First Halloween

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday, but I have a strong suspicion that is going to change over the years to come. Here's a rundown of Adam's first Halloween.


11:00 am.
This year, with Halloween being on a Sunday, our Halloween began at church. We decided to check out a local church near our home. What I hadn't realized is that Sunday was also All Saint's Sunday which is a day of remembrance for all those we've lost this year. I thought this was so fitting for also being Halloween. One special moment during the service, after all the names were read, each of us took up a small glass heart ornament and pinned it on displays at the front of the church. Each heart had a tag with the name of someone we lost. Mine lovingly said Aunt Barbara Barlow. (She is so missed.)

1:00 pm.
We head over to my parents' house to carve pumpkins and show off costumes to Grandma and Grandpa. We had purchased a small Adam-sized pumpkin for him, and then last minute we picked up another one to bring to our friends' house later as a thanks-for-letting-us-trick-or-treat-with-you gift. It has been years since we had last carved pumpkins, and I had forgotten how much fun it is to get your hands goopy and then create a carved masterpiece.



5:00 pm.
With the pumpkins carved and daylight running out, we dressed Adam in his costumes. Yes, costumes plural. His first costume was sent to us by his Aunt Angie and  Uncle Josh in September. It is the UK mascot Scratch. Unfortunately, though, it is also made out of fleece, and the Florida weather hasn't realized yet that it's nearly November.

Even if it was cooler, though, I still don't think we would have had Halloween without having Adam in a Spiderman costume. Michael was so excited to order this for him, and I have a feeling that this will be the first of many superhero costumes to come!


6:00pm
We meet up with the Petry Family and join them and members of their church for trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. It's not just the kids who get in costume... everyone dresses up! I wish I had taken more photos of the other clever costumes in the group. (Michael and I were pirates.)

7:30pm

After an hour and a half, we called it quits. Both kids and parents were pooped from walking the neighborhood for an hour and a half! It was a joy to see all the houses that really participated for the children and had fun giving out candy. Down here it's easy to forget that there's community spirit, but here there was such neighborhood unity. Adam tried his first chocolate bar -- a Twix -- and Daddy had a little trouble wrestling the piece from his mouth. I guess the boy likes his chocolate. (He comes by that honestly!)

Oh, and those pumpkins we carved? Here they are all aglow.

I hope your Halloween was just as fun!