Halloween Extravaganza

Now that Halloween has come and gone... It is sad to think such a great weekend is already over.  (Unbelievable! Does it seem like time is just effortlessly sprinting by to you?)

Here is a run down of our weekend countdown to the Halloween festivities:

Saturday

I took the boys to my parents' house to spend time with Mike, Papa, Grandma, Aunt Megan and Uncle Rob.  (They don't all live at my parents' house - just Mike - for the time being, Papa and Grandma.)  The Simmons Center (like the local "Y") was having a great Halloween carnival for the kiddos and we went to check it out.

It was a great time, and truly the best Halloween carnival I have been to!

There were all kind of very creative games and prizes. (I lost count of how many Twix and other candy bars Andrew was getting!)  They had this great carnival game with an elephant and peanuts.  You put the peanut into the elephant's trunk (section of a dryer vent) and then the elephant would give you a special prize out of its trunk in return.  Like the classic fishing game, only better!

Sunday
As you know Andrew is an avid rollercoaster enthusiast.  My sister, Melissa, had two free tickets into a local amusement park.  Sunday was the last day they were open for the season, so of course we couldn't let the tickets go to waste.  Papa and Grandma McKinley went with us.  We had a great time.  Andrew rode the Steel Lasso (lots of fun - really smooth coaster), the Silver Bullet (roller coaster with a loop) and the Wild Cat (no loop, but big plumets, just a good ole' wooden coaster).

Monday
Mike came up for a great day of trick or treating!  Andrew was pumped!  And Ryan was so excited just feeding off of Andrew's enthusiasm.  On the way home we stopped by our church to walk through the "Trunk or Treat".  It was a good crowd and great practice for Ryan.  We went home to wait for Mike to walk in the door and eat dinner.

We got everyone out the door and started walking through the cul-de-sac.  Ryan was working SO hard to stay up with big brother.  After about the fourth house, he had it down!  He was doing a good job saying "Tweak or TwEat".  Like I said, by the fourth house Ryan started scurring to the front door saying "more, more...more tandy!"  I ended up taking him home after we had walked the majority of our half of the neighborhood and left Mike and Andrew to finish up. 

Ryan was Very.Very. Upset.  Once I closed the door to the house, he burst into tears.  Andrew and Mike came home about 5 minutes later for a potty break.  Ryan noticed them preparing to go back out and scrambled to put his candy back in his little pumpkin while saying frantically "come on, come on, come on!" not wanting to be left behind.

After the candy inspection was complete, Batman and the Cowardly Lion went to bed and the "10% tithing" raid of candy began for Mike and me. 

It was a great countdown to Halloween fun!