All Hallow's Eve

Happy Halloween, America!

Honestly, this has been pretty anti-climatic for the Houghs, seeing how the pinnacle of our Halloween season is our annual Halloween Party and all.  The girls have classroom Halloween parties and a costume parade at school, we take them Trick or Treating, and thaaaat's about it.  Nothing super crazy, it almost feels like an Epilogue at this point in the grand scheme of things.

Still, we have to jump through the hoops with it all, because our kids - unlike Kris and I - look forward to Halloween itself moreso than our party.  I assume it's the candy.

So yeah.  Here's how All Hallow's Eve went down in 2018.  Behold. . .

Kris took the day off so she could swing into the school and help out in the girls' classrooms, take pictures, and watch the costume parade.

Alayna's 5th grade classroom (she's towards the left.)

Alayna and some of her squad (Maddie, Christina, Noah, and Jazmine.)

Abby, Larkin, aaaaand I don't know the other kid.

Back in 3rd Grade. . .

Abby shows off her 'Haunted House' shoe box.

Some of Alayna's 5th Grade Class.

Post-Halloween party.

Not sure what's happening here.

These must be out of order or something - this looks like when Abby's classroom was actually making their Haunted Houses.  Kris' phone must be messed up.

I had a half-day at work, so I was able to walk down and pick the girls up from school (this pathway that leads to the school playground is like a block from our house, which is super convenient.)

A few hours later, a couple pharaohs all ready to start Trick or Treating.

 

Ready for plunder.

Our friends, the Johnsons, host a 'base camp,' so to speak, during Midland's Trick or Treating hours.  They have a fire pit in their driveway, they cook up a bunch of hot dogs and appetizers, and otherwise just hangout while trick-or-treaters frequent their house for candy.  We parked our van over by their house and dropped off our cooler (filled with my designated Halloween-ish craft beers) before setting off around the block with the kids.

Eric stayed back, but Courtney and their daughter accompanied us and a group of others through the neighborhood.

The crew.

The Cannonball, hammin' it up as usual.

 

Houghs, Johnsons, and Davises.

After an hour or so of Trick or Treating, I headed back to the Johnson's to drink a few beers around the fire with a few of the other dads.  Eventually, the women and children returned from their Trick or Treating venture - bags filled with hard-earned candy - and we grazed on the spread that was set up in the Johnson's garage.  Around 9pm, we headed home, where I cracked open the final Halloween beer of the year - an offering from Michigan's own Vivant.

While the girls watched a Halloween movie (Casper, this time around), they ate, sorted, and organized their scores.

Watson had to be restrained.  He was pretty excited about the kids' newly-acquired loot.

  

. . . and that was Halloween 2018.  See ya next year, America.

- Brian

Halloween Warm-Up Weekend, Pt. I

Remember when holidays only fell on one day?  What the hell ever happened to that?

Seriously.  I won't even begin to go into the three or four months that now entail the Holiday Season (I'm sure I'll be bitching about that plenty in later posts down the road.)  Technically Halloween now falls in the earlier months of Christmas, and Halloween itself is now about a month and a half long, give or take.

Think I'm exaggerating?  Think back to when you first walked into a store and started seeing Halloween decor.  I'll tell you when you started seeing it - the day after school started in your particular, geographic location.  The second those composition notebooks and knock-off glue sticks were off the shelves, in came the processed candy (in bulk, of course, since we're all a bunch of Goddamn fatsos over here in 'Murica) and dollar-store, latex masks.

'Tis the Season.

We generally end up celebrating Halloween over the course of two weekends 'round these parts.  The first weekend is chock-full of activities and events, while the second revolves around Trick or Treating.  Back in my college days, this was also the case. . . except replace 'activities and events' with 'drinking' and 'Trick or Treating' with 'drinking.'

Knowing the Sausage Pad, though, this could've been some random Tuesday in April - lightsabers were frequently employed in day-to-day life.

So, like I was saying, this weekend is still seven days away from the real-life, honest-to-goodness Halloween, but you wouldn't know it by interacting in society.  People are already in costume, my family among them.  Sunchild Academy - where Kris works, Abby attends VPK, and Alayna goes for After School - held there annual Halloween Parade Fall Festival Costume Parade (sorry - I forgot some of you may not be pagan devil worshippers, my apologies.)

Check it out:

Abby morphing into White Cat

(I'm allergic to cats.)

White Cat and Black Cat

Lego break.

Dance party in Abby's VPK class.

The Clubhouse

More cats

Sugary snack time.

I never get pics like this with the kids. . . usually 'cause I'm camera bitch.

Panel discussion on the implications of foriegn involvement in the Middle East brought about by amped-up hostilities from the Islamic State.  Also, ponies.

Awaiting the costume parade.

In comes the Clubhouse. . .

Abby spots her sister. 

Abby and her friend Aubrey, freaked out by some of the older kids' scary costumes. . .

They had us parents walk with our kids through the Halloween Parade. . . 'cause you can NEVER have enough adult supervision when it comes wrangling hundreds of sugar-induced, dressed-up pre-schoolers. . .

Can you spot my kid?

Kris took a couple pics as the kids walked their way through the front lobby

Clearly, this Asian guy doesn't want to see my ass in his face.

Halloween Goodie Bags

Kris and other administrators

Coming up next:  monster weirdness with Papa and Nana. . .

- Brian