily gave Tyler a glowstick necklace.
Tyson asked if Tyler could see the dinosaur. "No, it's a zebra!" "Tyler, that's a dinosaur skeleton!" "No, it's a ZEBRA!" People around us thought he was hilarious.
A little girl voluntarily gave Tyler a glowstick necklace.
Tyson asked if Tyler could see the dinosaur. "No, it's a zebra!" "Tyler, that's a dinosaur skeleton!" "No, it's a ZEBRA!" People around us thought he was hilarious.
This couple got up close, shaking hands with the crowd.
This skeleton's sign said simply, "Tucson."
We didn't march in the parade, I didn't even go with the intent to celebrate anyone in particular, but when bagpipers marched by, playing "Amazing Grace", faces painted as skulls, carrying purple roses, and a sign counting down the number of days until St. Patrick's Day, I thought of my dad. (He hated bagpipes. Especially bagpipes playing Amazing Grace. But he would've found the countdown sign funny.)
Happy Halloween!!!
