Halloween 2012

Since I've only posted once here since last Halloween, I figured, what the heck, why not pick up here, one year later.  So here we go.

I don't think I have even posted anything here about our big move in September.  Two months ago we made the life-changing decision to pick up and move our family from Wisconsin to the pacific northwest, specifically, an island across the sound from Seattle.  There are many things we miss about our beloved Dodgeville, but there are many things to love about Bainbridge Island. 

One of the things we really enjoyed in Dodgeville was Halloween.  We lived in the town's trick-or-treating hot spot.  Throngs of children would flood the neighborhood for a couple hours each Halloween.  I would start buying bags of candy as soon as it was on the shelves so I could spread out the expense.  But it was worth it to see the kids doing their Halloween thing. 

Our home we are renting here is in the woods at the end of a dirt road.  No trick-or-treaters.  We weren't even sure where to take our kids to do their trick-or-treating.  We asked around a bit and discovered that the businesses downtown are open to trick-or-treaters from 4-6pm on Halloween.  We decided we would give that a try, completely unsure what to expect.  We figured we could go find a neighborhood that looked promising afterward. 

Typical of October in the Seattle area, it rained all day on the 31st, and it rained as hard as I've seen it rain here.  I was beginning to dread the evening.  As soon as the kids were home from school and suited up, we headed downtown.  We met up with Lincoln at 4:30 and joined the hundreds of people on the main drag, umbrellas in hand.   

 Almost on cue, the rain tapered off and other than a couple little showers, we stayed pretty dry. 

There were definitely lots of people, but it was not crowded to the point of irritation.  There was a festive feeling in the air, made all the more palpable thanks to the Halloween music pealing out from the bell tower of the church on the corner.  The same church was serving free hotdogs and chili, which we took advantage of.  (I did leave a donation. :)  )  It was fun to bump into people we knew because that was something we loved about Dodgeville; whenever we went to a community event we knew lots of people. 

 

 

So here are the kids in costume:

Devon as Harry Potter

 

Renie as a prisoner.  It was impossible to tell due to the raincoat. (So I pixelated her into a specter :)).

Julia as a huntswoman.  That cloak she is wearing was my "big" sewing project for this Halloween.  I think it turned out pretty well.

Jesse as Captain America.  He is the only one of the children who did NOT change his mind about his choice of costume as least once in October. 

And Kennedy as Black Widow. 

And the best part of the evening was that the kids were satisfied with downtown trick-or-treating so we were home enjoying our evening by 6:00. 

It was a crazy day- I helped out with Jesse's class party in the morning, made a quick run to the grocery store (and discovered when I got home that one of the bags did not get put in my cart), took Jesse to a Halloween party, made dinner, went trick-or-treating, took Kennedy to a party, and met up with Julia's ride to go to a friend's house. But it was really fun.  And we're excited that we now have our first Washington tradition in place.  I look forward to blogging about many more!