Halloween '11

October is when you find the gorgeous weather here, and is therefore jam-packed with activities. It's the month for fairs and festivals and, since Halloween is right there anyway, there are tons of Halloween-centered events. We didn't even make it to all the ones we wanted to go to, but maybe next year we'll be able to plan it a little tighter. 

As far as I can tell, though, the Midlands (that's Columbia and the cluster of cities surrounding it here in the middle of the state) doesn't have a full-out pumpkin patch with all the fixin's like we're used to seeing. We did drive across town to the Clinton Sease Farm for the corn maze there.

 

It was fun, but now that we've seen it we can be better prepared if we go again next year. We needed more sunblock and better lunch plans. 

  
And we went through the adult maze, but we'd probably be better off sticking to the kiddie maze for a couple more years. 
  

Here are Geoff and Hazel coming out of the big slide. That tube acts like a big megaphone, so that while they were still at the top, I could hear Hazel's hollers of protest coming out the bottom of the tube. 
 
Cora did not have any hollers of protest. 

 And here's Hazel playing in the corn pit.


And Cora doing the duck races.

 

*   *   *

On the Tuesday before Halloween was the Fall Festival and Trunk-or-Treat at Cora's preschool. This served as a good dress rehearsal for the costumes and a little practice trick-or-treating for Hazel. 

Cora had declared back in the summer that she wanted to be the Tooth Fairy for Halloween. I put together her costume out of stuff we already had in our dress-up box and added the tooth emblem to her crown, wand, and the front of her leotard. You can't tell in these pictures, but they glow in the dark.

Hazel made an adorable duck. She was almost too big for her costume, but was able to still squeeze in. I had to cut the toes off the tights to make leggings, though.

Dinner and some games were inside the church, and trunk-or-treat was set up outside.

*   *   *

 

Our pumpkins were bought at a church youth group fundraiser. (A different church than the one Cora's preschool is at.) They set it up right out on a lot adjacent to the church and they do a pretty cute job of it.

Geoff and the girls checking out with our wagon.

*   *   *

And on Halloween proper we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. It was all I could do to get them to stop for thirty seconds on the front stoop to take a couple of pictures.

Love Hazel's expression here:

 

They did a good job. Cora got to be a pro with the doorbells, and Hazel says "thank you" in a heart-melting way that makes you want to give her an extra piece of candy.

Cora the social animal wanted to have a lengthy conversation with every other trick-or-treater she encountered. "I'm a tooth fairy! I like your costume! Let's discuss it for half an hour!"

We headed back home to give out some candy of our own. (This is after I turned all the lights back on).

More hastily done pumpkins like every year.

And Cora sorting out her payload, as is kid tradition.

They did eventually go to bed, after bouncing off the walls for a while, also per kid tradition.

We're looking forward to doing it all again next year.