This was Axel's first Halloween and Luka's first Halloween trick-or-treating. We had lots of Halloween activities for several days.
On the Thursday before, we went to a pumpkin patch with Karen and her kids: Joel, Liam and Tristan. There was pretty much no one else there but us so the kids got to run around like mad and do whatever they wanted. We took a picnic lunch and ate at their tables. There was a bouncy castle and a trampoline, with a "petting zoo" which was some pigs, ducks, rabbits, lamas, cows and goats in stalls, and a hay bale maze. The kids had fun running from each activity back again. At one point after the bouncy castle, Luka told me, Maman, je veux voir les animaux!" He and Liam amused themselves greatly feeding one of the goats a bunch of hay. Stupid thing ate it since they gave the hay to it (even though it had hay all around it normally??). Luka was all excited when the pigs woke up. And, the lamas pooing and peeing was quite the event.
On Saturday, we went to Boo at the (Denver) Zoo and Luka was very cute in his coliforme / mountain monster costume. He was original, that is for sure, and had fun making scary faces while wearing it. We went there with the Sabot/Stansifer family as well. We got some candy and also had a good time looking at all the animals. Luka saw zebras, camels, elephants, cheetahs, sea otter, polar bears and I am sure some other things I am forgetting. Axel slept the entire time in his car seat attached to the double stroller so that worked great. This was the first time we test-drove the double stroller that Amandine had given us and it worked great: Luka could run around or walk when he wanted and when he told me "Maman, je suis fatigué (I am tired)," he was able to hitch a ride.
On Sunday, we met Corinne and Ada at the Boulder Library for Franken Fun, their Halloween activity. They had crafts and he did some of that, but was really into the Halloween concert put on by Mary Sue and Cari, two women who do a lot of kids concerts up and down the Front Range. He looooooooooved it - I have to take him to more kid concerts. He sang right along with them and did all the motions and he cried when it was over, saying, "Maman - je veux encore chanter! Maman - je veux encore chanter!"
Then, on Monday, I went to his school with him in the a.m. to volunteer at the Halloween party. The kids had a special morning snack (I took a fruit plate and they had special star cheese, etc.) and then they had various activities. Most of them were wearing costumes, but not all. There was Buzz Light Year, Simba, Snow White, Luka as Mountain Monster, Blues Clues, etc. The activities included decorating cupcakes (which they ate for their p.m. snack), coloring a scarecrow or decorating one big pumpkin. Luka (and some other kids) wanted to decorate more than one cup cake... ha ha. He was not that interested in the other activities and wanted to play with a bunch of Mr.Potatoe Heads and magnetic letters. At 10:30, they took off their costumes and went outside to play. There were 19 kids!
Luka's costume turned out great. It was lime green and curly/furry (though it shed something awful and was annoying to our eyes and getting everywhere on the floor, etc.). He had blue ears and a blue tail, made from navy fleece. He loved it and we got good use out of it.
Then, that evening, we went trick-or-treating. First we did our cul-de-sac and he was very cute. We have "played" trick-or-treat throughout the year, so he knew what to do. He would ring the door bell or "toc toc" (knock) on the door and then say, "Trick-or-treat!" very clearly (and usually loudly) when people answered. I sometimes had to lift him up to ring thedoor bellss. :) He was very cute and people seemed to think so too - the little kids are always the most fun when you are the one giving out candy. We did two other houses in our neighborhood driving the car (Axel slept through these) and then went to Jenni's, down Sheridan. Stuart and Jenni were home - Molly was working so missed us. They had fun with the kids and were glad to see both Luka and Axel. Axel is growing fast and changing a lot. And Luka is just a lot of fun. They watched Axel for a few minutes while he slept and Luka and I did a few more houses in their neighborhood. One that he picked out, "Mommy, I want to go there!" and some others with cool decorations. All in all, a very fun Halloween. He is very possessive about his candy stash and wants to know where it is. When I moved the candy from his candy bag (so he could keep carrying his copains around in it like he was before Halloween), he was very upset that his candy was missing. I had to explain I had put it in the cupboard for safe keeping. He does not mind sharing it, by possessive, I just mean he wants to know where it is. :)
Axel wore his little long-sleeved orange ghostie t-shirt that Angela and Steven had bought for Luka when was born (he was only about 11 days old his first Halloween - I recall that was a very,veryy cold night - answering the door for trick-or-treaters and trying to shield him from the cold draft). That was costume enough for my little Axel this year. He will have lots of time to wear cute costumes later.
