We had plenty of Halloween activities in October. When John was away at a Scrabble tournament in mid-October, our friends Terry, Georgina and Terry's 21-month old daughter Maddie invited Max, Leo and I to Saunders Farm in Munster (about 40 minutes outside of Ottawa) for their annual Halloween extravaganza. Maddie's dad Gavin was whooping it up at the tournament with John. Max and Maddie had an absolute blast exploring multiple playgrounds, sandboxes, crooked tree houses and pumpkin displays. Leo was a rock star and slept almost the whole time we were there. I think this will definitely become an annual tradition for us. We only really scratched the surface and I think Max and Leo will enjoy the haunted hay rides, corn mazes, fun houses, apple catapult, and other activities for many years to come.
Many, many thanks to Terry and Georgina for the invitation and all of their help with Max-wrangling.
Max also attended a pumpkin carving party and a party at the playgroup to which his caregiver brings him, but there are no photos of these events. Even gymnastics was Halloween-themed!
Halloween itself was jam-packed. For starters, we set off early in the morning for our Saturday playgroup. Max donned his Bob the Builder costume while Leo was a hippie in a tie-dyed sleeper. John went as a competitive Scrabble player and I had some festive accessories. Max enjoyed some Halloween crafts and seeing other people dressed up.
John and I spent part of the afternoon carving pumpkins to ensure that kids would know that our house was open for trick-or-treating. We thought we would get Max in on picking the pumpkin seeds out of the gunk for roasting but he was not impressed. In fact, he gave us that special face of his that, if it were a symbol in our alphabet, would be the symbol for blechh. You know, this one:
We had a visit from Auntie Melody and some friends from Yellowknife in the late afternoon and my mum, Auntie Karen and Laramie were here to share in the fun as well. John, Leo, Laramie and I set off with Max to do some trick-or-treating and Mum and Auntie Karen held down the fort and gave out candy at our place. John and I were thrilled to look up and down our new street and see so many kids out. Our old house was on a really busy street and we didn't even have a sidewalk on our side, so it was pretty dangerous for trick-or-treating. I was also thrilled that everyone recognized Max as Bob the Builder right away considering that his costume was put together primarily with consignment and thrift store finds. The only thing we bought new was the hard hat! After trick or treating, we enjoyed a yummy meal with everyone. Max didn't quite master the whole trick-or-treat thing (he kept saying it as we were leaving the houses) but I think he really enjoyed himself. He certainly enjoyed getting all of that loot!!! Especially the Smarties. It is pretty amazing to see Halloween through new eyes as a parent. I think Christmas is going to be extra cool the next few years as well.
John adds: I had a big smile on my face the whole time. This was what I remembered Halloween being: kids running door-to-door in clumps, parents with their warm beverages hanging out on the curb, occasionally walking up to chat with people they know... I feel very fortunate to be living in a neighbourhood that had that kind of feel to it on Halloween night. It was nice that the weather was amazing too (it might have been 10 degrees). Much better than the coin-toss chance of snow on the ground that Halloween in Winnipeg used to be.
2 comments:
I love the photo where Leo appears to be magically hanging behind the "put your face here" thing (what would that be called anyway?) at Saunders. Beautiful photos, I love being able to come here and see what's happening ....
Thank you for such a sweet tutorial - all this time later, I've found it and love the end result. I appreciate the time you spent sharing your skills.
potaca
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