Halloween is the perfect holiday for a global pandemic. Prewrapped candy, CHECK! Masks, CHECK! Social distancing while walking around outside, double CHECK!
Sarah and I started our Halloween early by volunteering at the Provo Haunted Halloween race. She likes it, and I like getting her race credit. ;) My friend Emily and her daughter Ashley joined us. Ashley was all about yelling at the people to wear their masks correctly. It was fun to watch. It was a great excuse to get together and we went to breakfast after.
Our big kids are now "too cool" for Christmas, so Sarah didn't even dress up until Tatiana talked her into it. We were going for a "Traditional wear whatever you want" theme this year. Mike was Bob Ross, and a huge hit around the neighborhood. I reused my favorite witch costume. Sarah and Steven were lame. Adam was a dementor or something, and Audrey was a little witch. She wore the same costume Sarah wore when she was two. Adam and Audrey were the only ones that wanted to Trick or Treat, so Adam got a ton of candy. Audrey finally understood what it meant, so she quite literally ran from house to house.
Steven asked to have a Halloween party, so I made him invitations and bought enough food and treats for a party. What he actually meant was invite his same small group of friends over to hang out. My deliciously festive treats were barely touched. It taught me a valuable lesson on the importance of communication. The kids that showed still had fun.
Audrey loves decorations. She loves lights and inflatables and anything around the neighborhood that is out of the ordinary. During October the only way I could get her to be content on my runs was pointing out all the Halloween decorations and promising her there were more ahead. In the evenings Mike and I went on walks and had to take her on paths that had inflatables for her to see.
I am going to try and do better at starting, if not finishing, blog posts on time. It's much harder to remember details two months after the fact. (Go figure) (It's now December 26th and I'm determined to finish this)
- Audrey loves Halloween inflatables and ooh's and aah's as we walk/run around neighborhoods. (So much that I created a whole post to show how much she loves them.
- Audrey's mind is picking up new words every day and we don't realize she's learned them until she starts saying them. Audrey knows her colors and added brown and black to her store of knowledge recently. She tries to count and do her ABC's, but there are a few holes. (L..OP)
- She can identify basic shapes and her "Octagon" is distinguishable and adorable.
We bought her a balance bike for her birthday but decided to give it to her early so she'd have more practice time before it got cold. She had fun and although she still mostly walks on it, she figured out how to balance better.
For her party we hired a petting zoo. It wasn't the cheapest option, but was fun. It was adorable to see her feeding the baby goat. The alpaca was cranky and didn't want to be held or pet and tried to run away. In today's world it's all about the pictures, and we got some good ones.
The last time we went to Goblin Valley with my sister and her crew was...not the best. We love Goblin Valley, so we talked them into going in the fall when the weather would be better. It was! We found a fantastic spot that had two little mini canyons. We used one of them for playing, and the other for shooting guns.
On the gun side the kids had fun shooting 22s and Steven's bb gun and Dave brought his AR out as well. They had some good targets set up with weighted soda cans. The kids, both little and big, had a lot of fun. (I'll add more when I get more from the men) Dave brought his AR15 and the kids took turns shooting it. I didn't shoot it, but my dad did, which was a surprise. I wowed them all with my .22 shooting skills. ;)
We hiked Little Horse Canyon again and afterwards figured we'd probably seen all there was to see. I took a picture of the kids on a tree we'd taken one on before. I couldn't figure out why it seemed so much harder, and then I looked up the old one and realized they were in a different spot. Oops!
