Halloween 2014

Luckily, Anna Kate came five days early and by Halloween, I was feeling well enough to go trick-or-treating with everyone. Had she been five days late, we would have still been in the hospital on Halloween. Mom was in town to share in the festivities. Alameda REALLY gets into Halloween, especially in the Gold Coast neighborhood near where we live. Growing up, I never saw Halloween decorations like what is done now. One home in particular does a "haunted mansion" theme complete with eery pipe organ music, periodic fake thunder and lightning, spooky characters and a cemetery in the front yard. The sidewalks and streets are packed for the "best" streets in town. Some of the large homes on Grand St. and Bay St. give out 2000-3000 pieces of candy!

Last year, we spent most of our time at Bayfarm Chuch's trunk or treat and a brief time cruising through some of the streets to check out the decorations. This year, I had planned to do the same thing, but with a newborn in tow, it seemed easier to just stay in our own neighborhood. We had a small window of time to go trick-or-treating before it got too late or the baby needed to nurse again. We would have lost at least 30 minutes in travel time to/from Bayfarm and loading everyone into the van. So, we got out our trusty red wagon and planned our mode of "attack."

While I fueled up Anna Kate, Jeremy, Mom, and the kids stopped by a few of our immediate neighbor's homes. Then, we headed up to Franklin Park area and checked out several homes. It was fun to people watch, check out the decorations, and of course TRICK-OR-TREAT!

Princess Ariel at her school's Halloween Parade Oct. 30th. I offered to get her a cool red wig, but she didn't want it. Yes, this is the THIRD year we've had some kind of princess-y costume--Belle, Tinker Bell, and Ariel! 

Lining up by class for the parade

Mom helped us out with the school drop-offs during the week she was here. 

 I was happy that we decided to stay around our neighborhood for trick-or-treating. It was fun! Trunk-or-Treats always feel a little inauthentic to me. You can't beat a cool neighborhood for the atmosphere. We ran into a few people we knew from school and met a few new neighbors, too. We got so tickled by Caleb's trick-or-treating style this year. He was hilarious! He totally "got it" this year. We pulled him in the wagon to help keep tabs on him since there were so many people out and it was dark, too. We would pull over and stop at a home and ask if he wanted to get out. He was like, "Yeah! Yeah!" He climbed out of the wagon and practically bounced up the pathway to the house. We would take turns holding his little hand. He knew just what to say and do. Since the Giants had JUST won the World Series, his costume was a HUGE hit. Everywhere we went, people would yell out, "Let's go Giants!" People giving out candy would say, "Oh, here's an extra piece for our little Giant!" I had decided I wanted him to wear his cool jersey before the Giants were even in the post-season so it was really fortuitous that they won it all! I never could find any uniform pants small enough to fit 2T. Luckily, Nancy came to the rescue and made these. They turned out perfectly!

Rocking his little Giants uniform. (Dinkney made his pants for him!)

Princess Ariel is ready for candy!

 Emily's trick-or-treating style was more timid than Caleb's. Once she had gotten several pieces of candy, she just wanted to sit in the little red wagon and EAT it. We would ask her if she wanted to get out for more and she would whine and say, she was fine. She just wanted to eat her candy. We tried to explain to her that the whole point is to get a lot of candy and THEN go home and eat it. She was ready to quit after going to maybe six houses.

Anna Kate (11 days old) rocks her "First Halloween" onesie and Jack-o-lantern hat. She stayed wrapped up in the Moby the whole night during trick-or-treating. 

We finished the night early with our little kids and still had about an hour where the big kids were out trick-or-treating. Emily and Caleb really enjoyed sitting out on our porch steps with Jeremy. They loved seeing everyone's costumes and giving out candy. I think this may have been Emily's favorite part of the night.