Halloween

Here's to my little monkey and dragon!  These guys LOVE halloween!  I kind of don't, but it's hard to be a curmudgeon about it when they are so excited about dressing up, carving pumpkins, and seeing the pumpkin glow.  Part of the problem is that I'm not very creative.  I've got friends who come up with costumes like this:

And I pull off last minute costumes like this: (note everyone else is creative here, but me)

I was supposed to be "spring", but I forgot the main part of my costume.   Here is Hazen wearing my one attempt at creativity.

When I showed up at one of the two adult parties we were to attend without my "head piece", my friend turned to me and said, "Who are you????? Cally?".  It doesn't help that this time of year is always the end of the marking quarter for me, a kid or two is usually sick, and we never know if we are going to pull off a sitter.  But I am learning to get into it for the kids.

On the Sunday before Halloween, Cally and I went on a girls date with Thompson and Susan to Shelburne Museum.  The girls had a ball, the weather cooperated, and we even got to see some culture.

Meanwhile, this guy was home with a cough..... which turned into difficulty getting enough oxygen and a late night visit to Dr. Parker on Sunday night.  As luck would have it, I noticed Hazen "belly breathing" right before bed.  We dreaded having to take him to the hospital (his respirations were about 48 per minute), but are lucky to have an amazing doctor who was willing to open up his office and meet John and Hazen at 8:30pm on a Sunday night.  When Hazen arrived, his oxygen levels were too low, but after a few sessions on the nebulizer, his saturation level went up and they came home with a new machine to help him cope with his new diagnosis of asthma.

He doesn't mind sitting with his dinosaur mask at all.  Fortunately, within a few days, he was doing a lot better, so we got to hit the Pumpkin Glow in Jericho on Wednesday night. One of my colleagues who has retired, coordinates the growing and carving of hundreds of pumpkins.  We make it a part of our Halloween tradition every year.  This year, John had class, so I took the kids on my own.  It gets a little scary dodging all the cars, but is worth it, for sure.

On Halloween, the kids woke up and were thrilled to wear their costumes all day at Tammy's.  Kids aren't allowed to get dressed up at Poker Hill, so Cally was very excited to be at Tammy's for the day.  Apparently, they did take them off for a  few hours during quiet time, but they put them right back on in the afternoon-- ready to take to the streets of Jericho Center right after a quick dinner of real food.

The Jericho Center Store has a really great "haunted barn" and we hit about 7 homes on the green before heading home.  Tom and Cara joined us in the rain, which was totally sweet

A fun "day after Halloween" hike at Mills Riverside Park with Mt. Mansfield in the background.

A colleague and his wife decided it would be funny to dress as the Abbott's for Halloween this year.  The costume was pretty accurate, except that I've never broken a bone nor been in a sling and it wasn't Zephy's tail that got hurt, it was her rear leg......... 

My boys: