10.31.16 - Halloween at Dad's

I never had time to actually write up all the details of our very fun Halloween at Dad's, so I am copying and pasting the FB status I made about it:

This morning Clara and I went with Dad and Jill to watch Rocket's elementary school Halloween parade, which was adorable. In particular, Rocket looked so pleased yet shy that we were all on the sidelines to cheer him on in his Mario costume.

Then from about 2pm onward the house was consumed with prepping for actual Halloween. We had maybe 10 people agree to be zombies (including Jennifer) and Dad had already ordered liquid latex and all sorts of other makeup to create the effect. Meanwhile Ellen, Sola, and I took turns watching Clara while getting everything non-zombie setup (scary music, fog machines, jack-o-lanterns lit, candy in the cauldron, etc).

During the earliest part of trick-or-treating, when it's all the really little kids, we didn't have the fog going or zombies in the yard. But once it got dark we had a whole huge production, including a 7ft tall Death (a guy in costume actually looming around) and a very creepy homemade dude covered in spider webs hanging from a tree telling people to stay away. We had enough zombies that there were several limping around the yard, some hanging over the wall snatching at people, some lying across the sidewalk, and even one hiding under our truck.

Sola, dressed as a trick or treater and not a zombie, would hang out near the street and then slip in with a big group of kids entering the yard. Then the zombies would attack her and carry her away as she screamed bloody murder. It was pretty effective. (We only did this when the kids were older, not when it was a crowd of little kids.)

The whole production was intimidating enough that Ellen, who was not dressed up so she would be un-intimidating, had to keep encouraging people to come get candy from her.

At some point I took Clara on a stroller ride to see all the other houses over the next few blocks. There were a lot of impressive houses, including one entirely decked out as the Forbidden Forest complete with Harry Potter soundtrack blasting. But Dad's house was--easily--the scariest. Easily.

When we got back I was pretty tired so I hung out with Clara in the family room watching cheerful videos, punctuated by Sola's occasional screams outside, which Clara took no notice of at all. Anyway, I'm too tired to go through it all tonight but I hope to have a lot of photos and even some video up over the next few days. A+ Halloween, would do again.

EDIT: I also have really enjoyed both Saturday and today seeing all the FB pictures of everyone's clever costumes and decorations. You guys are so creative!