Halloween (So Far)

Has anybody else noticed that Halloween is now like two weeks long?

Well, maybe that's just in Mequon, where we do our trick-or-treating on the Sunday before Halloween. This is the case even when Halloween falls on a Saturday, which makes no sense to me at all. I guess in Mequonland, all holidays must be celebrated at least five days early (Fourth of July is another example).

As you can see, Elsa was a witch this year. She specifically told me that she wanted to be a "cute, scary witch." I did my best to find a costume that was simultaneously adorable and frightening, but I think she came down a little more on the cute side of the equation, don't you?

Claire was a monkey. Not at all scary, just 100% cute (and yes, chunky).

At any rate, we kicked off our celebration of Halloween Week(s) by carving some pumpkins.

Once again, Elsa was quite grossed out by the pumpkin innards, but she eventually overcame her fear and dove right in.

As always, Claire had her fun by watching everybody else's fun.

On Saturday, all four of us did the Halloween Hike at Elsa's preschool.

In this case, Elsa was a cute, scary witch in flowered rain boots (the trails were a bit muddy for witch shoes).

The event was open to the public, and it was packed (they ran hikes every 10 minutes for four hours!). There were people stationed at various points on the trails dressed as Dr. Suess characters, teaching the kids about the animals that can be found in the center. This guy is, of course, Mr. Brown from "Mr. Brown Can Moo." He demonstrated some of the noises local animals make.

At the end of the hike, we climbed the observation tower to check out the view of the fall color and Lake Michigan at sunset.

A peaceful view ...

... before trekking back down in near darkness.

Our reward after the hike was a messy smore ....

.... and pumpkin bowling with Elsa's favorite preschool teacher, Miss Mary.

And we capped off the weekend with trick-or-treating on Sunday. It was perfect weather—warm enough that we didn't even have to cover up Elsa's cute costume with a coat! And Claire was able to go, too. I just enjoyed being out for a walk on a beautiful fall evening. Unfortunately, a lot of people in our neighborhood weren't home. Perhaps they were unaware trick-or treating would take place six full days before Halloween.

But rest assured, Halloween's not over yet! We're going to the Halloween party at the gym daycare on Friday morning, and the Milwaukee Zoo's Halloween extravaganza with Karina and Tommy on Saturday. So much Halloween, only two weeks to pack it all in. And to think, all I did as a kid was go trick-or-treating!